• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, January 14, 2008

Online video ad network Tremor Media has raised $11 million in a second-round venture financing led by Canaan Partners and Masthead Venture Partners. The funding brings Tremor's total investment to date to $19.4 million.

The company plans to use the fresh capital to increase ad sales staff, enhance its technology and expand internationally. "During the next two quarters we'll introduce new features and products and focus on our main goal of making it very easy for publishers to accept our [video ad] campaigns to maximize their revenue," said Tremor CEO Jason Glickman.

Glickman also said the company will also use the funding to expand operations to Europe in 2008, although it has not yet settled on specific markets to pursue.

Tremor's network now spans several hundred advertisers and almost a thousand Web publishers, Glickman said. With its video advertising platform, the company focuses on mid-tier sites--those between top Web destinations such as ESPN.com or WSJ.com and your neighbor's video blog.

Blue-chip marketers including Dell, Circuit City and American Express typically use Tremor to adapt their television spots for the Web. During the last year, online video inventory has more than doubled--pushing down CPMs by about 10%, Glickman said. That translates to rates roughly in the $15 to $20 range for targeted video ads and somewhat less for run-of-network placements.

In the last year, Tremor's video inventory has also expanded rapidly beyond entertainment sites to narrower categories including travel, health and finance. "Once you get into more specific areas, that's where CPMs really start to climb," Glickman said.