Ad-tech company VideoAmp has nabbed $70 million to help marketers measure TV and OTT ads

VideoAmp

VideoAmp raised $70 million in a new funding round led by The Raine Group to help marketers measure and target video ads using first-party data.
The funding is the latest example of how investors and marketers are betting on technology to see if TV and OTT ads lead to a purchase.
In theory, VideoAmp’s approach could help prevent people from seeing the same ad over and over, one of advertisers’ biggest concerns with OTT and TV.

Investors continue to pump money into advertising startups that want to shake up TV.

Ad-tech startup VideoAmp has raised $70 million, bringing the 5-year-old company’s total funding to $106.6 million. The company raised $21.4 million in its last round in 2017.

VideoAmp provides software that agencies and networks like GroupM and A+E Networks use to match first-party information (like email and sale logs) with ad exposure data. The software helps clients create audience segments for targeting TV and OTT ads and see if ads resulted in sales.

The goal of the new funding is to apply digital advertising metrics to TV and OTT advertising, which typically relies on metrics like brand lift and awareness to gauge a campaign’s success. Marketers are increasingly demanding to know if their campaigns led to business results like someone visiting a store, buying a product online or downloading an app, said Ross McCray, co-founder and CEO of VideoAmp.

"Now that we have the data infrastructure and a product in-market for the last couple of years, [the money will help] scale that and support more enterprise customer use cases," he said.

VideoAmp has 160 employees and plans to use the funding to hire another 50 to 100, including data scientists and client-facing staffers.

Investing firm The Raine Group led the round. The Raine Group’s managing director and head of the Los Angeles office, Erik Hedge, and former Tribune Media president and CEO Peter Liguori are joining VideoAmp’s board of directors.

The TV-tech space is growing

VideoAmp said it handles more than $10 billion in media placements for clients per year and that its net revenue has grown 700% in the past two years.

Along with advertisers, VideoAmp helps networks show clients which ad slots are most effective. The method is supposed to help keep consumers from seeing the same ad over and over while watching a show.

"De-duplication is a huge part of this — we’re changing the metrics of what success is," said McCray.

Investors are increasingly focusing on TV tech for ad-tech companies. Ad-tech firm TruOptik recently raised $10 million, and Beeswax raised $15 million in January to build TV products.

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