SHERMAN OAKS, Calif.–(Business Wire)–Branded Entertainment Network (BEN), which connects global brands to consumers through the power of popular entertainment, has announced it delivered over 5000 brand integrations worth in excess of $1 billion during 2017, powered by improvements to its first-of-a-kind industry-leading platform. To drive further growth in the year ahead, the company is today unveiling additional major enhancements to its four key platform functions: searching integration opportunities, planning integration campaigns, executing the campaigns, and measuring results.
As consumers continue to install ad blockers and eyeballs shift from traditional TV to non-ad supported platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Video, marketers are struggling to reach their customers when traditional ads do not. eMarketer reports that cord-cutting is occurring at a much rapider rate than expected, with 22.2 million people in the U.S. abandoning pay TV during 2017, or 33.2 percent higher than 2016. Meanwhile, leading social platforms continue to garner massive audiences and high levels of engagement, especially with the younger audiences. One-third of the global population and 71 percent of internet users are now active on social media, a 8.2 percent increase from 2016.
“The advertising industry is shifting rapidly and we’re investing significantly in technology solutions to help brands embrace this change and find the best brand integration opportunities in the programming their audiences are watching,” says Gary Shenk, CEO of BEN. “Our goal is to offer the most complete suite of integration tools in the industry, available from a single platform, while our team works tirelessly across production studios and behind the scenes with content creators to find integration opportunities no other platform can match.”
Key enhancements to the BEN platform include:
- Searching – BEN’s technology enables brands to search thousands of premium content opportunities across streaming, TV, film and influencer programming, using filters such as demographics, personas, integration categories, shoot and air dates, content type and genres, hot content, global distribution, Spanish language, projected impressions, and media value.
- Planning and Executing – BEN’s platform supports a full range of collaboration tools including content ‘liking,’ ‘rejecting,’ and ‘allocating’ as brands hone in on optimal content and develop their media strategies. The BEN platform allows brands to collaborate with BEN in real time, using chat and a unique integration with Slack.
- Measuring – BEN’s platform integrates industry leading data from Nielsen, Rentrak, Survata and other leading data providers. The platform allows brands to view the performance of all their integrations, understand the ROI, and optimize their strategies based on results.
Major brands working with BEN include Microsoft, Zillow, Honda, Freixenet, Ubisoft, Motorola, GM, Dunkin’ Donuts, Jose Cuervo, CKE Restaurants, Hyundai, Motorola, Orange Theory, Dolby, Wix, Wounded Warrior Project, KFC, and Dyson. In 2017, BEN was listed to the Inc. 5000 list as one of America’s Fastest Growing Private Companies.
To read the original press release visit The Digital Journal or Business Wire.
