VideoNuze Posts

At the recent Cable Show, I had the great pleasure of doing a video interview with Craig Moffett, who is SVP and senior telecom, cable and satellite TV analyst at the investment firm Sanford Bernstein. Craig is likely the most widely-followed Wall Street analyst of the pay-TV industry - both video and broadband - and someone whose work I have long respected.

Craig generously spent almost 45 minutes sharing his views on practically every pressing industry issue. A key recurring theme: that the pay-TV industry is so "ossified" and inflexible that true innovation with TV can only come from outside the industry. I have split the interview into 2 video segments below. For anyone who wants to better understand where the pay-TV and online video industries are heading, and what the key drivers are, I highly recommend these.

In Part 1, we discuss:
- Pay-TV industry's overall health
- Why cable isn't really a video business, but rather an infrastructure business
- The truth about cord-cutting and cord-shaving
- What role online original programs will have with younger "cord-never" viewers
- Why young people already think of pay-TV as a luxury service and settle for "good enough" alternatives
- How expensive sports programming is driving pay-TV's affordability challenge
- What will happen with Aereo
- And more

In Part 2, we discuss:
- The role of usage-based pricing by broadband ISPs
- Why the threat of Netflix is far lower today than a year ago
- Nickelodeon's ratings problem and the role of Netflix in creating it
- Whether cable networks will cut back licensing to OTT operators
- What will happen with Dish Network's Auto Hop feature
- Why TV Everywhere will remain on a slow rollout
- What disruptive roles Google and Apple might play
- And more

Watch the video interview

Online video platform (OVP) provider thePlatform, which has primarily served larger-size media companies and distributors to date, is looking to broaden its market appeal by launching "mpx Essentials," targeted to small-to-medium size businesses (SMB) and agencies. As Tim Sale, program leader for mpx Essentials explained to me, the move is a bet that all organizations will need to have a video presence in the future, just as they've all come to need a web presence.

Tim said thePlatform has been receiving inbound calls from prospective SMB customers for a while, but hasn't had an appropriately priced or featured service to offer them. As a result, it's been in the position of often referring callers to competitors like Brightcove, Kaltura, Ooyala and others. Recognizing that SMBs pursuing video need more than what a getting-started platform like YouTube offers, yet not all of the features that big media companies need, thePlatform decided to launch mpx Essentials.

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Online video advertising platform provider Mixpo is announcing this morning that is supporting Microsoft Advertising's deployment of the VPAID standard on MSN, MSNBC and other properties in its network. VPAID is an IAB standard for video players and ad units that enables market efficiencies for in-stream interactivity. VPAID helps make ads more engaging to viewers, more effective for advertisers and more monetizable to publishers. Here is a sample ad for Nordstrom Rack using the Mixpo ad platform that offers interactive elements to shop, see social media updates and find the closest store.

(Note: Mixpo is a sponsor of the June 19th VideoNuze Online Video Advertising Summit and will have a team on hand doing demos and answering questions.)

The VideoNuze 2012 Online Video Advertising Summit is coming up, just 2 weeks from today, on Tuesday, June 19th in NYC! If you're still sitting on the fence deliberating about whether to attend, here are 5 great reasons you need to be there.

1. Amazing speakers - Hear from executives who are driving online video and online video advertising, who will share their experiences and insights. Headlining the program are 2 firesides chats, the first with News Corp's Chief Digital Officer Jon Miller (interviewed by NY Times reporter Amy Chozick) and the second with Comcast's SVP and head of its 20 million subscriber video business, Marcien Jenckes (interviewed by me). In addition to Jon and Marcien, almost 40 other speakers will participate, representing every aspect of the ecosystem.

2. Actionable data and information - Expect to come away with actionable data and information from sessions that span every angle of the online video world. There will be research-intensive sessions, case studies, best practices, tech demos, deep-dive topical discussions and more, all intended to make you smarter and more prepared in your day-to-day and strategic roles.

