Automated Product Placement is the next big thing in Advertising.

SAN FRANCISCO (Business 2.0 Magazine) — The Disruptor: NextMedium

The Innovation: Automated product placement in movies and TV shows through an online exchange

Hollywood hero: Watt has Tinseltown buzzing with his startup’s system for matching marketers with producers.

The Disrupted: The 30-second spot, producers of TV commercials, and advertising agencies

In a story in our last issue (“The 20 Smartest Companies to Start Now,” September), we noted that VCs would line up to fund anyone who could create an online marketplace that automates the sale of product placement for Hollywood studios. We were onto something: NextMedium is just such a startup, and it’s turning heads in Silicon Valley and Tinseltown alike.

Founded by former North Carolina venture capitalist Hamet Watt, NextMedium arose in response to a problem bedeviling entertainment companies. The value of the mainstay 30-second TV spot is eroding. The roughly $50 billion spent last year on TV ads is at risk because of the advent of commercial-skipping digital video recorders, as well as the lure of the Internet and videogames. David Cowan of Bessemer Venture Partners wants to take advantage of all this turmoil. “We see technology playing a role to enable new business models to displace the market that previously existed for the 30-second spot,” says Cowan, who has invested in NextMedium.

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