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Next New Networks Poised to Hit 1 Billion Views Since Inception
In July, independent online video creator Next New Networks will hit 1 billion views since its inception, company CEO Lance Podell me in an interview last week. Next New Networks is now generating 60 million views/mo across its whole network. Lance shared this statistic and more in the following interview, in preparation for NATPE's LATV Fest, scheduled for July 12-15. Lance will appear on a panel titled, "The NEXT new Network: The Intersection of Cable and Web Programming." An excerpted transcript follows.
VideoNuze: Which of your networks are doing the best, and why?
Lance Podell: The biggest are Barely Political and Barely Digital. The primary reason is because we've really tapped the mix of pop culture currency and comedy. A majority of our viewing is on YouTube and the discoverability on YouTube is still around comedy. Comedy is really, really strong.
Also interesting about YouTube is that success is relative. For example, our IndyMogul network which is about movies, but from a different angle at what's hot, is in a different vertical and at 5 million views per month, does very well there. A recent network we launched is HungryNation, which is real food for the YouTube generation has doubled and trebled over the last few months. We give new networks 90-120 days to really take off or not. YouTube and others are working hard to make new content more discoverable which is really important to launching new shows.
VN: There's been recent discussion of online video gaining viewership in primetime. Are your networks gaining in primetime?
LP: Primetime is a thing of the past - it's just not relevant any more. People can watch video-on-demand. Their lives are very different. Our viewership, at 60 million views per month, is the same as some smaller cable TV networks in primetime. So we're getting big enough to compete. Something that is interesting for us is "anytime" viewership. For example, we did some research recently and people said things like, "I come home from work or school and turn on YouTube." It's like they think of YouTube as a network. They tell us they find our humor more real and authentic. They also tell us they don't like being committed for 22 or 44 minutes or more.
Importantly, over the last 2 years web-only programming has become more reliable. Our shows come out at the same time every week. So people are tuning in, not just relying on people sending email links. And because all episodes are available they can really get into it.
Categories: Indie Video
Topics: LATV Fest, Next New Networks
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BrightRoll Breaks New Ground with Reporting Suite
Last Thursday's BrightRoll announcement of a suite of 3rd party verified reporting tools, including comScore, Nielsen, Insight Express, and Vizu, breaks new ground is addressing the online video advertising efficacy
problem. The suite aims to help marketers understand the actual results of online video campaigns with an eye to driving increased spending in the medium. On Friday, I had a chance to chat with BrightRoll's CEO, Tod Sacerdoti, who explained the reasons for this value-add reporting service.
Tod said that the idea for enhanced reporting came from three problems. The first is that an extraordinarily high number of media buyers - somewhere in the realm of 85% according to BrightRoll's research - did not understand the effectiveness of their online video buys. The second problem was that buyers don't fully use ad networks' in-house analytics and don't fully trust them anyway. Further, as ad spend has poured into online video, so have many low quality networks, who can rely on unsavory tactics to get views and thus lower overall CPMs. Thirdly, internal analytics don't get at the big picture, including for example, how a placement on BrightRoll performs versus a competitor.
Categories: Advertising
Topics: BrightRoll, comScore, Insight Express, Nielsen, Vizu
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4 Highlights from VideoSchmooze:LA Panel
At this past Tuesday morning's panel discussion at the VideoSchmooze:LA breakfast we had a great discussion about how Hollywood succeeds in the
digital era. While we covered a lot of ground, below are 4 key highlights. As a reminder, our panelists were:- Albert Cheng - EVP, Digital Media, Disney/ABC Television Group
- Gannon Hall - Chief Operating Officer, Kyte (co-lead sponsor of the breakfast)
- Justin Herz - SVP, Direct-to-Consumer, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution
- Ted Sarandos - Chief Content Officer - Netflix
- Ben Weinberger - CEO and Co-Founder, Digitalsmiths (co-lead sponsor of the breakfast)
Note a video of the discussion is available here; the lighting is a little low, but the audio is solid. Thanks to NATPE for live-streaming the event and making the on-demand version available.
1.Windows are extremely important to Hollywood and they aren't going away any time soon. As Albert explained, the 2 things that drive windows are money/distribution and segmenting the market. Any change in windows for new digital distribution is predicated on monetizing as effectively as the incumbent window being impacted. Albert noted that with the increase in ads on ABC.com, it can monetize more effectively than with DVR playback, so it is going to promote .com accordingly. Ted pointed out that Netflix is proving the digital window's value to longer shelf life content vs. the day-after value of broadcast networks' sites.
