RTHM.L Regulatory News (RTHM)

26 Feb 2008 07:01

Blinkx Plc26 February 2008 blinkx and Denuo Group Partner to Improve Online Video Ads Joint effort will seek to better understand new opportunities, challenges for relevance and delivery SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. and CHICAGO, ILL. - February 26, 2008 - blinkx, theworld's largest video search engine, and Denuo, the media futures practice ofmarketing services holding company Publicis Groupe, S.A., today announced thatthey are partnering to explore and create best practices for improvingadvertising and marketing tied to online video. Under the terms of the agreement, blinkx and Denuo will collaborate on projectsfor better understanding how the industry can increasingly deliver effectiveonline video advertising campaigns that map to the right audience, are deliveredin the right context, and in the most appropriate form. Future plannedinitiatives will be announced at a later date. Denuo is part of the PublicisGroupe, the world's fourth largest communications company and its second largestmedia strategy and buying group. In a recent report, Forrester Research predicts that the online videoadvertising market will reach $7.2 billion by 2012. "The explosion of onlinevideo presents a new paradigm for advertisers with unique challenges andtremendous opportunities," said Tim Hanlon, Denuo executive vice president. "With it comes an even greater technical challenge for connecting with audiencesin ways that are contextually relevant and respectfully delivered- which is whywe are excited to partner with blinkx." "Recent statistics from ComScore suggest that 75% of U.S. users have watchedonline videos. Now the Internet and your TV are beginning to come together, andmedia companies of all sizes are well aware of the huge opportunity fordistributing their video assets online, and many are looking to us for answersabout not just search but also delivering relevant advertising," said SurangaChandratillake, founder and CEO of blinkx, which will introduce its ownbroadband TV offering later this year. "By partnering with one of theadvertising industry's top thought leaders in Denuo, we hope to collectivelybetter understand this explosion of online video - and how companies can betterconnect with their users and key audiences via the use of smarter technology." As the pioneer in video search technology, blinkx serves more than 50 millionunique visitors every month. blinkx has built a reputation as the smartest wayto search new forms of online content such as video. With more than 220 partnersand 18 million hours of indexed video and audio content, including favorite TVmoments, news clips, short documentaries, music videos, video blogs and more,blinkx uses advanced speech recognition technology to deliver results that aremore accurate and reliable than standard metadata-based keyword searches. About blinkx blinkx plc (LSE AIM: BLNX) is the world's most comprehensive video searchengine. Today, blinkx has indexed more than 18 million hours of audio, video,viral and TV content, and made it fully searchable and available on demand.blinkx's founders set out to solve a significant challenge - as TV anduser-generated content on the Web explode, keyword-based search technologiesonly scratch the surface. blinkx's patented search technologies listen to - andeven see - the Web, helping users enjoy a breadth and accuracy of search resultsnot available elsewhere. In addition, blinkx powers the video search for many ofthe world's most frequented sites. blinkx is based in San Francisco and London.More information is available at www.blinkx.com. About Denuo Denuo is the media futures unit of Publicis Groupe, S.A. (Euronext Paris:FR0000130577) is the world's fourth largest communications group, and a globalleader in digital and online advertising, media consulting, and healthcarecommunications. With some 42,000 professionals in 104 countries, the Groupe'sactivities cover advertising, through three global advertising networks: LeoBurnett, Publicis, Saatchi & Saatchi, as well as through its two multi-hubnetworks Fallon Worldwide and 49%-owned Bartle Bogle Hegarty; media agencieswith two worldwide networks ZenithOptimedia and Starcom MediaVest Group; andmarketing services, including digital and interactive communications throughDigitas; relationship and direct marketing, public and media relations,corporate and financial communications, multicultural communications, and eventcommunications. The Groupe is also the world leader in healthcarecommunications. blinkx Press Contacts: Tim Turpin Sparkpr +1 (415) 321 1894 tturpin@sparkpr.com Clare Gayner Bite Communications +44 (0)20 8834 3454 Clare.Gayner@bitepr.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange