• by May 9, 2011

European video ad network Smartclip AG's 2-year-old U.S. operation -- which had competed against Tremor and YuMe -- has separated from its parent in a private transaction and received a round of venture capital funding. It has relaunched under the name of MediaBrix, with an exclusive focus on social media, and hired industry veteran Ari Brandt as CEO.

MediaBrix, "officially a new incorporated company," according to Brandt, now features a platform that enables brands and agencies to create, buy, optimize and measure video, display and mobile ads across Facebook, YouTube and other social media. "We're 100% focused in social," he stressed.

In its last few months, Brandt said, Smartclip had been doing more social media work. Clients who had already been using Smartclip's social media services and will continue with the new company include MTV, Shell, Arby's and Diageo's.

Brandt, who has been implementing the new direction behind the scenes for the past month, pointed to MediaBrix's tool called Pulse, which enables advertisers to connect directly to the Facebook API for ad management and the optimization of "thousands of combinations" for campaigns.

Noting recent news about Facebook "currency" being awarded to users who watch video ads, Brandt said MediaBrix will offer "guaranteed completed video views."

Brandt was most recently CEO of ad technology company Linkstorm. Prior to that, he was head of digital for Conde Nast Business Media, where he helped launch Portfolio.com. Earlier, he had been director of ad solutions for Yahoo Media Group and also held management roles at SmartMoney.com and DoubleClick.

Jay Drago, Smartclip USA's COO who had served as acting CEO since last July, retains his COO title in the new MediaBrix operation. The company is also carrying over Smartclip's staff of 10, a number Brandt said he expects to double by year's end.

At Linkstorm, founder David Sidman has resumed the CEO position he relinquished to Brandt in 2009.