AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

Silicon Alley Insider

A funny but uncomfortable exchange today between Michael Eisner and Veoh founder Dmitry Shapiro. Shapiro was supposed to be interviewing Eisner at Digitas’ “Newfront,” a showcase of Web video for potential advertisers held in New York.

But since Eisner is an investor in Veoh, and well, because he’s Michael Eisner, he felt he had the right to ask Shapiro some questions. Specifically: “You just raised a lot of money … what is the strategy for Veoh? What in the end is going to make my investment pay off?”

Shapiro, on the spot in front of hundreds of ad execs, did his best: “It’s a combination of things with the magic fairy dust of connecting video to the right viewers.”

Eisner wasn’t done. He also gave Shapiro grief about one of Veoh’s advertisers: Apparently Veoh had attached an ad for some kind of herb guaranteed to increase penis size to “Foreign Body”, an Eisner-produced show. “Hey, it was targeted,” Shapiro said. “It was incorrectly targeted,” Eisner shot back.

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