• OpenSlate Raises $7 Million, Hires 2 New Senior Executives

    OpenSlate, which provides contextual data on YouTube channels to 600+ advertisers and agencies, has raised a $7 million round led by North Base Media and hired 2 new senior executives.

    New COO JoAnna Foyle was most recently SVP of Enterprise Platform Services at AOL and will oversee client services, account management, enterprise partnerships and business operations at OpenSlate. Brian Quinn takes over as President of OpenSlate, a newly-created role, heading up domestic and international sales, business development and strategic partnerships. He was most recently Chief Revenue and Innovation officer at Triad Retail Media, which was acquired by WPP/Xaxis last October.

    In a briefing Foyle said that her focus is on “flawlessly executing on partnerships and servicing clients with operational rigor.” She highlighted the recently announced partnership with GroupM to ensure that clients’ media buys are within their brand safety guidelines as a priority and, no surprise, indicated discussions with other agencies are underway.

    OpenSlate finds itself in an advantageous position given YouTube’s recent issues with ads popping up against offensive content. Even though it was only a tiny percentage of all ads served, major brands reacted adversely, in turn amplifying the issue. A third-party analytics provider like OpenSlate, which can offer detailed insights and comfort about YouTube channels and videos, clearly increases its value in these circumstances.

    Meanwhile, about the new funding, Mike Henry, CEO and founder of OpenSlate, said that “the fresh capital will help OpenSlate become the currency for valuing content in a social video environment.” He added that OpenSlate is “hiring into product, engineering, data science and account management to support acceleration in the U.S. and abroad.”