Blockchain could play a “critical” role in the ad-tech business, providing needed transparency and helping smaller companies counter the walled gardens of advertising behemoths like Google, Viant CEO Tim Vanderhook said during a session at NYC TV Week’s Advanced Advertising Summit Monday.

“Blockchain is going to play a critical role in advertising,” Vanderhook said, adding that one of the big concerns for ad-tech companies at present is whether publishers are getting paid properly. 

“When you think of the blockchain and putting the payment on the blockchain for the publisher, you can now have full transparency up the chain on who got paid what,” Vanderhook continued. “I think for advertisers, who we represent, they want trans to make sure we deliver the dollar to the publisher that was supposed to get there. So I think the blockchain is going to deliver transparency in spades, which is going to be an enormous thing.”

Also: More Coverage from the 10th Anniversary NYC TV Week

He also saw the currency as a means to return some control to smaller companies dealing with huge behemoths like Google for their ad revenue.  

“The blockchain can also help to counter walled gardens, big walled gardens like Google who run centralized ad exchanges,” Vanderhook said. “You’re basically at their mercy to get your check 60 days later. And they can change the impressions, they can change the dollar amount, there’s no real control. I think there is something around the blockchain in creating a decentralized advertising service that the whole Open Web can tap into that no one controls.”

Vanderhook admitted it will probably be a while until something like that becomes reality, but “I just feel like there’s there there.”

Vanderhook has made his living anticipating the future, with varying results. A co-founder of FAST pioneer Xumo with his brother Chris in 2011, the two sold the company to Comcast in 2019, just 12 days before the pandemic hit. 

“I looked at my brother and said, ‘Oh my gosh, it was the first time in life we’ve ever been lucky,’ ” Vanderhook joked. “And about a month later we spoke to the CEO [and], he said, ‘Man, you won’t believe it, revenue is up 400%, usage is up 500%,’ and they were off and running. Still not lucky.’ ”  

But that same year the two brothers repurchased another startup they founded and earlier sold to Time Inc., ad-tech firm Viant. The Vanderhooks bought back Viant for about $50 million in total valuation. When they took the company public in 2021, Viant had a $1.5 billion valuation and raised $286 million. The stock has since fallen sharply — it is down about 92% from its closing price on February 12, 2021, the date of its IPO, but Vanderhook added the offering served its purpose, providing the capital needed to move the business forward. 

“We got the capital and have been investing in R&D and the business is off and running and doing great,“ he said. ”The stock price is still in the tank, but the business fundamentals are great.”

Xumo was one of the first FAST services, but now it appears to be one of the hottest segments in the industry. Vanderhook said he and his brother based Xumo on the Spotify model, basically offering something for free with ads and driving those customers to the paid, ad-free service.  

Now companies that have held out from offering ads — Netflix and Disney Plus — are planning to launch ad-supported versions. Vanderhook said it could have a huge impact on revenue for both companies. 

“In the end, free users create who you go after to create paid subscribers,” Vanderhook said. “And free is the cheapest way to pull somebody into a new service. Anyone who’s in growth marketing knows that if you roll free content, you’re going to get a lot more people to tune in. That’s a lot easier and more cost-efficient than getting people to sign up for a free trial of a brand new service.” 

As far as the revenue impact, Vanderhook noted that FuboTV generates about $7 in ad-supported revenue each month. For Roku, it’s $3.75 per month and Vizio generates about $2 in monthly ad revenue. 

“This is huge when you compare it to $15 a month for just a subscription,” Vanderhook said. “It has the ability to substantially lift their revenue.”

Vanderhook also is encouraged about the rise in interactivity on the internet, but added he feels the industry has only scratched the surface. The ability to manipulate video and place interactivity over content, for applications such as live gambling, is a step toward realizing the technology’s true potential, he added. 

“We’re still pushing videos, pre-produced and edited in a flat file and pushing it out to people, which is what linear TV created,” Vanderhook said. “It’s a great experience, but it could be so much more.”

On the interactive advertising side, Vanderhook said among the hurdles to overcome are “cookies,” the small pieces of data that are used to identify a user. With connected TVs, he says cookies are the reason that ads are duplicated so often. And luckily, Viant's specialty is delivering targeted ads without cookies. That cookie-less future is where Vanderhook believes the whole ad business is moving. 

“We think cookies are a really big problem,” he said. “When you get into CTV, we all have the same experience in streaming, everyone sees the same advertisement over and over again. Why is that? There’s no user ID for a DSP like us to stop buying the ad. When that ad request comes across, it looks like a new user every time, even though it's the same one. So, solving identity in these cookie-less environments like connected TV, that’s what we set out to do, that’s what we accomplished — our ID works 90% of the time across the hit stream.“ ▪️

So, Rupert’s going prospecting, hoping to hit one last motherlode. That’s one way to understand the deal announced today that Fox has made a strategic investment in Eluvio, “a global pioneer for managing, distributing, and monetizing premium content via blockchain.” 

If that sounds frightfully vague and inexplicable to the billions of people who aren’t breathlessly riding the roller coaster runs of Ethereum and Bitcoin, well, I feel you. But it’s just possible that Rupert Murdoch and his boutique media joint might be onto something that other media companies should be thoroughly investigating, too. 

Also read: Fox Invests in Eluvio, Tech Company Behind its First Blockchain Series, Dan Harmon's 'Krapopolis' 

Under the deal, Fox joined Eluvio’s $100 million Series A round, a big but not unusual raise. Such strategic investments give big operators a chance to learn more about a hot new business, guarantee early dibs in any acquisition, and lock in  a nice payout or IPO stock when it’s time to go public. That Fox’s top digital dude, CTO and President of Digital Paul Cheesbrough, is also joining the Eluvio board speaks to how interested the company is. 

