VideoNuze Posts

The mobile video space is getting another boost this morning as MSNBC.com and the Weather Channel are announcing new mobile video initiatives, both with Transpera (which I previously wrote about here). Both weather and news/politics are in the top 5 mobile Internet web site categories according to Nielsen. The Weather Channel is the number one mobile content site and MSNBC has been the leader in Current Events and Global News for six months. All that suggests that video should be heavily consumed on both mobile sites.

Weather is offering video forecasts for the top 100 cities, along with national forecasts, top stories, weekend outlooks, severe weather reports and travel-specific conditions. Meanwhile, MSNBC intends to deliver the same kinds of video on mobile that it's been offering online for some time now, including NBC News video like segments from news shows "Today," "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams," and "Meet the Press."

The Weather and MSNBC initiatives are the kinds of things that make a lot of sense to me (and cause me to be confident about my '09 prediction that mobile video is going to be big this year). Both sites have been deep into video for some time now, and as users develop a set of online expectations, it's only natural that they'll transfer these to their mobile experiences as well.

Soon enough, high-quality video on mobile devices will become table stakes. Transpera is gaining a lot of momentum by helping content providers quickly deploy their video to mobile users. Their emphasis on advertising, including selling inventory as part of their network, has been a key to their success. The mobile video space is one to watch in '09.

What do you think? Post a comment now.

Have you caught any of the three-part, 25 minute "End of Wall Street" series running on WSJ.com right now? It may be too depressing to watch if you're nursing big 401k losses, but it does provide a very interesting template for how print publishers like the WSJ, whose reporters and editors have deep subject matter expertise, can use video to expand their value proposition to traditional readers.

In this case there's another twist: the video is actually a companion to a forthcoming book "The Wall Street Journal Guide to the End of Wall Street As We Know It" written by Dave Kansas, a WSJ editor who hosts the video series as well. Oddly though, the video doesn't mention the book at all, which is a key missed promotional opportunity. Placing a display ad or post-roll video promoting the book would seem to like a natural.

Still, the series demonstrates that a print publisher has the chops to produce a compelling video documentary that explains, in simple terms, how the financial meltdown occurred and why it crushed Wall Street. At least a dozen WSJ staffers are tapped for soundbites outlining the chronology and underlying factors to the crisis. The music is gripping, and the cutaways to Kansas wandering Wall Street's alternatively bustling and empty canyons provide a vivid visual metaphor for the change sweeping through the financial sector.

I've been saying for a while that print publishers are sitting on top of a mountain of largely anonymous talent which would be compelling for their audiences to hear and see. "End of Wall Street" demonstrates this perfectly. Other print pubs would be wise to go to school on it.

What do you think? Post a comment now.

CES '09 is now behind us. As has become typical, this year's show saw numerous broadband video product and technology announcements. As I wrote often last week, the key theme was broadband-enabled TVs. Assuming TV manufacturers deliver on their promises, Christmas '09 should mark the start of real growth in the installed base of connected TVs.

Here are the noteworthy announcements that I caught, in no particular order (I'm sure I've missed some; if so please add a comment and include the appropriate link):

Intel and Adobe to Extend Flash Platform to TVs

Adobe and Broadcom Bring the Adobe Flash Platform to TVs

Samsung and Yahoo Bring the Best of the Web to Television

Yahoo Brings the Cinematic Internet to Life and Revolutionizes Internet-Connected Television

LG Electronics First to Unveil "Broadband HDTVs" That Instantly Stream Movies From Netflix

LG Electronics Launches Broadband HDTVs with "Netcast Entertainment Access"

Sony Debuts Integrated Networked Televisions

Vizio Announces New and Exciting "Connected HDTV" Platform with Wireless Connectivity

Netflix Announces Partnership with Vizio to Instantly Stream Movies to New High Definition TVs

MySpace Partnerships Bring Web Site to TV Set

Macrovision to Bring Instant Access to Digital Content Directly to Internet-Connected Televisions

Move Networks Improves Delivery of High Definition Internet Television to Intel-based Mobile Internet Devices and Netbooks

NETGEAR Unveils Two New Internet-Connected Set-Top Products to Enrich TV Entertainment for Internet Families and Serious Media Enthusiasts

Amazon Video on Demand Brings Customers New-Release Movies and TV Shows to the Roku Digital Video Player

Cisco Brings Manufacturers Together to Make Connected Home Products Simple to Set-up and Easy to Use

Sling Media Introduces SlingGuide: Redefining Search and Discovery for Satellite, Cable and Terrestrial Broadcast Programming

Brightcove is announcing some significant executive and board additions today and also posting a review of its '08 progress. On the executive front, Jeff Whatcott (formerly at Adobe and Acquia) is coming on as SVP of Marketing, replacing Adam Berrey, who's been in the role from the company's inception. Mike Quinn (formerly at FAST) is joining as SVP, Sales for the Americas. And David Mendels (formerly at Adobe) and Deb Besemer (formerly at Lotus and BrassRing) are joining the company's board of directors.

