VideoNuze Posts

I'm pleased to present the 231st edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

This week we explore the concept of the "appification of TV," which means accessing TV programming and experiences via apps on a set-top box or connected TV device vs. through a typical linear or even on-demand/DVR model. Of course apps are already hugely popular on tablets and smartphones, but not nearly so on TV, as they require either a connected TV device or a set-top box that can run apps.

In the latter category is Comcast's new X1, which the company is aggressively rolling out and which currently has a limited assortment of apps available (back in February I shared a video demo of how the NBC Olympics "Live Extra" app works on X1). This week Colin saw a demo of another example - CNNx - a recently announced app from CNN, which we use as a jumping off point for our discussion.

As we discuss, the appification of TV raises a slew of questions, including whether it's a net positive for the broadcast/cable network, the pay-TV operator and the viewer. Colin believes that competitive pressure from online providers will spur the appification process forward, though I think caution will be the watchword particularly given uncertainties around monetizing apps on TV. We raise more questions than we have answers around this provocative topic, but it's all great food for thought.

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In an interview with Recode on Tuesday, Sony Computer Entertainment America President and CEO Shawn Layden said the company is still planning to launch a "revolutionary" OTT pay-TV service by the end of 2014.

However, as Intel learned with its own misguided OnCue foray, the big cable network owners aren't enabling any revolutions to occur in the pay-TV industry. To the contrary, they're working hard to extend the status quo. This, plus other factors, means the odds of success for Sony's nascent OTT pay-TV service are extremely low.

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Recently released data from online video ad platforms Videology and LiveRail reveal in-depth dynamics of the fast-moving online video ad industry.

First, in an analysis of 2.4 billion video impressions Videology delivered in Q1 '14, it found that 91% of advertisers bought video ads based on a guaranteed CPM (cost per impression), similar to how traditional TV advertising is bought. This was an increase of 6% vs. Q4 '13.

The desktop still dominates for online video ad campaigns, as 78% were for desktop-only, followed by 10% for desktop plus mobile, 6% for desktop/mobile/connected TV, 5% for mobile only and 1% for other connected TV. Videology found that 35% of campaign used some type of 3rd-party verification, including Nielsen's OCR or comScore's vCE.

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The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) will be presenting the final session of the June 25th VideoNuze Online Video Advertising Summit in NYC. The session title is "Viewability: Addressing the Elephant in the Room."

As the title implies, if there is one major hiccup in the rapid growth of online video advertising, it's that a significant percentage of online video ads are either not immediately viewable by audiences, are fraudulent or are both. Over the past year, the topic has gained a lot of attention, creating a widening credibility gap for the industry.

However, a ton of work has been done to remedy this and in this session, you can expect a deep-dive discussion of specific initiatives, 3MS, the roles of all players in the ecosystem and what comes next. The timing is perfect since the "gating period" for the new video viewability standard will lift on June 30th.

We're very fortunate to have as panelists David Gunzerath, SVP and Associate Director of the Media Rating Council, which has been a leader in solving the viewability challenge, Tal Chalozin, CTO and co-founder of Innovid, one of the first 5 companies to participate in OpenVideoView ("OpenVV"), created to open source video viewability measurement, and Julian Zilberbrand, EVP at Zenith Optimedia, who has been deeply involved in moving viewability forward. We'll likely have one more panelist, and Matt Prohaska from Prohaska Consulting will be the session moderator.

The IAB has had a leadership role on this critical industry issue, and worked closely with other leading industry organizations. I'm thrilled they've chosen to collaborate and present this timely session at the Video Ad Summit, adding to a jam-packed program covering the hottest industry topics. IAB members receive a $100 savings on registration using the Media Partner ticket type and code IAB14.

Learn more and register now!

It's no secret that measuring true video usage across screens is currently impossible. And with viewing continuing to fragment across multiple screens, advertisers' ability to allocate campaign spending and optimize their ROI is getting harder all the time.

To address this situation, comScore has published a white paper, proposing a new viewer-centric, integrated approach called "Total Video," which it began discussing last month at the NewFronts. Aiming for a holistic video measurement approach, Total Video has 5 goals: (1) a single, unduplicated audience metric, (2) unified demography across platforms, (3) holistic accounting of all video viewing, (4) scalable measurement of platforms and audiences and (5) flexibility for the future.

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Here's a new measure of how deeply online video viewing, and Netflix in particular, have penetrated the living room: 49% of all U.S. households now have at least one TV connected to the Internet, slightly over double the 24% level from 2010. For Netflix, 49% of its subscribers report watching online video on their connected TV weekly vs. 8% weekly use among all non-Netflix subscribers. 78% of Netflix streaming subscribers watch Netflix on a connected TV.

TVs are connected either through game consoles, Blu-ray players, Smart TVs or devices like Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, etc. The data is according to the 8th annual Leichtman Research Group's Emerging Video Services study.

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I'm pleased to present the 230th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

This week found Colin at the BroadbandTV Con event in Santa Clara where he was impressed by the 2 keynotes, by Eric Berger, EVP, Digital Networks, Sony Pictures Television (Crackle) and Roy Sekoff, President and Co-Creator of HuffPost Live. Eric and Roy provided insights about their strategies and the audiences they're pursuing. Both services are highly successful in their own ways. Colin shares his observations, and compares and contrasts the two.

One commonality is that both services are free to viewers and ad-supported, which brings us to our next topic, PwC's growth forecast for online video advertising, which I covered this week. We dig into the details and other PwC numbers. Even though PwC projects video ad spending will more than double, to $6.8 billion in 2018, Colin actually believes the forecast is too conservative. He explains why and what would really impress him.

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!

PwC released its Entertainment & Media Outlook for 2014-2018 yesterday, forecasting that online video advertising in the U.S. will hit nearly $6.8 billion in 2018, more than double the projected 2014 level of $3.3 billion.

PwC sees video advertising as achieving a 19.5% compound growth rate from 2013-2018, trailing only mobile Internet advertising, forecast at 22.1% CAGR. Video advertising's share of all wired Internet advertising is projected to jump from 8.7% in 2014 to 14.5% in 2018.

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