AdGent Digital Acquires Video Ad Technology Startup ShortTail Media

Robin Wauters

Robin Wauters is the European Editor of tech blog The Next Web and lead editor of Virtualization.com. He was a senior staff writer at TechCrunch until his departure in February 2012. Aside from his professional blogging activities, he’s an entrepreneur, event organizer, occasional board adviser and angel investor but most importantly an all-round startup champion. Wauters lives and works in... → Learn More

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

Social media and technology company AdGent Digital has acquired ShortTail Media, a tech company with a proprietary platform that allows publishers to deliver video ads in a stand-alone full screen format from any Web page without the need for video content. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

More than 30 publishers currently use ShortTail Media technology, including majors like New York Times, Time Warner, CNN, National Geographic, and The Huffington Post.

AdGent says it will accelerate the roll-out of the platform to publishers throughout the United States and also expand its scope to the UK and the rest of Europe in the near future.

ShortTail Media’s management team will join AdGent with the notable exception of its founder and CEO David Payne, formerly SVP and General Manager at CNN.com. Payne is leaving to take up a senior position at an unnamed US publishing house.

ShortTail was backed by an undisclosed amount of venture capital – General Catalyst Partners is listed on the company’s website as its sole investor.