If the beleaguered company championing AI-based data attribution for broadcast media needed a vote a confidence, it just got it — courtesy of Beasley Media Group.
Veritone Inc., the Costa Mesa, Calif.-based creator of the aiWARE operating system for artificial intelligence, has inked a renewal agreement with Beasley that expands the radio station owner’s multi-market licensing agreement.
The Veritone aiWARE platform enables Beasley to provide advertisers and brands with near real-time insights and analytics into their advertising campaigns. The new agreement doubles the number of stations using aiWARE to 28, across six markets — including new markets such as Detroit, Las Vegas, and Tampa.
Ryan Steelberg, Co-Founder and President of Veritone, commented, “Media broadcasters were the first industry segment to adopt aiWARE and we’re thrilled that radio station groups of all sizes are experiencing great success and operational efficiencies by using our AI platform. Their advertising customers benefit from new insights and campaign performance analytics similar to those in digital media, enabling budget and campaign optimization in whole new ways. It’s a win-win situation for both radio stations and advertisers.”
Beasley VP/Corporate Sales Bob McCurdy commented, “We’re excited to expand our relationship with Veritone into additional markets as it allows us to capitalize on the extensive reach of Radio by quantifying the full value we deliver to our advertising partners. It also enables us to put our terrestrial brands on a more level playing field with our digital assets in terms of the insights and data that can be gleaned from our customers’ campaigns.”
With Veritone stock sputtering under $5 a share, Beasley’s support could sway investors into bringing VERI back to the mid-$10 range — something seen before mid-August 2018, when the company’s shares went into a slump.
Then came the Dec. 10, 2018, confirmation that private equity fund Apis Ventures had submitted an all-cash offer to the Veritone board to acquire all outstanding shares of Veritone for $10.26 per share.
By January 9, Veritone was ready to address the unsolicited offer, as it noted that its Q4 will be better than it anticipated.
Veritone expects its Q4 net revenues to be in the range of $10.7 million to $10.9 million, up from the range of $9.3 million to $9.7 million.
Apis’ proposal was withdrawn.
“Apis had confirmed to Veritone’s financial advisors that it did not have either sufficient capital or committed financing to consummate its offer, and Veritone’s Board of Directors had significant concerns regarding the credibility of their proposal, which were confirmed by Apis’ subsequent disclosure that they had begun selling their Veritone stake the same day they announced their acquisition proposal,” Steelberg said.
In addition, the Board determined that, even if Apis’ proposal had been “credible,” given Veritone’s “significant” future growth prospects, the level of such proposal “is significantly below that which the Board believes would be in the best interests of Veritone’s stockholders.”
Steelberg concluded, “All of us at Veritone are unified in our resolve to become the market leading enterprise AI company by focusing on our customers and technology, which we believe will deliver strong financial gains to our stockholders.”
