VideoNuze Posts

Eager to unlock the full value of their audiences, premium publishers are tapping into programmatic, using data and a variety of tools. At the recent SHIFT // 2015 Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit we dedicated a session to exploring how this is all unfolding. Among the topics discussed was how programmatic aligns with direct sales, the evolving role of measurement, how to aggregate across all platforms and much more.

The session included Trent Anderson (Senior Director, Client Solutions, FreeWheel), Jason Barnett (Head of Programmatic, Teads.tv), Jason DeMarco (Director, Programmatic and Audience Solutions, A+E Networks) and Jana Meron (VP, Programmatic & Data Strategy, Business Insider), with Tim Hanlon (Managing Director, FTI Consulting) moderating. Follow the link below to watch the session video (31 minutes).

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Online video platform JW Player announced a $20 million Series D round today from existing investors Greycroft Growth, Greenspring Associates, Cueball Capital and e.ventures. JW Player’s CEO and co-founder Dave Otten told me that with the new round the company has raised a total of $46 million, though approximately $11 million of the Series C round was used to buy out prior shareholders.

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Yesterday, Variety broke the news that Yahoo has shut down its Yahoo Screen video site/app, dispersing its content throughout the broader Yahoo site. Yahoo Screen was a marquee initiative of company CEO Marissa Mayer, so its demise surely signals the end of Yahoo’s video ambitions. Despite Yahoo Screen’s stellar mobile design, it ultimately fell victim to a completely incoherent content strategy. Yahoo Screen’s failure provides lots of lessons for other video providers scrambling these days to find their place in an increasingly noisy landscape.

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Happy New Year and welcome to 2016. Changes in video advertising will continue to accelerate this year. To help understand the big themes and some of the particulars, I’m pleased to share videos of both keynote conversations from last month’s SHIFT // 2015 Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit. The morning keynote guest was Donna Speciale, president of Turner Ad Sales (interviewed by Matt Prohaska) and the afternoon keynote guest was Lou Paskalis, SVP, Enterprise Media Executive, Bank of America (interviewed by Michael Kassan).

Each session is approximately 30 minutes, and I promise that watching them both is well worth an hour of your time, providing insights from both the buy and sell sides of video advertising. The big unifying themes are 1) Video/TV advertising is shifting to an audience-based approach, 2) Data and programmatic are enabling far more precise targeting, in turn driving up the value of viewer attention and ad inventory and 3) The viewer experience is poised to improve with fewer interruptions and more well-developed brand stories.

More specifically, Donna discusses, among other things, the extensive data investments that Turner is making, how advertisers and agencies are evolving to converge linear TV and digital buying, Turner’s plan to cut ad loads in half on truTV by Q4 ’16 and how to capitalize on mobile. Lou discussed, among other things, why mass advertising and the reach/frequency model is being replaced, the 3 biggest challenges facing marketers, how BofA is integrating data from across its business segments and why he believes GE is the most effective content marketer today.

Together, Donna’s and Lou’s insights provide an excellent strategic roadmap for where the industry is heading and what key challenges lie ahead. As you’re thinking about your 2016 priorities, I highly encourage you to watch their videos and learn from them.

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Happy Holidays! This will be my last post of 2015, as I plan to take some time off through New Year's.

It’s been another hectic year of growth for online video, packed with new product/service announcements, technology innovation, changes in business models and new content development. It’s safe to say that online video is now the biggest priority for everyone in the video ecosystem.

For VideoNuze, 2015 was a busy year of helping industry executives understand the swirl of activity through our daily editorial. Conferences have also become a bigger part of VideoNuze’s mission, bringing together industry executives to discuss and debate key topics.

In 2015 VideoNuze hosted its 5th annual Online Video Ad Summit, which drew 450+ attendees. We also introduced SHIFT // Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit, which drew 380+ attendees. Finally we hosted our inaugural NABShow Online Video Conference in Las Vegas. We’ll be doing all 3 of these conferences in 2016 (contact me to learn more).

As always, I’m extremely grateful for all of the industry companies that have sponsored VideoNuze and our events in 2015, without whom none of this would be possible. Thank you! And of course a huge thank you to VideoNuze’s daily readers, podcast listeners and conference attendees.

I wish you and your families a happy, healthy holiday season and all the best in 2016!

I'm pleased to present the 304th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

2015 has been another big year of change in the video industry. On this week’s podcast we dig into some recent research on changes in linear TV consumption from Nielsen and the rise of connected TV devices. We also discuss research showing the relationship between pay-TV and SVOD.

Listen now to learn more!

(Note, this is our 49th podcast of 2015; we’re taking a break next week and will be back on January 7th. Happy holidays to all of our listeners!)

Click here to listen to the podcast (19 minutes, 52  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!

New research from Interactive Broadband Consulting Group (IBB) suggests that pay-TV subscribers may actually be more fertile targets for adding SVOD services than non-pay-TV subscribers. IBB found that 31% of current pay-TV subscribers plan to add an SVOD service over the next 6 months, vs. 21% for non-pay-TV subscribers.

The data supports the theory that heavier TV watchers seek more great TV to watch (and therefore are more prone to subscribe to SVOD services which are offering a ton of originals) than lighter watchers. That’s not to say there isn’t also a segment of what I’ve called “entertainment-only’s” who will resist paying for the multichannel bundle which is anchored by expensive sports networks.

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At the recent SHIFT // 2015 Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit, the data’s vital role in programmatic was a recurring them. In a dedicated morning session, “Data is the New King: Re-Aggregating Audiences in the Programmatic Era,” Matt Spiegel, SVP/GM, Marketing and Technology Solutions at MediaLink led an insightful discussion

Participating on the session were Bob Ivins (EVP, Cross Media Business Development, comScore),
Brian Leder (SVP, North America Media, Razorfish), Manny Puentes – CTO, Altitude Digital and Julian Zilberbrand (EVP, Audience Science, Viacom).

Among the many topics the group explored were how to validate 3rd-party data sets, how data drives ROIs, the impact data has on content creation, new staffing requirements and lots more.

Watch the session video now