VideoNuze Posts

I’m excited to share that Mike Rosen, EVP, Portfolio Sales and Strategy, NBCUniversal and Jon Stimmel, Chief Investment Officer, Universal McCann, will be our keynote speakers at our 3rd annual SHIFT // Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit on Wednesday, November 29th in NYC.

Mike will be interviewed by Matt Prohaska, CEO and Principal of Prohaska Consulting, focusing on how NBCUniversal is innovating with programmatic. NBCUniversal has moved aggressively to enable ad buyers to use data and technology to buy its inventory. It most recently announced Target as its first self-serve programmatic client for national inventory, powered by 4C Insights. In addition to discussing NBCUniversal’s own efforts, Mike will address how TV networks can embrace programmatic to compete more effectively.

Jon will be interviewed by Matt Spiegel, Managing Director, Marketing & Technology Solutions at MediaLink about how UM is driving clients’ business outcomes with automation and data-enablement for video and TV ad buying. Jon will also address more broadly how programmatic is impacting agencies and what they should be doing to adapt and succeed.

Mike’s and Jon’s keynote sessions highlight a jam-packed day of exciting sessions covering all aspects of programmatic video and TV. I’ll be posting the full SHIFT program shortly.

Early bird registrants save $100, with all eligible to win one of three Roku Ultra 4K Streaming Players. Further discounts are available on 5-packs and 10-packs. Startups and students can register for a reduced $245 ticket (contact me for the code).

I hope you’ll join us for this must-attend day of learning and networking!

Learn more and register now!

I’m pleased to present the 391st edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia (apologies in advance, my audio quality is low).

We cover 4 different items this week starting with the news that 4 major studios have joined with Disney’s cloud-based venture, now renamed “Movies Anywhere.” The move validates Disney’s prior decision not to join UltraViolet and presents an exciting consumer value proposition incorporating multiple online stores and spanning key devices.

Colin then shares highlights of new global research from Ericsson Consumer Labs. No surprise, the report showed a big shift in viewing from linear to on-demand and also much higher satisfaction scores for on demand video services vs. traditional TV.  The report comes just ahead of the Q3 earnings season which is likely to show an uptick in cord-cutting.

We then turn to a report from CNBC that Amazon is making moves in video advertising. Colin and I believe this would make a ton of sense from multiple perspectives.

Reminder that next Thursday, October 19th we’ll be hosting a webinar on streaming sports, hosted by Akamai. Join us!

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Sports has been on the forefront of the streaming revolution from the start. Whether it’s early successes like the NCAA basketball tournament or the unprecedented scale of the 2016 Summer Olympics or more recently Thursday Night Football on Twitter and Amazon, sports have continued to push the boundaries of what’s possible with online and mobile delivery.

To better understand what’s happening with streaming sports and the best practices today, Akamai is presenting a free webinar on Thursday, October 19th at 1pm ET, which I will be hosting with Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia, my weekly podcast partner. Joining us will be Clark Pierce, SVP, TV Everywhere and Special Projects at Fox Digital Consumer Group and another executive TBD. Fox has been a leader in streaming sports, so Clark has a wealth of knowledge to share.

In the webinar we’ll also explore distinct new value propositions being created by streaming sports, key challenges and what’s ahead. We’ll draw on insights from Akamai’s recently published thought-leadership paper, Game On! How Streaming Sports is Heating Up, in which we interviewed executives at 8 companies leading the charge on streaming sports. Game On can be downloaded here.

For anyone involved in streaming sports, the webinar will be extremely valuable - register now!

Penthera, which makes software to power video downloading to mobile devices, has raised $6 million from Liberty Global Ventures, the venture investment arm of Liberty Global International, which is the biggest international cable company and chaired by John Malone. Liberty Global is also a Penthera customer.

Penthera’s Cache&Carry software enables video providers to let their viewers download video to their iOS and Android mobile devices. Cache&Carry includes DRM support, configurable business rules, download queuing options, mobile DVR and “FastPlay” which launches buffer-free viewing.

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Late last week SpotX announced that it has integrated its recently-launched header bidding solution for video ads with Amazon Publisher Services’ Transparent Ad Marketplace (TAM). To learn more about the integration and the benefits to publishers, SpotX and Amazon, I spoke with Tal Almany, SpotX’s Senior Director, Advanced Integrations who recently joined the company from OpenX.

For those not familiar with header bidding, this is an approach that video providers use to offer their ad inventory simultaneously to multiple demand sources to optimize bidding and monetization. Amazon’s TAM is a header bidding solution that is cloud-based and server side, which means less code is running on the publisher’s site, creating efficiencies. TAM is relatively new to the market, but because it’s from Amazon, it has gained a lot of attention.

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I’m pleased to present the 390th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

First up this week, we discuss the impact of the “Star Trek: Discovery” launch on CBS All Access. CBS has said that All Access daily subscriber growth is up 200% over last year since the show’s launch. As Colin notes though, it’s hard to draw conclusions yet about how sustainable the additions will be or whether churn will spike. More originals are clearly needed to broaden the service’s appeal.

We then turn to the surprising news this week that YouTube TV will be the presenting sponsor of the 2017 World Series. Colin and I agree it’s really a sign of the times when a skinny bundle has stepped up this way. However, since Fox, the network broadcasting the games, isn’t even available yet on YouTube TV in half the top 50 U.S. markets, the sponsorship carries risks. Colin also notes that given YouTube TV’s programming costs, it is likely losing money for each new subscriber.

Listen in to learn more!
 
Click here to listen to the podcast (24 minutes, 6 seconds)

Click here for previous podcasts.

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The VideoNuze podcast is also available in iTunes...subscribe today!

Inscape and Sorenson Media announced a partnership this morning to help local broadcast station gain insights into viewers’ behaviors. Inscape, whose automatic content recognition (ACR) technology collects viewership data from over 7 million opted-in smart TVs in the U.S. is powering Sorenson Media’s Spark Station Analytics. The companies have been collaborating for over a year with over 80 local broadcasters now using Spark Station Analytics.

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YouTube TV, the skinny bundle launched earlier this year by YouTube, will be the presenting sponsor of the 2017 World Series on Fox. Take a moment to digest that: the iconic World Series won’t be presented by a beer or soda company, an automobile or truck manufacturer or a wireless carrier. Instead it will be a skinny bundle!

The sponsorship includes national TV spots, on-air call outs during each game, branding on MLB’s digital properties and social media accounts, plus in-stadium promotion and MLB players competing in postseason promotional events. YouTube creators will also produce behind-the-scenes content. And select fans will get VIP access at the games themselves. The value of the deal wasn’t disclosed, but surely runs to 7 or 8-figures.

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