November 27, 2006

ViTrue: User Generated Ad Video Gets New Investors

Natali Del Conte

19 comments »

User-generated video sharing site ViTrue, Inc. has come some reputable new investors, including Ron Conway, one of the original investors in Google, often called the “Godfather of Silicon Valley.” Last month, the company announced a major Series “A” round of funding from Comcast Interactive Capital and Turner Broadcasting - although they could only say it’s in the single digit millions. Other recent investors include Dallas Clement, executive vice president of strategy at Cox, Bahns Stanley, a founding executive of Landmark Communications (owner of Weather Channel), and a handful of others.

ViTrue hosts user-generated (UG) video a la YouTube with an advertising focus. This relatively new type of advertising is called Branded Video Community, meant to promote “brand engagement.” So if you love the San Francisco Giants, (and who doesn’t?), you can create a video promoting the team and post it through ViTrue.

For now, ViTrue only has homemade video for Moe’s Southwest Grill, Lance Foods, The Cincinnati Bengals, and something called The Nerd League. Not exactly brands I want to “engage” with but I’m not saying this kind of advertising won’t be effective. It’s too soon to tell, but Ted Turner is a believer.

Maybe this is how the online video world will finally figure out how to monetize UG video and avoid copyright lawsuits? Lord knows YouTube is worth a lot of money, but Google hasn’t been talking much about how they’re going to cash in on the acquisition. Plus they keep having to filter content for illegal uploads of copyright material. So if sponsoring UG content is the new plan, ViTrue just has to hope and pray that someone will come up with something hilarious for Moe’s Southwest Grill. (Note to contributors: competitive eating is always a winner!)

Turner Broadcasting will test this model later this year when it launches an online campaign called “Funny or Not?”

ViTrue is no stranger to UG video. The company owns Sharkle.com, the online video-sharing community.

Sphere It

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Comments

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George

November 27th, 2006 at 6:59 pm

Believe it or not, but I was thinking about exactly the same thing yesterday night - a service where users could turn themselves into advertising superstarts and post recordings of themselves advertising their favourite product online (revenue sharing included, of course).

All in all, I think this is a very interesting service with a lot of potential - with the $1.65bn acquisition of YouTube, it was only a matter of time before everyone and their dog started looking for a way to monetise UG videos.
Shan

November 27th, 2006 at 7:02 pm

Your screen shot is way too large. You probably want to limit its width to around 550 PX. Its messing with the site’s ads and formatting.
Jonty

November 27th, 2006 at 7:29 pm

Yes, make the graphics more mobile friendly. I’m posting this comment from the underground line of Delhi Metro rail thru my N93. Though it was easy to download content, the page itself was over 500 kb
Lance Weatherby

November 27th, 2006 at 7:46 pm

Slow news day I suppose, they announced this over a month ago….

ATLANTA – October 24, 2006 – ViTrue, Inc., pioneer of the world’s first user-created advertising platform, today announced that it has secured a round of strategic funding from Comcast Interactive Capital and Turner Broadcasting. Both join existing investors General Catalyst Partners and ViTrue’s founder and CEO, Reggie Bradford.
Peter

November 27th, 2006 at 8:03 pm

can someone please explain to me where these millions of dollars will be used? I don’t understand how a website can spend millions, is it on bandwidth and employee wages? Somone? lol thx
Derek Anderson

November 27th, 2006 at 8:48 pm

They will spend most of it advertising their product/service and paying lawyers to cover loop holes I’d guess
“D”
Denver

November 27th, 2006 at 8:58 pm

Derek….I agree with u…haha .
David Mackey

November 27th, 2006 at 9:07 pm

I’m not sure that consumer oriented video sites will continue to be the biggest pull - except amongst those who have lots of time on their hands (e.g. teenagers). It just takes too long to find anything good.
Colt S.

November 27th, 2006 at 10:49 pm

“User-generated video sharing site ViTrue, Inc. has come some reputable new investors, including Ron Conway, one of the original investors in Google, often called the “Godfather of Silicon Valley.””

Small point, but unless you mean that Google is the Godfather, your sentence should be reworked. In fact, the whole post needs to be reworked for clarity and readability.

I think we’re all happy to give Michael some more time by bringing on new writing talent, but I’d be thankful for posts that kept up his brief, but articulate and informative style. I’m not trying to harsh on the post; I just want the writing quality to stay high. I understand that it’s hard to jump into a new writing gig with new names and faces, but my vote is for quality over quantity. Cheers. -Colt
Jeff

November 27th, 2006 at 11:53 pm

We believe the best way to get people to watch ads is to let anyone create them.

But I don’t think the best approach is public broadcast, not until the advertiser has a chance to view, buy, license and then test.

That’s the way we’re approaching it.

Thanks

Jeff
Ellis McKennie

November 28th, 2006 at 6:23 am

“The Nerd League” is actually affiliated with “Benchwarmers,” a Sony pictures release. I mean, it’s fun to rip on tech companies, but at least do the minimal due-dilligence before doing so. Your perceived influence on the industry comes with some responsibility, doesn’t it?
CJ

November 28th, 2006 at 6:47 am

I actually think this is a pretty good idea. Also, one thing not mentioned in the article was the team - take a look. This is not exactly a bunch of inexperienced clowns - it is probably the best tech team I have seen in a new co. in a long time (WebMD, Tandberg, Match, Flycast, Lightningcast, AOL, Adify, Ad Agencies, Media Companies) and given what they are building, it seems intriguing.
Craig Chaucer

November 30th, 2006 at 9:37 pm

I’m amazed no one is actually talking revenue sharing yet. There is no way no video site will be able to challenge youtube’s brand without some kind of revenue sharing model. You can already see sites like http://www.infectiousvideos.com or revver.com that are revenue sharing. These will be the sites that succeed.