Wednesday, June 25, 2008
HIRO Media Sees the Big Upside in Advertising into Downloaded Videos...Co-Founders Named Top Innovators by Variety
While the vast majority of online video advertising is inserted into streaming Flash videos viewed in a Web browser, this inevitably will change as more video will consumed via download.
Although paid downloads have become a big business, thanks largely to Apple's iTunes, advertiser-supported downloaded videos are only now beginning to emerge. Big hurdles exist: The biggest issue is how to change downloaded ads in a video which has been saved to a device. The other is how to track the usage of downloaded media which are shared with others.
HIRO Media, an Israeli-based start-up, has a solution for ad serving into downloaded media. I caught up with co-founder Ronny Golan in Los Angeles earlier this month. Ronny gives a compelling argument for the economics of downloaded media.
For an analysis of HIRO, check out this recent story by Scott Kirsner writing in Variety. Variety recently named Golan and his co-founder Ariel Napchi among the 10 most important innovators in digital media and entertainment.
-- Andy Plesser, Executive Producer