BuzzLogic Secures $8.8 Million, Adds New Ad Format

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Blog ad network BuzzLogic Tuesday announced an $8.8 million venture funding round and the rollout of a new custom ad unit geared to driving social media engagement around a brand or promotion.

Leading BuzzLogic's second-round financing is Adams Capital Management with Ackerley Partners, another prior investor, also participating. The latest round brings the total raised by BuzzLogic to more than $20 million. The new capital will be used to expand the San Francisco-based company's sales force and invest in new product development under newly hired Chief Technology Officer John Donahue. Donahue, who joined BuzzLogic this month, was previously global director of clients solutions at Omnicom Media Group.

The new BuzzRoll display ad format introduced today is aimed at encouraging blog readers to interact with and share everything from company blog content and Twitter feeds to video and Facebook applications. "It's a rich media solution designed to be very engaging, interactive and viral," said Peter O'Sullivan, vice president of sales at BuzzLogic, which had a potential reach of 76.3 million unique users in June, according to comScore.

Most of the ads in BuzzLogic's network run across 20,000 blogs, and are selected based on their editorial quality and influence as well as being brand-safe. The company also connects advertisers with bloggers through third-party networks such as Edify, Google Ad Sense and Bloats.

While O'Sullivan acknowledges that other ad companies have previously launched their own social media-centric ad units, he argues that BuzzLogic's targeting technology is what sets the BuzzRoll apart from competitors' offerings. "It really understands where to place that unit within the conversation that makes this different from what's out there," he said.

As an example, he mentioned a consumer packaged goods brand running an ad targeted at moms that features interactive recipes that will appear around conversations where people might be discussing planning a dinner party or favorite recipes.

BuzzLogic says the new BuzzRoll format has already shown results, with advertisers such as cable channel CMT seeing video engagement with rates two to three times higher than industry averages (benchmarked against DoubleClick rich media ads) in beta testing. CMT used the video-focused ad to help promote a new TV series.

Advertisers can track performance of BuzzRoll campaigns across the network via its analytics dashboard to learn which sites generate the highest interaction rates and track sharing activity on platforms including Facebook, Twitter and email. O'Sullivan said advertisers in CPG, entertainment and technology have shown particular interest in the new unit so far.

 

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