Embed Anything is a recently launched startup that blends image sharing with an ad network. The startup’s technology allows allows anyone to quickly grab a code to embed a publisher’s image directly from the image. The image, once embedded on another site, will be displayed with an overlay ad, a follow link back to the original image’s site and will be clickable back to the source.
Embed Anything shares ad inventory revenue the image owners, giving them complete control on what they want to display in the ad space, which can be sourced by the ad network of their choice, for 50 percent of the impressions. For the other 50 percent of impressions, Embed Anything can display an ad of their choice, which is powered by Google AdSense. Eventually Embed Anything will allow for an RSS feed or Twitter feed to be displayed within the ad space as well. An example of a sample publisher site can be found here.
The startup also provides an interface that gives publishers stats on where their images are being embedded, the number of impressions they’re receiving, as well as the ability to remove any unwanted image embeds. The technology is free and fairly simple, involving a single piece of code into a template or through a WordPress plug-in.
The idea is to help publishers profit off of image theft, which Embed Anything says happens often. While this may be ideal for publishers, some of the people who are embedding these images may not want an image with an ad in it on their sites.