CBS, WPP, Interpublic Invest in Web-Based Ad Firm

LOS ANGELES, October 30: The web-based ad agency Spot Runner
has received investments from CBS Corporation, WPP, Interpublic Group and other
organizations, totaling $40 million.

The round also included investments from Allen &
Company, Tudor Investment Corporation, Capital Research and Management, Lachlan
Murdoch and financier Vivi Nevo, as well as follow-on investments from Index
Ventures and Battery Ventures.

The financing will allow the firm, less than a year old, to
ramp up its services to traditional and new media platforms, including online
video, VOD and IPTV. Currently, Spot Runner offers a national footprint to
companies looking to advertise on local cable and broadcast stations.

WPP plans to use Spot Runner’s web-based platform to help
clients target ads across all media channels more effectively at the local
level. “There is a powerful trend in the advertising arena in which agencies
need to focus on creative, but also identify the best vehicles to distribute
their creative and reach people wherever they live, work and play,” said Sir
Martin Sorrell, the CEO of WPP. “Spot Runner’s practical and cost-effective
solutions are a great complement to our national capabilities and will help our
clients market at the most local level.”

For Michael Roth, the chairman and CEO of Interpublic,
“There are considerable synergistic opportunities between the two companies. By
linking our strong local media assets across all channels with Spot Runner’s
platform, we can deliver unparalleled depth, breadth and automation of services
for this local marketing and media sector, which represents about a third of
total advertising spending in the United States."

And for CBS Corporation, Spot Runner’s technology offers a
new system to sell its ad inventory and an additional channel to bring new
local advertisers to its media properties. “Spot Runner’s technology provides
broadcasters the opportunity to expand the demand for local advertising by
providing clients with a quick and easy way to promote their businesses in ways
they never thought were available to them,” said Joseph Ianniello, the SVP of
finance and chief development officer at CBS Corporation. “As the owner of many
of the country’s top local broadcast stations, we’re pleased this new
technology will not only increase advertising demand but will also continue to
allow stations to control their inventory.”