VideoNuze Posts

Amazon has officially made Prime Video available in over 200 countries and territories around the world, a move that has been expected. Prime Video will be included for Amazon Prime members in Belgium, Canada, France, India, Italy and Spain. Elsewhere, Prime Video is being offered for a special rate of either $2.99 or 2.99 Euros per month for the first 6 months, after which it will revert to the standard rate of $5.99 or 5.99 Euros per month.

continue reading

Akamai has released its State of the Internet report for Q3 ’16 finding, among other things, that global average broadband connection speed increased 21% to 6.3 Mbps vs. Q3 ’15. The country with the biggest jump in the past year was South Korea, which increased 28% to an average 26.3 Mbps, with Hong Kong next, up 27% to an average 20.1 Mbps. South Korea continues to have the highest average connection speed.

The US had an average connection speed of 16.3 Mbps, with the top 5 and their improvement over Q3 ’15 as follows: District of Columbia (24.8 Mbps, up 1.8%), Delaware (21.4 Mbps, up 9.8%), Utah (21.4 Mbps, up 13%), Massachusetts (21.1 Mbps, up 11%) and Rhode Island (20.7 Mbps, up 5.4%).

continue reading

At the recent SHIFT // Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit a recurring theme was how premium video providers are navigating carefully into programmatic. To dig in more deeply, we devoted a full session to the topic, which featured Mike Dean (VP, Programmatic and Data-Driven Sales, ABC), Jason DeMarco (VP, Programmatic and Audience Solutions, A+E Networks), Doug Fleming (Head of Advanced TV, Hulu), Jana Meron (VP, Programmatic and Data Strategy, Business Insider), and James Rooke (Chief Revenue Officer, FreeWheel) moderating.

The group did an excellent job exploring all the key issues including how they’re thinking about the role of automation vs. data, how to achieve scale in targeted cross-platform campaigns and then accurately measure attribution, why standards are the most important missing piece of the puzzle, how to satisfy the buy side’s desire for more data, what types of technologies they’re seeking and much more.

All in all, it was a candid discussion of how premium video providers think about the opportunities and challenges of programmatic, and where things are going from here.

Watch the video (32 minutes, 27 seconds).

Watch the video now

I'm pleased to present the 350th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

This week we return to the cost of sports and specifically why sports TV will be under pressure in 2017. Colin noted new SNL Kagan data this week that sports programming now costs pay-TV operators $18.37/month, which is 40% of their total programming budget. Colin also noticed that DirecTV is planning to increase its rates by $2-$6/month next month, which it blamed on the rising costs of programming.

These types of increases will no doubt contribute to a rising level of cord-cutting and cord-nevering, especially for entertainment-centric viewers who now have more choices of great TV shows to watch than ever and therefore have less reason to pay for expensive multichannel bundles. We’ve seen some of this effect already in the soft NFL ratings this season. Then there’s the question of where skinny bundles will fit in with sports; they’ll almost certainly have to keep sports to a minimum to maintain low rates.

As we discuss, all of this threatens the unique value of sports as a firewall for pay-TV, live viewing and advertising - the reasons why sports rights have ballooned in the first place. 2017 is going to be a very important in redefining sports’ actual value in the video ecosystem.

Listen in to learn more!
 
Click here to listen to the podcast (22 minutes, 45 seconds)
 

Click here for previous podcasts

Click here to add the podcast feed to your RSS reader.

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

With programmatic video and TV ad spending forecast to increase to $15 billon in 2018, our opening session at last Wednesday’s SHIFT conference set the stage with a candid discussion around where programmatic video and TV advertising are today, what the role of targeting/data is, what points of friction remain, and what kinds of advertisers and content providers are benefiting most, among other topics.

Participating in the session were Ian Ferreira (EVP, Programmatic, WideOrbit), Lauren Fisher (Sr. Analyst, eMarketer), Adam Heimlich (SVP, Programmatic, Managing Director of HX, Horizon Media), Dean Lucente (Sr. Director, Advanced TV & Programmatic Media Solutions, Comcast Spotlight), with Lorne Brown (Founder and CEO, Operative) moderating.

If you’re looking to understand all the main opportunities and challenges relating to programmatic video and TV, you’ll find this session very worthwhile.

Watch the video now

At last week’s SHIFT // 2016 Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit, we were privileged to have Lauren Fisher, senior analyst at eMarketer, kick off the day by presenting details behind her forecast that programmatic video and TV ad spending will hit $15 billion in 2018, more than doubling from 2016’s estimated $7 billion.

In her 15-minute presentation, Lauren highlighted the critical roles of data, targeting, audience fragmentation, mobile and connected TVs in driving programmatic video & TV ad spending forward. Below is the video of her presentation, and her slides are available here.

Watch the video now

When HBO Now launched in April, 2015, its $14.99/month price was well above competing SVOD services such as Netflix ($11.99/month), Hulu (ad-free $11.99/month) and Amazon ($8.99/month or included with Prime for $99/year). On the one hand, an argument could be made that an HBO subscription is more valuable due to HBO’s rich library and therefore should be priced higher than newer competitors. But HBO’s market-skimming high price strategy means its more aggressively priced competitors are growing far faster than HBO, enabling them to have greater scale, which will be the key to future success.

continue reading

I'm pleased to present the 349th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

DirecTV Now, the latest skinny bundle to launch, was unveiled on Monday. In this week’s podcast, Colin and I provide our initial assessment. Given AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson’s bold reveal a few weeks ago that it would include over a 100 channels for just $35/month, there’s been a lot of anticipation that DirecTV Now could be a genuine industry disruptor.

Well, it turns out the 100+ channels are actually available at $60/month (the “Go Big” tier), though temporarily on special for $35/month. However, the base tier (“Live a Little”), which includes 60+ channels, turns out to be pretty decent itself, especially with a very aggressive $5/month HBO offer. What’s gained by moving up to Go Big for an extra $25 is actually not that impressive.

Still, as we discuss, with no DVR, limited VOD, scarce broadcast TV (and no CBS at all) and a 2-stream cap, DirecTV Now feels like a niche product. At least for now, that means it will have little impact on incumbent pay-TV operators, tamping down concerns it could roil the industry. Skinny bundles still have lots of challenges, though 2017 is going to be an active year, especially with Hulu and YouTube coming, so it will be worth keeping a close eye on whole category.

Listen in to learn more!
 
Click here to listen to the podcast (23 minutes, 43 seconds)

Click here for previous podcasts

Click here to add the podcast feed to your RSS reader.

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