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House Republicans' Assault on Net Neutrality Begins Next Week
Republicans on Capitol Hill will start their long-stated attempts to overturn the FCC's net neutrality regulations next Wednesday, with the House Communications & Technology Subcommittee planning a hearing. House Republicans have made no secret of their scorn for the FCC's net neutrality regulations and seem committed to doing whatever's necessary to block them from taking effect. While I've often said that net neutrality is a solution in search of a problem, the FCC's rules are actually not very burdensome, and to the extent that broadband ISPs abide by them, it feels unlikely that they would be expanded any time soon. Still, Republicans view this as an overreach by the government. It will be interesting to see how strongly Senate Democrats and President Obama come to net neutrality's defense, given all the other things competing for their attention.
Categories: Broadband ISPs, Regulation
Topics: FCC, Net Neutrality
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63% of Online Video Now Available in HTML5
MeFeedia released some interesting research this week, reporting that the universe of online video it indexes (30 million videos at 30,000 sites), shows the percentage of video that is HTML5 compatible is now up to 63%. The key HTML5-compatible formats are H.264, WebM and Ogg. Video formats were already a confusing terrain before Google jumped into the mix by acquiring On2 Technologies and open-sourcing its VP8 codec as WebM. Then, earlier this year it announced that its Chrome browser would drop support of H.264, in favor of WebM. Meanwhile, the iPad, which doesn't support Flash has sold 15 million units in the past year, putting even more pressure on content developers to work outside of Flash. The 63% figure, up from 10% a year earlier, suggests that is indeed happening.Categories: Encoding
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Android Nudges to the Lead in Smartphone Race
This week brought updated data from Nielsen on the race for smartphone supremacy. According to Nielsen, for the period November, 2010 - January, 2011, Android had a 29% share, RIM Blackberry 27% and Apple iOS 27%. This is before the iPhone went on sale from Verizon however, so things are bound to change. Still, the Nielsen data shows the continued strength of Android. From a video perspective, because current smartphones ship with the updated Android OS which supports Flash video, they are much more flexible.
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VideoNuze Report Podcast #90 - Mar. 4, 2011
I'm pleased to present the 90th edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for March 4, 2011.
In this week's podcast, Daisy Whitney and I first discuss Tremor Media's new video ad buying platform, which I wrote about on Tuesday. Then we transition to a quick chat about Comcast CEO Brian Roberts' comment this week in the WSJ that "What used to be called 'reruns' on television is now called Netflix." It was a little bit of unexpected trash talk and Daisy and I sort through what might have motivated it.
Click here to listen to the podcast (11 minutes, 48 seconds)
Click here for previous podcasts
The VideoNuze Report is available in iTunes...subscribe today!Categories: Advertising, Cable TV Operators, Podcasts
Topics: Comcast, Podcast, Tremor Media
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Video Will Be Critical to Driving iPad 2's Sales
The new iPad 2 - faster, thinner and lighter than the original, and with an ingenious new "Smart Cover," is yet another impressive technical achievement from the design wizards at Apple. But as with all consumer electronics products, those attributes will only go so far in compelling consumers to crack open their wallets and buy. Steve Jobs knows better than anyone in the world the gadget marketer's manifesto, "It's not what it is, but what it does," so it's no surprise that as sexy as iPad 2 is, yesterday he also rolled out exciting new ways the iPad 2 can be used. The common theme: video apps are going to be critical to driving iPad 2's sales.
First and foremost is FaceTime, Apple's video chat app that is enabled on the iPad 2 with the addition of a VGA front-facing and 720p HD rear-facing camera to the device. These upgrades address the single-biggest criticism of the original iPad (aside from the inability to play Flash-based video) - that a device so conducive to personal video chatting shipped without the onboard cameras to do so (which in turn led to conspiracy theories that the cameras had been purposely left out to give the subsequent release extra juice).
Categories: Devices, Mobile Video
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Rovi Unveils TotalGuide xD Guide for Mobile Devices
Rovi is unveiling TotalGuide xD this morning, a white label solution for cable operators to deliver interactive program guides to mobile devices. I got a demo of the new service last week from Sharon Metz, Rovi's VP of Vertical Markets and Chris Lee, TotalGuide xD's product manager.
With TotalGuide xD, Rovi recognizes that cable operators will need to offer guidance to their wealth of programming choices on mobile devices that consumers increasingly rely upon to manage their busy lives. TotalGuide xD allows users to search for programs or browse a grid directory, discover programs using recommendations from a "six-degrees" feature reminiscent of sites like IMDb, share and receive recommendations from friends via Facebook, Twitter and email, schedule DVR recordings and manage their user profiles across devices.
Categories: Cable TV Operators, Video Search
Topics: Comcast, Rovi, Xfinity
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Clearleap Integrates With Pace for Broadband VOD Delivery
Clearleap, a web-based TV technology platform, is integrating with set-top box maker Pace to enable pay-TV operators to manage and deliver VOD through broadband, alongside traditionally delivered linear channels. By
shifting VOD to a web-based model, pay-TV operators are able to lower the cost and complexity of on-demand, while opening up far more content choices to consumers in a friendlier UI. In addition, broadband VOD allows pay-TV operators to align their VOD libraries and interactive elements between the TV and other connected and mobile devices where video is increasingly available.
Categories: Devices, Technology
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Exclusive: Tremor Media Launching Video Ad Buying Platform, Hires Risicato to Run It
Tremor Media is launching a video ad buying platform, in a bid to streamline how Fortune 1000 brands can capitalize on the explosion of online video. The move is Tremor's latest expansion, following the recent acquisitions of
ScanScout and mobile video ad network Transpera. To manage the video ad buying platform, Tremor has hired Anthony Risicato, formerly CEO of mobile marketing company Mobile Commons, with previous experience at Covario, Innovation Interactive (where he led development of its platform that has facilitated billions of dollars of search advertising buys) and DoubleClick. Anthony shared some of the background of Tremor's move with me last week.
The video ad buying platform addresses the two key marketplace issues Tremor has observed, scale and deliverability. Tremor likens the situation in online video advertising to what was happening in the search advertising market about 10 years ago. There is a lot of interest from big brands and agencies to participate, but still too much friction in buying and delivering plus measuring and optimizing their results. Too often brands are required to go to different publishers and video ad networks to assemble their buy, which makes it harder to leverage their spending and also to optimize their ads based on actual performance.
Categories: Advertising
Topics: Tremor Media
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