FierceOnlineVideo Leaders - Amir Ashkenazi, CEO Adap.tv

FierceOnlineVideo got a chance to catch up with Adap.tv CEO Amir Ashkenazi on the heels of the company's announcements of an upgraded ad management platform and new management team additions. 

FierceOV: What were some highlights of the last year for Adap.tv, Amir? 

Ashkenazi: Our focus all year was building the best online video ad management platform, and I think we achieved that with the launch last year of OneSource 1.0 and this year's upgrade to OneSource 2.0. We added hundreds of publishers and advertising networks as partners, which was also very meaningful as we grow. Our traffic grew 10x, and we hit that point that you love to see as an entrepreneur; when you see that you can stop pushing out into the market as much, because people are pulling at your offering because you've identified a market need. 

FierceOV: Adap.tv closed a significant Series B round of funding in September 2008.  What are your plans for the investment? 

Ashkenazi: I have a grand vision and ambitious plans for the company by serving the needs of publishers who have found it confusing and expensive to monetize their online video content. We want to continue to expand our international footprint through partnerships; currently, we are monetizing streams with partners in 71 countries. We also want to use the capital to expand our service organizations and improve our technology. 

FierceOV: Adap.tv recently released the new version of its ad management platform, OneSource2.0.  What are the most important additions or improvements in the new platform? 

Ashkenazi: We've added significant improvements to the way publishers can fill ad inventory with our fail-over system. We've also made it as easy as copying and pasting code into the system for publishers to connect to ad networks. It's simpler for publishers to allocate resources and maximize monetization of inventory now with OneSource2.0. 

FierceOV: You recently announced the addition of Eric Lan to the management team as VP of engineering. What does this hire mean for the company? 

Ashkenazi: We're so fortunate to have such an experienced person on board on the management team. Adding Eric to the team has helped us meet the vision for the company. I can envision the product roadmap for 10 years, but without the engineering it will never happen. We've already seeing the impact of hiring Eric and he's substantially improved our ability to meet our vision faster.

FierceOV: What are some of the biggest roadblocks you see to Adap.tv's success in 2009? 

Ashkenazi: Obviously the economy is a roadblock in 2009, as our publishers are cutting their operational budgets. But they want to make more money while doing so, and many see our services as a cost-effective way to generate revenue. Another roadblock I see is that video consumption is growing faster than ad spend, so selling through could become an issue for some of our publishers. 

FierceOV: Where would you like to see your company one year from now? 

Ashkenazi: I'll take another year like 2008, with significant growth in product offerings and partnerships. That aside, I think that downturns create the ability to build a great business, so I would like to use this economic slowdown to grow Adap.tv and deliver value. All told, I want to create the best online video ad management platform in the business. Doing it in a year would be nice. 

FierceOV: What do you think 2009 holds for online video advertising? 

Ashkenazi: I think that even more than one year, in five years all video advertising will be online video advertising. You're already seeing TVs getting connected (to the Internet), which presents new capabilities and complexities for the advertising industry. The industry is still catching up with the online video revolution, but I think 2009 will a year the gap closes significantly. In 2007 and 2008 we saw a lot of experimentation, but everyone is still waiting for the big money to come. There were so many operational hurdles that have since been cleared, the industry is starting to mature, and some of the friction has been removed. If you look at the growth of consumption of online video, I don't think you can be anything but optimistic for 2009.