In announcing the deal, Fox executives made clear they believe Eluvio’s technology can make a difference in the ways Hollywood connects with and sells to its most ardent fans, and the advertisers trying to reach them. 

“At Fox, we believe that the blockchain, and the overall shift towards a more decentralized web, is providing creators with a wealth of opportunities to reach consumers with exciting new experiences,” said Cheesbrough. “The Eluvio team are the best in the business when it comes to the software and scalable infrastructure required to power live, decentralized experiences across the blockchain and our investment will help bring this technology to a wider market of content creators, media partners and advertising clients.”

Fox’s commitment indeed should boost Eluvio’s visibility with other media companies that want to create, market and sell non-fungible tokens or other blockchain-based digital assets. As the release puts it, the deal will“accelerate the adoption of Eluvio’s platform across the broader media and entertainment industry.” 

One of the many challenges of rolling out blockchain technologies is trying to pick winners. The sector is home to a bewildering array of companies and applications, often trying to solve old problems in new ways. One key for growth is standardizing on fewer platforms that can work at a larger, much more efficient scale. Picking a winner, as Fox has done, could help that process for all of Hollywood. 

Eluvio’s other media clients already include MGM and Sony Pictures, among others. It’s also worked with a bunch of the industry’s tech-focused vetting organizations, such as USC’s Entertainment Technology Center, the Hollywood Production Alliance and SMPTE. 

Fox also made much of Eluvio’s more energy-efficient architecture, anticipating another frequent critique of blockchain tools in general: they’re power hogs. 

By contrast, Eluvio’s technology “avoids the computational energy consumption, and costs, of proof-of-work blockchains through its efficient proof-of-authority consensus and seamless combination of on- and off-chain transactions.” 

For all you non-technical readers out there, that inscrutable sentence means a much less energy-intensive approach that should reduce operational costs, improve speed, and scale much better. 

Fox will be use Eluvio’s technology to create, or “mint,” non-fungible tokens around such things as digital collectibles or media assets, then marketing, selling, and storing those assets, so it can “embrace the power of blockchain economics to create significant new revenue opportunities for premium content.”

Under the deal, Eluvio will be the tech platform undergirding Blockchain Creative Labs, a Fox joint venture with its animated division Bento Box Entertainment. Blockchain Creative is building a dedicated digital marketplace for Dan Harmon’s new animated comedy, Krapopolis. It plans to use the Eluvio tech to sell digital goods, like one-of-a-kind character and background art and GIFs, and to give super fans access to exclusive social experiences.

In some ways, the deal feels both very early and woefully late. It’s clear the most intense FOMO around NFTs crested way back in February and March. But the business didn’t die away when the hype did. Industry executives tell me that deal flow in NFTs has continued unabated from those frenzied days, even if the topic’s presence has quieted on Reddit, Clubhouse, and other online echo chambers. 

Individual NFT transactions no longer attract the crazy numbers that saw a Beeple montage sell for $69 million last spring. But the total value of NFT sales and resales across the various exchanges is on the order of $2 billion a quarter, which compares notably with the sorry state of the theater business, which would be delighted to gross that much per quarter in this difficult year. 

The Eluvio deal also isn’t the first time Fox has jumped early into a new medium. 

Back in 2005, Fox plunked down $580 million for MySpace when it was still the space for an emerging social-media world. The company was criticized for what seemed like a hefty price, but more or less paid off the deal a few months later with a three-year, billion-dollar search ad contract. That MySpace later was sold off for parts (technically, $35 million) was almost immaterial after that. 

And let’s not forget that Fox needs to be aggressive about exploring green spaces in digital media, fan service and collectible merchandise. The Murdochs sold off most of their empire to Disney three years ago, leaving a very skinny organization with very little online footprint. 

The 2020 acquisition of ad-supported Tubi helped, giving Fox a much bigger online footprint ripe for cross-promotion and programming. Just this week, Tubi announced it’s partnering with corporate sibling Fox Sports to launch 10 sports-focused channels, including “near-live” NFL shows, live games from Spanish soccer power Real Madrid, and content from Major League Baseball and even the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. But that’s not near enough for Fox’s long-term stability. 

Now comes the hard part: Taking cutting-edge technologies and using them in ways that will actually work for a wide swathe of customers, advertisers, and distribution partners in markets around the globe. Perhaps the rise and fall of MySpace will provide some useful object lessons as Fox moves into the blockchain world at a new and far more aggressive level. 

Two months after announcing a new animated comedy series that will be transacted via non-fungible tokens (NFTs), as well as a $100 million commitment to fund a new division called Blockchain Creative Labs, Fox said it is also funding the San Francisco company supplying that new biz unit with its blockchain tech, Eluvio.

Fox's exact participation in Eluvio's Series A funding round wasn't specified, but the conglomerate said the round is valued at $100 million. 

Founded by former IBM software engineer Michelle Munson, Eluvio provides blockchain technology that Fox hopes will help it better control and monetize digital images, sound and music files and other creative assets associated with its shows, which have been passed around willy-nilly on the social internet ... and all the way back to Web 1.0, for that matter. 

NFTs provide a way for creators--ranging from independent artists to large global media conglomerates--to claim ownership of creative work on digital ledgers that live in ostensibly secure, decentralized portions of the internet known as the blockchain. Best of all for companies like Fox, it can monetize these NFTs, through mechanisms ranging from sales to individual consumers to advertising sponsorship,

“At Fox , we believe that the blockchain, and the overall shift towards a more decentralized web, is providing creators with a wealth of opportunities to reach consumers with exciting new experiences,” said Paul Cheesbrough, chief technology officer and president of digital for Fox Corp., in a statement. “The Eluvio team are the best in the business when it comes to the software and scalable infrastructure required to power live, decentralized experiences across the blockchain and our investment will help bring this technology to a wider market of content creators, media partners and advertising clients.”

