Ebuzzing, the leading European platform for video advertising distribution, has just announced very strong results for 2012, having achieved $52 million in revenues which is a 79% increase over 2011. This strong performance also helped them, 5-years after their founding, break-even for the first time.
Ebuzzing’s differentiated approach to video advertising distribution vis-a-vis their competitors has been the key to spurring their rapid growth. Unlike most video advertising distribution platforms which tend to focus on pre-roll formats, which essentially replicate TV ads, Ebuzzing focuses on distributing ad campaigns into Content and Social Streams via an extensive network of media and premium websites, blogs, apps, and social media sites. As pointed out by their Co-founder and CEO Pierre Chappaz, this approach is much more effective as the ads are better targeted and allow the user to choose which ads they want to watch. So, as Co-founder and CEO explains:
“We strongly believe that the message is better remembered when the user chooses to watch the ad themself. And there is such a great opportunity for brands to interact with their users within Social Streams and Content Streams. Users like Videos Ads when they are well targeted, creative and relevant to them, and when they have the choice to watch the ad or not.”
This user-initiated model is obviously increasing in popularity with major advertisers, attracting big, global brands such as Heineken, Mastercard, SONY, Toyota, Red Bull, and Adidas to Ebuzzing’s platform.
The other big piece of news from Ebuzzing is that they’ve decided to set up shop in global advertising hub New York City. They will also be expanding to the west coast over the next few months. As Ebuzzing already works with many US-based brands such as Ford, Oakley, Gillette and 20th Century Fox, establishing a physical presence in the States was a natural evolution for them. As they currently only have a presence in Europe (UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain), the US expansion also offers them the opportunity to implement a more global operational approach. Thus, it’s probably safe to assume that Ebuzzing will be popping up soon in many other markets around the globe.