• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, November 11, 2013

Publicis Groupe's Starcom has struck a deal with Yahoo to develop a method to support video content and targeting using the publisher's first-party data. The deal, announced Monday, supports video optimization and ad targeting from Yahoo programming to reach consumers based on nuances and specific categories including comedy, entertainment, finance, sports, health and wellness.

The deal combines the most relevant content programming with ads based on first-party data. "When we get it correct, the model will deliver on the promise of digital video advertising," said Andrew Snyder, VP of video sales at Yahoo.

The technology relies on data to provide the insights that target the programming and ads on Yahoo Finance, for example, Snyder explains. Yahoo reaches about 136 million video viewers monthly, he said, including Yahoo and across its video advertising network. For Yahoo, the deal signals a stronger relationship with advertising and media agencies.

The content now finds the viewer through data. A matching algorithm, partly developed by Yahoo engineers, integrates "privacy compliant" first-party and search data that is aggregated into profiles for Yahoo's approximately 100 million users across all Yahoo properties that serve up video across devices. The engine will recommend content to the user, building a profile for the advertising and content to determine the highest engagement, review, save rates and other metrics.

For Starcom, the goal is to refresh the old concept of video discovery, where the burden is placed on the viewer to find it, says Mark Pavia, EVP and managing director of digital for the agency. "It's an old broadcast model that needed revisions," he said. "So we flipped the model on its side, taking apart how video gets discovers online and on television to come up with a better way."

The platform aims to make video more discoverable for Starcom's clients like Allstate, Kraft, Kellogg's, Hallmark, and Beam. They all have an opportunity to participate as launch partners and gain access to premium video ad opportunities.

It's not clear whether eventually the video ads will become the answer to questions that consumers might search for on Yahoo's engine via Bing. One thing is certain -- that through data and optimization techniques, Starcom and Yahoo aim to make the answers crystal clear.

As natural language processing and the interface supporting it become more intuitive and smarter, Pavia believes the technology interface across devices will serve up answers in a variety of content such as advertisements.