VideoNuze Posts

Discovery and analytics provider Rovi has announced its acquisition of Fanhattan, a startup offering cloud-based discovery solutions as well as the innovative Fan TV connected TV device. Fanhattan combines live TV, VOD and OTT in one search experience powered from the cloud, which is available to viewers either through the web, an iOS device or the Fan TV.  

Omar Javaid, SVP/GM of Rovi's Discovery group told me the primary motivation for the deal was Fanhattan's cloud-based unified discovery technology, its team and the products. Fanhattan augments Rovi's existing next-generation discovery products. Rovi's customers include many pay-TV operators (Charter, Dish, etc.), device manufacturers (Apple, Samsung, Sharp, etc.) and online entertainment services (Shazam, Facebook, MTV, etc.).

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I'm pleased to present the 248th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

Amazon introduced a new connected TV device this week called the Fire TV Stick, priced at $39 ($19 for Amazon Prime members). We discuss where Fire TV Stick fits in the market - will it cannibalize sales of Chromecast and Roku Streaming Stick? Or, as Colin sees things, will it instead cannibalize its sibling the Fire TV, which is priced at $99?   

Next, we turn to YouTube's potential ad-free subscription service, which the company's CEO Susan Wojcicki teased earlier this week. We dig into YouTube's subscription prospects and its challenges. Together with HBO OTT, CBS All Access plus Vimeo and Starz (both of which also announced subscription plans this week), there's been a huge surge of interest in subscriptions, with more likely to come.

Listen in to learn more!

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A reminder that the next VideoSchmooze: Online Video Leadership Forum is on Thursday morning, Dec. 4th at Scholastic Auditorium in NYC. Early bird tickets are $95, with 5-packs for $430 and 10-packs for $760. As an extra incentive, all early bird registrants will be entered to win the awesome TiVo Roamio Plus DVR with Lifetime service - $1,000 value, generously provided by TiVo.

The VideoSchmooze program will cover many of the hottest trends in the industry. Leading off will be a deep-dive interview I'll do with 2 leading industry researchers - Dounia Turrill, SVP, Client Insights at Nielsen and Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst at Leichtman Research Group. Dounia and Bruce will provide data and clarify key trends around changing viewer behaviors, cord-cutting, OTT adoption, advertising, mobile plus lots more.

Then Colin Dixon will moderate "Sports' Pivotal Role in Driving TV Everywhere's Adoption" with executives from Comcast, Fox Sports and FreeWheel, which will examine how marquee TVE events like World Cup, Olympics and MMOD are driving the industry forward. Following is a new session, "Personalized Data is the New Big Data" in which Digitalsmiths' Chris Ambrozic will share insights on how stakeholders throughout the ecosystem are using data to deliver standout personalized user experiences and generate new ROIs.

Following the networking break, in "TV, Disrupted: Online Originals Hit Their Stride," we'll dig into one of the biggest trends around and how audiences are fragmenting, with executives from Fullscreen, Vimeo and DEFY Media. Next, Tremor Video's head of market research will share brand-new data on connected TVs and who's actually buying/using them. There will be one more session to round out the morning, TBA.

All in all it promises to be a superb morning of learning and networking with 250+ colleagues from around the ecosystem. I hope you can join us on Dec. 4th!

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Media, finance and automotive brands continue to lead online video advertising adoption, according to new data from MediaRadar. In October, 2014 the product categories were first, second and third respectively, just as they were in October, 2013. MediaRadar found an increase in the number of brands placing online video ads in all 10 of the product categories it measures.

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Yesterday, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler wrote in a blog post that he intends to start a rule making proceeding to broaden the definition of what a multichannel video programming distributor (an "MVPD," or more simply, a cable, satellite, telco operator that distributes bundles of cable and broadcast TV networks) is, to include companies that don't actually own their own delivery infrastructure. My weekly podcast partner Colin Dixon and I call these non-infrastructure companies virtual pay-TV operators, or "vPops" for short.

This "technology-neutral" change would mean vPops using the Internet/broadband to deliver linear TV networks would also be considered MVPDs, therefore entitled to the same regulatory-mandated benefits. Wheeler characterized the move as being pro-consumer and pro-innovation and on the face of it, it definitely appears to be. But, digging deeper, it's not clear that this type of regulatory change would overcome actual market forces that will still determine the average viewer's video choices.

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YouTube, the 800-pound gorilla of free, ad-supported online video, is considering launching a new ad-free subscription-based service, according to YouTube's CEO, Susan Wojcicki. The disclosure came during an interview at Re/code's Code/Mobile event.

While short on details, Wojcicki emphasized flexibility in providing different viewing options to different viewers. She said, "We've been thinking about other ways it might make sense for us. We're early in that process, but if you look at media over time, most of them have both ads and subscription services."

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Multiscreen video ad campaigns running on Videology's platform in the U.S. in Q3 '14 surged to 35% of total campaigns, up 59% from the 22% share multiscreen campaigns had in Q2 '14. Multiscreen includes campaigns running either on PC/mobile or PC/mobile/connected TV. Video ad campaigns running solely on PC dropped from 74% in Q2 '14 to 60% in Q3 '14.

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