VideoNuze Posts

Yesterday, CNBC reported that HBO Max’s upcoming ad-supported tier will be priced at $9.99 per month, a $5 per month discount vs. $14.99 per month for its existing ad-free service. The $5 differential is mostly in line with the approach other subscription services with an ad-supported tier, such as Hulu, Peacock and Paramount+ have taken and is therefore unsurprising.

But there are still many interesting questions about the HBO Max ad-supported tier and how it will be positioned relative to the ad-free tier. One big one is which content will actually carry ads, and which won’t. At AT&T’s recent investor day, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar said “We will not be having advertising inside the HBO original series.” Does “inside” mean that only mid-roll ads are off the table, but pre-rolls and post-rolls will be ok? Or does it mean no ads for HBO original series, period? If the latter, does it imply that Max originals are going to be the main content that will have ads?

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YouTube, the juggernaut of online video, continued its hot growth streak, with advertising revenue in Q1 ’21 of just over $6 billion, up 49% from just over $4 billion in Q1 ’20 and nearly double the $3 billion YouTube reported in Q1 ’19. YouTube’s ad revenue accounted for 13.4% of Google’s total ad revenue of $44.7 billion in Q1 ’21, up from 12% of Google’s total ad revenue of in Q1 ’20. YouTube represents almost 11% of parent company Alphabet’s $55.3 billion in Q1 revenue.

As in Q4 ’20, on yesterday’s earnings call, company executives repeatedly highlighted two themes in YouTube’s ad growth: Brands shifting their spending to YouTube to gain incremental reach beyond linear TV, primarily to younger audiences, and Direct Response performance advertising that drives specific performance metrics. YouTube didn’t offer a breakdown between the two.

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Registration is complimentary for VideoNuze’s next Connected TV Advertising Summit (virtual) which will be on the afternoons of June 9th and 10th. In addition, all attendees will be entered to win a Roku TV and Smart Soundbar generously provided by Roku.

CTV and streaming have moved to center stage for all buyers and sellers of premium video advertising. Next week’s NewFronts presentations will highlight how viewer behavior is shifting from linear TV consumption via traditional pay-TV to streaming via connected TVs. The consequence is that advertisers need to shift a portion of their spending to reach audiences (especially younger viewers) who can’t be accessed via linear TV any longer.

While the access rationale is compelling, the other piece of the equation is that CTV/streaming give advertisers targeting, measurement and attribution capabilities traditionally associated with digital. This means that CTV/streaming can be used for both branding and performance-oriented campaigns. As advertisers seek better return on ad spend, CTV/streaming’s ability to meet performance KPIs is highly appealing.

We’ll be digging deep into these main themes and related topics at the CTV Ad Summit (program coming soon). You’ll hear from senior executives at ad buyers, content providers, technology companies and other stakeholders. The goal is to help attendees understand how to succeed as the world moves to a CTV/streaming-first approach.  

Many thanks to our Gold partners Beachfront, Extreme Reach, Mediaocean, Roku and Xandr. To learn more about sponsorship opportunities please contact me.

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Welcome to Inside the Stream, our weekly podcast with Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia where we take listeners inside the world of streaming video.

Music video provider Vevo has seen connected TV ad revenue jump from 4% of total revenue in Q1 ’20 to 40% of total revenue in Q1 ’21, a 10x increase in just a year. Vevo’s VP of West Coast Sales Andrea Zapata joins us this week to discuss the strategic moves Vevo made to increase its distribution and reposition itself to ad buyers as a music television network in the living room, rather than being mobile-first.

Andrea also dives into how Vevo is curating its programming and analyzing viewers’ behaviors to create moods which advertisers can then use for contextual targeting.

Vevo will be participating in our next Connected TV Advertising Summit (virtual) on June 9th and 10th. Registration is free and you can win a Roku TV and smart soundbar.

Many thanks to our inaugural Inside the Stream sponsor Verizon Media. When you have quality connections at scale, you’re truly connected.

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Nielsen has launched Nielsen Streaming Video Ratings to provide total viewership and audience demographic insights such as race/ethnicity, household income, device types inside the home and location. The data will be reported from Nielsen’s NPOWER audience insights in conjunction with linear TV ratings with a goal of giving buyers and sellers a holistic picture of viewers’ total TV viewing time and which types of viewers are engaging with certain services and content.

At launch Streaming Video Ratings will include coverage of 10 top streaming services plus seven types of apps including subscription-based, ad-supported, network, social, gaming and pay-TV operator and virtual pay-TV operator apps.

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Extreme Reach is acquiring Australia-based Adstream to create a comprehensive platform that will streamline workflows for global brands activating video campaigns across devices and services. The combined company is addressing pain points for brands that have arisen from the fragmentation of video consumption. There is a lot more complexity because every ad that is served must be properly formatted to deliver an appropriate user experience and tracked so that talent is accurately compensated.

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Evergent has unveiled its Customer Care and Billing (CCB) 3.0 platform, to help content and service providers gain more agility in their video monetization. Evergent was founded in 2007 but has largely flown below the radar. It now serves over 700 million accounts in 175 countries across a customer base including AT&T, FOX, Sony Entertainment Television and Etisalat. CCB 3.0 allows customers to more easily create and manage product configurations, promotions and packaging in order to drive new revenue.

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Welcome to the second edition of the Inside the Stream podcast with Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

First up we highlight three stories that hit our radar this week: an upgraded Apple TV device possibly in the works, research on growing SVOD subscriptions in the U.S. and TikTok’s new e-commerce ad formats.

Then we dig into our two main topics this week. Colin explains why smart TV manufacturers have strong incentives to support older units given the promise of high-margin ad revenue. I share details of new research showing advertisers and agencies overwhelmingly plan to move spending into connected TV.

Many thanks to our inaugural Inside the Stream sponsor Verizon Media. When you have quality connections at scale, you’re truly connected.

Listen to Inside the Stream (24 minutes, 46 seconds)

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A reminder to listeners you'll need to subscribe to Inside the Stream in your podcast manager. You can subscribe here currently, with more to come:
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(Note I’ll continue to publish Inside the Stream in the prior feed)