VideoNuze Posts

Following are 4 news items worth noting from the week of Sept. 26th:

1. Summer '09 was a blockbuster for online video - comScore released U.S. online video viewership data early this week, providing evidence of how big a blockbuster the summer months were for each metric comScore tracks. The 3 metrics that I watch most closely each month showed the healthiest gains vs. April, the last pre-summer month comScore reported. Total videos viewed in August were 25.4 billion, a 51% increase over April's 16.8 billion. The average number of videos watched per viewer was 157, up 41% from April's 111. And the average online video viewer watched 582 minutes (9.7 hours), a 51% increase from April's 385 (6.4 hours).

Also worth noting was YouTube crossing the 10 billion videos viewed in a single month mark for the first time, maintaining a 39.6% share of the market. According to comScore's stats I've collected, YouTube has been in the 39% to 44% market share range since May '08, having increased from 16.2% in Jan '07 when comScore first started reporting. Hulu also notched a winning month. While its unique viewers fell slightly to 38.5M from 40.1M in April, its total video views increased from 396M to 488.2M, with its average viewer watching 12.7 videos for a total of 1 hour and 17 minutes. It will be very interesting to see if September's numbers hold these trends or dip back to pre-summer levels.

2. So this is how to make funny viral branded videos - I was intrigued by a piece in ClickZ this week, "There's a Serious Business Behind Funny Viral Videos" which provided three points of view - from CollegeHumor.com, The Onion and Mekanism (a S.F.-based creative production agency) - about how to make branded content funny and then how to make it go viral. The article points out that a whole new sub-specialty has emerged to service brands looking to get noticed online with their own humorous content.

Humor works so well because the time to hook someone into a video is no more than 2-3 seconds according to Mekanism's Tommy Means. Beyond humor, successful videos most often include stunts or cool special effects or shock value. Once produced the real trick is leveraging the right distribution network to drive viral reach. For example, Means describes a network of 100 influencers with YouTube channels who can make a video stand out. After reading the article you get the impression that there's nothing random about which funny videos get circulated; there's a lot of strategy and discipline involved behind the scenes.

3. Wired magazine's article on Netflix is too optimistic - I've had several people forward me a link to Wired magazine's article, "Netflix Everywhere: Sorry Cable You're History" in which author Daniel Roth makes the case that by Netflix embedding its streaming video software in multiple consumer electronics devices, the company has laid the groundwork for a rash of cable cord-cutting by consumers.

I've been bullish for sometime on Netflix's potential as an "over-the-top" video alternative. But despite all of Netflix's great progress, particularly on the device side, its Achilles' heel remains content selection for its Watch Instantly streaming feature (as an example, my wife and I have repeatedly tried to find appealing recent movies to stream, but still often end up settling for classic, but older movies like "The English Patient").

Roth touches on this conundrum too, but in my opinion takes a far too optimistic point of view about what a deal like the one Netflix did with Starz will do to eventually give Netflix access to Hollywood's biggest and most current hits. The Hollywood windowing system is so rigid and well-protected that I've long-since concluded the only way Netflix is going to crack the system is by being willing to write big checks to Hollywood, a move that Netflix CEO is unlikely to make. The impending launch of TV Everywhere is going to create whole new issues for budding OTT players.

Although I'm a big Netflix fan, and in fact just ordered another Roku, I'm challenged to understand how Netflix is going to solve its content selection dilemma. This is one of the topics we'll discuss at VideoNuze's CTAM Summit breakfast on Oct. 26th in Denver, which includes Roku's VP of Consumer Products Tim Twerdahl.

4. VideoSchmooze is just 1 1/2 weeks away - Time is running out to register for the "VideoSchmooze" Broadband Video Leadership Evening, coming up on Tues, Oct 13th from 6-9pm at the Hudson Theater in NYC. We have an amazing discussion panel I'll be moderating with Dina Kaplan (blip.tv), George Kliavkoff (Hearst), Perkins Miller (NBC Sports) and Matt Strauss (Comcast). We'll be digging into all the hottest broadband and mobile video questions, with plenty of time for audience Q&A.

Following the panel we'll have cocktails and networking with industry colleagues you'll want to meet. Registration is running very strong, with companies like Sprint, Google/YouTube, Cox, MTV, Cox, PBS, NY Times, Morgan Stanley, Hearst, Showtime, Hulu, Telemundo, Cisco, HBO, Motorola and many others all represented. Register now!

Daisy Whitney and I are pleased to present the 34th edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for October 2, 2009.

This week Daisy and I first discuss my post "Break Media Gains Momentum with Branded Content in 2009" in which I describe how Break, a male-focused entertainment community, has used branded content to differentiate itself and increase revenues. Branded content is a relatively new media form where sponsors fund the production process and have significant creative input or outright control.

