Company Announces Series A funding of $5 Million led by Madrona Venture Group
BELLEVUE,- Oct 8, 2013— iSpot.tv, the only real-time TV advertising intelligence platform that tracks more than 35,000 unique commercial spots, today announced it is bringing its data products to the open market. The company, which utilizes proprietary fingerprinting and tagging technologies to provide unprecedented visibility into the television advertising industry, simultaneously announced it has closed a $5M round of financing led by Seattle-based Madrona Venture Group, with participation by TL Ventures.
The iSpot analytics offering enables brands, agencies, TV networks and analysts to track a variety of key performance indicators associated with television advertising. Customers can utilize a dashboard that provides real-time insights into which ads are running, on which networks and shows, when the spot runs, and how much is being spent. Users can also track the placement patterns, creative choices and spending levels across an industry vertical or drill down into very specific data for a single brand or campaign.
“There is a gap between what information advertisers and TV networks need and what is currently being offered,” said Sean Muller, founder and CEO of iSpot.tv. “Launching real-time data around TV spots brings a new level of transparency and capabilities to the industry. With the support of strategic capital partners in Madrona Venture Group and TL Ventures, we can accelerate the pace and scale by which we develop new products.”
iSpot.tv, which tracks and displays more than 35,000 national TV ads, movie trailers and show promos and more than 5,000 brands, has been offering early beta access to insights since June of this year. Since then, more than forty paying customers have signed up, including Fortune 500 brands, agencies and TV networks. “Our clients increasingly want speed as a way to gain competitive advantage” said Bob Ivins, chief data officer of Mindshare, a global media agency and division of WPP. “iSpot’s ability to collect real-time data around national TV campaigns and surface up actionable insights is unprecedented and it gives our clients a distinct advantage”. The iSpot platform has picked up a fast-growing consumer-facing audience as well, with more than 1.3 million (unique) monthly users that come to www.ispot.tv to watch, rate, share and get information about TV commercials.
“In a very short amount of time, iSpot.tv has built and delivered a real-time view into a 60+ billion dollar advertising market that is primarily reliant on data that can be 3-12 weeks old and unusable for brands and agencies that demand near-real-time flighting and placement optimization,” said Len Jordan, Managing Director at Madrona Venture Group. “Today’s announcement is just the beginning; their platform enables an entire set of applications and measurements for driving new levels of analysis and optimization.” Madrona Venture Group, an early investor in Amazon, adds iSpot.tv to a number of digital and mobile advertising companies in its portfolio, including Yieldex, Mixpo, Mobilewalla, Bizible, Maxpoint Interactive, and Placed.com.
About iSpot.tv: iSpot.tv is the only real-time TV advertising intelligence platform that enables users to find, track and share TV ads. By using proprietary fingerprinting and tagging technologies, the iSpot platform surfaces TV spots and industry insights as they happen. Brands, agencies and TV networks can leverage the iSpot analytics products to gain an unprecedented view into what ads are running, on what networks and how much is being spent across an entire industry and at scale. Anyone can watch ads in HD and explore actors, songs, products and offers they see on television with options to rate, share and comment on what they find. The company was started in stealth mode in 2012 by Sean Muller and a team of technical wizards in the Seattle area.
About Madrona Venture Group: Madrona (www.madrona.com) has been investing in early-stage technology companies in the Pacific Northwest since 1995 and has been privileged to play a role in some of the region’s most successful technology ventures. The firm invests predominately in seed and Series A rounds across the information technology spectrum, including consumer internet, commercial software and services, digital media and advertising, networking and cloud computing, and mobile. Madrona manages approximately $1 billion and was an early investor in companies such as Amazon.com, Apptio, Isilon Systems and Redfin.
Media Contact: Jason Damata 917-279-8706 jason@fabricmedia.net