27. BrightRoll

digital video ad network

Tod Sacerdoti, co-founder and CEO of BrightRoll
Source: BrightRoll
Tod Sacerdoti, co-founder and CEO of BrightRoll

Founders: Dru Nelson, Tod M. Sacerdoti (CEO)
Date launched:
2006
Funding: $39 million
Industry disrupted: Media
Disrupting: AOL, Google, Yahoo!
Competition: Liverail, SAY Media, tubemogul

It's no secret that there are effective and efficient ways other than broadcast TV to reach a mass audience. The new video viewerscape comprises four screens—computers, smartphones, tablets and connected TV. Helping advertisers reach consumers across any of those platforms has been BrightRoll's mission.

Based in San Francisco, the company was started by a team of Internet advertising veterans and engineers who recognized the challenges marketers face in this new environment. Like an ad agency, BrightRoll acts as the intermediary between marketers and content providers. But instead of buying commercial time on a TV show for, say, a laundry detergent brand or a car company, it connects websites and companies seeking to run video ads and then earns a fee when they make a deal.

Read More FULL LIST: 2014 CNBC DISRUPTOR 50

BrightRoll has emerged as a leader in the space (Google is its biggest competitor). It places the digital video advertising for 90 percent of the top 50 U.S. advertisers, including Kellogg's, T-Mobile and Glade, and delivers nearly 3 billion video ads a month around the world. The future looks even brighter: Spending on digital video advertising is predicted to double within the next three years. It's a surging $7.6 billion market with tremendous upside.

How did you come up with your big idea?

"I noticed this shift in video viewing habits and saw the emergence of a technology challenge: There wasn’t a viable and scalable way to monetize digital video content." -Tod Sacerdoti, co-founder and CEO

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