Online Video-Ad Network Tremor Video Files For Its IPO
Video ad network Tremor Video has filed for its long-awaited public offering. The company's shares will trade on the NYSE at TRMR and it wants to raise at least $86 million. — Tremor Video, which runs ads on more than 500 Web sites …
Context & Ripple Effects
Tremor Video's filing closes a seven-year arc that began with a video startup that nearly never launched and a $18 million round in 2009. The decisive move was the 2010 merger with Scanscout, which AdAge positioned as a web video ad player on par with Hulu's own operation and which rode a confirmed wave of consolidation driven by advertisers demanding reach rather than buying inventory piecemeal.
The company now runs ads across more than 500 Web sites and is seeking at least $86 million on the NYSE under ticker TRMR. The pickup by AllThingsD alongside TechCrunch shows the story traveled beyond ad-tech trade press — a scaled independent video network reaching the public markets is a marker for where the whole category stands.
First-order effects
- Tremor Video gains access to public-market capital under its own brand, converting the reach built through the Scanscout merger into a currency for further acquisitions or technology spend.
- The NYSE adds another high-profile tech listing to its book, extending the exchange-competition win it logged with LinkedIn's 2011 IPO.
Second-order effects
- Rival video ad networks face pressure to match the scale-and-reach pitch that got Tremor priced as a public company, pushing more consolidation deals in a space already swept by them since 2010.
- Advertisers gain a publicly disclosed financial benchmark for video network economics, sharpening price negotiations across the buy side.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, online video advertising consolidates around a handful of scaled, publicly traded networks, with private independents forced to merge, sell, or fund growth from public markets.
- A successful TRMR listing would give ad-tech founders and investors a proven exit template, encouraging more venture-backed media companies to file rather than sell to larger platforms.
The trend: Online video advertising is consolidating into scaled networks whose next stage of growth is being funded through public listings rather than private rounds.