In-video advertising firm Mirriad plans £63m listing

A UK firm that helps companies to place products in films and TV shows that have already been produced is planning a £63m float on London’s AIM market.

Mirriad Advertising’s technology scans videos to find suitable slots for product placement to be superimposed into the video – for example on a billboard in the background of a scene. It converts the slots into standardised units that can then be sold in a similar manner to online banner ads.

Advertisers have ploughed more cash into discrete “native” advertising in recent years as consumers have resorted to ad-blockers to avoid being bombarded with sales pitches.

However, traditional product placement is fraught with challenges, according to Mirriad’s chief executive Mark Popkiewicz. He said: “You don’t know if you’re going to get past the editing process... and it’s difficult for an advertiser to know what it’s worth because you don’t know if the show will perform.” With Mirriad’s technology, brands can choose to pay based on the number of people who see their product and they can target specific consumers.

Mirriad said it had placed 42,258,065 shares at 62p each ahead of a planned float on Dec 19. The company made a pre-tax loss of £7.3m in 2016 on revenues of around £711,000.