At Fox's upfront presentation in May, Fox Entertainment CEO Charlie Collier unveiled the new Blockchain Creative Labs venture, as well as the new animated series from Community and Rick and Morty mastermind Dan Harmon, a show, produced by Fox's Bento Box unit, that will leverage the new business model. 

“Not to go too far into it today, but as an advertiser-focused, artist-first and animation-obsessed company, Fox is going to take advertisers into the world of blockchain-powered tokens, including NFTs,” Collier told Fox sponsors. “And Dan’s series, currently entitled Krapopolis, will be the first-ever curated entirely on the blockchain. And just as we’re doing this for our own animation, we will also help your brands connect directly with fans and enthusiasts through NFTs. With and for you, Fox will help art meet brands meet technology.”

Fox, Collier added, will launch a dedicated marketplace for Krapopolis “that will curate and sell digital goods, ranging from NFTs of one-of-a-kind character and background art and GIFs, as well as tokens that provide exclusive social experiences to engage and reward superfans.”

Fox said it has made a strategic investment in Eluvio, a company that manages and monetizes content via blockchain technology.

Eluvio will provide the technology platform for Blockchain Creative Labs, the recently launched NFT business and creative unit for Fox Entertainment and Bento Box Entertainment.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Fox said its investment marks the completion of Eluvio’s Series A financial round at a valuation of $100 million.

Fox said it’s investment is designed to accelerate the adoption of Eluvio’s platform across the media and entertainment industry.

“At Fox , we believe that the blockchain, and the overall shift towards a more decentralized web, is providing creators with a wealth of opportunities to reach consumers with exciting new experiences,” said Paul Cheesbrough, chief technology officer and president for digital for Fox Corp. “The Eluvio team are the best in the business when it comes to the software and scalable infrastructure required to power live, decentralized experiences across the blockchain and our investment will help bring this technology to a wider market of content creators, media partners and advertising clients.”

Cheesbrough will be joining the Eluvio board of directors.

Eluvio was launched in 2019 by Emmy Award winning technologists Michelle Munson and Serban Simu. Its Eluvio Content Fabric is a blockchain network that can handle publishing, coding, packaging, distribution and minting of NFT’s for live and file-based content.

“We are incredibly honored and proud to have the backing of Fox as we embark on the next phase of growth and innovation at Eluvio,” said Munson. “Fox, Blockchain Creative Labs, and Eluvio share a common vision about the ability of blockchain and ‘smart’ assets to fundamentally alter how digital entertainment is created, controlled, and distributed. We’re also particularly excited about the opportunity to work alongside companies that are arguably second to none when it comes to digital animation and multi-screen advertising. Together, we have amazing things planned for 2021 and beyond.”

The House has passed H.R. 8132, the “American Competitiveness of a More Productive Emerging Tech Economy (the American COMPETE) Act." It still needs to pass the Senate.

The bipartisan bill from Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), directs the Commerce Department and the Federal Trade Commission to report to Congress on "the state of AI [including how it could be used to 'address online harms'], quantum computing, blockchain and new and advanced materials."

It also requires a report on the state of the internet of things (IoT), including manufacturing.

Rodgers, ranking member of the Consumer Protection Subcommittee, joined with Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Greg Walden (R-Ore.) to say that the bill would help "ensure U.S. leadership in emerging technologies."

“The U.S. must lead in the development and deployment of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, blockchain, Internet of Things, and more to grow our economy, strengthen our national security, and advance U.S. leadership against bad actors like China," they said. "The bipartisan American COMPETE Act is an important step forward to helping us do just that." We thank our E&C Republican colleagues for provisions they authored in this bill, and our House colleagues for coming together in a bipartisan way today to ensure America leads in these technologies that define our future. We urge our colleagues in the Senate to take swift action on this important bill.”

House E&C Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman said the bill will ensure "the federal government has the information and data it needs to strengthen our economy and address emerging threats."

The bill passed out of a full committee markup Sept. 9.

AdLedger, the consortium using blockchain and cryptography to address the problems of fraud, transparency and privacy in digital advertising, said its CryptoRTB technology has been used in market to buy and sell over-the-top ads.

In CryptonRTB’s first real-world scaled deployment, MadHive, which architected the protocol, acted as the DSP. MadHive’s sister company MadNetwork was the blockchain. Beachfront was the SSP.

“With so much television spend moving to digitally delivered formats like OTT,  it’s becoming even more critical to solve the underlying problems with the digital ecosystem,” said Christiana Cacciapuoti, executive director at AdLedger. “CryptoRTB can remedy these problems across all platforms and screens, including OTT, which is an increasingly important part of the marketing mix.” 

In the pilot deployment, CryptoRTB’s digital signatures identified and eliminated domain spoofing, which cost the industry $23 billion in fraud last year. CryptorTB also sealed consumer data, ensuring compliance with GDPR and CCPA regulations.

“The e-commerce industry has been utilizing cryptography to ensure trust, transparency and security for decades, and now we’re leveraging the technology with blockchain to remedy the problems in digital advertising,” said Adam Helfgott, CEO at MadHive and Project Lead at Mad Network. “In addition to providing the verification methods needed for a more efficient supply chain, CryptoRTB is built with privacy as a core tenet to ensure a mutually beneficial future for advertisers, publishers, and consumers.”

CryptoRTB injects cryptographic tools into the ad serving environment, identifies illegitimate ad supply and creates a verified chain of custody.

