SAY Media

Say Media (formerly VideoEgg) is a technology and advertising firm. The company provides a publishing platform (Tempest) to professional publishers and sells advertising across that platform and extended network of sites. Say Media has offices in San Francisco, Portland, NY, London, Montreal, Toronto, Chicago and Detroit and is privately held.

VideoEgg logo

History
videoegg mascot from company headquarters in San Francisco

Say Media was formed when VideoEgg (a video advertising company) bought Six Apart (a technology company that created Moveable Type and TypePad). VideoEgg was founded in early 2005 when Yale University graduates David Lerman, Matt Sanchez and Kevin Sladek were making video software. At the time, the three were involved in a social venture that was matching non-profit organizations that needed public service announcements with a nationwide network of filmmakers who would make videos with their digital cameras and desktop editing packages.[1][2]

The three soon encountered a lack of simple, foolproof tools for people to put videos on the web from the diverse range of devices, editors, encoders, and players, people owned. They began to create tools to manage web video.

As their business matured they began to focus on monetization, they found an opportunity in video advertising in online video and online social networking services. In May, 2008 the company officially discontinued video hosting services to focus entirely on its online advertising network.[3]

In June 2008, VideoEgg and one of its partner websites, hi5, were sued in the United States by EMI recording labels and music publishers. The plaintiffs alleged that the services are liable for copyright infringement due to videos uploaded by hi5 users through the VideoEgg application, and sought injunctions against the allegedly infringing activity.[4]

VideoEgg acquired Six Apart in 2010, and renamed itself Say Media.[5] It sold Movable Type and the Six Apart name to Infocom, a Japanese information technology company; Say Media retained TypePad.[6][7] As a result of this transaction, the headquarters of Six Apart is now Tokyo, Japan.[8]

Say Media acquired the websites Dogster & Catster, ReadWriteWeb, and Remodelista over the past several years.[9][10][11] It also launched xoJane, with editor Jane Pratt, xoVain, its beauty-centric counterpart, and Gardenista, a sister site of Remodelista. In 2013, the company decided to divest these assets to focus on their platform (Tempest) and advertising operations. Say Media subsequently sold Dogster & Catster, ReadWriteWeb, Remodelista and Gardenista, which as of early 2015 all operate independently or under new ownership.

Funding

Say Media is a privately owned company. As of 2010, VideoEgg had conducted four rounds of funding, raising over $30 million. Investors include First Round Capital, WPP Group, August Capital, Focus Ventures and Maveron.[12][13][14]

Products and services

The company currently builds, maintains and provides Tempest, a publishing platform, to professional publishers in exchange for managing their unsold inventory. As of 10/2016, 50 sites including Maxim, Rachael Ray, Climbing, Bio, and Fashionista were using the platform. Say's in-house design team (located in Portland, Oregon) creates display ad units and the custom overlay using advertiser's creative assets.[15]

In July 2008, VideoEgg announced several new capabilities to their ad network. These include offering advertisers increased ad features and functionalities, such as:

  • Real-time RSS feeds to continually update the ad experience
  • Zip code-specific messaging
  • Rich multi-video ad experience to increase user interactivity
  • Merchandising multiple items in a single real-time ad experience
  • Viral capabilities to help spread the message through virtually any communication or social channel [16]

Publishers are able to integrate VideoEgg's AdPlatform. VideoEgg then serves the ads, which are designed to fit in any space and publishers receive payment every time a user engages with one of the VideoEgg ad units on the publisher's site.

Trademark

The company successfully filed a lawsuit for trademark infringement against an Israeli company (associated with the Komodia library) also calling itself Say Media. That company has since changed names.

gollark: Neglected Trophy, Prize Trophy, Nocturne Trophy?
gollark: Also, gold lunar heralds coming Soon™.
gollark: Records on DC itself? Why's that bad?
gollark: TJ09 should really build the record stuff into the site itsēlf.
gollark: Spooooooooooooooooky.

References
  1. About.com, September 19, 2005.
  2. TechCrunch, September 21, 2005.
  3. VideoEgg Gets Rid of hosting, To Focus on Ad Network, March 3, 2008
  4. Complaint for Direct, Contributory, and Vicarious Copyright Infringement, Misappropriation, and Unfair Competition, Capitol Records, LLC v. VideoEgg, Inc., 611 F. Supp. 2d 349 (United States District Court for the Southern District of New York 2009) (No. 08 CV 5831).
  5. VideoEgg Will Acquire Six Apart And Rename Itself SAY Media
  6. "Six Apart Japan to be acquired by Infocom and assume responsibility for Movable Type and Six Apart brand".
  7. "Movable Type Finds a New Home at Infocom". Archived from the original on 2012-01-19.
  8. "Six Apart Contact Us page".
  9. Say Media Acquires Dogster (And Has More Acquisitions In The Works)
  10. http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/readwriteweb_acquired_by_say_media.php
  11. SAY Media Continues Acquisition Spree, Buys Home Design Website Remodelista
  12. "VideoEgg Gets a Jolt of VC", Business Week, September 27, 2006.
  13. "VideoEgg Receives $12 Million in Funding From Maveron, August Capital, and First Round Capital". redOrbit. VideoEgg. PR Newswire. 28 September 2006.
  14. "WPP acquires stake in VideoEgg, US-based video advertising specialists", WPP press release, April 16, 2007.
  15. AdFrames.
  16. VideoEgg Launches New Video Ad Units, July 9, 2008,
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