(Updated with Web site URL)
San Mateo start-up BlackArrow has raised $14.75 million to develop a way to insert advertisements in TV and Internet video programming, and it shows the ads even if people try to skip over ads with their DVRs.
It has been secret until now. But this is pretty serious cash for an unknown company. It is, after all, a pretty serious proposition.
Here’s how it works: Take ABC, a network that sells 30-second advertising spots. Roughly a quarter of US households have digital video recorders, and that percentage is growing — and they’re skipping the 30-second spots in greater numbers. Advertisers are now saying that’s uncool, and so ABC says, “Aha, but we can offer enhanced ads — those that are played during the pause, ffwd modes” in video-on-demand and DVR households. So after the original show airs on TV, ABC syndicates the show to their own video web site, potentially other websites. The 30-second TV spots are removed and replaced with a group of pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll ads, as well as companion ads (those that occupy real-estate around the video window) that are shown in the various playback modes. BlackArrow handles the brokerage and placing process by providing these new forms of ad inventory.
The funding comes from Intel Capital (yes, there is a trend here lately), Mayfield and Polaris Venture Partners, as well as Comcast.
12 Comments
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zheng said:
Websiite: http://www.blackarrow.tv
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Matt Marshall said:
Thanks, just updated.
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annoyed said:
what a fricken annoying company
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Digital501 said:
I wonder when we are going to start seeing ads that are actually part of the content instead of breaking up the content. Things like a website where you can lookup the clothes the actors were wearing and buy them online. That seems like it would be more effective and much less annoying.
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Ryan Gardner said:
Yeah, good luck getting MythTV to check something like this into the trunk :)
The sorry folks who pay for some inferior DVR will have to suffer with this crap - but not the smart folks who build their own and use MythTV.
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Jeremy Toeman said:
Where did the 25% of US households have DVRs stat come from? The most aggressive number I’ve seen to-date is around 15%. Here are some more stats for you: http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=107901
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WhizzMan said:
You’d be amazed how many people will put up with this if they get the DVR for free….
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also said:
People who use the free/open-source Media Portal (much like Myth, but for Windows instead of Linux) also are not concerned with this news. Let the chumps watch ads to pay for my free content.
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Bruce Wagner said:
Annoying, yes.
But, remember… SOMEONE has to pay the bill…
There is no restaurant serving a free lunch… at least none that you would WANT to eat at.
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Bill said:
And this is why I don’t own a DVR. I KNEW that some fool would come along and try to force ads on me. Right now, I use that old standby the VCR and just fast forward through the ads (saving 17 mins of my life per hour of TV). Now they want to try to force me to watch ads? Naah, forget the DV-R.
I pay enough for Cable TV as it is. Just allow me to ditch the channels I don’t want to watch (about 90% actually), and allocate my money to higher quality shows on the channels I do watch.
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Sabrewings said:
Or, for those who are adventurous, build a seperate PC to handle a DVR’s duties. Plenty of free programs that come with capture cards (or that you can get online) that won’t accept this additional adds and you can fast forward like you used to.
All the fun, no fuss.
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klira said:
9 Trackbacks
8:56 pm
BlackArrow $14.75 million.. and.. « Technically Speaking said:
[...] There is NO URL. This is super secret, well not that secret! There is just no URL as they are developing a way to make TiVo really suck! Just read — San Mateo start-up BlackArrow has raised $14.75 million to develop a way to insert advertisements in TV and Internet video programming, and it shows the ads even if people try to skip over ads with their DVRs. [...]
12:16 am
PULSE 2.0 » Blog Archive » BlackArrow, An Internet and TV Advertising Company Has Raised $14.75 Mill in VC Funding said:
[...] [Source: VentureBeat] Share this post: Related Posts: [...]
7:46 am
VentureBeat Wire » Skipping the ads? BlackArrow raises $14.75M to defy you said:
[...] See our story. VentureBeat Community [...]
1:33 pm
Tech and Science News Updates! » Blog Archive » Startup Promises Cure For The Skipped Advertising Blues said:
[...] We can certainly understand the concern held by advertisers and TV broadcasters over DVRs, and their potential to bypass advertising. Still, the answer isn’t to fight against this trend by holding back the technology, which is bound to be a losing battle, but to make the most out of it. One idea that’s been thrown out there is inserting advertising when a user is fast-forwarding past the ads. The problem with that, as you might imagine, is that it has the potential to really irritate customers, though if the ads were made relevant and useful, it could be something worth exploring. The other thing that’s clear is that content needs to be untethered from the channel itself. Redistributing a TV show using other methods, the web in particular, open up previously unavailable advertising opportunities. A new startup is looking to satisfy these things comprehensively, offering to insert ads while fast forwarding, as well as manage advertising inventory on the web. Creating one solution for managing all these disparate forms of advertising should be appealing to companies that are still trying to figure this stuff out. But the true challenge remains of turning advertising into useful, inviting content in its own right. If all they manage to do is find a way to irritate people in such a way that can’t be skipped over, then it’s bound to be a loser. [...]
9:51 pm
Deep Jive Interests » NightBurps: Microsoft’s Pound of Flesh, Spanish Splogs, A Sucker’s Bet and VC’s Kvetching said:
[...] Betting Against the Tivo Generation a Suckers Bet: VentureBeat comments on a new startup BlackArrow that has secured 15M in funding, that purportedly has the technology that will allow cable networks, for example, ABC, to play ads while people who have DVR’s either pause or fastforward TV. The details aren’t important — only that the whole idea runs counter to an entire generation of children and teenagers that are currently or will certainly be accustomed to controlling their media, and this certainly includes television. Any cable network that signs up with this might see gains in the short term, but its a sucker’s bet in the long run. Someone’s going to create another DVR that will circumvent this technology, and let’s not forget Bit Torrent. People will strip rip and then strip the ads out with abandon and then release them to the bit torrent wilds. Which is already happening. [...]
1:20 pm
Skipping the commercials on your TiVO or DVR? « Bruce’s Journal said:
[...] A new California start-up has raised $14.75 Million to develop a new technology to display advertisements in TV and internet video programming - even if people try to skip over the ads with their DVRs.    Full Article [...]
9:43 pm
Prime News Blog » Blog Archive » Pardon me, but you’ve put a commercial in my skip button said:
[...] Basically a TV show would air in real-time. But when the network syndicates that program on the web, BlackArrow steps in and changes out the commercials for ads that display even while you’re fast-forwarding.read more | digg story [...]
5:01 am
NewTeeVee » BlackArrow Launching Ad Platform Soon? said:
[...] is a stealth-mode video advertising startup we’re keeping an eye on. VentureBeat had mentioned at the end of last year it raised $14.75 [...]
9:46 pm
VentureBeat » BlackArrow, ad management, unstealths with $12M financing said:
[...] we’d thought. The company spent more than a year in stealth mode developing its product, and good sources of ours originally suggested that the original aim of the company was to destroy the ad-skipping capabilities of the [...]