Personalized Advertising with BT

Real Time Content to spin out of BT as part of its open innovation strategy. RTC’s “adaptive media” platform customizes video and audio, matching the preferences of individual viewers in real-time to deliver personalized advertising. This will enable brands and digital content owners to dynamically tailor their content to target individual customers.

NEW YORK, June 21 — BT and New Venture Partners LLC, the corporate venturing firm, today announce that Real Time Content (RTC) is the latest company in incubation as part of BT’s external venturing program.

RTC’s “adaptive media” platform customizes video and audio, matching the preferences of individual viewers in real-time to deliver personalized advertising. This will enable brands and digital content owners to dynamically tailor their content to target individual customers.

Matt Bross, Group CTO at BT, said: “The adaptive media platform innovation, which is the foundation of RTC’s business, shapes media in all forms, to the time, location and device enabling, for the first time, a totally personalized media experience. Currently websites simply ‘play’ media, but through this innovative platform content can be adapted dynamically to best suit individual preferences, enhancing the customer’s overall experience.”

The RTC platform uses viewer profiles and real time feedback to customize video content that is automatically delivered and controlled by the brand. By analyzing profiles, user criteria, surfing trends, and bandwidth capabilities, brands and content owners can create a personalized information and entertainment experience that speaks directly to each viewer. RTC effectively monitors, measures and adjusts digital content to allow dynamic changes in real time.

“With the online video market exploding, we are in a unique position to maximize the ROI on the digital spend for our customers by providing a platform designed to give viewers an engaging and highly relevant video experience,” said Najam Kidwai, CEO of Real Time Content.

“Our incubation period with BT allows us to work with the latest proven technology, which strengthens our platform to provide an unparalleled experience to give brands a competitive edge in their markets. RTC’s Adaptive Media platform is now live and it is being piloted by a number of global brands.”

Over the last four years, external venturing has enabled BT to accelerate the pace of innovation. BT has previously spun out eight companies, five of these with New Venture Partners LLC. These have become highly successful in their own right – for example, Azure Solutions, which has recently merged with Subex, has now become the world’s largest revenue assurance company since spinning out from BT in 2003.

About BT
BT is one of the world’s leading providers of communications solutions and services operating in 170 countries. Its principal activities include networked IT services; local, national and international telecommunications services; higher-value broadband and internet products and services and converged fixed/mobile products and services. BT consists principally of four lines of business: BT Global Services, Openreach, BT Retail and BT Wholesale.

In the year ended 31 March 2007, BT Group plc’s revenue was 20,223 million pounds Sterling with profit before taxation of 2,484 million pounds.

British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.

For more information, visit http://www.bt.com/aboutbt

About New Venture Partners LLC
New Venture Partners LLC is a venture capital firm recognized as a leader in the field of corporate spin-outs. Since March 1997, New Venture Partners LLC has developed and invested in over 40 portfolio companies that resulted from the spin-out of technologies from its corporate partners including Lucent/Bell Labs and British Telecommunications, amongst others. Recent successes include iBiquity Digital, Flarion (now part of Qualcomm),Vallent (formerly Watchmark-Comnitel), LPSS (now Intrado), Celiant (now part of Andrew Corp.), Internet Photonics (now part of Ciena), Vidus, (now part of @Road) and Subex Azure Ltd. For further information, see http://www.nvpllc.com

About Real Time Content
RTC is the first company to empower digital content and brand owners to deliver video that dynamically changes to specifically match the interests of individual viewers in real time, maximizing the power and performance of every online experience. A leader in the Adaptive Media space, RTC’s technology intelligently selects from a catalog of customized video content that is automatically delivered to and controlled by the viewer, turning ads into personalized information and entertainment vehicles. Headquartered in the UK, RTC is led by a world class team of seasoned executives with funding from BT and New Venture Partners.

For further information, see http://www.realtimecontent.com

SOURCE BT