Break has been able to offer branded content projects as a value ad to sponsors' media buys on its sites by allocating a percentage of the client's media spend to the projects. I describe how Break does this, along with how branded content has helped it separate itself from competitors and grow revenue by a projected 18% this year.

The quarterly total blew away each of the past 3 quarters I've tracked (Q2 '09 - $64M, Q1 '09 - $74.8M and Q4 '08 - $78M. In summary, over the last 4 quarters, at least 47 different broadband and mobile video-related companies have raised a total of at least $397M, a stellar performance under any circumstances, but all the more so given the down economy, frozen credit markets and nearly closed window for initial public offerings.

In addition to the venture financings, there were at least 3 video-related acquisitions announced in the quarter including Adobe-Omniture for $1.8B (noteworthy due to Flash's leading market position), Google-On2 Technologies for $106.5M (being challenged by On2 shareholders) and DivX-AnySource for $15M. Elsewhere during the quarter, KIT Digital began trading on the NASDAQ, and Paltalk bought back $6M of its shares from investor Softbank Capital Partners. Lastly, Calix raised $100M, however I haven't included them on the list below because their broadband equipment is used for much more than just video delivery.

Q3 '09 activity underscores investor enthusiasm for the opportunities broadband and mobile video-related companies are opening up and the value chain disruption many are causing. The financing momentum also puts an exclamation mark on my post from last week, "Why the FCC's Net Neutrality Plan Should Go Nowhere." Industry investors and entrepreneurs very clearly do not need the government issuing new Internet regulations to give them confidence to do deals.

Break Media, the male-focused online entertainment community, is announcing this morning strong results for its branded content campaigns. Year-to-date the company has completed 25 branded content campaigns, totally over 80 videos vs. 16 campaigns and 60 videos for all of 2008.

Break's branded content focus helped the company achieve its best revenue month in history in August and to project an 18% increase in full year '09 revenue vs. '08, noteworthy accomplishments given the recent nosedive in ad spending. To learn more about Break's branded content initiatives and overall results, yesterday I spoke to Andrew Budkofsky, Break's SVP of Sales and Business Development.

For those not familiar with the term "branded content" or "branded entertainment," these refer to advertiser-funded online video or multimedia projects that have strong brand placement (and frequently strong product placement as well). Branded content differs from conventional ad-supported media in a couple of important respects. First, in conventional media, creative projects are developed without sponsor involvement, whereas in branded content, the sponsor has strong input and sometimes full control of the creative process. This can lead to significant product placement. And second, in conventional media, ads are usually sold concurrent with or subsequent to production, whereas in branded content, sponsor funding is typically secured in advance of production beginning (with the sponsor's budget guiding the production budget).

Break takes an interesting approach to branded content. It doesn't explicitly charge clients for branded content development. Instead it allocates a percentage of the client's media buy on Break's various media properties to develop branded content as a pure value add to the media buy. Andrew wouldn't specify what percentage is allocated, except to say it's typically "more than 10%, but really varies by client." Client campaigns need to be at least in the low 6 figures to qualify for branded project development. Break beefed up its creative resources earlier this year through the acquisition of HBOlab. Andrew believes that Break's approach gives it a meaningful differentiator when bidding on client RFPs.

While clients and their agencies closely assess the performance of their Break media buy, because the branded content piece is positioned as a value-add, the metrics around its performance are not as strict. Andrew said that primarily clients are looking at number of views, but also look at brand recall, favorability, engagement and other gauges. Break doesn't guarantee clients a minimum number of views for their branded content, but it knows from doing many projects and understanding its site statistics what types of promotional placements will yield what level of views. Break also actively pursues social media distribution, trying to get a video go viral.

Recent examples of Break's branded content include Levi's "Stories of a New America," Castrol's "Urban Car Legends" and KFC's "Getting Grilled." All are multi-part series that are cleverly produced, with expenses minimized through sparse sets, unknown talent and short durations. From my vantage point they all work well creatively and also in support of their respective brands. The Levi's and Castrol series both generated over 1 million viral views.

Break's focus on the young male audience gives it an edge in winning clients looking to reach this segment. But it's not alone in the branded content area. Andrew cited agencies' in-house branded content departments as both competitors and potential partners, along with portals. Recent examples of non-Break produced branded content I've followed include Verizon-MTV's "Valemont," NBCU-American Family Insurance's "In Gayle We Trust," Sara Lee's "Mama Saga" and Lexus's "Web Therapy" among others.

With the ongoing pinch in ad-spending and strong brand motivation to experiment and breakthrough in the evolving new media landscape, branded content looks poised to accelerate. Break, with its creative resources, well-baked approach and strong distribution to the young male market segment, seems well-positioned to continue benefiting.

What do you think? Post a comment now.

