Video search engine Blinkx has introduced its Web channels for specialised ads targeted at special interest groups.
Blinkx is hoping the move will boost its revenue by selling premium-rate ads aimed at niche target groups identified via chatrooms and other links.
Blinkx acquired online ad network Burst Media in April for nearly $30m to increase its impact in advertising sector.
The company has an advertising business that works to match relevant video ads to online content and users.
The channels will connect nearly 16 million users with common interests visiting different UK sites.
It added that the first four channels proposed by the company — Giant Realm, MumIQ, Ignition, and Ella – is targeted at male video-gamers, women with children at home, car enthusiasts and young women interested in fashion respectively.
The company targets small publishers for data on user behaviour.
Founder and chief executive Suranga Chandratillake said, “These independent publishers are real influencers. They are relatively small on a one-off basis, not like the BBC or ESPN … but particularly resonant for particular audiences,” he said. “They have a two-way relationship with their audience.”
Jessica McGranahan, Burst Media’s head of publisher strategy and development, said: “The reason why the independent web is so powerful is that the audience is loyal. The publishers that we work with, they know their audiences.”
