Unruly Launches New Outstream Video Ad Format With The Sun, MarketWatch, and News.com.au

Video ad tech company Unruly today introduces a viewable outstream format which creates new premium video ad inventory within article pages. Less than a month since its acquisition by News Corp, Unruly is launching the high-impact format across a number of News Corp titles, including The Sun, MarketWatch and News.Com.Au, with The New York Post to launch the format soon. In-Article will also be made available to other premium publishers via Unruly’s supply side platform, UnrulyX™.

The high-performance, premium video format only begins to play when the video is in-view, solving viewability concerns for advertisers, and can be closed and shared by viewers, giving users control of the viewing experience. Unruly will sell the format on a cost-per-completed-view (CPCV) basis, charging advertisers after the video has been viewed for 30 seconds, providing confidence that ads are being watched through completion across Unruly’s potential global audience of 1.35 billion consumers.¹

Commenting on the launch, Rebekah Brooks, CEO, News UK said: "Our work with Unruly is fully focussed on increasing the formidable reach and resonance of our titles with their cutting-edge technology and video expertise to help accelerate our growth in this digital age. Today's launch is the perfect example of how we will be bringing advertisers closer to our great journalism and the first of many collaborations that will deliver value for both Unruly and News Corp stakeholders."

“Online video is the fastest-growing category of ad spend² and now even publishers who don’t yet have original video content on their site can capitalize on this growth. For advertisers, this is a high-performance, highly engaging format and the CPCV pricing model guarantees attention, so there’s no concern that budget is being thrown at wasted views. And at a time when the media industry recognizes the need to re-balance the ad economy and re-set the rules of engagement with consumers, this is a non-invasive ad format that puts users in control, with the ability to close, share & initiate sound on the player,” said Unruly co-founder and Co-CEO Scott Button.

“News Corp is focused on providing advertisers with new solutions that address the challenges they're facing both today and in the future. With Unruly's new In-Article format, we're providing advertisers with what we believe is the best video product in the market,” said Sharb Farjami, Director of National Sales, News Corp Australia. “This new format brings together News Corp's scale and certainty of audience with Unruly's extensive global experience in video, mobile, and data, so advertisers know exactly what they're getting. That is an audience seeking out news and entertainment, in an environment where they're fully engaged. And we know that it's this environment that delivers the best results for brands.”

"We constantly look to improve The Sun's digital proposition and provide readers with a fantastic viewing experience. This new format will deliver against that criteria for the audiences we care about - our readers and advertisers. The social video format puts the users in control of their viewing experience and advertisers can be confident that they are only paying for ads that have been truly engaged with as they are only charged once the video format is in-view," said Dominic Carter, Managing Director of Commercial at News UK.

"In-Article allows MarketWatch to increase engagement with our customers whilst opening up new opportunities for our advertisers,” said Julian Sambles, Chief Revenue Officer, MarketWatch.

As evidenced by the rise in consumer ad blocking and the launch of the IAB’s L.E.A.N. Ads program, online viewers are increasingly demanding to be in control of their advertising experiences. According to Unruly’s Future Video Survey, which surveyed 3,200 consumers worldwide, 68.6% of viewers in the UK, 65.3% in Australia and 62.5% in the US are annoyed when forced to watch ads and 62.1% globally want to be in control of advertising experiences.

With polite page loading and options for the viewer to close, share and initiate sound on the player, Unruly’s In-Article format permits publishers and advertisers alike to ensure they are delivering ads in a social - not anti-social - environment, one which gives users control of their ad viewing experience.

This is the fourth video format from the video ad tech company. Unruly’s other formats are:

• Unruly In-Stream™: a skippable pre-roll format, which puts the viewer in control and gives advertisers cost-efficient reach at speed and scale;
• Unruly In-Feed™: the first ad format to deliver native video ads at scale across mobile newsfeeds;
• Unruly In-Page™: A click-to-play, user-initiated format which maximizes viewer engagement.

UNRULY, UNRULY-INSTREAM, UNRULY IN-FEED, UNRULY IN-PAGE and logos and associated marks are trademarks of Unruly Group. Other marks are owned by their respective owners.

About Unruly

Unruly (NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) is the ad tech company that gets videos watched, tracked and shared across the Open Web. Positioned at the intersect of video, social, native & mobile, Unruly uses emotional audience data and user-friendly video formats to massively increase viewer engagement, brand performance & publisher revenues.

With 3 out of every 4 video views now taking place outside of YouTube, 90% of Ad Age 100 brands have already used Unruly to connect with audiences at speed and scale across the Open Web.

Differentiated by a unique data set of 2 trillion video views and powered by a full tech stack, Unruly adds value by algorithmically evaluating content shareability and programmatically targeting custom audiences. Viewability is 100% guaranteed to an audience of 1.35 billion monthly unique users across mobile, tablet and desktop devices.

UnrulyX is the first supply side platform (SSP) for mobile video to offer scaled delivery of native ad formats and guarantee the viewability of premium video impressions bought via RTB.

Unruly employs 200 people across 15 offices, with regional HQs in London, New York and Singapore.

Its super power is emotional ad tech. Its secret weapon is passionate people on a mission to #DeliverWow. Unruly was acquired by News Corp in September 2015.

¹ comScore, September 2015

² ZenithOptimedia’s Online Video Forecasts 2015

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