VideoNuze Posts

More evidence today of connected TVs’ ascendance as a preferred viewing platform: Pivotal Research’s Brian Wieser released a new report revealing that 8.5% of all TV usage in July 2016 by 18-49 year-olds was through connected TVs (e.g. Roku, Apple TV and Chromecast). That was up from 4.9% in July 2015 and just 1.9% in July 2014 (Wieser didn’t share data prior to then, but it’s no doubt minimal).

Wieser said the share gain by connected TVs was approximately equal to the loss in viewing share of ad-supported cable and English language broadcast TV networks. For all households, connected TVs had a 5.5% TV viewing share, which was up from 3.3% a year ago.

continue reading

This morning’s WSJ article, “Google’s High-Speed Web Plans Hit Snags” chronicles how Google Fiber has fallen way short of expectations and has experienced ongoing technology/deployment issues since its initial rollout 4 years ago. None of this surprises me and loyal VideoNuze readers will recall I was deeply skeptical from day 1, when I wrote, back in July, 2012, “Google Fiber is Out of Synch With Realities of Typical Consumer Technology Adoption.”

Google Fiber’s main value proposition and differentiator have always been 1 gigabit per second broadband service. But the problem is that very, very few people wake up in the morning wishing they had 1 gigabit so that, for example, they could stream 4K videos on 10+ devices at the same time, which is one of the key benefits Google Fiber promotes. Even as streaming video usage in the home has soared over the past 4 years, with the proliferation of high-quality video services and connected TV devices, most users have been satisfied with the quality of their broadband connection.

continue reading

I'm pleased to present the 335th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

First up this week, Colin and I dig into Disney’s new $1 billion investment in BAMTech, the technology spin-off of Major League Baseball Advanced Media. We both like the move as it further positions Disney to capitalize on online delivery, while protecting itself from ongoing changes in viewers’ behavior. In this case, Disney’s sheer size gives it the resources to keep its options open.

Next up, Colin and I were both surprised by Hulu’s move earlier this week to jettison its free, ad-supported viewing service to a new partnership with Yahoo. Colin wrote a great piece earlier this week listing the 5 most important reasons why he thinks this was a mistake, which we discuss. Hulu continues evolving away from its roots, as it prepares to launch its skinny bundle next year, which brings its own set of challenges.

Listen now to learn more!

Click here to listen to the podcast (23 minutes, 51 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!

Please save the date - Wednesday, November 30th will be VideoNuze’s SHIFT // 2016 Programmatic Video & TV Advertising Summit at the Westin Times Square in NYC. This will be our 2nd annual SHIFT, and last year’s inaugural event drew over 380 industry executives, 18 sponsors and 50+ speakers, including keynotes by Turner Ad Sales President Donna Speciale and Bank of America SVP Lou Paskalis.

SHIFT // 2016 promises to be just as exciting and will once again be the premier day of learning and networking for anyone focused on programmatic video & TV, both of which have continued to accelerate over the past year. Programmatic has a lot of different dimensions when it comes to video and TV, and at SHIFT we’ll hone in on the most important themes, what’s behind them and what challenges remain.

One big trend we’ll dive into is TV networks’ data initiatives and goals of offering advertisers improved audience targeting in linear TV way beyond traditional age and gender as well as programmatic buying. This has become critical given the proliferation of online video alternatives and the vast scale/targeting of platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat and others. A key part of this conversation is how third-party data sources are being used to augment advertisers’ targeting of TV audiences.

We’ll be digging into lots of other topics such as how programmatic can be leveraged in cross-screen video/TV campaigns, the important role connected TVs are playing in bringing programmatic to the big screen, how programmatic is being used in mobile video and how programmatic is intersecting with emerging ad formats like outstream and native, among others.

As with all VideoNuze conferences, I’m confident that the program at SHIFT // 2016 will be a key differentiator. I spend a lot of time trying to optimize the topics, the flow of the day and the moderators. Most important is curating session speakers to get the best mix of experiences and perspectives.

Early bird tickets are now available as are sponsorships. If you have questions or would like to explore how to get involved please contact me. I hope you’ll join us on November 30th at SHIFT // 2016!

Say this for Disney - in just the past couple of years or so it has moved to cover virtually every bet for how online video might impact the company in the future.

With its Maker Studios acquisition, Disney expanded into YouTube-style content creation for kids and millennials. With DisneyLife, it’s moving into SVOD entertainment beyond its pivotal output deal with Netflix. Now with Hulu, it’s addressing cord-cutting and the potential of skinny bundles (as well as with deals with DirecTV Now, Sling TV and PlayStation Vue).  And finally, with its new $1 billion BAMTech investment, it’s adding platform capabilities for direct-to-consumer live sports streaming. Plus, with the forthcoming ESPN OTT service, it will test its own direct-to-consumer sports offering.

continue reading

On Monday, online video platform Kaltura announced that it has raised a $50 million “pre-IPO” funding from Goldman Sachs’ Private Capital Investing group. With the new investment, Kaltura has raised $165.1 million across 6 different rounds. Kaltura said the new capital will be used to “extend its footprint across all six continents, and to further its unique positioning as the ‘Everything Video’ company.”

I caught up with Ron Yekutiel, Kaltura’s Chairman, CEO and Co-founder to learn more about Kaltura’s strategy and the tailwinds that are helping drive the business forward. Kaltura has 450 global employees, with 250 working in R&D in Israel, 120 in the U.S. and the rest spread throughout global offices.

continue reading

Major pay-TV operators made it through another quarter without any substantial acceleration in cord-cutting, according to industry data tallied by analysts MoffettNathanson. In Q2 ’16, pay-TV operators lost an estimated 757K subscribers, compared with a loss of 683K subscribers in Q2 ’15. Note also that the second quarter is always the seasonally weakest. When estimated Sling TV subscribers are added in, the loss declines to 708K in Q2 ’16 vs. 613K lost in Q2 ’15.

In a continuing trend, cable operators again picked up market share at the expense of telcos and satellite providers. Cable’s loss in Q2 ’16 declined to 242K subscribers from 404K lost in Q2 ’15, while telcos swung from a gain of 5K subscribers in Q2 ’15 to a loss of 526K subscribers in Q2 ’15. AT&T accounted for the vast majority of that loss (minus 391K) as it transitioned U-Verse subscribers to DirecTV. Verizon had a loss 41K vs. a gain of 26K a year earlier as it experienced an employee work stoppage.

continue reading

Last Monday, in “Apple is Still Spinning Its Wheels in Video While Big Competitors Hit Their Stride,” I explained that while Apple continues to cast around for some type of coherent strategy to be a player in the fast-evolving video landscape, big competitors like Google, Amazon, Comcast and Facebook are all racing ahead and making substantial progress.

Then last Thursday, Peter Kafka at Recode reported that after failing in its attempt to put together its own TV service, Apple’s latest plan is to create some type of TV guide that would be able to discover and show what’s available in multiple video apps (e.g. HBO, Netflix, ESPN) and work on Apple’s devices. But as Peter noted, the new guide idea would mean Apple is focusing solely on an interface that would have no actual revenue stream.

continue reading