SplashCast Corp. has raised a $4 million Series A round of funding, the company plans to blend advertising with the viral effects of social media. The company openly boasts on its site that it has served some 260 million videos already. “Brands have to do that if they want to stay relevant to that younger demographic,” Chief Executive Michael Berkley said. “Banner ads just aren’t working. The demographic has become very cynical about advertising.”

“This is a land grab,” Berkley said. “There is a tremendous opportunity out there, so we really need to scale on the sales side and marketing.”

Berkley said SplashCasts are like a television channel for a social network page. For example, a new SplashCast for rapper Snoop Dogg appears as a square widget - like a traditional embedded video player - featuring the image from his most recent album cover. The widget allows fans to click to play his music video, click to read the most recent news on the artist or instant message with other fans.

The Australian media and advertising industry veteran Mark Bayliss led the investment with participation from Emergent, an emerging growth investment fund.