ScanScout Secures Strategic Investment from Time Warner and Announces Board of Directors

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ScanScout, (www.scanscout.com) whose technology dramatically expands video advertising opportunities for advertisers and publishers, announced today that Time Warner Inc., a leading media and entertainment company, has made a strategic investment in the company.

“ScanScout’s unique Brand Protector technology and its flexible ad model built around contextually relevant video content make it a compelling partner for us and our ability to serve the many premium brands we do business with,” said Rachel Lam, Senior Vice President for Time Warner Investments. "With video becoming an ever more prominent part of content strategies on destination sites, we see ScanScout and their contextual, in-stream advertising capabilities positioning them extremely well to address both advertiser and publisher needs."

Composition of ScanScout’s Board of Directors

ScanScout also announced the formation of its board of directors, which has included Co-Founders Waikit Lau, the company’s President, and Steven Lee, its CTO; Doug McFarland, its CEO, and Chris Fralic of FirstRound Capital. They were joined by David Orfao and Neil Sequeira of General Catalyst Partners with that fund’s investment in May. More recently, Digitas COO Jim Rossman and Paul Vidich formerly of AOL and Warner Music Group joined as independent members, and Rachel Lam of Time Warner has joined as a Board Observer with the investment announced herein.

“I’m excited about the promise of ScanScout - and their contextual video advertising solution - because it better aligns advertising messages with consumer preferences,” said Mr. Rossman of Digitas. “By delivering consumers only those advertisers’ messages which are most relevant and only in the most precise context, ScanScout’s technology provides consumers with a gateway to richer brand experiences while offering an attractive economic proposition for advertisers and publishers alike.”

The Video Challenge

Video represents what many are calling the most compelling opportunity online today. But the challenge has been how to best monetize and deliver that video while preserving a favorable user experience and protecting advertisers. At the same time, publishers have grown weary of the zero-sum game represented by pre- and post-roll video, which has little or no targeting capability.

ScanScout technology solves these challenges for advertisers and publishers, providing brand protection to ensure that advertisers' brand messages will only be seen alongside the most appropriate content while offering a new, incremental means for publishers to monetize their content, and best of all, making the experience for consumers a completely user-initiated one that adds value by serving only the most contextually relevant ad unit only when they self-select.

“Time Warner is arguably the single largest publisher in the world. As the owner of so many media assets and the driver of content to so many consumers, they are an ideally suited partner for us,” said Doug McFarland, ScanScout’s CEO. “We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to work with its numerous, premium properties and some of the savviest media professionals in the business.”

About Time Warner Investments

The Time Warner Investments group targets non-control strategic investments that have a clear impact on Time Warner's divisional operations and directly enhance the Company's ability to meet specific strategic goals. Time Warner Inc. is a leading media and entertainment company, whose businesses include interactive services, cable systems, filmed entertainment, television networks and publishing. For more information, please visit: http://www.timewarnerinvestments.com.

About General Catalyst Partners

General Catalyst Partners is a venture capital firm that invests in exceptional entrepreneurs who are building the technology-based companies that will lead innovation and transform industries. Founded in 2000, General Catalyst Partners leverages its principals' extensive operational, business development and technological expertise to provide portfolio companies with a catalyst for success through business-building and partnership development assistance. General Catalyst has approximately $1 billion under management and is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. For more information, please visit: http://www.generalcatalyst.com.

About ScanScout

ScanScout helps digital agencies and publishers maximize their video advertising opportunities by providing technology that delivers far more precise targeting, additional inventory and better results. ScanScout upends the established model of digital video delivery through its sophisticated technology that enables the right creative to be delivered at precisely the right time to the right consumer while also creating additional inventory for the publisher within and around their video content. ScanScout is headquartered in Boston, with offices in New York and San Francisco. For more information, please visit: www.scanscout.com.