“The behind-the-scenes work of actually understanding and integrating technologies like cryptography to create efficiencies and drive data fidelity in digital advertising is now a reality,” said Frank Sinton, founder and president at Beachfront. “This proof-of-concept demonstrates to the collective industry that blockchain solutions can enable meaningful industry change. Now is the time to rally around this type of innovative solution, work to drive adoption with AdLedger members, and set the stage for the future of the industry. One that stands for the transparent, secure, and privacy-conscious flow of dollars and data across the supply chain.” 

The AdLedger consortium includes agencies Omnicom, IPG, Publicis, WPP and Dentsu, publishers Hearst and Meredith and chocolate marketer Hershey.

House Energy & Commerce Committee Republican leaders have unveiled an ambitious tech legislative agenda including bills using AI to combat deep fakes, promoting data security and coming up with an IoT strategy.  

They may not control the House, or the Consumer Protection Subcommittee agenda, but House Republicans have a road map for where they would like the committee to go in terms of tech legislation that will help America beat China and tackle other competitiveness challenges.  

Related: House Republicans Praise 5G Coalition

The focus, not surprisingly, is on unleashing free market ingenuity and economic growth, according to Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and Consumer Protection ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.). 

“Now more than ever, we must create policies that ensure America beats China over the next decade and beyond by fostering innovation, securing supply chains, and protecting consumers," they said in unveiling their legislative wish/work list. 

The agenda comprises 15 bills in four categories: 

Advancing and Securing Emerging Technologies  

· "The Generating Artificial Intelligence Networking Security (GAINS) Act, led by Rep. McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), ensures the United States develops and implements strategies for artificial intelligence that preserves our values and leadership. Identifies risks to the supply chain and creates plan for mitigating those risks;  

· "The Advancing Blockchain Act, led by Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY), promotes the use of blockchain technology to our economy. Identifies and mitigates risks to the supply chain;  

· "The Advancing 3D Printing Act, led by Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), assesses how to ensure American leadership in 3D printing technology. Identifies and mitigates risks to the supply chain;  

· "The Advancing Quantum Computing Act, led by Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA), identifies how quantum computing can benefit our economy. Identifies and mitigates risks to the supply chain;

· "The Smart IoT Act, introduced last May by Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio), promotes an IoT strategy at the federal level that streamlines development and adoption; 

· "The Advancing Unmanned Delivery Services Act, led by Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio), analyzes the many benefits that contactless delivery has for various segments and sectors of our country;  

· "The Advancing Facial Recognition Act, led by Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA), ensures development of facial recognition technology balances both our leadership role and consumer protections. Identifies and mitigates risks to the supply chain;  

· "The Advancing IoT Manufacturing Act, led by Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), encourages states to adopt model codes for the manufacturing of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Identifies and mitigates risks to the supply chain;  

· "The Advancing New and Advanced Materials Act, led by Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-IN), promotes a national strategy on the adoption of new and advanced materials in U.S. manufacturing. Identifies and mitigates risks to the supply chain;"  

Global Data Innovation and Security 

· "The Showing How Isolationism Effects Long-term Development (SHIELD) Act, led by Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), assesses how international data localization laws impact each country’s economy, our economy, and cross-border commerce; 

· "The Telling Everyone the Location of data Leaving the U.S. (TELL) Act, led by Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC), requires disclosure whether China has access to our data transmissions;  

· "The Internet Application Integrity and Disclosure (Internet Application I.D.) Act, led by Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), requires the disclosure of app-makers originating from China."  

Advancing Innovation Across the Country

· "The Advancing Gig Economy Act, led by Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-MT), analyzes how we can preserve and foster growth in our gig economy;  

· "The Advancing Tech Startups Act, led by Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), promotes a national strategy for encouraging more tech-focused startups and small businesses in all parts of our country."  

Combating Harms Through Innovation  

· "The Countering Online Harms Act, led by Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY), assesses how we can use AI to fight online harms, such as misinformation, deep fakes, illegal content, and more."

Dish Network is looking to use blockchain technology to better track video content and keep it out of the hands of digital pirates.

According to an application filed with the U.S. Patent Office in mid-2018, unearthed this week by Coindesk, the satellite TV operator is developing a “software and/or hardware facility that can be used by content owners to assert ownership of content so that copyright friendly websites and services can take action against copyright piracy effectively, efficiently and is scalable is disclosed. The facility makes available to all content owners watermarking/fingerprinting technology so an identifier (e.g., a unique code) can be embedded in the content (e.g., video/audio portion of each video content asset). The facility utilizes blockchain technology to add information related to each unique identifier in a database and allows an authorized user (e.g., the owner) to update the information through a blockchain transaction.”

Continued: Read the rest of this story on our new sibling platform, Next TV.  

Dish Network is looking to use blockchain technology to better track video content and keep it out of the hands of digital pirates.

According to an application filed with the U.S. Patent Office in mid-2018, unearthed this week by Coindesk, the satellite TV operator is developing a “software and/or hardware facility that can be used by content owners to assert ownership of content so that copyright friendly websites and services can take action against copyright piracy effectively, efficiently and is scalable is disclosed. The facility makes available to all content owners watermarking/fingerprinting technology so an identifier (e.g., a unique code) can be embedded in the content (e.g., video/audio portion of each video content asset). The facility utilizes blockchain technology to add information related to each unique identifier in a database and allows an authorized user (e.g., the owner) to update the information through a blockchain transaction.”

Dish asserts in its application that, given the vast amount of digital distribution points that now exists for video, it’s exceedingly difficult these days for rights holders to keep tabs of their content. And when illegal distribution is found, it’s usually after content has been unlawfully distributed many times. 

Dish’s anti-piracy scheme would use blockchain to embed ownership data into content. That data could only be uploaded and updated by the owners themselves. 

