VideoNuze Posts

Adobe Primetime (formerly "Project Primetime") has officially launched in general availability. Adobe Primetime is positioned as a full video publishing and monetization platform that includes publishing, player, DRM, advertising and analytics components for use by both content providers and pay-TV operators across multiple screens. At the NABShow this week I interviewed Ashley Still, director of product management for Adobe Primetime, who explained its key benefits (see video below).

continue reading

At NABShow this year, my weekly podcast partner Colin Dixon from nScreenMedia and I are doing a series of video interviews with industry executives, which I'll be posting over the next couple of weeks. Kicking off our series today I'm pleased to share Colin's interview with Jay Fulcher, CEO of Ooyala.

In the interview, Jay talks at length about several of Ooyala's recent innovations including Hook, which is a mobile video playback app for Android; XTV Connect, an Airplay-like feature bridging mobile video to connected TVs; and Ooyala Discovery Guide, which allows content providers to "assemble" a personalized viewing experience. VideoNuze recently covered them here.

Watch the interview

Forrester has updated its forecast for the real-time bidding (RTB) segment of the online video advertising market, calling for a 71% increase in 2013 spending to $686M and another 66% increase in 2014 to $1.14 billion (see chart below). Forrester sees the increase in RTB spending accounting for 44% of the overall growth in online video advertising between 2012 and 2014. The forecast is part of a commissioned report for SpotXchange, available here.

Forrester points to 4 drivers of RTB's rapid growth: more diverse pricing mechanisms that will increase RTB's appeal, especially for premium publishers; greater acceptance of RTB for mid-flight optimization; media buyers' desire to compliment traditional reach and frequency campaigns with targeted, engagement-oriented RTB campaigns; and automated RTB buying (and programmatic in general) that will reduce friction in the complicated online video market.

continue reading

I'm pleased to present the 174th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia. There's no question video is moving to streaming and electronic delivery, but DVDs still have plenty of life left. That's what Redbox is banking on to get a foothold with its new Redbox Instant service, as CEO Shawn Strickland explains in this interview. Both Colin and I think it's a smart, albeit risky, strategy given the inevitable downward trend in DVD usage.

I see part of DVD's durability as due to Hollywood's windowing practices. Because of the multi-billion pay-TV window, licensing to networks like HBO, Starz and EPIX, major studios delay the availability of movies in SVOD services. The intervening home video access continues to give DVDs life. Unless and until Hollywood abandons the pay-TV window, DVDs will continue to have life. And since Netflix has essentially abandoned DVDs, there's a big opportunity for Redbox.

However, Redbox Instant has another problem, which is that its streaming content selection today is terrible, as Colin explains. That means prospective subscribers have to determine whether its worth the $3/mo or so they're effectively paying for it on top of the DVD value which is worth around $4-$5/mo. Colin and I are both skeptical. Even if Redbox Instant doesn't fly, we both see DVDs being with us for a long time to come.

Listen in to learn more!

Reminder: Colin and I will be at NABShow next Mon. and Tues. in our booth SU12907. If you're there and have a moment, please stop by to say hi.



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!

A new survey of local TV stations by video marketing platform provider Mixpo has found that between 58%-70% of local TV stations' online tune-in campaign budgets (depending on market size) are allocated to online video ads. Fully 85% of local stations intend to use online video advertising for tune-in campaigns in 2013.

Keeping this in perspective though, online advertising still only represents 14%-24% of local stations' tune-in ad spending, with stalwarts radio and cable still leading. However, online advertising already has strong buy-in from stations, with between 86%-100% reporting that they'll use it in 2013. And online advertising is poised to get a greater share of stations' ad budgets, as between 36%-57% of stations said they intend to increase online ad budgets. Video advertising would be a clear beneficiary of such moves.

continue reading

Below is the replay of the complimentary video webinar I did on April 2nd with Brightcove's Executive Chairman, Jeremy Allaire, "Sizing Up the Apple TV Opportunity."

[Watch the video

Teads.tv, a French ad tech provider, has an interesting solution to the scarcity of premium video ad inventory: enable premium text-based web pages to carry video ads as well. In-page video ads and rich media units have been around for a while for a similar purpose, but Teads.tv's "InRead" unit is a different approach that I believe nicely balances advertiser concerns about viewability and performance with publisher/user concerns about experience.

continue reading

Yesterday's victory by Aereo in federal appeals court is certain to have at least one consequence: it will put retransmission consent fees into the spotlight. For those unfamiliar with "retrans" as it is known, these are fees that broadcast TV networks and stations have negotiated from pay-TV operators. Much like the fees pay-TV operators pay to carry cable TV networks (e.g. MTV, USA, ESPN, etc.), retrans allows operators to carry broadcast networks.

Retrans fees are already a billion dollar plus revenue stream for broadcasters and by some estimates, could be a multiple of this in several years. Broadcasters see the payments as vital to keeping them on parity economic footing with cable networks. Conversely, operators see retrans as a broadcast subsidy, effectively inflating their already bloated programming costs. Retrans has been at the heart of most of the blackout battles between broadcasters and operators over the last several years.

continue reading