The founding partners of the Digital Content NewFronts – AOL, Digitas, Hulu, Microsoft Advertising, Yahoo! and YouTube – in partnership with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), announced today that the second annual Digital Content NewFronts will be held April 29 through May 3 in New York City. This news comes on the heels of the release of the half-year IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report, which pointed to interactive video as one of the fastest growing segments, garnering more than $1 billion in ad revenue in the first two quarters of 2012, an 18 percent increase year-over-year.

The Digital Content NewFronts was launched last spring to create a marketplace to showcase and sell high-value original video content and adjacent advertising opportunities in digital media. With the NewFronts attracting hundreds of marketing and ad agency executives to the publishers’ striking presentations, the NewFronts founding partners agreed to expand participation and build a larger marketplace designed explicitly to match brand advertisers to digital video and other programming availabilities. The Founding Partners will serve as a board of directors for the initiative.

The Digital Content NewFronts will be organized like the upfront marketplaces familiar for years in the television industry. The IAB, which is taking over as the Digital Content NewFronts’ managing partner, will manage a calendar that will feature star-studded productions organized by the NewFronts founding partners and other invited publishers, in which they will unveil their schedules and highlight original video and other programming opportunities available to advertisers. The NewFronts marketplace is designed explicitly to showcase publishers that meet three criteria:

• They produce original digital video content and distribute it at scale through interactive channels
• They have an internal sales force to manage video ad sales process
• There is a strong demand for the company’s content from marketers and agencies

The NewFronts will have a limited number of presentation slots available during NewFronts week for creators and distributors of original digital video and other content to showcase entertainment, news, sports and music content. The IAB will invite publishers to present their programs during the week based on a survey it is conducting of 300 leading ad agency buyers.

Presenting companies – invited based on the results of the agency survey – will be responsible for their own productions, logistics, and invitations. The IAB will manage the calendar, marketing and public relations, and collaborative ventures to be held during the Digital Content NewFronts marketplace.

To learn more about the event and/or apply for a presenting slot, please visit http://www.iab.net/digitalcontentnewfronts.

About the IAB

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 500 leading media and technology companies that are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.