Ryff unveils Spheera AI virtual product placement platform

Ryff created a way to insert digital product placements into TV shows and commercials. And now it’s using AI on a platform called Spheera to automatically insert products from big brands into existing shows.

The creator of VPP (Virtual Product Placement), said it will reveal how it is dramatically changing advertising to a select group of entertainment industry leaders at BAFTA’s prestigious building in Piccadilly, London. (You can register for the event here).

Ryff CEO Roy Taylor, will be on stage with an icon from the music industry and Simon Goldberg from media and entertainment lawyers SMB, to talk about Ryff’s new creative platform.

Ryff’s new platform called Spheera will be released on July 4. It will connect a trillion hours of visual media from storytellers, creators, TV and film studios, streamers, and broadcasters with 53 million small, medium, and large brands worldwide.

Ryff has ingested and integrated content into platforms and channels such as Sky TV, ITV, A&E, Hallmark, Viacom, Channel 4, CBS, Viu TV, ESPN, Hulu, Apple TV, Paramount+, NBC, and others. Brands such as Coca-Cola, Intel, General Mills (Cinnamon Toast Crunch), Diageo (Baileys), Mars (Orbit), and over 50 others already successfully use Ryff technology.

Gartner predicts that by 2024, 70% of brands will redeploy at least 10% of their media budget to VPP (Virtual Product Placement) in entertainment content.

“Against a backdrop of unrelenting social and economic pressures, marketing leaders look toward a future where smarter marketing leads to deeper, more valuable connections between customers and brands,” said Andrew Frank, an analyst at the Gartner Marketing practice, in a statement.

In their report, New York-based research firm Radicle Insights, backed up by Chapman University Film School, predicted that TV channels such as NBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Disney stand to make hundreds of millions of dollars from VPP. Radicle CEO and founder Stu Wilson said in a statement that he believes “Ryff’s VPP is already having a profound impact on media buyers’ plans for this holiday season.”

How it works: Ryff invented Scene Intelligence

Using proprietary AI, and machine learning (ML) with visual computing, Ryff can discover and make available ‘shoppable moments’ to brands to a potential audience in North America and Europe for 250,000 hours of the currently available streaming catalog shows; not to mention live sports and new TV and film.

By identifying the emotional triggers that create brand recall, positive product sentiment, and intent to purchase, Ryff is renewing the moribund product placement industry to build much-needed connections between brands and their customers.

For brands, advertisers, and content owners

Over 2,000 shows are available. Spheera ingests every kind of visual media, including influencers and live sport, and discovers shoppable moments to purchase individually or en masses to create a brand campaign.

Lisa Perrin of ITV said, in a statement, “Frankly, advertising to consumers today is hard. The public doesn’t just hate adverts; they’ll even pay to avoid them. Brands must work even harder to earn their attention. Through more innovative means, marketers can authentically reach new audiences at scale by subtly introducing or demonstrating a product in the right piece of content.”

Brands can search a growing library of over 2000 TV shows, films, and sports in Spheera to find those VPOs (Virtual Placement Opportunities) placements suited to their products and target market, filtering by their market category, content genres, formats, and scenes.

In a statement, Taylor said, “Spheera will breathe new financial life into the balance sheets of creators who can retain complete creative control of their content. Our artificial intelligence is rewriting product placement rules for sport, TV, Film, social, and influencers.”

Academy Award-winning Director Ari Sandel (Goosebumps2, When We First Met, The Duff) said in a statement, “Ryff’s technology allows filmmakers to benefit from brand dollars without interrupting the creative process. Now marketers can integrate brands once the film is complete.”

Ted Schilowitz, futurist at Paramount Pictures (and a speaker at GamesBeat Summit 2023), said in a statement, “As someone who tracks and pays close attention to future technology for the entertainment industry, the idea of dynamic digital product insertion is a valuable pursuit. Ryff has one of the most forward-thinking platforms for proving this, and they are well on their way to achieving their goals.”

Ryff has won the Comcast AI Lift-Off Challenge and Fast Company’s Next Big Thing in Tech.

The in London event will provide an opportunity to learn about Ryff’s AI technology, offer an exclusive look at the platform in a product demonstration, and hear how adopting an innovative approach to fractional advertising has transformed how brands and content can connect with new audiences.

Founded in 2018, Ryff is rewriting traditional product placement rules in the advertising industry by leveraging proprietary AI technology to create virtual product placement opportunities. As a more affordable, effective, and flexible solution, Ryff is at the forefront of entertainment and advertising, leading the fray of a new breed of Hollywood players ushering in the future of brand integration.