BlackArrow, a San Mateo start-up producing online DVR-proof ads, has raised $14.75 million from Mayfield, Polaris Venture Partners and Intel Capital, according to VentureBeat. The company says its ad insert technology for TV and internet video can show ads even when viewers try to fast-forward (for now, it seems only for online fast forward).
At a time when TV networks who are growing increasingly frustrated that advertisers aren’t willing to credit them for the shows that are watched from digital recordings—Nielsen said in June that it would test software this summer that measured television viewing on DVRs and devices such as iPods and cellphones—it should help the previously stealthy company stand out in a cluttered field, if and when it brings the technology onto the TV.
From VentureBeat: After the original show airs on TV, a television network would syndicate the show to their own video web site and potentially other websites. “The 30-second TV spots are removed and replaced with a group of pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll ads, as well as companion ads (those that occupy real-estate around the video window) that are shown in the various playback modes. BlackArrow handles the brokerage and placing process by providing these new forms of ad inventory.”