Today is the last day to purchase early bird discounted tickets to VideoNuze's next "VideoSchmooze" Broadband Video Leadership Evening. VideoSchmooze is 2 weeks from tonight, on Oct. 13th, 6-9pm in NYC. Save by registering today! An early bird ticket for $60 includes hors' d'oeuvres and a drink (cash bar to follow), the panel discussion plus great industry networking.

VideoSchmooze promises to be an exciting night of networking and industry learning. Registered already are executives from across the spectrum of technology and media companies such as Cisco, HBO, A&E, Hulu, Google, HealthiNation, Motorola, FLO TV, HealthiNation, 5Min, Tremor Media, Scripps, Adap.tv and many others.

Our panel (which I'll moderate), "Realizing Broadband Video's Potential" features an amazing group of industry executives:

• Dina Kaplan - Co-founder, blip.tv
• George Kliavkoff - EVP & Deputy Group Head, Hearst Entertainment & Syndication (and formerly Chief Digital Officer, NBCU and first CEO of Hulu)
• Perkins Miller - SVP, Digital Media and GM, Universal Sports, NBCU Sports & Olympics
• Matt Strauss - SVP, New Media, Comcast

Click here to learn more and register for the early bird discount

Following the panel, we'll have networking and cocktails from 7:45-9:00pm. It will be a great opportunity to meet the panelists and industry colleagues. This is a highly targeted and valuable networking opportunity - past VideoSchmooze attendees have repeatedly told me about new partners, customers and job leads they've gained from VideoSchmooze.

VideoSchmooze will be held at the Hudson Theater, a beautifully renovated turn-of-the-century venue on West 44th Street just off Times Square. NATPE, VideoNuze's partner since launch, is teaming up with VideoNuze for the event. And I'm extremely grateful to lead sponsor Microsoft Silverlight and supporting sponsors Akamai Technologies, Digitalsmiths, FAST (a Microsoft subsidiary), FreeWheel, Horn Group and mPoint for making the evening possible.

At the last VideoSchmooze in March, '09 we had 270+ industry executives. Space is filling up fast for this must-attend event....I encourage you to register now to secure a spot and save with the early bird discount.

Click here to learn more and register for the early bird discount

I look forward to seeing you on Oct. 13th!

Akamai is announcing its new "Akamai HD Network" this morning, and planning a 1pm webcast to explain the details. Akamai is positioning the network as the first to deliver HD-quality live and on-demand streaming for broadcast-sized audiences. The Akamai HD Network supports Flash, Silverlight and iPhone.

Key to the Akamai HD Network is support for adaptive bit rate ("ABR") streaming, which adjusts the quality of the video delivered based on prevailing network conditions, instant response for pause, rewind, startup, etc, an open standards HD video player and user authentication. Adobe has also optimized Flash to be delivered over Akamai's HTTP network, which appears to be a first. This allows Akamai to fully leverage its 50,000 HTTP edge-server network.

The evolution toward HD-quality delivery has been building steam recently, as content providers increasingly recognize that TV-quality video is becoming the expected norm for online video users. This is particularly true for heavy users who substitute online viewing for TV-viewing, but don't want a degraded experience. As convergence devices, which bridge broadband to the TV in the home take off, the quality bar will rise for all users. This means that all CDNs that want to be players in video delivery will need to be able to deliver HD quality at scale. Move Networks, which I've written about before, is another company playing an important role in enabling high-quality broadband-delivered video to the TV; others will no doubt follow.

The Big Ten Network has selected thePlatform to manage its two main streaming video initiatives - "BigTen Ticket," a live and on-demand package of all televised men's football and basketball games, available exclusively for international (non-US, Canada and Caribbean) audiences, and a package of 200 webcasts of other sports (women's basketball, volleyball, etc), for domestic audiences. Big Ten Ticket is available for single game pay-per-view and for school and conference-based subscriptions.

The Big Ten Network is a joint venture of Fox Cable Networks and subsidiaries of the Big Ten conference. It has been operating since August 2007 and gained carriage into 30 million U.S. homes within 30 days of launch, attesting to the appeal of its big-name conference members. The network's increased commitment to online video delivery is part of a broader trend in major sports to augment broadcast/cable TV rights deals with consumer paid live and on-demand delivery.

Online sports distribution represents a new level of complexity for video publishing and management platforms because they are live, not just on-demand, require multiple monetization paths, involve unpredictable audience sizes and must implement strict access rights, by both geography and package. Sports are on the leading edge of online video with widespread syndication and distribution to multiple mobile devices still ahead.

At VideoSchmooze on Oct 13th, we'll get great insight into online sports from 2 of our 4 panelists, Perkins Miller, SVP, Digital Media and GM, Universal Sports, NBCU Sports and Olympics and George Kliavkoff, EVP & Deputy Group Head, Hearst Entertainment & Syndication (and formerly EVP, Business at Major League Baseball Advanced Media).

