Portfolio News
Motorola Invests In Targeted-Ad Company
Multichannel News
Todd Spangler
12 March 2008
Motorola's strategic venture capital arm has invested an undisclosed sum in Invidi Technologies, a developer of targeted-advertising systems for the television industry.
Invidi, founded in 2000, announced in December that it had raised $25 million in third-round financing. The privately held company's other investors include Group M, the parent of media communications giant WPP, Menlo Ventures, InterWest Partners and EnerTech Capital.
Invidi's proprietary technology delivers "addressable" commercials tailored to individual viewers, based on metrics including viewers' age, gender and location. The Princeton, N.J., firm is aiming its system at cable and satellite operators.
"Addressable television advertising is a growing field that will change the future media landscape," said William Reinisch, vice president, New Initiatives, Motorola Strategy group, in a statement. "Invidi's core competencies in inferring end user behavior and delivering targeted advertisements are important to the evolution of addressable television advertising and advertising supported business models."
Targeted TV advertising is receiving particular attention from the cable industry through a project code-named "Canoe." The initiative is designed to standardize the process of placing interactive and addressable TV ads across multiple operators. Canoe's backers include Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Charter Communications, Cablevision Systems and Bright House Networks.