VideoNuze Posts

YouTube TV is back as this year’s World Series presenting sponsor and as with last year, Google’s skinny bundle is once again dominating. Watching the game last night (go Sox!) it was impossible to not be exposed to the brand and also some very creative elements of the “Watch like a fan” campaign.

YouTube TV renewed its World Series sponsorship for 2018 and 2019 with MLB back in March of this year. As with 2017, before the first pitch was thrown, there was a highly produced 90 second ad.  At first it looked like a promo for various Fox networks, though when the Google Home demo popped in it became clear it was for YouTube TV.

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The Diffusion Group has released new data showing that Roku users have the lowest levels of traditional pay-TV subscriptions and the highest level of cord-cutting. According to TDG, 64% of Roku box users and 66% of Roku stick users subscribe to pay-TV. 30% of Roku box users and 26% of Roku stick users are cord-cutters.

For all adult broadband users, 73% continue to subscribe to pay-TV, with just 21% saying they’re cord-cutters. Other devices measured, including Fire TV, Apple TV and Chromecast all had slightly higher levels of pay-TV subscriptions and similar to lower levels of cord-cutting.

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I’m pleased to present the 441st edition of the VideoNuze podcast, with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

(Apologies my audio quality is low this week)

On this week’s podcast Colin shares highlights of a panel discussion he led last week in London focusing on the best practices of three different direct-to-consumer video services. As Colin covered in his post about the session, these include keeping the service’s brand front and center, providing access to a base level of free content and having a comprehensive retention program.

This week’s podcast is really a continuation of last week’s interview with Paywizard’s CEO Bhavesh Vaghela who discussed how video service providers can improve their competitive. As Colin and I agree, these days, having great content is table stakes, but what really differentiates successful services is delivering outstanding experiences.

Listen in to learn more!

 
Click here to listen to the podcast (22 minutes, 52 seconds)
 

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Beachfront, a leading supply-side platform for video ads, has partnered with MadHive, a data management platform, to enrich and verify audiences on connected devices. Frank Sinton, President and Founder of Beachfront told me in a briefing that the company is focused on validation of inventory quality and audiences, issues that are top of mind for its publisher customers.

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fuboTV, which started as a niche sports streaming service, but has expanded its scope to become a fully-featured virtual MVPD or “skinny bundle,” announced it is closing in on 250K paid subscribers and also has exceeded $100 million in annualized revenues. The new metrics were part of a broader performance update the company provided yesterday, which also included the following:

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I’m pleased to present the 440th edition of the VideoNuze podcast, with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

This week Bhavesh Vaghela, CEO of Paywizard, joins us for a fascinating discussion about how video service providers can use technology to become more customer-centric and competitive. Paywizard specializes in subscription, billing and CRM software solutions for the video industry which enable actionable customer insights.

Bhavesh shares highlights of the company’s recent survey that focuses on the role positive customer experiences play. He also gives multiple examples of how different operators are learning to use data to improve retention and drive new revenues. Bhavesh explains how there’s still a real learning curve among both pay-TV operators and OTT providers. Using data to deliver a positive user experience requires real organization change and focus. 

Listen in to learn more!

 
Click here to listen to the podcast (24 minutes, 23 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!

The mystery of how Apple will monetize its $1 billion investment in original TV programming is finally solved. The answer is it won’t. Instead Apple will give its content away for free to its device owners, as part of its TV app, alongside the ability for users to subscribe to SVOD services, in a manner akin to how Amazon Channels works. I have speculated frequently over the past 21 months what Apple would do to monetize its huge content investment (here, here, here).

The update was reported by CNBC yesterday, coincidentally just a day after Netflix’s Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said at the VF New Establishment Summit that no one, not even the people making Apple’s shows knew how the content will be offered. After almost 2 years of radio silence from Apple on how it would monetize its programming and endless rumors, it seems as though following Sarandos’s comments Apple may have finally felt compelled to leak some initial information.

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Ad tech provider MediaMath is forging strongly into programmatic video and connected TV, by among other things joining the board of the IAB Digital Video Center of Excellence, and seeking to help drive transparency and industry standards.  

Mike Fisher, MediaMath’s Head of Video and Advanced TV said, “We couldn’t be more delighted to have a voice in the important conversation around the challenges that come with automated TV inventory, and the opportunity to shape best practices for transacting in the programmatic TV space.”

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