• by Daisy Whitney , Op-Ed Contributor, August 27, 2012

Who’s going to be the next startup to succeed in online video?

That’s the big question -- and I won’t promise to have any answers, but I can share with you a video report from Beet.TV commentator Ashley Swartz that has me now keeping an eye on two companies in the metadata arena -- Veenome and Watchwith. As metadata practitioners, they do the work of brand safety, which means they could easily fit in the ranks of firms that offer tools and technology to police ads for content or verify placement, for instance.

Former Digitas emerging media expert Ashley Swartz said in her report that as video proliferates on the Web, it won’t have as much value to marketers until more data and information is attached to it. Metadata is needed for the video advertising revolution to actually flourish, she said.

Veenome and Watchwith handle the heavy lifting of that process. Veenome’s technology identifies the visual contents in video and translates them into tags, keywords, categories and more. Video platforms, publishers and ad networks can then use that information to boost ad revenue and effectiveness, the company said. Veenome has logged some early success with video publisher Videofy.me, which has boosted online video CPMs more than 114% by using Veenome’s tools to segment content into more ad-friendly categories -- essentially, acting as a filter to keep out the suggestive, offensive or copyrighted content. Veenome has also worked with music-centric social video service UGroove to index its videos, making it easier for the service to sell ads against them. UGroove also uses Veenome to tag its brand customers in videos and generate targeted ads that way.

Watchwith studies video and builds metadata synched to the time the information appears in the video. Its tools can be used to identify actors, music or locations, or on a custom basis to tag plot points or backstory.

Veenome and Watchwith are not the only companies betting on metadata. Digitalsmiths is a more established player and it has been building product suites for media companies that are used to better understand, identify and manage video assets and then make money on them. Digitalsmiths’ latest products allow customers to pick videos by their mood.

Keep an eye on these and other players that are betting on metadata. Their tools may be just as valuable as those from companies offering measurement, brand safety and cross-media buying services.