Written by Liz Gannes
Posted Sunday, October 14, 2007 at 9:00 PM PT

 

BlackArrow Brings Web Mojo to Cable Ops

Web alternatives, video-on-demand, and DVRs are increasingly moving in on the bottom lines of cable companies — and they’re feeling the crunch. Enter BlackArrow, a startup with offices in San Mateo, Calif. and New York City that’s been working in the wings to steal back some of that web mojo for the cable operators. Today it’s coming out of stealth mode to launch its multiplatform ad management system, one that’s already well on its way to being integrated with systems including Cisco’s Scientific Atlanta (CSCO).

“In this new world, there’s no time slots — now they’ve got to sell this as targeted advertising, and build a CPM-like rate card,” said BlackArrow CEO Dean Denhart, who joined the company in April, in an interview with NewTeeVee last week. “It’s a clash of the web sales model with traditional television. It does require them to think differently, but it’s still a TV relationship-based approach.”

BlackArrow’s platform manages, delivers, and measures targeted advertising across broadband, VOD, and eventually DVR platforms. Its customers are both cable operators and content owners, though none have been announced publicly yet. The two-and-a-half-year-old company has $17 million in funding from Cisco, Comcast Interactive Capital (CMCSA), Intel (INTC), Mayfield Fund, and Polaris Venture Partners.

Sooner or later BlackArrow is going to end up competing with Google (GOOG). The web giant has a similar system for television companies and satellite broadcasters, part of its master plan to build a single platform for all advertising.

BlackArrow has 35 employees, including Denhart and Sharon Mandell, who at various times both served as CTO of Knight Ridder Digital, and Patrick Carter, also previously on the tech side at Knight Ridder Digital. Mandell and Carter will lead technology and operations, respectively. The company recently added Chris Hock, well-known for his work as VP of product management for Flash at Adobe (ADBE); Larry Kramer, founder of MarketWatch.com and formerly president of CBS (CBS) Digital, serves on the company’s board.

We first wrote about BlackArrow after coming across its cryptic landing page earlier this year.

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Comments & Trackbacks

  1. [...] by Om Malik Sunday, October 14, 2007 at 9:39 PM PT | No comments BlackArrow, a San Mateo-based start-up is bringing web inspired ad management system that will help [...]

    BlackArrow Brings Web Style Ad-Management To Cable « GigaOM on October 14th, 2007 at 9:39 pm - Permalink

  2. [...] BlackArrow, a San Mateo-based start-up is bringing web inspired ad management system that will help large cable operators like to better monetize their ad-inventories and goose up their revenues. The stealth mode company has also announced $17 million in new venture capital money from Cisco Systems (CSCO), Comcast (CMCSA) and Intel Capital (INTC). Existing investors, Polaris Ventures and Mayfield Fund also invested in this round. Further details at NewTeeVee.com [...]

    Business News Research » BlackArrow Brings Web Style Ad-Management To Cable « GigaOM on October 15th, 2007 at 1:17 am - Permalink

  3. [...] BlackArrow Brings Web Mojo to Cable Ops Web alternatives, video-on-demand, and DVRs are increasingly moving in on the bottom lines of cable companies — […] [...]

    Top Posts « WordPress.com on October 15th, 2007 at 9:11 pm - Permalink

  4. [...] For good sample coverage of their launch check out NewTeeVee. [...]

    Black Arrow Launches « VCMike’s Blog on October 16th, 2007 at 5:30 pm - Permalink

  5. [...] Comcast Interactive Capital (CMCSA) BlackArrow: video advertising platform for cable (recent coverage) [...]

    Media Companies Buy into Online Video « NewTeeVee on October 19th, 2007 at 1:04 pm - Permalink

  6. [...] doesn’t have to be just on TV. That’s the premise behind BlackArrow, a startup that caters to the cable industry by offering a way to place ads on broadband Web video, on-demand TV, and digital-video recorders [...]

    BlackArrow Raises $20 Million For On-Demand TV Advertising on October 5th, 2008 at 9:01 pm - Permalink

  7. [...] doesn’t have to be just on TV. That’s the premise behind BlackArrow, a startup that caters to the cable industry by offering a way to place ads on broadband Web video, on-demand TV, and digital-video recorders [...]

    BlackArrow Raises $20 Million For On-Demand TV Advertising : VCsAndAngels - Venture Capital / VCs, Angel Investors, Startup News, Etc on October 5th, 2008 at 9:28 pm - Permalink

  8. [...] doesn’t have to be just on TV. That’s the premise behind BlackArrow, a startup that caters to the cable industry by offering a way to place ads on broadband Web video, on-demand TV, and digital-video recorders [...]

    BlackArrow Raises $20 Million For On-Demand TV Advertising  »TechAddress on October 5th, 2008 at 9:30 pm - Permalink

  9. [...] platforms. The space has certainly gotten more interesting since we started following the company last year; it seems like everyone wants a piece of the TV ad targeting [...]

    BlackArrow Raises $20 Million « NewTeeVee on October 5th, 2008 at 9:31 pm - Permalink

  10. [...] テレビコマーシャルはテレビだけのものではない。…と考えるのがBlackArrow、ここは、ブロードバンドユーザのためのWebビデオや、オンデマンドテレビ、デジタルビデオレコーダ（にスキップできないコマーシャルを挿入）などを広告媒体化してケーブル業界のお世話をするスタートアップだ。同社が、$20M（2千万ドル）の資金調達ラウンドを発表している。出資者は既存の投資家たち、Cisco Systems、Comcast Interactive Capital、Intel Capital、Mayfield Fund、そしてPolaris Venture Partnersだ。 [...]

    TechCrunch Japanese アーカイブ » オンデマンドTVにもコマーシャル, BlackArrowが$20Mを調達 on October 5th, 2008 at 9:41 pm - Permalink

  11. [...] platforms. The space has certainly gotten more interesting since we started following the company last year; it seems like everyone wants a piece of the TV ad targeting [...]

    BlackArrow Raises $20 Million [NewTeeVee - Start-Up News] | Internet Startups on October 5th, 2008 at 11:13 pm - Permalink

  12. [...] doesn’t have to be just on TV. That’s the premise behind BlackArrow, a startup that caters to the cable industry by offering a way to place ads on broadband Web video, on-demand TV, and digital-video recorders [...]

    BlackArrow Raises $20 Million For On-Demand TV Advertising - Start-Up News | Internet Startups on October 5th, 2008 at 11:16 pm - Permalink

  13. [...] doesn’t have to be just on TV. That’s the premise behind BlackArrow, a startup that caters to the cable industry by offering a way to place ads on broadband Web video, on-demand TV, and digital-video recorders [...]

    BlackArrow Raises $20 Million For On-Demand TV Advertising | Green Media Lab on October 6th, 2008 at 7:00 am - Permalink

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  15. [...] and equity funding from Silicon Valley Bank, Trinity Ventures and Noro-Moseley. Competitors include BlackArrow on the ad delivery side and ActiveVideo Networks on the content [...]

    Clearleap Makes TV Content Management Easy as PC « NewTeeVee on March 2nd, 2009 at 4:50 pm - Permalink

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