Video marketing and analytics company Vidyard announced its first-ever acquisition today: California-based tech company Switch Merge, which it picked up for an undisclosed sum.
The strategic acquisition gives Vidyard a new tool in its marketing kit: personalized video.
Tyler Lessard, Chief Marketing Officer for the Waterloo Region-based company, said Switch Merge makes “powerful automation tools that personalize videos on a mass scale, and not in a static way either. Thanks to some ‘black magic’ technology in the backend, the personalized elements move naturally in the video, making for an awesome experience.”
Personalized videos are tailored to each recipient by seamlessly weaving unique information about them, or their company, into the video itself, Vidyard said in a release. "That could mean something as simple as featuring their name at different points throughout a video or including their company logo or even a photo from LinkedIn or a picture of their website," the company said.
When Vidyard tested Switch Merge on its own marketing program, it saw 16 times as many click-throughs, which soared from two to three per cent to 25 to 35 per cent, Lessard told Communitech News by phone from San Francisco, where Vidyard has been hosting its Space Camp video marketing summit this week.
“We just announced the acquisition today, and all day I’ve had people approaching me to tell me how they want to use this. We’re happy people are immediately seeing value in the tool, like we did.”
The acquisition is the first significant financial move by the company since it got a major capital injection in January – an $18-million Series B funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners—and won’t mean a change in headcount. The Switch Merge deal was purely about technology.
“This is a big day for us at Vidyard, and I think a clear sign of our growth,”said Lessard. “This technology is delivering results; we see it in our own analytics. Personalization is a big part of modern marketing and we’re thrilled to bring video into the equation.”
