Yesterday, it was announced that video ad network Tremor Media had acquired ScanScout. In a trade industry article, Ad Age’s Michael Learmonth notes, “The combined Tremor/Scanscout served a collective 667.5 million video ads in September, according to ComScore, a close second to Hulu’s 794 million.” Read it. ScanScout CEO Bill Day will become the CEO of the combined entity while Tremor Media CEO Jason Glickman will become executive chairman.
Tremor Media CEO Jason Glickman discussed the merger and its implications.
AdExchanger.com: Is the ScanScout acquisition mostly about scale? If so, what does “scale” give Tremor Media?
JG: Scale provides for a fluidity of inventory that allows for largely 3 things: 1) you can find deeply targeted audiences that some advertisers desire, in meaningful numbers, which allows for verticals within our broad coverage. 2) it allows for our engagement engine to find the right audience where brand lift or purchase intent is likely to occur. Scale allows us to optimize each ad call in that manner and not simply drive for a simple objective like a click. 3) scale allows us to reach a very large audience at an optimal frequency. For too long the web has been bought on impressions alone. Finally we can offer real reach and frequency and not simply bombard the same viewers repeatedly which only causes harm. And of course, all of the above happens with the beauty of video advertising with innovative ad formats that push the envelope far beyond the :15 and :30 TV spot.
What is another area that Tremor may look to for a possible acquisition? Mobile or creative tech, perhaps?
We’ve got some excellent core competencies already when it comes to HTML5 developments, and we are the pioneer in bringing proprietary new creative formats to market. That said, all options are on the table that fit in our core values and expand our capabilities that matter…we won’t simply buy something that doesn’t fit with our objectives.
How long until we get to an upfront model for online video advertising which echoes the TV market? Is the upfront what attracts TV ad dollars online?
An upfront is a model that works when you own the programming and launch new shows that will launch in 6 months henceforth. I’m not sure that we need to replicate that market efficiency. However we do sign advertisers to annual deals quite often. Not a week goes by where we don’t speak with a Fortune 500 marketer about a deep partnership that involves an annual spend. These advertisers are committing to multiple 7 figures budgets and are increasingly positioning their buys against core demographics that are important to brand advertisers, similar to how they evaluate their TV is spend.
By John Ebbert