2. Digital will address the significant inefficiencies in current media distribution models. Ted noted that the Internet and e-commerce are very good at rooting out inefficiencies of traditional offline models (he cited as an example the demise of travel agents in favor of online travel sites). With respect to windows, Ted cautioned that they can be overmanaged: "in what other industry would you know exactly what your customer wants and not give it to him and yet expect to succeed."
Some of these inefficiencies are clearly in the Pay-TV business, which packages and delivers a lot of channels, though viewers actually only watch a few. Ben raised the question of what role Pay-tv providers should play: packager of content or deliverer of the best possible user experience through fast broadband networks. But with cable TV programmers receiving $25 billion a year in distribution fees, a good chunk of which finds its way back into the Hollywood production community, there are many built-in barriers to significant change.
3. Personalization in the digital era is key. Ted noted that with the Internet bringing vastly increased choice, one-to-one personalization is growing in importance. He pointed out that one of Netflix's key strengths is providing a simple menu of relevant choices for users, that allows users to remain relatively passive.
Justin echoed the point, noting that the recently-launched Warner Archive is all about targeting the micro-niches with catalog content that wasn't economic to deliver in mass-market approach. Gannon explained that some of their customers' traffic-driving success is due to social factors: users discovering great content and sharing it with others.
Ben weighed in that metadata is what fuels accurate personalization and also pointed out that what specific input device the user has makes a big difference in how to navigate the choices offered.
4. Electronic sell-through of content is heavily challenged as a successor to DVD sales. Lastly, the panel pretty much agreed that EST isn't going to succeed DVD sales any time soon. Issues around portability, security, rights, device interoperability and cost were just some that were named. Further, Gannon speculated that for younger people, the purchase of a digital copy may be outdated anyway. As content moves to the cloud, anytime/anywhere access could well displace the need to own content outright. The EST discussion highlighted the need for Hollywood to move faster to keep up with consumers' changing preferences.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).
Categories: Events
Topics: VideoSchmooze
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VideoNuze Report Podcast #65 - June 18, 2010
Daisy Whitney and I are pleased to present the 65th edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for June 18, 2010.
This week Daisy and I return to the topic of cord-cutting, with Daisy tamping down some of what she reported about possible momentum here. Daisy cites new research from Nielsen and from Leichtman Research Group as evidence that in fact cord-cutting isn't actually happening (at least not yet). For my part, as I've said going back to my post in Oct, '08, I don't see much cord-cutting happening any time soon, both because viewers would lose cable TV network programs they love and because it's still not mainstream to connect broadband to TVs.
We then discuss my post early this week about ABC doubling the ad load on its iPad app, and soon on ABC.com as well. As I said earlier this week, it's tough from a consumer standpoint to see more ads, but the reality is these programs need to be effectively monetized, or well, these programs will cease to exist.
Click here to listen to the podcast (15 minutes, 29 seconds)
Click here for previous podcasts
The VideoNuze Report is available in iTunes...subscribe today!Categories: Broadcasters, Cable TV Operators, Podcasts
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Look Who's Advertising on YouTube's Homepage Now: VISA/Toy Story 3 and Xbox's Kinect
Want a sense of just how far YouTube has evolved from its scruffy user-generated roots to a premier site for big brand launches? Then head over to YouTube.com now and you'll see huge rotating rich media campaigns running for VISA, with a tie-in for the new Disney/Pixar film Toy Story 3 (opening tomorrow) and for Xbox's new Kinect motion-sensing feature (the "Wii-killer" unveiled earlier this week at E3).
From a brand launch perspective, these are about as big as they get, with huge money and franchises at stake for all of the companies involved, not to mention the positive or negative career impact for the marketers driving the media strategies at these companies. The fact that both are advertising prominently on YouTube says volumes about the site's importance in the online advertising world and its evolution from its UGC start.
It wasn't that long ago when YouTube was derided an un-monetizable jumble of amateurish clips. It's also worth noting that, as best I can tell, neither the Kinect nor VISA/Toy Story 3 campaigns are running on Yahoo, AOL or MSN right now, the traditional online homes for big brand launches. Now imagine when YouTube is available on TVs via Google TV and you get a sense of just how important YouTube is going to be, and how strategic it has become for Google which is trying to expand beyond search ads.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).Categories: Advertising, Aggregators
Topics: Toy Story, VISA, XBox, YouTube
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Vook Continues to Evolve, Introduces Karen Armstrong Vook
This morning Vook is introducing its next new offering, "A Compassionate Life in 12 Steps," from Karen Armstrong, a prominent religious scholar, TED Prize winner and founder of the Charter for Compassion. With the Armstrong release Vook continues its pioneering work melding text-focused books with original video (hence the name "vook") into new multimedia experiences. I've been fascinated by Vook's concept since I first heard about it and last week I had a chance to talk to Vook's founder Brad Inman to learn more.
