• by OMMA Magazine Writers , June 1, 2007

Doug McFarland has over 22 years of experience in the media business, with more than ten in executive positions within interactive media. He joined video advertising startup ScanScout earlier this year as chief executive officer.

Most recently, he was executive vice president and general manager of Eyeblaster, North America. Starting in 2002, he spent two years as vice president and general manager at Advertising.com after serving as president of then-Jupiter Media Metrix (where he began as senior vice president of Media Metrix). Prior to joining Media Metrix in early 1997, he was executive vice president and general manager of FreeMark Communications, Inc., and was a partner and senior vice president of marketing and business development at Next Century Media, Inc. McFarland started his media career at Arbitron, where he spent 10 years, becoming vice president for sales and marketing. He lives in New York City.

What does ScanScout do and what is its mission?

> What Google does with contextual text-based search advertising, we do with video. ScanScout offers an ad-serving platform that analyzes video content using speech and visual recognition technology as well as metadata. The technology then serves ads to consumers based on what they've chosen to watch, and allows them to decide whether they want to see the ads.

ScanScout's technology creates new inventory alongside and within the video content, creating new revenue streams for publishers.

How do you see online video advertising evolving over the next few years and how does ScanScout fit into that picture?

> Despite the fact that an increasing number of high-demographic consumers spend more time online than watching television, the way that video is tagged and served online today has not caught up to digital technology. And as the technology advances, consumers will be able to find messages they're interested in without forcing things on them that have little relevance. In terms of pre-roll and post-roll video ads - I don't want to say that it's a broken model, but it's not as appropriate for this medium. In this medium, the consumer is in control.

What's the biggest hurdle ScanScout's model faces? Is it a shortage of video inventory?

>I think there's quite a bit of video available already and you're going to see a lot more over the next 18 to 36 months. I really applaud agencies like Publicis that are creating new production houses focused on digital video. For us right now, the biggest impediment to our business is time -- time that we can get out and talk to people about what we doing and to get out and take all meetings we need to.

What is the company's business model?

>We launched with a performance model in place. Marketers pay each time their video creative is viewed by consumers. There's a minimum flat fee that works out to 50 cents -- more or less -- per click. We don't get paid until someone clicks on an ad. ScanScout splits these fees with publishers, creating an incremental revenue stream for them. I believe that far too many companies make their business model inordinately complex and too difficult for clients to understand.

We're also building different models that will accommodate marketers' needs, including a market exchange opportunity, through which marketers will be able to bid for placement, targeting consumers' behaviors, different kinds of content, and other options.

If you weren't in your present position, what would you most like to do?

>I've been fortunate to be the owner of an art gallery focusing on emerging European artists in lower Manhattan for some time, and if it weren't for ScanScout, I would certainly be more focused on that. I've always had a passion for art and it's something I got involved with a number of years ago. I love both the aesthetic and business sense of the art world.