Sunny Ray talks with Federico Cismondi, founder of BRNDTS (Brandits), a company building technology that places advertisements inside video content itself, without breaks or interruptions. Cismondi traces his path from growing up on an Italian family farm in Argentina, where his father's cable company collapsed during the 2001 economic crisis when local advertisers pulled out, to earning a PhD in predictive modeling for intensive care decisions, to founding and selling Do-Doc, a document collaboration company acquired by Envision Pharma in 2021. He explains how BRNDTS identifies natural opportunities within video, like blank backgrounds or on-screen surfaces, to insert brand-relevant creative that changes per viewer, functioning like programmatic advertising for video. The model pays publishers a revenue share funded entirely by advertisers, working across both live and on-demand content. Cismondi discusses CPM economics, why saturated pre-roll and mid-roll inventory limits large broadcasters, why small broadcasters lack video ad demand entirely, and how AI models must be customized per content type, from indoor sets to golf courses to surfing footage, to place ads convincingly.
A PhD turned founder explains inserting brand ads directly into video scenes without ever pausing the content.
Your father built a cable company in the Argentinian Pampas. What did that business teach you about who actually pays for content?
My dad was a farmer who diversified into a cable company aggregating local channels, monetized through local store advertising. It grew well until Argentina's 2001 crisis hit, the exchange rate collapsed, businesses closed, and advertising spend was the first thing cut. That took down the local channels and folded my dad's company. It showed me how fragile local ad-dependent media is.
What did that chain of failures show you about local channels more broadly?
Local channels still lack access to big advertisers or networks today. They rely on direct sales, someone physically getting creatives from local stores, banners or videos to show during breaks. It's very limited and labor intensive. What's missing is the programmatic connection other media like newspapers have through things like Google AdSense, where ads automatically match the audience consuming the content.
Do-Doc was acquired by Envision Pharma in 2021. What did selling teach you about what an enterprise buyer actually values?
Even though Do-Doc was an unrelated business, at its core it was software solving an enterprise problem, same as what we do now with advertising. We learned we needed every possible certification to answer pharmaceutical companies confidently, proving quality of development and ability to serve a company their size. We apply that same lesson at BRNDTS today, proving quality and certifications constantly.
Your PhD built models predicting when an ICU lab test was worth running. Is placing an ad inside a video the same kind of timing problem?
There's a lot in common. I finished my PhD in 2012 before the AI hype, when people distrusted black-box models making medical decisions. Much of that work was about timing, when to act and why, and justifying it. That's exactly what we do now, explaining why an ad appeared at a specific moment, like a high emotion point or a natural opportunity in the frame.
When did you know that creating ad inventory inside video without interrupting it was technically possible?
It actually started with video calls, using blank backgrounds to monetize. That monetization path proved too hard, so we pivoted to broadcasters and on-demand or live content. The core insight was that broadcasters are either saturated with breaks and can't add more without losing engagement, or small broadcasters only have banner creatives, not expensive video ads, and no good placements for them.
Can you explain BRNDTS in one minute? Who pays whom?
We're not paid by publishers, we're a channel. Advertisers pay us, and we pass a revenue share to publishers. We don't charge publishers anything; our value is bringing monetization they couldn't otherwise access. It's a rev share model built on finding opportunities within video, like a blank wall or screen, to insert relevant creative without stopping playback.
What makes an in-video ad feel natural rather than intrusive?
Think of LED dashboards at sporting events or brand signage around a racetrack. Those are physical and static, so they're irrelevant to viewers who don't care about that brand. We do the same thing digitally, but it changes per viewer to show something relevant to them individually. That personalization is what creates a positive association instead of annoyance.
What does AI add to this process, and does it work for live video?
Yes, live is one of our key differentiators. AI has to be tailored per content type since environments vary hugely, an indoor set with walls gives lots of reference points, while an outdoor golf course or ocean-focused surfing broadcast gives almost none. We even tested simulating a boat or plane banner for a surfing tournament when no real placement existed, though we didn't ship it.
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