VideoNuze Posts

TV ad budgets are being diverted to many different types of digital spending these days, so it’s no surprise to see TV networks and their partners re-asserting the value of TV advertising, especially as the all-important upfronts approach.

The latest evidence is a new study from TiVo Research, consulting firm 84.51 (part of The Kroger Co.), A+E Networks and Turner, which found that for every dollar decrease in TV ad spending, the reduction in sales was $3. The study looked at 15 consumer packaged goods brands which had reduced TV ad spending somewhere between 29% and 75%. The study then measured their sales performance for one or two quarters in the 2013-2014 period.

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I'm pleased to present the 312th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

This week we explore the prospects for DIRECTV Now, the new OTT pay-TV service that AT&T announced this week. Though it didn’t share a lot of details, AT&T emphasized affordability and value, which led me to conclude it will be similar to Sling TV as a skinny bundle, and therefore will encounter the same challenges.

However, it’s worth noting that John Stankey, CEO of AT&T Entertainment Group, later said (perhaps based on the media’s reaction), “It is a rich bundle of content; it’s not a skinny bundle of content” and went on to say DIRECTV Now “is about getting that middle road” somewhere between a skinny bundle and a full pay-TV lineup. Exactly what that means is hard to say at this point.

Colin is more sanguine about both Sling TV and also about the prospects for DIRECTV Now. Colin shares how he uses Sling TV currently and whom it might appeal to. I’m still skeptical about the skinny bundle approach (as is Stankey, who also said “We think skinny bundles have a very small application in the market over time”).   

DIRECTV Now won’t launch until later this year, so it will be a while until we find out exactly what it is.

Listen now to learn more!

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AT&T has partnered with video ad tech provider Videology to enable advertisers to buy ads on linear TV across over 130 different cable TV networks in 26 million DirecTV and U-Verse homes. At Videology’s Full Frontal Video event in NYC this morning, I did an on-stage interview with Jason Brown, VP, National Advertising Sales for AT&T AdWorks about the new initiative and how it will be implemented.

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Here’s a surprise: a survey of over 100 agencies, advertisers and publishers, conducted by Forrester Research and commissioned by Videology, found that respondents believe time spent with both linear TV and pay-TV will increase over the next 3 years.

As the graphic below shows, 49% of respondents see a significant or moderate increase over the next 3 years in watching TV at the time it is broadcast, up from just 27% when surveyed in 2013. 23% believe viewing time will remain the same (vs. 21% in ’13) and 28% think it will significantly or moderately decrease (vs. 52% in ’13).

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Another day, another new video service. Or to be specific, another 3 new video services, all coming later this year from AT&T, which announced DIRECTV Now, DIRECTV Mobile and DIRECTV Preview yesterday. The most intriguing of the group is DIRECTV Now. Though few details were released, it feels like it will be more along the lines of skinny bundle Sling TV than full line-up PlayStation Vue. It will likely feature a low entry price with add-on packages of certain networks.

While analysts and press recently reported that Sling TV ended 2015 with 500K-600K subscribers, I remain skeptical about how broadly attractive the service ultimately will be and more generally, how appealing the “virtual pay-TV operator” model is. Barring anything surprising from AT&T, it’s likely that many of my same challenges Sling TV faces will apply to DIRECTV Now as well.

I’ve written about these at length in the past (here, here, here), but to quickly recap:

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Demand-side video ad platform TubeMogul reported record Q4 2015 and full year 2015 financial results yesterday, once again beating its own forecasts, as investments in programmatic TV (PTV) and cross-screen planning paid off.

For 2015, total ad spending through TubeMogul was $414.2 million, up 63% vs. 2014 (above the most recent forecast of $406-$408 million), revenue was $180.7 million, up 58% vs. 2014 (above the forecast of $173-$175 million), gross profit was $122.5 million, up 53% vs. 2014 (above the forecast of $117-$119 million) and adjusted EBITDA was $3.4 million, up 31% vs. 2014 (above the forecast of a loss of $1-$3 million).

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Extreme Reach has operated under the radar for many years, but this Boston-area company has become a powerhouse in the delivery of both TV and video advertising. Now it’s poised for a much higher profile, following the recent hiring of industry veteran Melinda McLaughlin as Chief Marketing Officer, who most recently had the same role at Tremor Video. Melinda’s an old friend and I recently discussed her move, plus what’s ahead for Extreme Reach and the industry. Following is the transcript.

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TV Everywhere is the great hope of the pay-TV industry to combat viewers from defecting to OTT. But pinning down actual TVE usage remains murky at best.

For example in its Q4 2015 Digital Video Benchmark released last week, Adobe found that 17.4% of pay-TV viewers used TV Everywhere at least once per month. That was the highest level of TVE usage Adobe has found, rising above the 13%-14% range of usage over the past 4 quarters.

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