Publishers Finally Have an Automated Way to Match Videos to Articles, Improving Reader Experience while Doubling Video Inventory

NEW YORK, Dec. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Publishers can finally align their video assets with their editorial text using content relevance technology from veeseo. Proven in Europe with some of the region's top websites, including AOL, Axel Springer, Handelsblatt, MSN and Spiegel, veeseo adds significant value to site editorial, which results in videos with mid-article placement, higher engagement scores, and clicks that remain on the publisher site. Touchstorm partnered with Hamburg-based veeseo GmbH to bring the technology to the North American market, setting up a new venture, veeseo North America, to run the business.

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veeseo is unlike traditional content recommendation tools that use oft-wasted space on the bottom of a publisher site to post articles and videos, which then link readers to other sites. veeseo embeds relevant publisher videos into the editorial mid article (see screenshot), which results in higher click-through rates that stay within the publisher site.

The Advantages of Semantic Matching

Using advanced speech-to-text technology and semantic matching refined over many years, veeseo identifies the meaning of the article and video—not just keywords and topics—and matches them based on relevance. As an example, an article about a tiger in the woods will bring up videos about that same or other tigers, not golfer Tiger Woods.

As a publisher adds new video to its library, veeseo scans and inserts that video within minutes into related editorial. This automated and continuous matching system is ideal for breaking news sites where editors are challenged by the constant addition of new content. Once the reader views a video, he or she is presented with another set of relevant options based on video-to-video matching, which keeps users engaged in the site. See how veeseo works here.

"Publishers deserve a more effective alternative to recommendation engines that don't support the quality of the publisher's content and send clicks away," said Jan Andresen, founder and CEO of veeseo. "Current tools recommend content based on cookies that track where the user has been, and as cookies disappear from the horizon, those engines end up running click bait paid for by other sites. This approach impacts integrity when a high quality news site teases a story about the latest celebrity scandal. veeseo is robust, simple and profitable because the videos are relevant to the reader's experience right now, and it all happens in real time."

"Beyond saving editors time, veeseo is a revenue machine," said Alison Provost, CEO of Touchstorm and veeseo North America. "The relevancy creates higher click-through rates and all user clicks stay with the publisher, creating more video inventory for ad sales. Publishers can double their video views relatively quickly, and can triple revenue over the typical yield from other recommendation tools. Publishers can add veeseo to their mix because it works alongside Taboola and Outbrain, adding a level of value that hasn't existed before. In fact, we encourage publishers to use both tools to compare the quality, clicks and revenues that follow."

veeseo has been successful with major publishers in Europe for more than a year who are seeing the following benefits:

• Maintained Audience. Where other content recommendation engines send users elsewhere for videos that fit their individual behavior profiles, veeseo connects users directly to companion videos on the publisher site.
• Relevant Video. Because all readers see the same videos that correspond to articles, editors can control quality more easily; they also recognize the value of positioning videos in the middle rather than at the bottom of the page.
• Increased Ad Revenue. Instead of click payments–$0.50 every time someone goes away–veeseo lets publishers sell advertising against their own videos, turning video into revenue assets for publishers.
• Publisher Video Recognition. veeseo unlocks the video trove that exists with all major publishers by using semantic algorithms that understand the meaning and importance of whole sentences, not just the keywords, to create the perfect match between video and article.
• Simplicity and Time Saving. Publishers can start integrating relevant video into their editorial immediately by adding a simple line of code into their site, and editorial is continually refreshed with available new video.

About Veeseo North America
veeseo North America (www.veeseo.com/us) provides the most relevant video and article recommendations for publishers and editors. Based on years of experience in speech-to-text analysis, semantics and video editing processes, veeseo provides fully automated technologies for recommending videos and articles on customer websites. veeseo is built for publishers and editors using the model that strong content relevance drives more clicks, advertising placements and revenues, which is a revolutionary model for the publishing industry. veeseo North America is based in New York.

About Touchstorm
Touchstorm (www.touchstorm.com) is a digital media company that produces and distributes video for big brands and online publishers. The company provides a technology-backed service that helps clients grow their YouTube channels exponentially, and a distribution network and technology platform that give publishers a wealth of unbiased editorial content that results in engagement scores significantly above industry benchmarks. In December 2013, Touchstorm brought the Veeseo content relevance technology to the U.S. and established Veeseo North America. Touchstorm offers proprietary marketing tools VOOT^®, Scoop™ and Arena™ for brands, and works with leading brands and experts to create HD-quality, journalistic-style videos under the Howdini brand. Headquartered in New York, Touchstorm is an independent, female-owned company.

SOURCE Touchstorm