VideoNuze Posts

YouTube Red was announced last week and became available yesterday. After taking it for a spin on my iPad (note, access for subscribers is included in the YouTube app), I’m pretty convinced that the current offering is unlikely to gain any significant traction. To be fair, there are more benefits coming to YouTube Red in the near future, but even with those, the service is unlikely to appeal to more than a small number of YouTube users.

YouTube promoted the primary feature of YouTube Red as ad-free viewing. For sure, watching YouTube without ads is an improved experience, but as I wrote last week, because YouTube’s skippable TrueView ads are already so viewer-friendly, the marginal improvement from not having to click “Skip Ad” doesn’t end up feeling like a big breakthrough, especially for viewers used to YouTube being free.

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I’m excited to share that Donna Speciale, President of Turner Broadcasting Ad Sales, will be our keynote guest at the SHIFT // 2015 Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit on Tuesday, December 1st in NYC.

Donna will be interviewed on the topic of “How TV Networks Can Capitalize on Programmatic.” Since TV networks have the most valuable ad inventory, programmatic represents a unique opportunity, especially as consumption of TV programs goes multi-screen. TV networks must balance programmatic innovation with the benefits of the traditional direct sales model. Turner has been aggressively building out its data capabilities to drive further value from its premium content.

Donna’s session will be one of the highlights of a jam-packed day of sessions meant to demystify programmatic video & TV and accelerate its adoption. Over 30 industry leaders, all with direct experience with programmatic video & TV, are set to speak, representing companies including ABC, Altitude Digital, AMC Networks, Assembly, Bloomberg Digital, comScore, Havas Media, Hill Holliday, Horizon Media, Magna Global, MediaVest, Meredith, Operative, Razorfish, Roku, SpotX, The Weather Company, Viacom, Videology, VivaKi, Xaxis and others.

Remember - all early bird registrants will be entered to win a 50-inch Sharp Roku TV (value $450), generously provided by Roku. In addition, early bird registrants also save $100 off the regular rates. Further discounts are available on 5-packs and 10-packs. And, startups and students can register for the reduced $195 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!

Comcast continued to defy the cord-cutting boogeyman in Q3 1’5, losing just 48K video subscribers, compared with a loss of 81K in Q3 ’14 and a loss of 127K in Q3 ’13. Comcast said it was the best third quarter for video subscribers in 9 years.

Once again, Comcast attributed the improvement mainly to its X1 set-top box, which is now in one-quarter of video homes and accounted for 60% of video connects in Q3. On its earnings call, Comcast noted X1 subscribers have lower churn, use VOD and DVR more heavily and subscribe to more additional outlets than non-X1 subscribers. As a result of X1’s success, Comcast has increased its deployment, now installing 40K X1s per day, compared with 30K per day in Q2. Comcast also said it has deployed 1.5 million voice remotes which further enhance the X1 experience.

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I'm pleased to present the 295th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

First up this week we dig into Yahoo’s decision to write off $42 million related to 3 of its long-form original programs, including the high-profile “Community.” As Colin and I explain, Yahoo faced a lot of headwinds from the start in making these a success. Yahoo’s bellyflop is actually not a big surprise and it’s a yellow flag for others interested in providing long-form content.

We then transition to talking about why HBO Now’s distribution with large pay-TV operators / broadband ISPs is stymied. At the WSJD conference this week, HBO CEO Richard Plepler lamented the company’s lack of progress. But as I explain, HBO Now represents more cord-cutting risk than upside opportunity to most operators (for more color on that, see here). Colin disagrees and thinks operators should be more aggressive. We have a healthy debate.

Listen now to learn more!

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What’s a viewer’s willingness to pay in order to have an ad-free video experience? The question is in focus yet again with yesterday’s announcement of YouTube Red, the company’s long-rumored $9.99/month ad-free service. Unfortunately for YouTube Red, in its case, willingness to pay is going to be heavily influenced by the fact that YouTube has arguably the most viewer (and advertiser) friendly video ad model, which will undoubtedly impact interest in paying for YouTube Red.

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Facebook is poised to dominate “social TV” according to a new report from The Diffusion Group, authored by veteran industry analyst Alan Wolk. Social TV is defined as using social media platforms to discuss, comment on, or enhance the television experience.

While Facebook’s importance grows, TDG sees Twitter’s role in social TV declining, though it is still significant today. Two main forces are at work: (1) a continued decline in live viewing, thereby making real-time platforms like Twitter less relevant and (2) a shift from fan-driven social TV activity to paid promotional placements by TV networks.

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