As for '08, CEO Jeremy Allaire's letter to customers (posted here) provides the following highlights:

• Launch of Brightcove 3, the updated version of the company's platform
• International expansion with a new office in Germany and formation of a Japanese subsidiary
• Launch of Brightcove Alliance, the ecosystem of 100+ partners (see VideoNuze related post)
• Triple digit revenue growth for third consecutive year
• Plan to reach profitability in '09

As the video management/publishing platform company that has raised the most funding, many in the industry continue to focus on Brightcove as a key indicator of the market's health. With economic and ad spending pressure everywhere, their 2009 progress will be closely watched.

What do you think? Post a comment now.

If you haven't noticed, the theme at VideoNuze this week has been broadband-enabled TVs, since this has been one of the main themes of this week's CES. On Monday, when the dust has settled, I'll recap some of the key deals. For today though, I want to inject a small dose of reality into the hype that's starting to build up around broadband-enabled TVs.

First off, I'm thrilled to see an ecosystem of technology leaders, TV set manufacturers, content providers and aggregators taking shape around broadband-enabled TVs. It's looking increasingly inevitable that broadband access is going to be a staple feature of HDTVs in the years to come. Just as you wouldn't consider buying an HDTV without multiple HDMI ports today, at some point in the future you'll be unlikely to buy one without broadband capability. That's pretty cool.

Still, what's missing from the flurry of this week's announcements is how the exciting new broadband path to the TV will actually be monetized by video content providers. I know that mundane questions like this aren't what people tend to focus on at glitzy CES, but they are critical nonetheless. With services like Netflix or Amazon VOD - which have been in the middle of several announcements - it's obvious enough how they'll benefit. The more pertinent question is how video that is ad-supported is going to work, especially since ad-supported video will always represent the lion's share of the average consumer's viewership time.

The broadband video ad model itself is still nascent, and this week's J.P. Morgan report shows that there's no shortage of lingering skepticism still overhanging it. Nonetheless, I'd argue we're at least at a point now where most market participants have a pretty good handle on broadband video advertising's basics - serving technologies/vendors, formats, expected delivery quality, CPMs, user preferences, click-throughs, etc. In short, I believe the foundation is pretty well in place for a strong ramp up of spending (notwithstanding the larger economic issues) as the broadband video world exists today.

But how much of that foundation will still be valid for broadband-enabled TVs vs. how much will need to be re-built (as is the case with mobile video)? Many of the answers are driven by the chips from Intel, Broadcom and others that are going into these TVs. Understanding their respective capabilities and how they'll support broadband video advertising's existing ecosystem is key.

One needs look no further than cable's VOD experience to date to recognize how important the building blocks for an effective advertising model are. While billions of VOD streams are now consumed, very little of it is monetized due to still-inadequate ad capabilities. Years after VOD's launch, these monetization constraints are curtail content providers' interest in participating in VOD. In fact, I'd argue that broadband has actually been a beneficiary of VOD's deficiencies: faced with a choice of where to allocate resources, many content providers have shifted attention to broadband because its monetization mechanisms are so robust.

Anyway, you get the point. Broadband-enabled TVs are very exciting. But to reach their potential, they must deliver a robust user experience and allow advertising to work effectively. In these penny-pinching, resource-constrained times, something that's cool is no longer enough to gain interest. People need to understand how they'll make money from it.

What do you think? Post a comment now.

At CES, Yahoo is making its presence felt in the budding broadband-to-the TV space with its "Yahoo Widget Engine." It has announced deals with TV manufacturers Samsung, LG, Sony and Vizio (see next post). It's an impressive list, and these Yahoo-enabled TVs are expected in the market later in '09.

Some of you may recall that the Yahoo Widget Engine debuted last summer as part of a broader alliance with Intel called the "Widget Channel". The two companies have come together to create an applications framework running on new Intel media processing chips. An SDK allows 3rd party developers to use web-standard technologies to develop applications for TVs and other CE devices. That's a mouthful, but the news coming out of CES appears to show that Yahoo/Intel are making progress building out the ecosystem of both TV manufacturers and 3rd parties applications.

In addition to Yahoo content like news, weather, finance and Flickr, there's 3rd party content from USA Today, YouTube, eBay and Showtime. And there are premium movie and TV programs from Netflix, Amazon VOD and Blockbuster. The list of others involved goes on.

All of this is very positive for the budding broadband-to-the-TV space and clearly demonstrates how much emphasis the non-incumbent video service provider (cable/satellite/telco) world is placing on "over the top" services. As expected, these incumbents have a big disruptive bull's-eye on their foreheads. For the numerous 3rd parties that have never had access to the consumers' TV, broadband's openness provides their first-ever entry pass.

