Tremor Media Announces HTML5 Support

JasonGlickman

Expanding its push into the mobile space, video ad network Tremor Media said Tuesday it will offer HTML5 support for its interactive video ad units.

The HTML5 format for publishing and delivering ad-supported Web video has been championed in particular by Apple Inc. as an alternative to the Adobe's pervasive Flash technology. The company has all but banned the use of Flash on the iPhone, iPad and other Apple devices on the grounds that the latest version of the HTML programming language provides superior performance and reliability.

To that end, Tremor will launch HTML5-compatible formats initially for the iPad before expanding the service to other devices including the iPhone and Android-based mobile phones by year's end. "With the introduction of the Apple iPad, publishers have a new mobile platform in which to reach a highly engaged audience," said Charles Parra, vice president of product management for Tremor.

With the move, the New York-based company will extend HTML5 support through its flagship Acudeo platform, which powers in-stream video advertising for some 2,000 Web publishers.

Tremor is also working closely with long-standing partner Brightcove to ensure that its HTML5 formats can be easily integrated by the Web video provider's clients. "By working closely with partners like Brightcove, we continue to provide our advertisers with the most engaging ad opportunities across any device, and our publishers with the best solution to monetize their mobile video content," said Tremor CEO Jason Glickman.

Brightcove is among various online video and mobile companies that announced support for the HTML5 standard earlier this year in connection with the launch of the iPad this spring. The emerging video format got a big boost at the start of the year when Google added HTML5 support for playback of YouTube videos. Mobile ad networks such as JumpTap and Greystripe have also gotten on the HTML5 bandwagon.

While other networks may serve HTML5-based ads, Parra argued that Tremor's existing Acudeo platform would offer a greater ability to track campaigns and provide ad verification to publishers, advertisers and agencies. In addition to standard pre-roll units, HTML5 support will extend to more advanced formats including its vChoice & vChoice iRoll units that give users more control over the types of ads they see.

Tremor ranked as the second-largest online video property behind Hulu in July based on the number of in-stream ads served, with nearly 452 million -- reaching 19% of the U.S. population, according to comScore.

In April, Tremor raised an additional $40 million in venture funding, bringing its total to $82 million. Given that war chest, Glickman indicated the company is not ruling out a potential acquisition to accelerate its move into mobile video advertising. "We see mobile as a big deal in the years to come," he said.

2 comments about "Tremor Media Announces HTML5 Support ".
Check to receive email when comments are posted.
  1. Roland Smart, August 24, 2010 at 11:49 a.m.

    Hey Mark, great article. You may also be interested in Sprout's ad creation platform that authors in Flash and HTML5 simultaneously. You can watch a demo here: http://bit.ly/dz3LkR

  2. Anthony Ellertson from University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, August 24, 2010 at 12:06 p.m.

    This is good for Web standards, but HTML5 still isn't completed and it it still relies on Javascript for its logic which is slow and not a true object-oriented language. It seems to me that the real story with all of this is not Tremor's adoption of a particular standard but rather the challenge that is increasingly being faced by browser-based technologies. Wired's latest article on the death of the Web is pointing out something that developers have seen for awhile (and which digital advertisers are currently dealing with right now as they try to meet their customer's needs)--namely that the native client technologies seem to be leading the way for mobile development. Even Apple really isn't that excited about HTML5--they want you to develop with Objective C and download your apps from the store. Adobe with AIR and now Flash 10.1 is moving in the direction of running the player both in and out of the browser on a device specific basis. I think there is a good chance that Adobe and Google are going to marry up Google's Native Client technologies with the Flash platform. Google already baked the Flash player into Chrome.

Next story loading loading..