Those lawfully licensing the content would purchase it directly from the owners, paying in either fiat or crypto currencies. In return, they’d receive tokens that authorize them to use the content. 

Dish has been one of the more aggressive pay TV operators in terms of shutting down illegal online content networks. 

Comcast-owned advanced advertising unit FreeWheel has named former DoubleClick engineering executive Utpal Kalita as chief technology officer and VP of engineering for Blockgraph.

Announced in January, Blockgraphi is a new secure exchange for addressable advertising data, being collaboratively developed through FreeWheel by Charter’s Spectrum Reach unit and Viacom

Kalita joined Blockgraph earlier this year, FreeWheel said. In his CTO role, he is charged with leading, mentoring and growing the blockchain-based ad platform’s engineering team.

Related: Comcast Partners With Charter and Viacom on Blockchain-Enabled Ad Platform

He reports to Blockgraph general manager Jason Manningham.

Kalita’s resume includes stops at Google-owned DoubleClick, Tremor Video (now Telaria), Xaxis (part of WPP’s GroupM) and Eyeview Digital.

“As we looked for a CTO to help us realize our transformative vision, it was critical to find a leader with a strong track record of leading and inspiring teams to pioneer and build large scale platforms and Utpal stood out,” Manningham said in a statement. 

Eight months after declaring that cable had boldly entered what many consider to be “the most significant technological innovation since the dawn of the Internet,” CableLabs has published list of all the ways that blockchain security can be compromised.

According to Brian Scriber, principal security architect for the cable industry technology consortium, CableLabs’ Security Technologies team has been tracking attacks on blockchain networks, and various compromises, for several years. It’s identified key hazard groupings and security considerations in blockchain projects, some of which Scriber listed in the org’s latest blog post.

These include:

> Smart Contract Injection - No, it’s not as sexy as it sounds. “The smart contract engine is an interpreter for a (sometimes novel) programming language and a parser of data related to the decisions the engine needs to make,” Scriber explained. “The hazard in this situation is when executable code appears inside smart contracts in an effort to subvert the contract language or data. Implementers need to consider sanitizing inputs to smart contracts, proper parsing and error handling.”

> Replay Attacks - “Not only is there a threat in transaction processing and validation, but also in node behavior, authentication, and the securing of confidential messaging,” Scriber wrote. “Adding nonces to check against prior transactions is critical.”

> History Revision Attacks - “Blockchains that rely on fault-tolerant consensus models do well when there are many participating nodes processing, competing and collaborating on the next block,” Scriber said. “When the number of nodes drops, or if there is predictably cyclic behavior, lulls can be leveraged in a history revision attack where a new branch is created, effectively deleting a previously accepted transaction. Designers should consider how to best guarantee minimum support and the diversity of nodes.”

> Permanence Poisoning - "Due to the permanence of blockchains and the cost to fork, it’s possible to sabotage a chain with even claims of illegal content to draw the ire of regulators and law enforcement,” Scriber said.

> Confidential Information Leaks - According to Scriber, “Permanence increases the risk of data being exfiltrated out of the chain. Even encrypted data is at risk for future threats against those algorithms or brute-force attacks. Designers need to make sure that they understand the data being stored, how it is protected, who owns it and how it could be re-associated with any pseudonymized users.”

These are just a few of the attacks listed by Scriber.

Notably, the posting comes just a few weeks after Comcast and Charter announced a partnership with Viacom to build a blockchain-enabled addressable advertising exchange. 

Comcast Cable Advertising said it is working with Charter’s Spectrum Reach unit and Viacom to create a new secure exchange for addressable advertising data.

Developed through Comcast’s Freewheel advanced advertising unit, Comcast said it’s moving onto the “next phase of Blockgraph,” with additional media companies and MVPDs set to be tied to the initiative “shortly.”

The cable operator describes Blockgraph as the “identity layer” for the TV industry, providing a platform on which media companies and publishers can offer marketers addressable data capabilities without disclosing identifiable user data to third parties.

Blockgraph, Comcast said, helps solve data usage challenges for all parties within the global TV advertising ecosystem, including media sellers, buyers and consumers. Blockgraph participant’s data stays in its own systems and the participant continues to protect the data and manage the privacy of its users, including respecting any user choices regarding the use of the data.

Comcast is currently working with its NBCUniversal unit to test Blockgraph and plans to incorporate it into its addressable offering in early 2019.

“Data is a valuable and sensitive asset for media companies and consumers so understandably, it must be protected,” said Jason Manningham, general manager of Blockgraph, in a statement. “At the same time, data is now the fuel powering media and advertising. The TV community needs to ensure that we can compete with the data capabilities of digital-first companies. We understand that providing a safe way to protect data while benefitting from collective insights is the path forward. And we believe Blockgraph offers that path.”

“It’s imperative that the use of data prioritizes the privacy of consumers’ personal information,” added David Kline, executive VP of Charter Communications and president of Spectrum Reach. “Blockgraph’s technology offers enhanced security and privacy protections by allowing all players within the TV ecosystem to directly share insights derived from anonymized and aggregated information. We support this initiative believing it will help set the standard for secure information sharing in the years to come.”

A bill has been introduced that would bring together stakeholders in government and private industry to come up with a common working definition of blockchain, which Wikipedia defines as "a growing list of records, called blocks, which are linked using cryptography.[1][6] Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block,[6] a timestamp, and transaction data (generally represented as a merkle tree root hash)."

"Merkle tree root hash" certainly begs for further explanation, and Reps. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) and Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) have teamed up on the bipartisan effort, H.R. 6913, the Blockchain Promotion Act of 2018. The title gives away their view on the potential of the technology, which has applications across the internet of things. They are looking at the new tech as a way to promote innovation. "Blockchain can be a great resource for innovation and technology, but we must figure out exactly what best common definition is and how it can be used," said Guthrie. Those uses include for advertising and media distribution.

