VideoNuze Posts

If you’ve spent any time browsing web sites, you have no doubt seen an outstream video ad embedded in a text-oriented web page. Outstream ads have become extremely popular because they allow publishers to tap into high video CPMs without having to actually create or syndicate video.

Now a new study from French adtech provider Sublime Skinz, conducted by Ipsos, reveals that outstream ads may also outperform traditional pre-roll ads, which are the industry’s workhorse unit. Ipsos queried 600 US adults on various metrics comparing pre-rolls with Sublime Skinz’ “Video Skinz” unit.

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Amazon further reinforced its position as the most influential company in the video industry with news late yesterday that it had won the rights to stream the NFL’s 10 game Thursday night football package for $50 million, with plans to make the games available for Amazon Prime members only (they'll still be broadcast alternatively on CBS and NBC, and on NFL Network). The sum is a whopping 5 times more than the $10 million that Twitter reportedly paid for the same rights last season.

The key to understanding Amazon’s willingness to pay up for the TNF rights is the power of its unique business model, based on Prime. As I wrote last November, Prime is the linchpin for Amazon’s ever-expanding video initiatives.

At last summer’s Recode conference, Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos plainly articulated Prime’s value to the company in driving greater customer loyalty and increased purchases (if you’re a Prime customer, you no doubt know this dynamic yourself). And keep in mind, with approximately 60 million members paying $99 per year, Prime generates $6 billion in revenue for Amazon before a single purchase has been made.

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Recode reported a couple days ago that Apple is potentially looking to sell online subscriptions to HBO, Showtime and Starz in a single bundle to subscribers. Since Apple has made so little progress in video compared to its peers, a bundling move like this could give it a boost. But if I were handicapping which company is much more likely to sell HBO, Showtime and Starz in a discounted bundle - and succeed with it - I’d put my money on Amazon far sooner than Apple.

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Underscoring the continued blurring of OTT and TV, Roku announced that it is now offering TV-style audience guarantees for advertisers using demographic metrics from Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings (DAR). The Nielsen-Roku partnership dates to 2015 when it was announced that DAR would be integrated with Roku’s ad SDK.

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TV data company Alphonso has debuted Alphonso Insights, which provides advertisers and agencies with real-time analysis of TV ads along with closed loop attribution. The benefit for buyers is to better understand the performance of their ads and how well they stand up to those of competitors. Over 2,500 end users from 200 different advertisers and agencies have been using Alphonso Insights during its beta period.

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I’m pleased to present the 364th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

First, Colin and I are proud to announce our very first podcast sponsor, Akamai Technologies, which will show its Media Acceleration capabilities and range of cloud-based solutions at the NABShow in Las Vegas, in booth SL3324. Click here to schedule a meeting.

Colin was in London for the TV Connect show earlier this week and on today’s podcast, he shares his 3 top takeaways. Meanwhile earlier this week I was in NYC for the Advanced Advertising conference and I then share my 3 top takeaways.

As you’ll hear, data was on both of our lists. Interestingly though, our conversation reveals a very different approach to how users’ data is being treated. Colin elaborates on the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which will enforce minimum collection standards on Internet companies in Europe, whereas just this week, the U.S. House voted to repeal the broadband privacy rules.

Listen in to learn more!
 
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The 3rd annual NABShow Online Video Conference, which VideoNuze is producing, is coming up on April 24th and 25th in Las Vegas. We have a high-impact 1 1/2 day program including nearly 50 speakers on a dozen different sessions.

I’m especially excited about our 2 keynotes guests who I will be interviewing to kickoff each of the days. On day 1, Jim Lanzone, Chief Executive Officer, CBS Interactive and Chief Digital Officer, CBS Corporation, will join me to discuss the company’s transformation to a next generation content company. Among the many topics we’ll explore is the SVOD service CBS All Access and how it’s driving the company’s overall strategy for multiscreen success.

Then on day 2, I’ll interview Michael Paull, who has just taken over as CEO of BAMTech, which is owned by MLBAM, The Walt Disney Company and the NHL. Michael was previously VP of Amazon Channels, where he quickly built up an offering of 120+ SVOD options that Amazon Prime users can easily subscribe to. Michael and I will discuss the fast-evolving role of online and mobile-delivered live sports, direct-to-consumer business models and achieving excellence in user experiences.

The program will also feature sessions on data, mobile video and apps, live streaming, virtual reality, converged advertising, sports, TV Everywhere, innovation and much more. Among the dozens of speakers are executives from Adobe, Akamai, Amazon, Brightcove, FreeWheel, Comcast Technology Solutions, Google, GoPro, Gracenote, IBM Cloud, NBC Sports, Nielsen, PBS, Raycom, Roku, Synacor, TiVo, Videology, Verizon Digital Media Services and many others.

It promises to be an action-packed program diving into many of the most urgent industry topics. You can save $100 on registration now by using this link and code EP06. Don’t miss out, register now!

4C Insights, a data science company, announced a suite of TV ad planning, buying and measurement tools called 4C TV. Collectively, the tools are meant to give advertisers and agencies the ability to efficiently zero in on their most-desired audiences by leveraging multiple data sets.  At the Advanced Advertising conference in NYC, chief product officer Anupam Gupta gave me a short demo illustrating how a buyer can use a simple workflow to quickly create a targeted TV media plan using 4C TV.

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