-
Men's Health Magazine is Now Using Taboola for Video Recommendations
Men's Health magazine, owned by Rodale, has begun implementing Taboola's Video2Video product to power video recommendations on its web site. Currently Taboola recommendations appear on the Men's Health home page in the featured area, when a video is played through to the end (see below). Taboola recommendations also appear on embedded videos in articles. As I've written previously, with Taboola's high-quality recommendations, video view-throughs and overall views increase, leading to improved monetization.
-
Verizon Challenges Net Neutrality Regulations
Yesterday Verizon appealed the FCC's new net neutrality regulations in the DC Court of Appeals, alleging that the FCC has exceeded its authority. The move is a little surprising given that last August Verizon seemed accepting of net neutrality, by submitting a joint net neutrality proposal with Google. What the two submitted and what the FCC eventually passed are different in a number of ways, but one way that they're similar is in the light regulatory touch granted to wireless Internet ISPs, which was a key focus of Verizon's given its massive wireless business. Even the treatment of wired ISPs wasn't terribly onerous, which is one of the reasons why a number of consumer advocacy organizations are also threatening a challenge to the FCC.
Other than trying to subvert the FCC's authority generally, it's not entirely clear to me what Verizon's trying to accomplish here. One thing's for sure, Verizon will have plenty of help from Republicans who are also challenging net neutrality.Categories: Regulation, Telcos
Topics: FCC, Net Neutrality, Verizon
-
Jivox Launches Cross-Platform Video Ad Capability
(Friday update #2) Brands and agencies looking to use the same video ad across various platforms got a boost yesterday from Jivox, a video ad technology provider. As Jivox's CEO Diaz Nesamoney explained to me, brands/agencies can now either submit video to Jivox or they can use the company's tools in order to prepare the ad properly for multi-platform use. When an ad is to be delivered, Jivox detects the user's platform/device and sends a properly formatted and encoded ad in real-time. Importantly, Jivox's analytics provide insight into usage by platform/device, so brands/agencies can detect where the ad is working best. I view this as the first of many efforts by technology providers to simply the ad delivery process as platforms/devices proliferate.Categories: Advertising, Devices
Topics: Jivox
-
WealthTV-Roku Deal Isn't a Predictor Of An A La Carte Future
(Friday update #3) The was a flutter of excitement this week by some who interpreted a new deal by WealthTV to make its 24/7 linear feed available to Roku users as evidence of an a la carte future. But that hope would be misplaced; WealthTV, a network with minimal pay-TV carriage (though a litany of regulatory appeals), bears no resemblance to widely distributed cable networks like USA, MTV and Discovery whose lifeblood is monthly pay-TV carriage fees.
Even though WealthTV's proposed $2.99/mo subscription fee is more than any of these networks receive, WealthTV's retail model means its subscriber penetration will be a tiny fraction of these cable nets, and that's after necessarily heavy marketing and promotion. Don't get me wrong, Roku and other connected devices are doing a fabulous job of bringing online content to TVs. But getting top-notch, current cable programs is nowhere on the horizon. This is doubly true given that this week's FCC approval of Comcast-NBCU was an explicit blessing of the cable model.
Categories: Cable Networks, Devices
-
Samsung Notches 2 Million App Downloads
(Friday update #4) Samsung has now gained 2 million app downloads through its connected TVs and devices, with apps from YouTube, Hulu Plus, ESPN Next Level, AccuWeather, Google Maps and Texas Holdem leading the way. Samsung said there are 380 total apps available for download of which 259 are free. The 2 million milestone comes less than 2 months since Samsung announced its 1 millionth download. Some analysts, like my colleague Colin Dixon at The Diffusion Group, have criticized these new "SmartTVs" as actually being quite dumb, but Samsung's experience appears to show that the app model on TVs is beginning to catch on.
Categories: Devices
Topics: Samsung
-
Vook Books a $5.75 Million Series A round
(Friday update #5) Vook, which publishes digital versions of books, featuring video, images and social sharing alongside the text, announced a $5.75 million Series A round this week from VantagePoint Venture Partners and Floodgate. When I spoke to Vook's founder Brad Inman last June I came away very impressed with his vision for enhancing traditional books with multimedia in thoughtful, innovative ways. Vooks are a perfect fit for the burgeoning universe of e-readers and tablets like the iPad and Samsung Tab. They key for Vook is generating awareness and demand for its new format. Partnerships will be critical.
Categories: Deals & Financings, Friday updates
Topics: Floodgate, VantagePoint Venture Partners, Vook
-
mDialog Powering Video Ads in Shaw Media's Global TV iPad App
Mobile video ad platform mDialog has been selected by Shaw Media of Canada to power video ads in its Global TV iPad app. The app was released on December 4th and quickly rose to the top of the free chart of the Canadian version of App Store. The app allows full episode viewing of various TV programs.
With mDialog, Shaw will be able to insert targeted, real-time, non-skippable ads into its programs. Given the iPad's superior touch-screen engagement, more interactive ad executions will no doubt follow. The mDialog platform also provides real-time reporting and analytics.
Categories: Devices, International, Mobile Video
Topics: iPad, mDialog, Shaw Media
-
Amazon Acquires LOVEFiLM Making Netflix's European Expansion a Lot Harder
Amazon announced this morning that it has bought the remaining 58% of European DVD-by-mail and online subscription service LOVEFiLM. Amazon
gained its stake in 2008 when LOVEFiLM acquired Amazon's European DVD rental business (Amazon also invested in LOVEFiLM as part of the deal). Given Amazon's position, the new deal, said to be worth around $320 million, was widely rumored.
Though the companies offered no insight in the press release as to what prompted the move, I think it can be interpreted as a bid by Amazon to make Netflix's expansion into the European market much harder. Netflix expanded into Canada last September with a streaming-only service and has continued to beef up the content selection offered there, even as stories have emerged that Canadian broadband ISPs' consumption caps can generate incremental fees for heavy Netflix users. Nonetheless, Netflix has been bullish about its near-term profitability expectations in Canada and executives have made no secret of the company's intention to expand further internationally, with Europe certainly in the bullseye.
Categories: Aggregators, Deals & Financings, FIlms, International
Topics: Amazon, LOVEFiLM, Netflix
VideoNuze Posts
Connect with VideoNuze
Exclusive News Roundup
- Netflix-TF1: Landmark Deal Sets Stage For More Partnerships Around The World Deadline
- Google is using YouTube videos to train its AI video generator CNBC
- YouTube Shorts Now Averages 200 Billion Daily Views The Wrap
- Max will show autoplaying video previews picked by AI The Verge
- Inside the rise of Whatnot, the wildly-entertaining, FOMO-inducing, $5 billion shopping app you’ve never heard of Fortune
- Walmart Aims to Let Consumers Shop From Their TVs Bloomberg
