• by Tameka Kee , November 2, 2007

Boston-based ScanScout has been granted initial Trademark protections for Brand Protector, a proprietary technology that scans online video content to determine if it is an appropriate match for an advertiser's brand.

Brand Protector is part of ScanScout's overall contextual video ad strategy. It analyzes video content using speech and visual recognition and the collection of metadata, then allows advertisers to de-select specific kinds of content and keywords so that their ads don't run in offending videos.

With the rapid expansion of online video (the majority of it user-generated), digital agencies like Deep Focus have made use of ScanScout's technology to achieve brand objectives--with the reduced risk of having the client be associated with offensive or just plain irrelevant content.

"While we know our audience is consuming user-generated media, the priority of our client's brand security has limited our efforts to date," said Eric Druckenmiller, media director, Deep Focus. "What ScanScout's Brand Protector technology enables is getting us significantly closer to a secure solution in this space."

Meanwhile, Handheld Entertainment (parent company of ZVUE Networks) recently inked a deal with ScanScout to serve overlay ads on the wealth of video clips on its network of sites like eBaum's World and YourDailyMedia.com--properties that attract a reported 24 million unique monthly visitors in aggregate.

Video blogging and podcasting service blip.tv also negotiated an ad-serving deal with ScanScout because "their Brand Protector technology helps give big brands the ability to safely reach the viewers of [our] shows," said Mike Hudack, the company's CEO. "When you're operating a service that allows anyone to upload content it's important to give advertisers the opportunity to pair their message with the best, and safest, content available."

According to Doug McFarland, ScanScout's CEO, the company is providing a service that even traditional broadcast TV producers can't offer--risk mitigation.

"If an automotive advertiser bought a certain daypart on the evening news, for example, and their spot followed news of a large pileup on the freeway, that was just part of the risk. What Brand Protector does is mitigate that risk, making the world of UGC and other digital media platforms for brand advertisers."

The company's application for Patent protection on the Brand Protector technology and process is now pending approval from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.