Videoplaza Experiences Rapid Growth on all Fronts
Online video streams through the company’s platform double in the past six months
London(02 Dec 2010)
Videoplaza, the European leader in ad serving technology for managing and monetising online video, continues to go from strength to strength since raising €3.5 million in March 2010. The company has expanded its footprint into new geographies, moved the HQ to London, developed new functionalities for its platform and doubled its staff. In addition, Videoplaza signed up major publishers in the Nordics, UK, France and other territories.
Videoplaza recently entered the French market by initiating a partnership with M6, the national broadcaster. The partnership sees Videoplaza's platform serving ads on M6's IP delivered video across multiple sites, IPTV channels and also the corresponding iPhone and iPad apps. Other markets that Videoplaza has entered since March include among others Australia, Portugal, Poland and Turkey. The company now has a presence in 15 markets, up from eight since the funding round.
Videoplaza now also counts Verdens Gang, the major news publisher in Norway as a client, and on the broadcast side in the Nordics, MTV3, the largest commercial broadcasters in Finland, also began a partnership with Videoplaza. The streams managed by Videoplaza technology have doubled since March this year.
Dennis Publishing (UK) is using Videoplaza's platform to manage online video across all of the publisher's titles. The deal with the publisher includes the application of Videoplaza's monetisation capability for video advertising on mobile devices, tablets, digital magazines and other environments. Video for mobile is experiencing growth and Videoplaza has seen a big demand for iPad apps. As such, the company has developed its product to support ad serving onto any platform, including iPad and Android. RTL Newmedia, the Belgian publisher, is using this robust platform to deliver video to iPhone and iPad.
Videoplaza has also developed its technology to support in-browser ads through HTML5, making it the first company to properly support HTML5 out of the box. Functionality to support Silverlight were launched in Q3 and there will be a continued focus on development across platforms.
Richard Titus, serial entrepreneur who recently joined Videoplaza's board, commented on the company's expansion: "Videoplaza is clearly one of the most interesting companies in this space and I'm proud to be a part of it. I believe we have the right market approach and expect substantial growth in the coming 12 months. Thus we are preparing - hiring additional senior staff and a strategic move of the HQ to London. Videoplaza went to market with its idea, capitalised on the growth of online video at the right time and is now reaping the benefits. It's a very exciting time."
In the last six months, Videoplaza has also doubled its staff to help service the demand for its platform from publishers, develop the technology further across platforms and expand the sales team across Europe. Geographically, Videoplaza has moved its HQ from Stockholm to London, where the management team now sits. The developer team remains in Stockholm, as do the sales teams in Videoplaza's other local offices in Barcelona, Paris and Berlin.
Tony Kypreos, Dealmaker for the UKTI's Global Entrepreneurs Programme, which Videoplaza is part of, said: "London is the natural choice for Videoplaza's HQ as it is a lively technology hub and a global centre for key advertising and media organisations who are all in the process of rapidly increasing their online content. Having a London HQ also means that they will have access to key talent to help develop and rapidly grow the company. We look forward to working closely with Sorosh and his team in helping them accelerate their global expansion from a UK base."
Sorosh Tavakoli, Videoplaza Founder & CEO said: "A lot of money will flow into this area of advertising in the coming one to two years. We foresaw this general growth and built Videoplaza in such a way that we are now fully prepared to capitalise on it to become an even more significant player. What we're seeing now is great but still just the beginning of something much bigger. There's no such thing as online video anymore, it's all a part of the New TV."
Videoplaza continues to evolve its offering to ensure it enables broadcasters, newspapers and other media companies across Europe to unlock the monetisation opportunities in the New TV in the most effective way.