Following are 4 news items worth noting from the week of Sept. 21st:

1. Bashing Hulu gains steam - what's going on here? - These days everyone seems to want bash Hulu and its pure ad-supported business model for premium content. Last week it was Soleil Securities releasing a report that Hulu costs its owners $920 per viewer in advertising when they shift their viewership. This week, it was a panel of industry executives turn. Then a leaked email from CBS's Quincy Smith showed his dissatisfaction with Hulu, and interest in trying to prove it is the cause of its parent networks' ratings declines.

What's happening here is that the world is waking up to the fact that although Hulu's user experience is world-class, its ad model implementation is simply too light to be sustainable. I wrote about this a year ago in "Broadcast Networks' Use of Broadband Video is Accelerating Demise of their Business Model," following up in May with "OK, Hulu Now Has ABC. But When Will it Prove Its Business Model?" Content executives are finally realizing that it is still too early to put long form premium quality video online for free. Doing so spoils viewers and reinforces their expectation that the Internet is a free-only medium. When TV Everywhere soon reasserts the superiority of hybrid pay/ad models, ad-only long-form sites are going to get squeezed. At VideoSchmooze on Oct 13th, we have Hulu's first CEO George Kliavkoff on our panel; it's going to be a great opportunity to understand Hulu's model and dig further into this whole issue.

2. TiVo data on ad-skipping for Emmy-winning programs should have TV industry alarmed - As if ad-skipping in general wasn't already a "hair-on-fire" problem for TV executives, research TiVo released this week on ad-skipping behavior specifically for Emmy-winning programs should have the industry on DEFCON 1 alert. Using data from its "Stop | Watch" ratings service, TiVo found that audiences for the winning programs in the 5 top Emmy categories - Outstanding Comedy Series, Drama Series, Animated Program, Reality-Competition and Variety/Music/Comedy Series - all show heavier than average (for their genre) time-shifting. The same pattern is true for ad-skipping; the only exception is "30 Rock" (winner of Outstanding Comedy Series) which performs slightly better than its genre average.

The numbers for AMC's "Mad Men" (winner of Outstanding Drama Series), are particularly eye-opening: 85% of the TiVo research panel's viewers time-shifted, and of those, 83% ad-skipped. (Note as an avid Mad Men viewer, I've been doing both since the show's premiere episode. It's unimaginable to me to watch the show at its appointed time, and with the ads.) The data means that even when TV execs produce a critical winner, their ability to effectively monetize it is under siege. How long will BMW sign up to be Mad Men's premier sponsor with research like this? TiVo's time-shifting data shows why network executives have to get the online ad model right. When TV Everywhere launches it will cater to massive latent interest in on-demand access by viewers; it is essential these views be better monetized than Hulu, for example, is doing today.

3. Radio stations push into online video as GAP Broadcasting launches with VMIX - Lacking its own video, the radio industry has been a little bit of the odd man out in the online video revolution. Some of the industry's bigger players like Clear Channel have jumped in, but there hasn't been a lot of momentum, especially with the ad downturn. But this week GAP Broadcasting, owner of 116 stations in mostly smaller markets announced a partnership with video platform and content provider VMIX. I talked to VMIX CEO Mike Glickenhaus who reported that radio stations are starting to get on board. For GAP, VMIX is providing an online video platform, premium content from hundreds of licensed partners, user-generated video tools and sales training, among other things. GAP's goal is to be a "total audience engagement platform" not just a radio station. Sounds right, but there's lots of hard work ahead.

4. So is there a "Long Tail" or isn't there? Ever since Chris Anderson's book "The Long Tail" appeared in 2006 there have been researchers challenging his theory which asserts that infinite shelf space drives customer demand into the niches. The latest attempt is by 2 Wharton professors, who, using Netflix data, observe that the Long Tail effect is not ironclad. Sometimes it's present, sometimes it's not. Anderson disputes their findings. The argument boils down to the definitions of the "head" and "tail" of the markets being studied. Anderson defines them in absolute terms (say the top 100 products), whereas the Wharton team defines them in terms of percentages (the top 1 %).

I've been fascinated with the Long Tail concept since the beginning, as it potentially represents a continued evolution of video choice; over-the-air broadcasting allowed for 3 channels originally, cable then allowed for 30, 50, 500, now broadband creates infinite shelf space. Independent online video producers and their investors have bet on the Long Tail effect working for them to drive viewership beyond broadcast and cable. With Nielsen reporting hours of TV viewership holding steady, we haven't yet seen cannibalization. However, with Nielsen, comScore and others reporting online video consumption surging, audiences may be carving out time from other activities to go online and watch.

Enjoy your weekends! There will be no VideoNuze on Monday as I'll be observing Yom Kippur.