Need to Know: What Blockchain Means to Media

The bill would require the Department of Commerce to create the working group, which in addition with coming up with a consensus definition of blockchain, would also consider charging the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the President's principal communications advisor and a part of Commerce, and the FCC with teaming on a study of the potential impact of blockchain on spectrum policy or its use to promote a more efficient government.

The bill comes as states are trying to come up with their own, varying, definitions, so this would be an attempt to come up with a common definition, a rhetorical technical standard, as it were, that all could refer to.

“Blockchain technology could transform the global digital economy. Opportunities to deploy blockchain technology ranges from greatly increased transparency, efficiencies and security in supply chains to more-opportunistically managing access to spectrum," Matsui said.

Related: House Looks at Implications of IoT

“Blockchain technology shows serious promise for not just the financial industry, but also for many others by enhancing security, authentication, and regulatory compliance," said Software Information & Industry Association VP Mark MacCarthy. "A technical definition for blockchain will help set up a common framework for businesses, researchers, and policymakers and guide research and applications development. This is what happened when NIST set a definition for cloud-computing."

Comcast Ventures participated in a $3.275 million seed round in Blockdaemon, a startup that has developed a “nodes as a service” Platform to enable businesses to simplify and manage blockchain applications.

Boldstart, MState, Plug and Play and some angels from Silicon Valley also participated in the seed financing.

Blockdaemon, founded in 2017, plans to use the funds to grow its engineering team from 10 to 20 in the next six months, beef up its infrastructure options and help customers run multi-tenant networks for different blockchains, company CEO Konstantin Richter explained in this blog post.

RELATED: Blockchain Technology Moving Into Cable, Advertising Sectors

“We chose a VC round, over a crowdsale, to ensure we have investors with real enterprise chops on deck that can help us run a focused agile development process,” he noted, adding that Blockdaemon is also announcing a new product this week that enables the deployment and connection of public Bitcoin and Ethereum nodes, payable via crypto and credit cards.

Blockdaemon has also set up pricing for public, private and enterprise rollouts.

RELATED: Comcast Partners Up to Forge Secure ‘Blockchain’ Platform to Boost TV Ad Efficiency

Richter is late of Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile, Nokia and PriceWaterhouse, and CTO Arun Kalaiselvan is formerly with Vizbee, Voray, PlaceIQ and Lookbooks. Adam Helfgott, the CEO of Madhive and co-founder of Lookbooks and e-camp, is an advisor to Blockdaemon.

Comcast’s investment in the startup comes as the company gets more deeply involved in Blockchain, a system that creates a trusted way to share digital information from multiple entities while also keeping that core data protected and validated even as those records change using a distributed, decentralized structure.

For its part, Comcast has already been starting to develop Blockchain technologies for connected home and TV advertising applications.

RELATED: Comcast Looking to Link Blockchain to the Connected Home

Last month,Coindesk expanded on Comcast’s interest in blockchain, noting that Comcast Ventures has also provided backing to MState, an accelerator for blockchain startups, and to Blockchange Ventures. Gil Beyda, managing director at Comcast Ventures, told the pub that the VC has established a “blockchain crew” that’s focused on the sector.

After applying blockchain techniques to TV advertising, Comcast is now forging another link to the digital trust technology – the connected home.

RELATED: Comcast Partners Up to Forge Secure ‘Blockchain’ Platform to Boost TV Ad Efficiency

Comcast hasn’t announced timing on a commercial deployment of how it’s using blockchain technology in the connected home, but its Comcast Labs is already headed downstream in terms of developing these capabilities.

Blockchain establishes a trusted way to share digital information from multiple entities while also keeping that core data protected and validated even as those records change, essentially creating a disintermediation of a chain of data ledgers via a distributed, decentralized structure. In addition to advertising, it’s also being used for cryptocurrency.

Applying blockchain in the connected home is emerging as consumers continue to deploy and attempt to automate a wide range of smart home devices, including thermostats, locks, and lights. Comcast is taking a closer look at it in the context of services like Xfinity Home, which works with Comcast’s own equipment and a growing mix of third-party smart home products, and xFi, its whole-home WiFi networking management platform.

RELATED: Comcast Scales Home Automation Services to 15M Subs

And that’s also giving rise to the need for consumers to allow friends and family to use some of those products, perhaps on a temporary basis – from the physical world this would be akin to letting a trusted friend borrow the house keys while the owner is out of town, then retrieve them when the owner returns.

RELATED: Blockchain Technology Moving Into Cable, Advertising Sectors

In the context of the smart home, users might want to enable their kids to unlock the home’s smart locks with an app, but not give them access to the home’s security cameras, or remotely change the thermostat settings. Or the user might want to let a neighbor be able to enter the garage to check on the house during a vacation, but not give them control of all the other functions of the smart home. But a deeper level of authentication and security are needed to pull that off.

“By 2020, Americans will have an average of 50 Wi-Fi-connected devices in their homes,” Noopur Davis, chief information security officer at Comcast Cable, explained in a blog post about this blockchain-facing work. “In such ultra-connected homes, there are any number of situations in which we will want friends, or family members or guests to be able to control some features of our connected homes, without giving them access to everything.”

But today’s smart home systems “don’t have a way to provide that sort of pinpoint access,” Davis added. “We can give our kids access to the whole system via an app, or keep the control to ourselves, but not pick and choose exactly what devices and services we want to make available or keep off limits.”

But to enable that level of access, the information security team of Comcast Labs has been working with the digital home engineering team of Srindhar Solur, Comcast’s SVP of product development for Xfinity Home and IoT, an exec late of HP who joined the cable op in 2016.

