AngelPrime, a seed stage venture capital fund has invested $500,000 (Rs 3.1 crore) in Vidgyor, a startup that provides a targeted video advertising platform for Internet TV.
The Bengaluru-based startup enables broadcasters to monetise live TV streaming on the internet by replacing standard advertisements with personalised video ads. It will use the funds to expand its target user base, increase marketing efforts and further improve the technology.
“We have already signed up with leading broadcasters and aim to achieve a positive growth in the near future,” said Mahaboob Khan, cofounder of Vidgyor.
An alumnus of Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, Khan cofounded the firm a year back along with Parth Desai. Khan and Desai worked together at online video streaming startup iStream that was forced to down shutters in May 2013 after investors declined to provide more capital.
The are duo are betting on personalized advertising for live TV over internet which has largely been an untapped market in the country. Internet TV is gaining popularity in India with many viewers watching live news and television. The proliferation of mobile devices, availability of low–cost internet and changing lifestyles has fueled the growth of Internet TV in the country. The Indian diaspora is also a huge market for the broadcasters with people wanting to stay connected with their country and its TV channels.
However Internet TV features the same ads, which run on broadcast TV. The video publishers are unable to monetise live TV streams delivered over internet, as the advertiser has not paid for showing them online. On the other hand, advertisers are unable to reach out to the online audience who prefer watching TV over Internet through a mobile device.
“ Vidgyor aims to help them address this effectively,” said Bala Parthasarathy, managing partner at AngelPrime.
Vidgyor which started a year back enables broadcasters and content distributors monetize live TV streams delivered over internet by auto-detecting original broadcast TV ads. It then replaces them with different set of targeted ads.
“Vidgyor’s innovative solution has enabled IndiaTV to generate revenue from our live television streams,” said Anushrav Gulati, vice president for digital IndiaTV. “We are exploring synergies to use the solution with our global content distributors.”
