VideoNuze Posts

The WSJ is reporting today that YouTube is now offering some of its most popular video creators bonuses in exchange for signing exclusive multiyear deals. The new offers are on top of previously reported deals to underwrite programming for the same creators. All of this is happening primarily in response to pitches ex-Hulu CEO Jason Kilar is making to the same YouTube creators, to provide his new company Vessel with an exclusive 3-day window for these creators' new videos.

The YouTube talent war is raging because the viewing behaviors of millennials - the primary audience for this type of programming - is up for grabs. The most compelling evidence of this came in last week's Nielsen Q3 '14 Total Audience report. Based on my calculations, live TV viewing by 18-24 year-olds (the core millennial segment) dropped by nearly 20% in Q3 '14 vs. Q3 '13. The reduction represented over 4 hours per week of viewing time, thereby dropping live TV viewing to approximately 17 hours per week, easily the lowest of any age group Nielsen measures.

continue reading

I'm pleased to present the 252nd edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

Colin and I recorded the podcast shoulder-to-shoulder in NYC, where we were both at VideoSchmooze on Thursday. There were many great insights from panelists throughout the morning and we share 4 quick takeaways on this week's podcast. (Note, I'll be posting all session videos over the next couple of weeks.)

Our takeaways include discussion around Nielsen's new Total Audience report, which showed a decline of linear TV viewing across all age groups, most particularly among 18-24 year-olds; funding of high-quality online originals; a data point shared by comScore's Anne Hunter, that 36% of online video ad impressions are by bots, not humans; and last, the rise of autoplay video content, driven by Facebook.

Listen in to learn more!

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!

Tomorrow is the next VideoSchmooze: Online Video Leadership Forum in NYC. There's still time to join over 250 industry executives who are registered to attend this premier morning of learning and networking. Continental breakfast will be available at 7:30am, with the program running from 8:30am to 12:30pm. Individual tickets are $135, with 5-packs for $575 and 10-packs for $1,000

Among the many highlights of the program is the opening session, "Myths vs. Realities: Understanding Video's Unprecedented Changes." It will feature Nielsen's SVP, Client Insights, Dounia Turrill, who oversees the firm's Total Audience report, the Q3 '14 version of which was released this morning. Dounia will be sharing key insights from the report, and in particular will discuss SVOD viewing as a substitute for linear TV viewing, a topic which has been very much in the news recently.

Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst at Leichtman Research Group will also be on the opening session, which I'll be moderating. Bruce will be discussing his firm's primary research around cord-cutting, cord-nevering and OTT adoption, among other topics.

Thanks to VideoSchmooze's Lead sponsors Brightcove and Kaltura, plus Branding sponsors Digitalsmiths, FreeWheel and Tremor Video.

I hope you'll join us tomorrow morning!

REGISTER NOW!

Nielsen has released its Q3 '14 Total Audience report (which is the new name for the previous quarterly Cross-Platform report), the highlight of which is the marked reduction in linear TV viewing across every age group except 65+, with an accompanying surge in online video. I charted the new Q3 '14 data vs. Q3 '13 data below.

The big quarter-vs-quarter change that pops out is the 19.2% reduction in linear viewing per week by adults 18-24. This age group is now watching 17 hours, 34 minutes per week, which is 4h, 11m less than the 21h, 45m a year ago. While this group increased its online video usage by 20.7%, that only accounted for 25 incremental minutes per week.

continue reading on VideoNuze iQ

Cognitive Networks has raised $14.5 million from new investor Hearst Ventures, existing investors DCM Ventures and Rogers Venture Partners plus two undisclosed strategic partners, to bolster its mission of "making smart TVs smarter." Cognitive's Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) on smart TVs detects in real-time what content is playing and then, via Cognitive's ENGAGE API, triggers a message back to the content provider or advertiser so that an interactive HTML5 app can be displayed to the viewer. The apps can be synched with either live or on-demand content and are fully opt-out by smart TV owners. The new funds will be used to further expand Cognitive's ACR platform.

continue reading

Video ad technology provider BlackArrow has announced Virgin Media as its first European customer, signaling a broader international expansion starting in 2015. BlackArrow will be powering dynamic ad insertion on Virgin's VOD TV platform and its Virgin Anywhere multi-screen service. Virgin, which was acquired by Liberty Global last year for approximately $16 billion, has deployed its digital TV service to 5.3 million screens in the UK.

continue reading

This Thursday, December 4th is the next VideoSchmooze: Online Video Leadership Forum in NYC. Continental breakfast will be available at 7:30am, with the program running from 8:30am to 12:30pm. There's still time to register and join 200+ colleagues from around the industry for this special morning of learning and networking.

As always, I've worked hard to focus the sessions on the most important industry trends, with participating executives from Assembly, BRaVe Ventures, Brightcove, Comcast, comScore, DEFY Media, Digitalsmiths, FreeWheel, FOX Sports, Fullscreen, Kaltura, Leichtman Research Group, NBCU, Nielsen, nScreenMedia, Tremor Video, Tubefilter and Vimeo.

As with all VideoNuze events, we'll maintain a hype-free atmosphere, where hard data and real-world experiences drive the on-stage discussions. I'm confident you'll come away with critical insights and data that will help you be more effective in your professional roles.

We are all living through immense changes in the video industry, which, in the long-run, will be considered no less historic than the advent of broadcast/cable TV, satellite delivery, color TVs, HDTV, VHS and DVD. Everyone involved in video - studios, advertisers, agencies, networks, talent, device-makers, technologists and others, will be affected in critical ways. The goal for these VideoSchmooze events is to help each of us better navigate these chaotic changes.

VideoSchmooze individual tickets are $135, with 5-packs for $575 and 10-packs for $1,000.

I look forward to seeing you on Thursday morning!

REGISTER NOW AND SAVE!

Late last week, Thomas Owadenko, CEO of Octoly, a marketing software company that released a report on YouTube and video games last June, noted that all-time YouTube views of fan-created Minecraft videos are now up to 47 billion, an increase of 16 billion just since the report was released. Underscoring how robust Minecraft's fan community is, just 228 million of these views occurred on Minecraft creator Mojang's own YouTube channel.

Minecraft is a true "unicorn," a one-of-a-kind video game empire built with virtually no paid marketing, which partly explains why Microsoft was willing to pony up $2.5 billion for the company in September. But while Minecraft itself may be a unicorn, its success on YouTube says a lot more generally about the video industry's new rules - including serious challenges for industry incumbents.

continue reading