• by Tameka Kee , September 10, 2007

Contextual in-video ad firm ScanScout has snagged a major investment from Time Warner Inc. and has added executives from Time Warner and Digitas to its Board of Directors.

Meanwhile, online video production firm TurnHere has expanded distribution of its BookVideos.tv channel, syndicating original content to over a dozen new properties. The two announcements underscore the sustained advertiser and publisher interest in ways to effectively monetize online video.

Boston-based ScanScout secured a strategic investment (with the buzz alluding to seven figures) from Time Warner Investments, a division of the media giant that pumps capital into companies with products and services that can directly impact Time Warner's bottom line in various divisions.

According to Rachel Lam, senior vice president for Time Warner Investments, ScanScout's proprietary Brand Protector technology and ad model made the firm a "compelling" partner for Time Warner. "With video becoming an ever more prominent part of content strategies on destination sites, we see ScanScout and their contextual, in-stream advertising capabilities positioning them extremely well to address both advertiser and publisher needs," Lam says.

Lam joins ScanScout's newly formed Board of Directors as a Board Observer as part of the investment, while Digitas COO Jim Rossman signs on as an independent member. Rossman says ScanScout's contextual advertising solution "better aligns advertising messages with consumer preferences," making it a potential leader in the online video space.

For Emeryville, Calif.-based TurnHere, the expansion comes on the distribution side with 13 new Web properties signed on to stream original content like author interviews and live readings via the BookVideos.tv channel.

TurnHere produces the videos as a form of advertorial promotion for CBS' Simon & Schuster publishing arm. Properties like E-commerce site Buy.com, video social networks like Veoh and blip.tv, and video search engine Blinkx will syndicate the content. The company's distribution network now includes major Web portals YouTube, Yahoo and AOL.

As part of the distribution announcement, TurnHere also is launching an upgraded video player widget, further increasing potential user exposure to the BookVideos.tv content.