April 9, 2020

Nate Kelly

Publishers find themselves in a conundrum amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Reporting the news has never been more important and page views are surging, yet advertising has gone into hibernation with the public in lockdown.

“Publishers are rich in audience yet poor in revenue at a time of unprecedented global demand,” said Oovvuu founder Ricky Sutton. “We felt we had to do something,”

Oovvuu emerged from the video team at Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald with a mission to help publishers put a trusted and relevant video in every article.

A few years later, it is VC funded and unlike the media companies it serves, it is not exposed to the advertising headwinds.

As a result, the company is offering video from its broadcast partners including Reuters, Associated Press and others to publishers for free.

“These are strange times for all of us in news, but we find ourselves in a particularly unusual and unique position,” said Sutton, a former reporter and News Corp executive.

“We are well funded and incredibly deep in the quality video that every publisher needs to report the biggest story in a century. We can do some real good here.”

More than 100 broadcasters distribute video through Oovvuu, with a one-click embed code made available exclusively to premium publishers. Thousands of videos are added daily.

To support the initiative, Oovvuu has created an online portal for publishers to access the videos. There are feeds on the virus, as well as 70 other genres, from parenting to climate change.

Oovvuu then helps publishers integrate their pre-roll advertising, and provides backfill advertising support to generate vital revenue for publishers at this difficult time. 

“We help publishers make money from video doing what they do best, reporting the news,” Sutton added. “Our goal in common with everyone has always been to make money, but in this time, we can step up to publishers’ needs and provide all our video to them for free. All we seek is a revenue share from any advertising revenue that is generated.”

Publishers can sign up for a no cost no strings trial at https://portal.oovvuu.com/login. Advertising integration queries can be made to Oovvuu via ricky@oovvuu.com


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