VideoNuze Posts

Canvs, which interprets video viewers’ social sentiments about their favorite TV programs and ads across 250 different TV networks, has raised a $5.6 million series A round, led by KEC Ventures, with participation from Rubicon Venture Capital, Gary Vaynerchuck and BRaVe Ventures, Social Starts and Milestone Venture Partners.

I spoke to Canvs CEO and co-founder Jared Feldman last week who explained the company’s approach and why its syndicated research portal has been quickly adopted by almost 3 dozen TV networks, studios, ad and talent agencies to date including Sony Pictures, SMG, NBCU, Viacom and others.

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Netflix reported its Q4 ’15 and full year results yesterday, showing a second quarterly slowdown in U.S. subscriber growth, offset by accelerating international subscriber growth.

In Q4 ’15 Netflix added just 1.56 million subscribers in the U.S., down from 1.9 million in Q4 ’14 and below the company’s forecast of 1.65 million. It was also the lowest number of additions in 4 years. In Netflix’s letter to shareholders, it cited “high penetration in the U.S. seems to be making net additions harder than in the past” and new credit/debit card rollovers continuing to be a “background issue” (the latter was cited by the company as the main issue for the big shortfall in Q3 ’15). Both of these points were reinforced on the video earnings review call.

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It’s shaping up as another incredibly exciting year for online video, and I’m delighted to share VideoNuze’s 2016 events calendar today. 2015 was a breakout year for VideoNuze’s events, with record attendance of 450+ executives at our 5th annual VideoNuze Online Video Advertising Summit in June, our inaugural SHIFT // Programmatic Video & TV Advertising Summit in December, and our first NABShow Online Video Conference in Las Vegas in April. Building on their success, all of these events will be back in 2016.

Our flagship event in 216 will be the 6th annual VideoNuze Online Video Advertising Summit, which will be Tuesday, June 14th at the Westin New York at Times Square in NYC. With U.S. online video ad spending in 2016 approaching $10 billion according to eMarketer, and viewers’ behaviors rapidly changing, advertisers and content providers are avidly embracing online video. But online video advertising is complex and chaotic and so once again the Ad Summit will bring together 50+ industry executive speakers in a meticulously curated program that maximizes learning. Combined with top-notch networking, the Ad Summit will again be a must-attend event.

Programmatic video & TV are expected to be a bigger part of the advertising landscape in 2016, and the 2nd annual SHIFT // 2016 (tentatively on Tuesday, December 6th in NYC) will again be the most comprehensive conference focusing on these important trends. Following on the success of the SHIFT // 2015 event, which drew 380+ attendees, SHIFT // 2016 promises in-depth sessions on all of the key drivers of programmatic video & TV. For anyone with a stake in the success of programmatic video & TV, SHIFT // 2016 will be an superior day of learning and networking.

Finally, kicking off the year will be the 2nd annual NABShow Online Video Conference (OVC), again produced and hosted by VideoNuze. Recognizing the growing importance of online video, the 2-day OVC on April 18 and 19 in Las Vegas, will be a marquee event at NABShow. It will feature two of the show’s Super Sessions, plus a dozen other sessions focusing on all the most important industry trends such as mobile, connected TVs, online originals, SVOD, live streaming sports, branded content and much more.

For more information about all of the events, including sponsorships and speaking, please contact me. I look forward to seeing you at VideoNuze events in 2016 and learning together.

What’s driving the growth in programmatic video & TV and what’s ahead? These questions were the focus of our opening and closing sessions, respectively, at last month’s SHIFT // 2015 Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit. Together, the sessions present a compelling picture of the shift to programmatic and its potential going forward.

In the opening session, Magna Global’s EVP and Director of Global Forecasting, Vincent Letang shared the firm’s forecast that 56%, or approximately $11 billion, of online video ad spending in 2019 will be programmatic. Of this, almost $8B will be RTB. The panel, which included Vincent and Keith Grossman (Head of US Sales, Bloomberg), Jason Lopatecki (Chief Strategy Officer, TubeMogul), Trevor Mengel (Director, Programmatic Product - HX, Horizon Media) with Sorosh Tavakoli (SVP, AdTech, Ooyala) moderating, then dug into what’s driving the rapid growth.

Then later in the day, our “Looking Ahead” session focused on how programmatic is going to play out and over what timeline. In particular, key nuances were discussed, such as legacy systems and motivations in TV. The session included Lorne Brown (Founder and CEO, Operative), Noah Levine (SVP, Revenue Operations, Advanced Advertising Product Team, Fox Networks Group), Scott Rosenberg (VP, Advertising, Roku), Alan Smith (Chief Digital Officer, Assembly), Rich Sobel (SVP, Solutions, VivaKi Operating System) and David Silverman (Assurance Partner, PwC), moderating.

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I'm pleased to present the 306th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

This week Colin and I share our top predictions for the video industry in 2016. We also look back at our predictions for 2015 and rate how we did (how’s that for accountability?).

Listen now to learn more!

Click here to listen to the podcast (26 minutes, 38  seconds)

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In case you missed it, GoPro released disastrous Q4 and full year 2015 earnings estimates late yesterday, acknowledging once and for all that its new HERO4 Session was a holiday season dud, even at its reduced price. In addition, GoPro said it would cut its staff by 7% and that SVP, GoPro Entertainment, Zander Lurie was stepping down after just 13 months (he’s moving to a board position at GoPro and becoming CEO of SurveyMonkey).

All of these moves raise the question about what is to become of GoPro’s much-hyped expansion into the media business.

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As the traditional bridge between buyers and sellers in the video ad business, agencies have a huge vested stake in how programmatic plays out. On the one hand, programmatic gives advertisers more control than ever in terms of managing their spending and targeting their audiences. But on the other hand, programmatic requires highly specialized new skill sets and investments to truly pay off.

These topics and more were part of our “Agency of the Future” session at last month’s SHIFT // 2015 Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit. The session included Christina Beaumier (SVP, Xaxis Media), Adam Kasper (Chief Media Officer, Havas Media North America) with Steve Grubbs (Prohaska Consulting and former CEO, PHD North America), moderating.

Adam and Christina shared how their organizations are structured to capitalize on programmatic, why automation does not lead to staffing cost savings, what the proper agency compensation models are for programmatic, whether programmatic video and TV should be planned/executed in one group, why connected TV advertising is gaining momentum and much more. It’s a fascinating discussion for anyone with an interest in agencies’ role in the programmatic future.

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Cord-cutting accelerated in 2015. Once again, It dominated headlines about the pay-TV industry, portending its imminent demise, as SVOD awareness and original content investments skyrocketed. But despite all of that, top Wall Street analyst Craig Moffett of MoffettNathanson (who has participated in many VideoNuze events) issued a bullish note this morning on cable TV operators’ prospects in 2016.

Craig’s analysis highlights the subtleties of the pay-TV industry’s dynamics that are too often glossed over in generic media coverage about cord-cutting’s ascent. The nub of his argument is that while the overall pay-TV industry is indeed pressured in many ways, cable operators’ distinct product and technology advantages vs. its primary competitors (satellite and telcos) have led to cable operators taking market share, helping insulate them from macro issues.

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