• Videoplaza Unveils Karbon 2 Video Ad Platform and Data Alliance

    U.K. based online video ad technology provider Videoplaza is unveiling Karbon 2, the next generation of its sell side ad management platform today. In addition, the company is launching Karbon Data Alliance, a network of data partners that enable Videoplaza content publisher customers to better analyze their audiences and create targeted monetizable segments. Karbon Data Alliance includes data management partners Nugg.Ad, Meetrics, Enreach, Eyota, Bluekai and others TBD.

    Rags Gupta, Videoplaza's chief commercial officer, explained to me last week that Karbon 2 acknowledges that programmatic ad buying, which is based on data, is becoming much more prevalent in the marketplace. Karbon 2 is meant to strengthen its media customers' understanding of their own audiences to put them on an even footing with buyers. Videoplaza believes the rise of programmatic buying has begun leaving media companies at a disadvantage in capturing the full value of their audience and inventory.

    Further, Videoplaza forecasts that 30% of online video ad spending in the US and UK will migrate to audience-based programmatic buying by 2015, making it urgent that publishers have their own data strategies. Rags said that early Karbon 2 users are seeing a 10-40% uplift on their pricing when integrating data.

    Videoplaza is also launching Karbon Audience Management, a "cookieless" targeting system so publishers can deliver specific audiences to advertisers across devices. Last, Videoplaza is launching Karbon Insight, a business intelligence tool that can generate tens of thousands of report combinations.