VideoNuze Posts

Happy Holidays! This will be my last post of 2014, as I prepare to take some time off through New Year's. I hope all of you will get time to rejuvenate over the next week and half as well.

As I mentioned in last week's podcast, 2014 was a key turning point year for online video, when it truly went mainstream and became a top priority for everyone in the media and technology ecosystem. 2015 will build on 2014's momentum as we see still further viewer shifts to online and mobile video.

For VideoNuze, 2014 was another year of growth and evolution with the industry, with over 300 original posts and over 2,200 curated links to the most relevant news around the industry. Each weekday morning I strive to have VideoNuze be an essential tool for industry decision-makers to better understand the disruptive changes sweeping through the video industry. Hopefully VideoNuze is hitting the mark more often than it's missing!

Once again, I'm deeply grateful for all of the industry companies that have sponsored VideoNuze and our events in 2014, without whom none of this would be possible. Thank you!

I wish you and your families a happy, healthy holiday season and all the best in 2015!

With time ticking away to December 31st, it's looking increasingly questionable whether Dish Network is going to meet its self-imposed year-end deadline to launch its $30/month virtual pay-TV service ("vPop"). Dish's chairman Charlie Ergen, reiterated the company's commitment to the year-end deadline in his Q3 '14 earnings call comments.

But he also lowered expectations for the new service, citing numerous technical and operational challenges. I think it's fair to add to that list significant programming challenges, which always existed and have no doubt only increased given Dish's recent and current skirmishes with big TV networks.

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Multi-screen video processing provider Elemental Technologies has raised a Series D round of $14.5 million, led by Telstra, with participation by Sky and existing investors. With the round, Elemental has raised $44 million to date. Funds will be used for product development and to support global growth.

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This has been a significant year for TV Everywhere growth and no question, live sports has been the biggest driver. At the recent VideoSchmooze, one of our sessions explored how sports is playing a pivotal role in introducing TV Everywhere to millions of viewers and in turn, is creating a path to using TVE for entertainment programming as well.

The session featured Brian Dutt (FreeWheel), Vito Forlenza (Comcast), Dina Juliano (NBCU) and Clark Pierce (FOX Sports), with Colin Dixon (nScreenMedia) moderating.

The full session video is included below.

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I'm pleased to present the 254th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

As is our custom for the final podcast of the year, today Colin and I discuss our top 10 online video stories of 2014. Needless to say, it was an incredibly busy year for online video, making it quite a challenge to narrow our list to just 10 top stories. If you disagree with any of our choices, then as always, we welcome your feedback.

Stepping back and reviewing the list, I think there's an argument to be made that when observers look back 10-20 years from now, 2014 could well be viewed as the big turning point for online video - the year when all of the critical pieces to online video becoming a completely mainstream experience fell into place. These pieces include viewer acceptance, burgeoning content, robust monetization, wide deployment of connected devices and mobility. At a minimum, buckle up, because the stage has been set for a huge 2015.

Colin and I would like to thank all of our listeners for tuning into our podcast this year, and wish all of you happy holidays!

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Vessel has pulled back the curtain on its long-rumored business model this morning, which essentially boils down to being a huge willingness-to-pay test case. The fundamental question: will online video viewers pay $2.99/month for Vessel's service, which includes a "modest amount of advertising," to gain early access to select online videos that will otherwise be available for free within 3 days or more?

If the answer is yes, there is no doubt we'll see an explosion of paid early access models from all kinds of video content providers. If the answer is no, then Vessel would have to revert to an ad-supported only business model, which would leave it with a far less interesting value proposition to content creators.

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NBCU is looking to boost awareness of TV Everywhere access for its 14 different networks with a new multi-platform ad campaign. The campaign's tagline is "Watch TV Without the TV" and has been  created by TBWAChiatDay NY using 20 different TV viewer behavioral archetypes.  The campaign will run from Dec. 26th through Jan. 1st.

The digital side of the campaign will use SEM, social and rich media, and interestingly, will be bought solely through programmatic channels, handled by Xaxis. After an initial targeting of intended audiences, cookies will be used to lead NBCU to subsequent outlets on which to run the campaign. The overall goal is to reach new audiences and prep the market for new apps, features and consumer experiences in 2015.

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One of the highlights of the recent VideoSchmooze: Online Video Leadership Forum was the Best Practices in Video User Experiences session, which featured Mike Green (Brightcove), Anne Hunter (comScore), Paul Marcum (Bloomberg) and Steve Minichini (Assembly), with Jesse Redniss (BRaVe Ventures) expertly moderating.

The session included discussion of how viewers' video use cases vary by device (e.g. day-parting, information vs. entertainment content, etc.), the role of custom video in driving engagement, the effectiveness of auto-play video and ads (by Facebook and other content providers), how to combat bots/fraudulent traffic (estimated at 36% of all ads by comScore), appropriate buying criteria for video ads (GRP/reach, engagement, etc.) and lots more!

The full session video is included below.

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