The resulting approach, Comcast notes, aims to put the control of the digital home in the hands of the customer, allowing them to grant, revoke and otherwise tailor access to any IoT device in a private and secure way. Comcast is developing a wide range of use-cases, starting with products such as home security cameras.

The model Comcast is developing enables the creation of a “unique digital identity for each user, which will be associated with a permission-based blockchain ledger or ‘trunk,’” explained Davis, a former exec with Intel.

“Customers can then associate individual IoT devices –‘leaves’– with their ledger and then set and revoke permissions as they see fit,” she wrote. “The beauty of this approach is that because blockchains are decentralized you can grant and revoke access dynamically from anywhere in a secure way.”

There's much more than advanced advertising embedded in the march of blockchain technology into the cable and media business.

Media companies such as Comcast-NBCU and Tegna and vendors including IBM, Oracle, Microsoft and more are accelerating their blockchain experiments, focusing on the efficiency, security and trustworthiness that Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) can provide in data management and cryptopayments. In digital journalism, blockchain can be used for content validation. And in construction and operations management, the technology is being developed to authenticate deliverables and verify reliability.

NeverStop Marketing foresees blockchain being used throughout the emerging digital landscape, in applications that include "Content and Experience," "Management," "Data," "Advertising and Promotion," "Commerce and Sales," and "Social and Relationship." Its marketing landscape chart identifies an array of emerging companies operating in each sector.

Comcast’s Advanced Advertising Group plans to launch a Blockchain Insights Platform in 2018. That promise has triggered attention to the blockchain's capabilities in advertising, including the opportunities it opens in over-the-top services. Comcast did not respond to requests for an update on the project, which seeks to increase the efficiency of premium video advertising and enable secure exchanges of non-personal audience data for addressable ads.

UPDATE: When Comcast talked up the Blockchain Insights Platform at Cannes Lion it cited the potential for advertisers and programmers to share data sets safely to craft media plans targeting audience segments across pay-TV platforms, and David Clark, executive VP at Comcast and general manager of the advanced advertising group, cited the blockchain initiative at a media conference on Tuesday in New York. “The TV industry as a whole, we believe, would benefit from collaborating on a common repository of data,” he said.

Speaking during a panel at the Paley International Council Summit, Clark said Comcast believes the blockchain initiative "gives all participants a way to access the full breadth of data in a safe, encrypted way, which is really exciting.”

Premion, the OTT advertising services division of Tegna (formerly Gannett Broadcasting), has already plunged into the OTT ad market, using blockchain in its tool portfolio for local and regional ad campaigns. Premion uses Tegna's local sales force (currently in about 40 markets where the company owns TV stations) to insert local ads on OTT channels, such as TBS, Discovery GO, Crackle and dozens of others.

Premion president Jim Wilson told Multichannel News that Premion, which debuted a year ago, is now "running thousands of regional and local campaigns each month in more than 195 DMAs and down to the zip code level."

"We are bullish on blockchain as a solution to address the opaque supply chain, mounting ad tech fees and many hours spent reconciling post-campaign reporting for payments," Wilson said. "With many disparate parties all writing to a shared ledger, trust and verification become more of the consequence of the technology when there is a network effect."

Wilson said Premion uses blockchain "across the advertising ecosystem -- agencies, marketers and publishers -- to track ad impressions without relying on one single entity’s data."

"We’re scoping out a path for blockchain technology that can reduce fraud and costs in the advertising supply chain," Wilson added.

Despite immense attention -- and questions -- about blockchain, the process may be "subtle," Steve Goeringer, principal security architect at CableLabs, said. Goeringer, who wrote a seminal paper last year about on blockchain in the cable industry told Multichannel News that CableLabs has focused on interactive and social experiences for systems that enable "more secure distribution of content."

He cited "various medical use cases [and] new value opportunities for cable operators to extend to both business and residential subscribers." In the short term, "Most uses will be based in private, purpose-specific chains rather than those publicly available," Goeringer said. "It is likely that most blockchain use cases will not require direct subscriber participation in or even awareness of blockchain."

Developing More Uses
Cryptocurrencies have been a primary driver of the blockchain process. Dish Network began accepting Bitcoin for online payments for subscriptions and other services in August 2014. A Dish executive told MCN, "We have a low, but steady group of customers paying their monthly bill with Bitcoin," and it has "been frictionless for us and a good customer experience."

There are also significant opportunities to use blockchain in journalism, as described at the Online News Association conference early this month. Amy Webb, founder/CEO of the Future Today Institute, singled out blockchain in her "2018 Tech Trends for Journalism Report," noting that blockchain could "make it easier for newsrooms to solicit and receive sensitive information from whistleblowers ... [and] guarantee the authenticity of sources, images and videos."

"In the future, there could be a public ledger for news, a network system that would exchange authentic news and parse out fake news," Webb said.

"Blockchain technology has the potential to transform media as the internet did two decades ago," said Barbara Bellafiore, principal consultant at Bell Communications, a Connecticut firm that advises media, ecommerce and technology clients about use of this evolving technology. She cited increased accuracy and immediacy in counting viewers and users, added efficiency to payments and "better tracking of the conversion of advertising into sales" as major advantages.

In the media sector, blockchain's decentralized technology can help resolve the contractual challenges of data sharing, including digital rights management, conditional access and privacy. Its features include identification, proof (including timestamps) of activities, traceability and security. A recent Harvard Business Review analysis cited blockchain's ability to keep data safe for consumers and enterprises as a core appeal.

Much of the initial focus has been on supply chain management and ways to streamline the complex network that involves producers, brokers, distributors, processors and retailers. A recent Deloitte study found that nearly 50% of the media companies surveyed said they were now using or plan to implement blockchain technology -- far ahead of financial services companies, generally regarded as the cryptocurrency market leaders.