3. Great networking - As important as the sessions are, what happens at the networking breaks and meals means just as much. These are the times to interact with your industry peers, build your network and expand your perspective. Attending are dozens of industry executives from agencies, brands, publishers, technology providers and others in the ecosystem.  

4. Learn from key technology providers - The Video Ad Summit is generously supported by 14 industry-leading technology providers, who will have a table-top presence and multiple representatives attending. It's an excellent one-stop opportunity to meet with them and learn about their technology and solutions in an informal setting.

5. Win an $850 Samsung 40" SmartTV - Last but not least, one lucky attendee is going win the drawing for an $850 Samsung SmartTV, courtesy of Jivox. We'll be doing the drawing just prior to lunch and you'll need to be in attendance to win. Don't miss out!

If all of that still doesn't convince you why the Video Ad Summit is a must-attend event and you have questions, then feel free to contact me!

Learn more and register now

If you watch TV programs via VOD from your pay-TV operator, then you've probably had one or both of two curious experiences I've had: either the same, untargeted ad plays repeatedly at the breaks, or no ad (and therefore no monetization for the content provider) plays at all. With over 600 million monthly VOD views occurring these days, the lack of dynamic, targeted ad insertion in VOD diminishes the user experience and leaves lots more money on the table.

There are multiple reasons to explain all of this, but one of the main ones is that there are very hard technology problems involved to solve it, as the pay-TV infrastructure (notably the set-top boxes) vary widely in their capabilities. Creating a platform that runs across pay-TV operators' different infrastructure, at scale, to enable advertising, has been a very tall mountain to climb. Now, after years of hard work and investment, BlackArrow, the company that decided to address the situation, looks like it has finally arrived at the summit.

In this interview at the recent Cable Show, BlackArrow's CEO Dean Denhart explains that the company now has agreements covering 30 million subscribers, with Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Rogers, which are all rolling it out. He walks me through a handful of slides that explain exactly how the BlackArrow system works and the progress programmers, advertisers and pay-TV operators are making. And importantly he discusses how the online video and on-demand TV worlds will converge over time. Watch the interview (15 minutes, 18 seconds)

Watch the interview

Talk to anyone around the online video ad space about key challenges, and the topic of audience measurement - or the lack thereof - quickly comes up. But in an interview I did at the Cable Show with Discovery's Chief Digital Officer JB Perrette, he re-frames the problem as actually not being with measurement itself, but rather that there isn't an accepted "currency" throughout the industry.

As JB explains, the industry is drowning in data, but since everyone has their own, there's no Nielsen-like standard yet to use for buying and selling of online video ads. JB notes Nielsen itself is trying to evolve, but is challenged with its current panel-based measurement approach. JB adds that changing a standard where billions of dollars are at stake takes time, but he's confident eventually it will happen.

JB also discusses Discovery's deal to acquire Revision3 and how Discovery is "buying the capability to develop content across all screens," how marketers are looking for authentic engagement opportunities, why "TV is the last frontier of difficult navigation," and the role that brands play in a world with infinite content choices. Watch the video (13 minutes, 46 seconds).

Watch the video

I'm pleased to be joined once again by Colin Dixon, senior partner at The Diffusion Group, for the 135th edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for June 1, 2012. This week we cover 3 different topics: Verizon's announcement of ultra-fast new broadband service tiers (up to 300 mbps); TiVo's new "Stream" companion device which will allow 1-click video downloading to iOS devices and the fresh rumors around Apple introducing a television following CEO Tim Cook's interview at the D10 conference this week. We wrap up on a light-hearted note - the hilarious video from Funny or Die for Under Armour, "Tom Brady's Wicked Accent."

Click here to listen to the podcast (20 minutes, 11 seconds)

Click here for previous podcasts

The VideoNuze Report is available in iTunes...subscribe today!

There were 4 separate research studies released yesterday from important video technology providers, all pointing to continued change and growth in video viewership and monetization. Below I've shared key highlights from each, along with links to obtain the original research.

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