Downtown’s found.ee launches landmark premium video advertising tool 10 May 2022
- One-of-a-kind tool will ‘revolutionize the ad-buying landscape’ says founder, Jason Hobbs
- Clients currently using the new video tool include Aloe Blacc, Brooklyn Bowl, Sylvan Esso and Andrew Bird
- Artists and clients across all of Downtown’s divisions – including Downtown Music Services, FUGA, CD Baby, Songtrust, Soundrop and Adrev – now able to use the feature
- found.ee currently reaches more than 200 million people per month
found.ee, the first-party data and digital marketing platform acquired by Downtown Music Holdings in 2021, has launched its landmark self-service Premium Video Ad Buying tool.
The feature enables found.ee users to create and execute their own video advertising campaigns across Connected TVs / Streaming Video Platforms and Premium Website Pre-Rolls, a feature that up until now, has yet to exist within the entertainment industry.
Using found.ee’s video ad buying tool is just as simple as any other media buying on the platform and is paid for on a CPV (cost per view) basis. A user simply sets their start and end dates, alongside specified budget and targeting needs, which in turn creates their own bespoke list of destinations where the impressions will run.
Users now have the ability to self-service their own campaigns to the world’s biggest publishers and programs, from MTV, Discovery and Roku to Disney/ABC, VEVO and XBox, a feat previously unreachable or prohibitively expensive for individual campaigns. The new video product is already being used by found.ee clients, including Aloe Blacc, Andrew Bird, Brooklyn Bowl and Sylvan Esso.
By bringing tools into the music business that have only ever existed in other industries, found.ee has made video advertising accessible for even the smallest artist, allowing them to place their video ads directly into home televisions and premium websites.
Created in 2013, the found.ee platform empowers artists to connect with their fanbase, whilst having full transparency over their own first-party data and audience engagement. found.ee enables users to take complete control over their digital marketing through found.ee’s suite of services, including tailored interactive ads, data capturing tools, customizable landing pages, remarketing ads and more. These all educate and revolutionize the way artists, labels and managers can target and optimize advertising campaigns.
Aligning itself with the constantly evolving music industry and the growth of video distribution across DSPs, this innovative product will be strategically offered across found.ee’s client ecosystem. That reach includes Downtown’s clients in each of its companies in addition to found.ee’s 7,000 B2B entertainment clients, its 400,000 artist users on Downtown properties Show.co and HearNow, and other integrations outside of the Downtown enterprise. This further strengthens the positioning of the found.ee and Downtown businesses as a market leader in driving equitable value on behalf of creators.
In the space of only a year since being acquired by Downtown Music Holdings, found.ee has already seen extraordinary growth across Downtown divisions, which include FUGA, Songtrust, CD Baby, Soundrop, Downtown Music Services and Adrev. found.ee’s client base and subsequent market value has more than doubled, with the platform now reaching over 200M unique people per month, firing over 1 billion pixels per year, and recently surpassing the creation of 10M unique landing pages and links.
As well as expanding Downtown’s digital marketing capabilities for its range of clients, the video ad tool integration delivers on Downtown’s global goal of providing new and leading technology services to artists and labels. found.ee’s automated chatbot integration with CD Baby has already saved more than 44,000 minutes of customer service time while found.ee is automating over 250,000 music release pages per quarter.
Jason Hobbs, found.ee C.E.O said: “You’d be shocked at what it would cost and how difficult it is to run a video ad on television. Via found.ee, anyone can now directly place video ads themselves for a fraction of the cost, revolutionizing the self-service model. We’ve eliminated the gatekeepers and given accessibility to those who previously didn’t have the ability to even conceive of doing small ad buys on TV and Premium sites as part of their marketing mix.”
Jon Bahr, Downtown Music Holdings’ VP of Business Development and Strategy added: “Streaming has rocked the TV industry just as it has music and found.ee’s Premium Video Ad Buying tool allows everyone from a CD Baby emerging artist to massive label working with FUGA to direct sophisticated video buys on popular content channels and platforms. The breadth of marketing services found.ee offers clients has risen significantly, enabling us to consistently deliver leading, first-mover technology and insightful, actionable first-party data. found.ee is a necessary asset for so many needs across audience growth and fan engagement in entertainment and beyond.”
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THE HEADLINES
The “forever” stakes of generative AI ownership (see Comment)
Lyor Cohen: AI won’t replace artists — it will make them unstoppable (see Opinion)
Omdia tips music publishers’ revenues to hit $10bn this year (see Reports)
Unit1 Studio launches offering potential for immersive avatar concerts through lower production costs (see Digital)
Are we still in the music business? When your POV is worth more than your mp3s (see Opinion)
Is rock’n’roll dead? (see Features)
Book extract: Body Of Work: How The Album Outplayed The Algorithm And Survived Playlist Culture (see Comment)
With MTV channels switching off, is the music video under threat? (see Features)
Spotify partnering with multinational music companies to develop ‘responsible’ AI products (see Digital)
Sam Fender wins 2025 Mercury Prize (see News)
Spotify working on ‘SongDNA’ feature that showcases the people behind tracks (see Digital)
How far should cultural boycotts go? (see Features)
How Subvert is building a co-op owned Bandcamp alternative (see Digital)
Lucian Grainge outlines UMG’s strategy for generative AI partnerships and product development (see News)
The future of music streaming: Change or be changed (see Comment)
Sam Altman: the man who stole the rights from copyright. If he’s the future, can we go backwards? (see Features)
