Is there a more convenient, life-saving tool than AdBlock for your web browser? From eliminating banner ads to skipping pre-video commercials, it has made the internet a more seamless experience for users.
But advertisers aren’t as happy.
The sheer number of people who have downloaded AdBlock is a testament to how faulty the online advertising system is. It has recently become such an issue that AdBlock has begun accepting money from companies to allow their ads to appear.
LA-based Woven noticed this trend and adapted a different strategy. Instead of perceiving online ads as banners or 30 second commercials, they've begun incorporating products and companies into their content.
And this isn’t your typical product placement, Woven has created character-driven, episodic series to accomplish their clients’ advertising needs.
“What we’ve really gotten great at doing is creating ultra premium original programming and using that programming as a conduit by which advertisers connect to our audience,” said CEO Colin Digiaro. “We’re seeing that the large brands that are looking to reach our audience are more and more challenged. You’re hearing about ad blocks, you’re hearing about viewability concerns, but when you integrate advertisers into content in a non-traditional way, it causes them to stand up and take notice.”
The company’s newest series, Uncharted, is a 10-episode partnership with Honda hosted by their site UPROXX.com. The program hopes to capture the talent and stories behind undiscovered artists. Their first episode featured local LA rapper A-F-R-O:
Digiaro, a former founder of MySpace, said the series had surpassed Honda’s total viewership expectations for the series after the first episode.
But staying hip isn’t easy. In order to market to a young demographic, they must find age-defying ways to keep their content fresh.
“You have to have fresh perspectives constantly coming in to the company,” Digiaro said. “We have 200 independent freelancers that we work with at any given time and we use that as a farm system to find the best and the brightest before bringing them on full time. Then we can backstock them with editors that have been there and done that. That way you have seasoned journalistic editors to create that filter, but also have young folks that are really close to cultural trends.”
The company has over 100 employees nationally and is headquartered in Culver City, where they also own a production studio.
