In-Game Ad Firm Double Fusion Gets New CEO, Funding

In-game advertising firm Double Fusion has announced that it has appointed Geoff Graber, the former general manager of Yahoo! Games and EA China executive, as its chief executive officer. The company also announced that it closed a $10 million financing round led by Accel Partners and JVP (Jerusalem Venture Partners). Double Fusion is a notable player, alongside the high-profile Massive Inc. and IGN Entertainment, in the in-game ad market, which are utilized by video and PC game publishers to place advertising within their games - in-game ad companies make the technology for ad delivery and sell these ads to leading marketers and their advertising agencies. The company has not announced major licensees for its ad technology as of yet, but initial roll-out has occurred in the Metro 3D PC titles London Taxi and Taxi3: eXtreme Rush, and Double Fusion has also been working with Nielsen Interactive to determine the apparently enhanced efficacy of in-game advertising. The $10 million funding round for the originally Jerusalem-headquartered company was led by Accel Partners and JVP, and also includes Jerusalem Capital. This capital infusion enables Double Fusion to move its headquarters from Jerusalem to the San Francisco Bay Area and aggressively market its services globally to reach larger publishers. As part of the funding round, Harry Nelis and Bruce Golden of Accel and Allon Bloch of JVP have joined Double Fusion's Board of Directors. "The video gaming industry has grown dramatically over the past few years, and advertisers are looking to penetrate this fastest growing media platform," said new Double Fusion CEO Geoff Graber. "The 'traditional' advertising model no longer effectively captures the 18-to-34-year-old male demographic. Marketers see this and are shifting portions of their ad budgets into 'non-traditional' platforms - including video gaming. With clearly superior technology and a truly international footprint, Double Fusion is best positioned to capitalize on the shift of ad dollars."