Long Quest for Addressable Ads Moves Forward
New Patents for Invidi, Company Backed by Google and Group M
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Invidi Technologies Corp. said it has been awarded a number of patents that give it the ability to license to others technology that delivers specific ads to particular households or viewers, as well as ascertains the response of the viewers who see them.
It's a sign that the long, sometimes grinding quest to deliver so-called addressable advertising is moving forward.
"Our technology is not limited to just cable television," said Bruce Andeson, chief technology officer at Invidi. "The patent is broad enough to encompass video on cellphones to regular television viewing to viewing on your computer." No matter how video is viewed in the future, he suggested, "the intellectual property would come into play."
The quest to make addressable advertising available for mass marketers has been glacial in its progress, but Invidi's patents suggest the infrastructure for a marketplace in the technology is gradually starting to form. Other entities also help marketers tweak ads for specific audiences, whether they are centered around a geographic location or age or gender demographic. But because delivering such advertising hinges on having a set-top box as the final link to the consumer, and because most cable, satellite and telecommunications video systems are built differently from one another, it has been difficult to assemble an efficient way for, say, Procter & Gamble to reach the millions of diaper consumers it needs.
Over time, said David Downey, president-CEO of Invidi, the company hopes to "target every potential view of every potential [commercial] break."
Google recently took a stake in the company, joining WPP's Group M on the roster of investors. Experian, a company that helps analyze consumer habits and purchases, also took a stake in Invidi late last month and formed a partnership under which the two will help advertisers measure the effects of television ad campaigns, among other efforts.
One adviser to the company believes the patents could prompt big TV-industry players, such as cable-service providers, to adopt Invidi's technology as part of their efforts to make addressable advertising available to marketers.
"The Comcasts of the world are so powerful, they don't really let startups flourish in their space," said Tracey Scheppach, senior VP-innovations director at Publicis Groupe's SMGX. "It seems to me the only way you can be taken seriously is to go after the patent protection." Satellite providers are already making addressable ads available in wider fashion, she added, so the big cable providers have some motivation for looking more deeply into addressable possibilities. "That's going to force the hand of the rest of the ecosystem, she said.
Invidi already licenses intellectual property to customers and partners, said Mr. Downey, and the company is "willing to consider license arrangements with other industry players under the right circumstances."
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Invidi Looks To License Patents For Addressable TV Ads
Firm Considers Licensing Deals For Recently Issued Patents
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News
Invidi Technologies said it will consider engaging in licensing agreements for two recently issued U.S. patents, which, according to the company, cover key aspects of its system for delivering addressable TV advertising.
As part of Invidi's distribution deals, "we license our intellectual property to our customers and technology partners and are willing to consider license arrangements with other industry players under the right circumstances," Invidi president and CEO David Downey said in a statement.
Invidi declined to comment on whether it plans to pursue litigation to defend the patents.
The New York-based company's customers include DirecTV and Dish Network, which intend to deliver targeted ads to subscribers by delivering different spots to their DVRs. Verizon Communications also is using Invidi's system to deliver ads at a zone level.
On June 1, 2010, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Invidi U.S. Patent No. 7,730,509, titled "Asset Delivery Reporting in a Broadcast Network." The patent covers the delivery of content that is targeted to users of a broadcast network based on signals from customer-premises equipment and selected from a collection of available asset options.
Another patent, No. 7,698,236, granted April 10, 2010, titled "Fuzzy Logic Based Viewer Identification for Targeted Asset Delivery System," covers certain "machine learning functionality" whereby data inputs from a current network user can be used to refine the selection of which targeted advertisement should be delivered to that user.
Invidi also holds Patent No. 7,546,619, granted June 9, 2009, titled "Voting and Headend Insertion Model for Targeting Content in a Broadcast Network," which covers a selection process for the delivery of targeted content based on parameters such as age, gender, income, locale and personal interest.
In addition, the company in 1996 and 1997 was granted Patent Nos. 5,515,098 and 5,661,516 (a continuation of the ‘098 patent) titled "System and Method for Selectively Distributing Commercial Messages over a Communications Network," covering household targeting and addressing advertisements to a subscriber terminal based on household data associated with the terminal.
Invidi's investors include Google, Experian, Motorola and WPP's GroupM.