As exciting as all this is, the jumble of TV, content, technology and aggregation brands coming to market is prime to create mass confusion for consumers being targeted with these services. Here's the scenario: a prospective TV buyer walks into a Best Buy just looking for a new HDTV, but pretty quickly starts hearing about all these different services and brands. Within minutes the consumer's head is going to be swimming. Which service and content is free and which costs extra? How does it all connect? What if I already have Netflix, Flickr or YouTube passwords - do they automatically work? Do I need to change something that's already in my house, like my home network? And who do I call if something's not working right? One sure winner with these new broadband TVs coming out is the Geek Squad!

Still, this is exciting stuff. A whole new world of broadband on the TV content and applications is finally poised to see the light of day and with it will come all kinds of new opportunities.

What do you think? Post a comment now.

Broadband video integrated TVs got another big boost as Vizio, one of the top 3 flat panel brands in the U.S. announced its new "Connected HDTV" platform at CES this afternoon. The move comes on top of Netflix's LG announcement, and other chip-based announcements from Adobe with Intel and Broadcom. More broadband TV announcements are sure to follow.

The new Vizio TVs will incorporate the Yahoo Widget Engine and support for Adobe Flash Lite. Importantly, the TVs will allow access to a very broad range of content including Netflix Watch Instantly, Amazon VOD, Blockbuster OnDemand, Accedo, Flickr, Pandora, Rhapsody and Yahoo. For Netflix and Amazon specifically, the Vizio deal continues building out the portfolio of 3rd party devices that play their video libraries.

What do you think? Post a comment now.

There's been a lot of buzz over the last couple of days about J.P. Morgan's just-released "Nothing But Net - 2009 Internet Investment Guide," including many references to Morgan's distinctly bearish commentary on online video. I'm always interested in what other analysts are saying about video, so I downloaded the document yesterday. Though it's 340 pages, only 2 pages (81-82) are devoted to online video specifically. (And incidentally, as best I can tell, that's 2 pages more than the "Nothing But Net - 2008" devoted to the video industry.)

I have to say I found Morgan's write-up to be quite superficial, with a generally dismissive tone regarding online video's opportunity. Like many Wall Street analyst reports I've previously read, it seems more focused on near-term financial prospects than longer-term strategic opportunities. An investment professional without in-depth knowledge of online video trends who read the report would likely conclude that it's not worth spending much time on online video, at least in the near term. That would be a critical mistake, because, as I've said many times, online delivery is the single most disruptive influence on the video industry today.

Morgan's analysis is strictly focused on the ad-supported model. No attention is paid to broadband's impact on the multi-billion dollar multichannel subscription TV or home video markets which companies like Netflix, Amazon, Apple and others are pursuing with disruptive fervor. As for advertising, while Morgan acknowledges that online video usage has taken off, it believes that "performance-based marketers and brand advertisers are looking at three variables in determining their investment: reach, content quality and performance measurability." In Morgan's view, today's "advertising formats do not appropriately address these three variables."

It's important to note that a key Morgan theme is that performance-based advertising models like search are more desirable than CPM-based models like display, and most video ads today. Morgan believes (and I do agree) that performance and ROI-tracking will become even more important in the down economy where ad dollars are scarce and must deliver real sales results.

Still, the reality is that over time, online video ad dollars are most likely to be shifted from TV, which is a CPM-based medium. And online video ad units offer far greater interactivity than TV ever has. But this still misses a larger point - video is a CPM-based medium because video is the pre-eminent media format to make an impression on a consumer. Nothing packs the same emotional impact as video, and that's why brands have always been drawn to TV advertising. In short, while the overall online ad market is shifting to performance, brands will always need a visual medium. With all the challenges traditional TV has (e.g. DVR-based ad skipping, audience fragmentation, etc.), online video formats that are engaging, non-skippable and interactive will gain in appeal.

If brands' interest in online video advertising is so challenged, you wouldn't know it from actual experience. In 10 minutes of random sampling this morning here are ads I saw: Oreos (MTV.com), HP (ComedyCentral.com), Blackberry, Target (Hulu), Gillette, IBM (ESPN.com), Ritz, Sears (ABC.com) and Dunkin' Donuts, Robitussin (Yahoo). I'm not suggesting that the online video medium doesn't have its challenges in attracting brands, but based on everything I continue to hear, the premium video sites in particular - like those cited above - are holding up pretty well even in this environment. Even much-maligned user-generated video may have some unexpected silver linings; just yesterday it was reported that Japanese anime producer Kadokwa Group Holdings is pulling in $110,000/mo from its YouTube channel stocked with user-created material.

Far from being the uninteresting medium that the Morgan report depicts, online video has already become a bright spot for many established content providers whose traditional models are under pressure. It is also opening up new opportunities for new ad-supported entrants. And it is threatening to completely upend the paid part of market through improvements in "over-the-top" technologies and consumer services.

To be sure, the medium is still in its adolescence. But that's all the more reason why savvy investors, entrepreneurs and other market participants who look past cursory industry reports, and instead choose to dig in and understand the massive disruption online video is causing will do quite well in the long term.

What do you think? Post a comment now.