Altitude’s merger aids video ads

Deal with Genesis Media improves online aspect

Denver’s Altitude Digital said Thursday that it has merged with New York’s Genesis Media in a move to make online video advertising more palatable.

The Denver team will stay put at its Broadway office, but the combined company will be known as Genesis Media and be headquartered in New York. Mark Yackanich is keeping his role as Genesis Media CEO.

Joe Grover, Altitude’s CEO, becomes president and chief marketing officer at Genesis. Other merger details aren’t being shared, including how many people work at either company. According to an April 2016 Denver Post story, Altitude employed 85 people.

But, Grover said, “This doubles the size of the company in terms of headcount and more than double in terms of revenue.”

Altitude Digital, founded by Jeremy Ostermiller in 2009, was an early advertising-technology company focusing on video in the Denver area. It created an online-bidding system for advertisers to get ads in front of readers of publications such as USA Today and Ziff Davis. It has also raised $22.5 million in debt and equity financing, which started with a $5 million Series A round in 2013 led by Mercato Partners, where Grover left to join Altitude Digital as its chief marketing officer the same year.

Of course, it’s an uphill battle of sorts. “I don’t think a user ever wants to see an ad, but it’s the way the publisher is balancing their business model,” Grover said.

ALTITUDE