BlackArrow, an ad-insertion startup backed by a high-powered trio of cable and electronic investors, announced itself to the world today. The company introduced its multiplatform ad-management system it says is the first purpose-built platform for dynamic advertising across broadband, video-on-demand (VOD) and digital video recorder (DVR).
BlackArrow just closed a $12 million series B round of funding led by Comcast, which was joined by Cisco and Intel, and two venture funds: Mayfield Fund and Polaris Venture Partners.
The BlackArrow system manages, delivers and measures targeted advertising for “user-controlled” video.
One part of BlackArrow’s proposition is to compensate for ad-zapping. If a subscriber fast-forwards through a commercial, an operator can set the BlackArrow system to insert a static ad on screen during the process.
When it comes to any on-demand content, the system can be set to select and exhibit ads appropriate to the content being viewed and the time it is being viewed.
Little of this is entirely new; BlackArrow joins a number of companies providing similar, if not the same, capabilities.
Judging by the identities of its executives – also just now revealed – Black Arrow appears to have splintered off from Knight-Ridder.
Dean Denhart, previously chief technology officer of Knight Ridder Digital, was revealed to be president and CEO. Another former-Knight Ridder executive, Sharon Mandell, is SVP and CTO. BlackArrow has also hired Patrick Carter as VP of operations; he was senior director of Web infrastructure for Knight Ridder Digital.
The company also added Chris Hock as VP of management, who had been with Adobe Systems and was a co-founder of RedSpark. Larry Kramer, MarketWatch founder and former-CBS Digital Media president, is on the company’s board.
“The growth in multiplatform video consumption requires new advertising models to reach consumers who are now accustomed to being in control of when and where they view video content,” said Denhart in a statement.
“The BlackArrow system is specifically built to address the complexities of video ad-management, with the flexibility to support evolving advertising business models.”
