Crystal Semantics Offers License for Semantics

By Gavin DunawayIn “Star Wars” spoof “Spaceballs,” Yoda stand-in Yogurt (played by writer/director Mel Brooks) famously explains: “Merchandising, merchandising — where the real money from the movie is made!” When it comes to ad serving technology, the same statement applies — except swap “licensing” for “merchandising.”Today at the Semantic Technology Conference, Crystal Semantics announced that its Sense Engine semantic classifier and SiteScreen ASP brand protection tech will no longer be confined to parent company ad pepper’s iSense ad network. Instead it will be open for licensing to any inquisitive player in the space: ad agencies, publishers, ad networks, ad exchanges, demand-side platforms — Crystal Semantics don’t discriminate.“The drive towards automation in online media requires greater intelligence about audience and the context in which that audience has been identified,” said Crystal Semantics Managing Director Ian Saunders. “Crystal Semantics is uniquely placed to meet the needs of agencies and advertisers, buy and sell-side platforms, ad serving providers, marketplaces and publishers.”The baby of master linguist and distinguished Professor David Crystal OBE, the Sense Engine classifies content on any web page into one of 3,500 categories in nine languages. SiteScreen ASP identifies objectionable content and blocks ad delivery — Crystal and Sacha Carton, iSense president and ad pepper board member, described the mechanics to Adotas back in November.