Vook has created over 50 vooks to date, sometimes sourcing books via its partnerships with traditional publishers like Simon & Shuster, HarperStudio and others, and sometimes working with public domain material (e.g. Shakespeare). Brad explained that a typical vook will retain 30-80% of the original book's text and incorporate around 20 original videos. Sometimes, as with a golf instructional book, Vook turned it into 8 vooks, which can be bought fro $5 a piece or as a bundle for $40. The overall budget for the videos is around $2,000-$5,000, with Vook tapping into TurnHere (Brad also founded the online video production company). Brad explained that TurnHere already had a lot of expertise with author profile videos.
The price for vooks ranges from $1.99 to $16.99, with the sweet spot around $4.99-$6.99. Brad said that Vook targets to recoup its costs within 4-6 weeks of a vook's launch, which is extremely fast by book publishing standards. Vooks are accessible on the web or via apps for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. An Android app will be available in the next 30-45 days.
Brad is pretty candid about Vook still being in the early days of experimenting with this format, learning as it goes about what works and what doesn't. No doubt it's going to take some time to refine the product itself and also raise consumer awareness.
What's exciting to me is that Vook is operating at the intersection of online video, consumer devices (iPad, smartphones, etc.) and traditional book publishing. The rapid technology innovations in video and devices means Vook has ever-stronger tools to enhance its experience (Brad cited the iPad's page-turning effect as just one example).
Many people have lamented the downward spiral that book publishing has been in recently, with interest in reading books on the wane. E-book readers like the Kindle have helped spark a small resurgence, but while they enhance portability, they don't innovate the overall book experience the way that Vook does. Given how conditioned people are to going on YouTube and other sources to watch video, it feels natural to augment books with specific, related video. For example, how often have you been reading a book and hungered to hear the author, in their own words, describe their inspiration, writing style, creative sources, etc?
In fact, as Brad says, Vook's secret sauce is perfecting how video should be integrated in an elegant/useful way with the text. Creating any new media format is of course a tall task. But in a way, I liken what Vook is doing to what magazines are doing with their iPad apps - making them more visually engaging and interactive. As these catch on, Vook's value proposition will become more familiar.
Books have been around for a long, long time, but in their traditional format they are beginning to look dated. By adding meaningful new value for readers, authors and publishers while keeping its expenses low, Vook may well be on a path to success.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).Categories: Books
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Aiming to Increase Its Reach, Encoding.com Debuts White-Label Option
Encoding.com, the cloud-based encoding provider, is debuting a new white-label option of its service today. Jeff Malkin, Encoding.com's president, explained to me yesterday that the company's goal is to expand reach
through new customers who have access to many new opportunities. Initial customers being announced today include Cisco Eos, Kaltura, Giant Realm and vzaar. Jeff said there are many additional white-label customers yet to be announced.
Encoding.com is enabling these relationships by introducing new features in its API which allow customers to integrate transcoding into their customers' work flow. In particular, Jeff said the API enhancement means white-label customers can offer the same type of sub-account set-up and trial account creation, plus account and sub-account tracking in real-time. Encoding.com will offer the same service level guarantees for white-label customers.
Categories: Encoding
Topics: Cisco EOS, Encoding.com, Giant Realm, Kaltura, vzaar
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With ESPN Partnership, Xbox Reemerges as a Convergence Competitor
Monday's ESPN-Xbox deal brings the Xbox back into view as a competitor in the Internet connected set-top box battle that has further heated up since the
Google TV announcement. Oddly, the Xbox, a device that is already in millions of homes, is often left out of the convergence conversation. To me it seems like a sleeping giant, with many early advantages that should put it squarely on the connected STB map.
The Xbox, as a gaming device primarily, clears the hurdle many set-top boxes stumble over - getting people to buy an additional box. Gaming has allowed it to build a user base of early adopters who are eager to consume online video. Its controller is an easy to operate wireless gamepad, great for navigating screens and menus quickly. In addition, the gamepad has an attachable keyboard the size of a mobile device for easy searching of vast libraries of content.
Categories: Cable Networks, Devices, Games
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