MTV Networks starts making money on MySpace, via video ad-matching tech

MTV Networks can now make money when a MySpace user uploads its content — say a clip from comedy newscast “The Daily Show,” or prank show “Punk’d” — via ad-matching technology created by a Palo Alto, Calif. startup called Auditude.

Similar to the “Content ID” system recently introduced by Google-owned YouTube, Auditude automatically identifies professional video clips and lets a content owner serve targeted ads alongside them.

In the meantime, MTV owner Viacom is pressing on with its $1 billion lawsuit against Google, because it says Google hasn’t done a good enough job of stopping users from illegally uploading its content to YouTube. But if Viacom is willing to use this technology with News. Corp.-owned MySpace and make money, rather than sue News Corp., why not use YouTube’s Content ID, too?

Auditude says it has indexed more than a billion minutes of content, comprised of 250 million videos and four years worth of 100 television channels; the technology can be used on any web site. It has already partnered with Warner Bros. The company’s chief executive is Adam Cahan, a former executive at MTV and Google. The company has received funding Greylock Partners.