• by Shankar Gupta , April 18, 2006

With a deal with MSN Video under its belt, Lightningcast, a video advertising technology firm, is set to deliver in-stream video ads to the site's 9.4 million monthly unique visitors. But rather than focus only on broadband or Internet video advertising, Lightningcast's technology platform is aimed at video delivered over Internet Protocol, which means more than just broadband video.

"We've been focused for five years on the complexities of delivering advertising into IP video. For us, that means broadband, that means wireless, that means podcasting, that means IP/TV, it means the digital home," says Tom MacIsaac, Lightningcast CEO. The idea is to provide advertisers and publishers with an advertising platform that encompasses all digital media. Aside from Internet video portals, Lightningcast is in talks with mobile providers and digital media center designers to incorporate its ad platform into emerging video-over-IP technologies.

The Lightningcast platform, in addition to simply serving video ads into broadband video, can also remove existing ads in live feeds from TV stations, replacing them with other advertisers' spots. The platform also features targeting controls. "Our system can target by content, by demography, by format, or by media player," MacIsaac says, adding that it can target "to regions within a video player if a video player is presenting multiple screens. We can also manage unique demographic data or behavioral data if our customers have that data on their user base."

Lightningcast counts AOL, ABC News, MTV, and Scripps Networks among its customers.