• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, March 1, 2010

Online video network BBE -- formerly Broadband Enterprises -- on Monday announced plans to spin off its Vindico ad insertion and tracking platform as a separate and distinct division. The new Vindico Group unit will be headed up by Matt Timothy, who most recently served as EVP of Platform and Delivery at BBE.

"The power of online video isn't just the audiences it reaches and how it reaches them," said Timothy. "Its strength also derives from its ability to track ad campaigns and to precisely measure their effectiveness."

BBE debuted its Vindico product back in mid-2007 to compete directly with services offered by DoubleClick and aQuantive's ad technology unit Atlas. Since then, Vindico has provided advertisers and their agencies with control over the deployment, assignment, and scheduling of both video and banner ads across broadband networks -- including one operated by BBE -- enabling advertisers to self-manage their campaigns down to the site and individual file level.

Last April, Online Media Daily broke the news that BBE was losing its president, Danny Fishman. In turn, Timothy took on more responsibility for technology sales, including building on BBE's network of Web sites and Vindico.

Prior to joining BBE late-2008, Timothy cofounded Funnel Networks, a media analytics company that focused exclusively on the effectiveness of pharmaceutical advertising.

Notably, Vindico Group participated in VivaKi's Pool initiative -- a highly collaborative effort to develop a more consumer-friendly replacement for the standard pre-roll ad unit. In its first wave of research, several online video industry leaders worked together to name The Ad Selector -- a new advertising format for online video.

BBE claims over 200 brand partners, including SC Johnson, Coke, McDonald's, AOL and Toyota -- many of which are participating in the original content realm. AOL, for one, paid over $1.5 million to sponsor one of BBE's original Web-based programs last year.