VideoNuze Posts

A reminder that you can double your chances of winning a 55-inch 4K Roku TV by registering early for the 8th annual VideoNuze Online Video Advertising Summit on June 12th in NYC*. And you can save $100 on each ticket as well!

The Video Ad Summit program is up on the conference site now, and includes over 30 speakers from Bloomberg Media, Bonnier, Dentsu Aegis, Disney ABC Digital, Ellation, ESPN, Essence, FOX, Group Nine Media, Havas, Hulu, IAB, Initiative, NBCUniversal, Newsy, Pluto TV, Publicis, Roku, Vevo and many others.

Our keynote guest is CBS’s EVP, Digital Sales and Sales Strategy David Lawenda, who will be interviewed by Mike Shields, Advertising Editor at Business Insider on how CBS is creating new brand value and revenue streams through its numerous digital initiatives.

As always, the Video Ad Summit will be a premier day of learning and networking for industry professionals.

Don’t miss out, learn more and register now!

(*Early bird registrants get 2 entries for the Roku TV drawing.)

Viacom’s EVP, Data Strategy Bryson Gordon said the TV industry must overcome an “activation gap” relative to big digital players, which prevents advertisers from easily planning and executing campaigns targeted to specific audiences. Gordon said this is the key challenge the TV industry’s OpenAP initiative is seeking to overcome. Gordon made the comments in an interview at the IAB Video Symposium in NYC yesterday, which I attended (and where I also moderated a session on skinny bundles and the future of TV).

Gordon illustrated the issue with a hypothetical example of a product marketing executive at an auto company preparing to launch a new crossover vehicle. In the example, the executive would have dedicated tons of time to researching and identifying highly specific segments of prospective buyers who would value the features of the new vehicle. But Gordon noted that when the time came for the executive to approach TV networks with the campaign’s targeting goals, the best the networks could offer up was a generic “We can give you 25-54 year-olds.”

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I’m pleased to present the 418th edition of the VideoNuze podcast, with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

Earlier this week, I wrote how I’ve been rethinking the opportunity for skinny bundles. I’ve been skeptical, but I’m becoming more optimistic because of expanded local broadcast TV carriage (YouTube TV in particular has invested very heavily), parent companies’ larger strategic priorities that are motivating them to subsidize skinny bundles’ lack of profitability and the ongoing value of linear TV if priced appropriately.

On this week’s podcast, Colin and I explore all of these reasons in further depth. Skinny bundles are also benefiting from the quality of SVOD’s programming, which makes second-tier cable networks not included in skinny bundles less missed - a dynamic that could have broad consequences for pay-TV in general. We also discuss how Hulu with Live TV could be one to watch among skinny bundles as it benefits from the 20 million plus SVOD subscriber base.

It’s still extremely early days for skinny bundles but the likelihood of their success is definitely improving.

Listen in to learn more!

 
Click here to listen to the podcast (24 minutes, 15 seconds)


Click here for previous podcasts

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The VideoNuze podcast is also available in iTunes...subscribe today!
 

Hulu had a lot of updates at its NewFront/Upfront presentation this morning, but among the most interesting for me was that Hulu will offer downloading of its content, but with ads included. Since the vast majority of Hulu’s 20 million+ subscribers are on the ad-supported plan, this means Hulu is going to be breaking some new ground in downloading, relative to its ad-free SVOD peers Netflix and Amazon, both of which have been offering downloading for a while.

VideoNuze readers know I’ve been a huge fan of downloading for years since TiVo first offered it, seeing it as way for time-starved viewers to gain full access to the compelling content available on SVOD or DVR when they’re either not online (e.g. in airplanes), enduring spotty carrier connections (e.g. in trains and cars) or on expensive capped mobile data plans (as most wireless subscribers still are). Since many of us are in these modes very frequently, downloading is essential for allowing us to maximize the value of our monthly subscriptions, which in turn leads to higher satisfaction and reduced churn.

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Video app technology provider You.i TV said it will power History’s new TV Everywhere app for connected TVs, using the React Native development platform. React Native is an open source, javascript application platform backed by Facebook. While originated mainly for mobile use, Trisha Cooke, You.i TV’s head of marketing, told me in a briefing that React Native is gaining momentum in CTV as well, for its ability to leverage underlying code for iOS and Android.

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In another sign of how important connected TVs are becoming for ad-supported content, supply-side platform SpotX announced this morning that it is offering advertisers enhanced audience measurement for ad campaigns on connected TV devices using Nielsen data.

Advertisers will be able to measure the unduplicated and incremental reach of their campaigns across SpotX campaigns on CTV alongside their traditional linear TV ads. Campaign measurement will include data on reach, frequency and GRPs of CTV ads. The Nielsen data will also be used for insights on CTV ads relative to desktop and mobile ads as well as linear TV.

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VideoNuze readers know I’ve long been skeptical about the value proposition of virtual multichannel video programming distributors (“vMVPDs”) or “skinny bundles” as they’re commonly known. But as I touched on in last Friday’s podcast, based on some significant changes over the past year, I’m becoming more optimistic about skinny bundles’ prospects and their broader impact on pay-TV.

To take a step back, 3 main concerns have driven my skepticism about skinny bundles: (1) their incomplete channel lineups (the “Swiss cheese” challenge of too many holes, or missing TV networks) which reduces their appeal relative to pay-TV’s traditional multichannel lineups, (2) the dubious profitability of skinny bundles, especially given underlying programming costs, which raises the question of just how committed the big parent companies of skinny bundles are to them, and (3) viewers’ migration away from linear TV in favor of SVOD, which is driving up cord-cutting.

Here’s what’s changed:

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I’m pleased to present the 417th edition of the VideoNuze podcast, with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia. We’re grateful to this week’s podcast sponsor, Ad-ID, which is the standard for identifying advertising assets. Ad-ID has recently released a new paper with examples of the value and importance of using a standard identifier. Learn more here.

On this week’s podcast, Colin and I analyze AT&T’s and Comcast’s video subscriber results for Q1 ’18, which were announced this week. AT&T has aggressively promoted its skinny bundle DirecTV Now, which gained 312K subscribers in Q1, more than offsetting the 188K loss for traditional DirecTV.

By contrast, because Comcast doesn’t have a meaningful skinny bundle (Xfinity Instant TV is mainly a broadcast TV package that also hasn’t been heavily promoted), it felt the full impact of losing 93K residential video subscribers.

While the underlying economics of skinny bundles remain questionable, AT&T has settled on a strategy of using their low-cost package to support their core wireless business. Multichannel pay-TV is a business that has contracting margins and accelerating subscriber defections. Colin and I speculate on whether Comcast should similarly embrace skinny bundles to support their core broadband business and have a meaningful alternative to provide to prospective cord-cutters.

Listen in to learn more!

 
Click here to listen to the podcast (26 minutes, 13 seconds)

Click here for previous podcasts

Click here to add the podcast feed to your RSS reader.

The VideoNuze podcast is also available in iTunes...subscribe today!