Giant Media Taps IBM Watson for Personalized Outstream Video Advertising

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - Nov 16, 2016) - Giant Media, a leading video advertising company, has integrated IBM Watson into its advertising platform for advertisers to better deliver personalized video advertisement to targeted audiences. Watson services can unlock insights buried deep within data, offering marketers a clear view into how and when consumers want to engage with brands. Killington Resort in Vermont is one of the early adopters of this Giant Media's targeting technology with Watson that has seen a 2.5x improved click through rate (CTR).

Giant Media is one of the first outstream video providers to harness IBM Watson's AlchemyLanguage, a collection of APIs that offers text analysis through natural language processing and is available on the IBM Watson Developer Cloud. With AlchemyLanguage, Giant Media helps advertisers target specific keywords that can resonate with particular audiences across a large volume of Giant Media's publisher partner websites. It also determines site content sentiment, and promotes higher user engagement by strategically placing contextually relevant advertisements in the most suitable editorial environments.

"We are very pleased to be working with IBM to further advance our targeting platform with cognitive computing. Giant Media with Watson is the next generation of technology that will ensure our ad units are serving the most appropriate, most relevant content to the right person at the right time. By adding Watson to our platform, we can add more contextual relevance to audience targeting for a superior digital advertising user experience for clients including Killington Resort," said John Cobb, CEO of Giant Media.

"Killington Resort is constantly looking for better ways to ensure our brand message reaches the right audience. Since using Giant Media's IBM Watson-embedded platform, we have seen a 2.5x improved click through rate, which should ultimately translate to a positive effect on our bottom line," said Rob Megnin, director of Sales, Marketing, Reservations and Snowsports at Killington Resort.

Giant Media boasts one of the largest native video networks in the United States, capable of reaching over 209 million people (comScore, Aug. 2016) with over 40,000 custom audience segments available. Founded in 2009, Giant has been an innovator in native and outstream video advertising by focusing on delivering the best end user experience. Advertisements that run on Giant's network do not run in front of other content, instead offering user initiated ad environments across its premium partner sites.

"The ability to combine our user-first ad experience across our premium network with the unprecedented targeting capabilities that IBM Watson's AlchemyLanguage offers means delivering even more relevant ad placements. This enhanced relevancy will ultimately result in higher brand engagement and a better user experience which benefits both brand advertisers as well as their audiences," said Giant's vice-president of engineering, Nic Delorme.

About Giant Media
Giant Media is the leader in premium video distribution for advertisers, providing more relevant and immersive brand engagement through a superior user experience. By combining cross-platform video distribution with advanced targeting, data-centered campaign optimization and in-house content marketing, Giant's best-in-class video advertising platform consistently produces unrivaled audience engagement. Giant Media, a subsidiary of Adknowledge, has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Fort Myers and Kansas City. For more information on Giant Media, visit www.giantmedia.com 

About IBM Watson: Pioneering a New Era of Computing:
Watson represents a new era in computing called cognitive computing, where systems understand the world the way humans do: through senses, learning, and experience. Watson continuously learns from previous interactions, gaining in value and knowledge over time. With Watson, organizations are harnessing the power of cognitive computing to transform industries, help professionals do their jobs better, and solve important challenges. Watson is open to the world, allowing a growing community of developers, students, entrepreneurs and tech enthusiasts to easily tap into the most advanced and diverse cognitive computing platform available today. Watson solutions are being built, used and deployed in more than 45 countries and across 20 different industries. For more information on IBM Watson, visit: ibm.com/Watson and ibm.com/press/watson.