Many advertising industry executives are especially enthusiastic about the technology.

Tim Hanlon, founder/CEO of The Vertere Group in Chicago, said he believes that blockchain "can resolve a lot of issues that bedevil the media and ad industries, including fraud."

"This whole notion of programmatic buying ... has not necessarily been smooth," Hanlon said. "Blockchain portends improvements in the automation," especially its ability to "squeeze out fraud."

Stacy Huggins, cofounder and chief marketing officer of MadHive, expanded on this value.

"Blockchain technology will play a pivotal role in solving many of the issues the current supply chain grapples with," Huggins told MCN. "For the sell side, they could maintain ownership and control of valuable data assets by employing cryptographic keys and using the blockchain as a chain of custody on data." Suppliers would also be able to "tackle cross-network frequency capping, cross-device attribution reporting and see much faster reconciliation and payments from advertisers.

"On the demand side, stakeholders ... could finally achieve the transparency and fraud prevention they have always asked for," she added. "The terms and conditions set forth in their campaigns could be governed in code via smart contracts; they could query a distributed ledger for quick impression level data to make adjustments mid-campaign. It would also give the transparency required to build out more robust attribution models which will improve return on investment."

MadHive, established early last year, has developed a blockchain ecosystem for advertising that it calls "a trusted pipeline for data exchange and collaboration across the ad tech value chain." The company provides Tegna's data management platform, which Huggins characterizes as "creating a decentralized network among OTT partners to track audience levels on a secure platform."

Tegna and MadHive are also founding member of the new AdLedger Blockchain Consortium. Premion's Wilson said he believes the AdLedger Consortium will help the various sectors achieve "common goals."

MadHive's Huggins is also executive director of the new consortium, which was formed early this summer. AdLedger's members include advertising and publishing/programming executives seeking to bring transparency and data security to the ad tech supply chain "by harnessing a blockchain backed peer-to-peer network."

To Danny Bowman, a long-time wireless industry executive, blockchain systems will thrive in the emerging supply chain involving "trusted content" and OTT services. Bowman, who will lead a roundtable on blockchain in the media business at the National Association of Broadcasters Futures Conference in East Palo Alto, Calif., Nov. 12-14, foresees "the real opportunities in smart contracts" and in transactions "without so many people involved."

Image by iStock /Getty Images Plus; Kent Gibbons added to this report.

The Congressional Blockchain Caucus debuted with two members this week, a bipartisan duo who seek to shape policies on cryptocurrencies - technology that is already being evaluated within the cable and media businesses for payments and other secure financial transactions.    Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colorado) and Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-South Carolina) want to educate colleagues as the long-simmering digital currency attracts greater public attention.

The new Caucus materialized almost exactly six months after a seminal CableLabs report of its ongoing review of "distributed transaction ledgers" (another term for blockchain) and their role in cable industry payments, records management and security.  Coincidentally, on the same day that the Caucus was formed, a Gartner technology executive warned that blockchain promises are being "overhyped" and that major impact of the opportunity is still down the road.  

Best known through its prominent promulgator BitCoin, the nascent blockchain business is drawing the attention of financial organizations and industrial users because of its potential for secure transactions.  

Polis and Mulvaney, in their statements accompany the Caucus debut, emphasized the need to help Congress deal with policies, which will include government applications of blockchain services.  Polis, a member of the House Rules and the Natural Resources Committees, also co-chairs the Congressional Caucus on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.  Mulvaney sits on the Financial Services and the Oversight and Government Reform Committees.

“Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize the financial services industry, the U.S. economy and the delivery of government services," Mulvaney said. Polis  emphasized that blockchain supplies "an open decentralized database of every transaction involving value," which "creates a record of authenticity that is verifiable by the entire user community." He cited analyses that "predict that blockchain could potentially transform 21st century transactions." In 2014, Polis hosted a Bitcoin Demo Dayon Capitol Hill.

Earlier this year, CableLabs' Principal Security Architect Steve Goeringer summarized the cable industry's "increasing interest in blockchain technology." He cited open source projects and collaborative industry efforts to develop "applications of this technology to a wide range of industries."

"Our security technologies experts are tracking the core technology elements themselves," Goeringer said. "This is essential to allow evaluation of innovative solutions based on blockchains and also to determine how best to architect and integrate these solutions into our industry."

"We consider blockchain developments and concepts in our innovation efforts.... Blockchain may allow or enable new capabilities and revenue opportunities that otherwise cannot be achieved. In other cases, blockchain complements an existing capability by reducing costs or enabling new features."

Creation of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus spurred a compliment from Jerry Brito, executive director of Coin Center, an advocacy group  promoting cryptocurrency and decentralized computing technologies. Brito said that his group has worked with Mulvaney and Polis for two years.  He expects that the Caucus will encourage the incoming Congress to "chart a path forward with the same type of light-touch regulation from which the early Internet benefited."

Amid all this enthusiasm, Peter Sondergaard, senior VP for Technology at Gartner,the information technology research group, gave a speech warning that blockchain's route toward widespread usage is problematic.  On the same day that the Congressional Caucus debuted, Sondergaard called the frenzy over crpytocurrencies "overhyped from the aspect of its short-term impact."

He cited technical and scaling factors plus the need to establish business models for its use.  Sondergaard also acknowledged that with its contract clearing features, blockchain is likely to be embraced by various industries later in this decade.

“Blockchain equally makes sense in other places and I think we will throughout the next 12 months see announcements, even from the larger vendors, that start to propose that this could be used in other aspects," according to a technology publication in South Africa, where Sondergaard delivered his remarks.