VideoNuze Posts

Here's some data that contradicts conventional wisdom: in a new survey from Clearleap, 67% of pay-TV subscribers said sports are not the reason they maintain a subscription, citing viewership of programs on other TV networks instead. Even sports fans didn't express a lot of enthusiasm for sports as justifying the multichannel bundle, with almost half citing other programs they watch as requiring a subscription.

There has always been a strong industry consensus that live sports were the firewall for pay-TV's multichannel bundle. Even as entertainment programming has proliferated in OTT services and elsewhere, the only place to get marquee sports programming was on pay-TV. Therefore, the reasoning went, sports were the "glue" keeping subscribers on board.

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I'm pleased to present the 275th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

We all know the video industry is undergoing unprecedented changes. To make things more tangible, in this week's podcast, we discuss recently released data that we believe illustrates well how different the industry and viewers' behaviors are today vs. just a few years ago.

In particular, we highlight connected TV adoption data from Leichtman Research Group, long-form/live viewing data from FreeWheel, shifting media consumption data from GfK/IAB, and video delivery forecasts from Cisco.

The overarching takeaway is that in the past 5 years, online video has evolved from a short-form, lower-quality, desktop-based experience to a long-form, TV-level experience that's now mainstream in the living room. As this trend gains further momentum, there are huge implications for TV networks, pay-TV operators and advertisers.

Listen in to learn more!

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Over 50 industry executives will be speaking on 13 different sessions at the 5th annual VideoNuze Online Video Advertising Summit on Tuesday, June 16th in NYC, promising a premier day of learning for anyone with a stake in the booming business of online video advertising.

Headlining the event are our 2 keynote guests David Cohen, Chief Investment Officer, Universal McCann and Neeraj Khemlani, co-president, Hearst Entertainment & Syndication, who will share their insights on the future of advertising and content.

Other speakers recently added include David Morris (Chief Revenue Officer, CBS Interactive), Hermann Hassenstein (Global Head of Marketing Planning, Puma), Rachel Pasqua (Head of Mobility, MEC North America), Stephano Kim (SVP, Ad Operations and Chief Data Strategist, Turner), Sean Muller (CEO and founder, iSpot.tv) and Jonah Goodhart (CEO, Moat), among others. I'm also delighted that The Wall Street Journal's Mike Shields and AdAge's Michael Sebastian, 2 of the savviest industry observers around, will each be moderating a session.

The Video Ad Summit is generously supported by 21 sponsors, including Title Partner Videology; Premier Partners DashBid, FreeWheel and Pixability, Headline Partners Altitude Digital, Beachfront Media, Genesis Media, LiveRail, Nielsen, Ooyala, Operative, Teads.tv and TubeMogul, plus Branding Partners Adobe, Akamai, Alphonso, Brightcove, JW, Roku, Tremor Video and VertaMedia.

Learn more and register now!

A new survey from Leichtman Research Group has found that 56% of American homes now have at least one TV connected to the Internet, more than double the 24% level from 2010. 29% of American homes now have TVs connected using multiple devices.

LRG did not break out the type of connected TV devices used, but last week, FreeWheel's Q1 '15 Video Monetization Report found that Roku has a 43% share, followed by Apple TV (23%), gaming consoles (20%), Chromecast (12%) and Smart TV (2%).

LRG also found that 29% of adults watch online video on their TVs at least weekly, almost 6x the 5% level in 2010, underscoring how rapidly this has become a mainstream activity. 33% of adults watch video on non-TV devices on a daily basis, with 58% watching on non-TV devices on a weekly basis.

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Charter Communications will acquire Time Warner Cable in a $78.7 billion deal, while also continuing its plan to acquire Bright House Networks for $10.4 billion. Assuming the deals close, Charter would become the 3rd-largest pay-TV operator/broadband ISP in the U.S. with a total of approximately 23.9 million subscriber relationships.

Like the prior Comcast-TWC transaction, these deals are driven by the desire for greater scale which supports the huge investments required to innovate in video and broadband services. In this morning's analyst call, Charter CEO Tom Rutledge repeatedly referenced the ability to spread investments over the larger subscriber base as a key benefit of the deals.

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Today is the last day to save $100 on tickets to the 5th annual VideoNuze Online Video Advertising Summit on Tuesday, June 16th in NYC. As a bonus, all early bird registrants will also be entered to win a 55-inch TCL Roku TV.

This year's program is the best one yet, packed with C-level executive speakers from agencies, content providers and technology companies. Headlining the day are our 2 keynote guests David Cohen, Chief Investment Officer, Universal McCann and Neeraj Khemlani, co-president, Hearst Entertainment & Syndication, who will share their insights on the future of advertising and content.

The program also features over 35 executives from Bonnier, CBS Interactive, Digitas, Disney/ABC, Conde Nast, Google, Heineken USA, Initiative, MEC, Nielsen, Puma, Reuters TV, Starcom, Turner Broadcasting, Viacom, Zenith Optimedia and others, on a dozen sessions throughout the day.

Hundreds of industry colleagues will be attending, promising an action-packed day of learning and networking.

Huge thanks to our 20 sponsors, all of whom will have executives attending: Title Partner Videology; Premier Partners DashBid, FreeWheel and Pixability, Headline Partners Altitude Digital, Beachfront Media, Genesis Media, LiveRail, Nielsen, Ooyala, Operative, Teads.tv and TubeMogul, plus Branding Partners Adobe, Akamai, Alphonso, Brightcove, JW, Roku and Tremor Video.

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I'm pleased to present the 274th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

VideoNuze readers with good memories will remember that back in January, 2013, I wrote how Apple had a massive opportunity to introduce a new type of television, which I thought was 100% inevitable, with the only question being the specific timing of its launch.

Well, this week, the WSJ reported that Apple actually shelved its TV plans a year ago, believing that it couldn't find a sufficiently compelling differentiator.

In today's podcast, Colin articulates 5 key reasons why he believes Apple will never make a TV. Colin cites TVs' low margins as the biggest obstacle. Colin's points are well taken, but I disagree with him and think Apple has missed a chance to do something really compelling which partially reflects its growing risk-averseness.

Colin and I rarely have such polar opposite views, and we have a very vigorous give-and-take on the issue.

Listen in to learn more!

Click here to listen to the podcast (23 minutes, 24 seconds)

Click here for previous podcasts

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