VideoNuze Posts

I'm pleased to present the 228th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

This week we first discuss how broadband's penetration in the U.S. is closing in on that of pay-TV's. New research from Leichtman Research Group revealed the top providers added nearly 1.2 million broadband subscribers in Q1 '14 (the best quarter in 2 years), as compared with around 260K pay-TV subscribers. The biggest ISPs now have approximately 85.5 million broadband subscribers, whereas the top pay-TV operators have 95.8 million subscribers.

All of this is relevant because it demonstrates how broadband has become a de facto parallel video distribution platform - the fundamental underlying infrastructure for online video. Many of us take robust broadband almost for granted now, yet in reality it wasn't that long ago that broadband wasn't mainstream and high-quality online video quite scarce.

We then move on to talk about Netflix's big expansion into 6 new European countries. Colin lays out the case why to be bullish on the expansion, while also noting the new challenges Netflix will face.

Listen in to learn more!

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There's just one week left to take advantage of early bird discounted registration for the June 25th VideoNuze Online Video Advertising Summit in NYC. All early bird registrants save $100 and are entered to win a $1,000 50-inch Samsung LED Smart TV and a Roku Streaming Stick, provided by Innovid. If you're thinking of coming, now's the time to act!

I'm super-excited about the 4th annual VideoNuze Ad Summit as we'll be diving into so many of the hottest topics in the industry today such as multi-screen, branded entertainment, NewFronts/Upfronts, mobile video, programmatic (from both buy and sell sides), merging of TV and online, and more.

We'll also have great case studies on how marketers are leveraging online video advertising in new and effective ways. Kicking the day off will be eMarketer's David Hallerman, who will share his forecast for video advertising's growth, along with the dependencies.

The Video Ad Summit is all about learning and executives from leading companies such as Allstate, Comcast, Conde Nast, Digitas, eMarketer, Forrester, Google, Hulu, Jaguar Land Rover, News Corp., Nielsen, Quiznos, Sporting News Media, StyleHaul, Starcom MediaVest, VEVO, Weather Company, Xaxis - plus many others - will be sharing insights.

The Ad Summit is also a high-impact day of industry networking as we typically have around 300-350 attendees from around the ecosystem.

The Ad Summit is generously supported by 15  industry companies including Title Partners Tremor Video and ILoveVideo.tv/Castaclip; Premier Partner AOL, Headline Partners ActiveVideo, Brightcove, Eyeview, FreeWheel, LiveRail, TubeMogul, Turn and Videology plus Branding Partners Innovid, Mixpo, Optimatic and SpotXchange.

Register now and save!

Unruly has released new data from its Social Diffusion Curve, showing that, for the top 4,000 videos, 42% of total social sharing now occurs within 3 days of their launch, up from 25% a year ago. Social shares on the day following launch increased from 10% to 18% of total shares and within the first week increased from 37% to 65% of total.

Unruly noted that the acceleration of upfront sharing reinforces how important immediate post-launch activity is becoming to a branded video's overall online reach and impact.

continue reading on VideoNuze iQ

More evidence of the boom in online video advertising as SpotXchange has reported that its Q1 '14 revenues increased 145% vs. Q1 '13. The company pointed to a slew of new premium content provider customers including Hearst Digital, Meredith Video Solutions, Zynga, The Atlantic and Billboard as helping fuel its growth. Over the past few quarters SpotXchange said it has added 80+ supply side platform partners and integrated with 30+ demand side platforms.

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Video ad manager Vindico has unveiled MatchPoint, a customer relationship management tool that enables advertisers to more efficiently target existing customers with online video advertising campaigns.

With MatchPoint, the advertiser uploads specific customer data (e.g. email address, phone #, etc.) which Vindico then matches against 1 billion profiles in real-time to provide demographic and psychographic information about the advertisers' customers. The results can then be used to zero in on particular audiences to target for customized campaigns across numerous inventory sources.

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The top 17 U.S. broadband ISPs added nearly 1.2 million subscribers in Q1 '14, notching the best quarter of growth since Q1 '12 (see chart below). These ISPs now have 85.5 million subscribers, with top cable operators accounting for nearly 59% or 50.3 million and top telcos accounting for 41% or 35.2 million. The data is according to Leichtman Research Group.

The top cable operator ISPs garnered 83% of the quarter's 1.2 million subscriber additions, vs. just 17% for the telcos. This compares with Q1 '13, when the top cable operator ISPs took 72% of net additions, with telcos taking 28%. LRG notes that Q1 subscriber additions historically account for more than Q2 and Q3 additions combined.

continue reading on VideoNuze iQ

I recently had the pleasure being interviewed by my former colleague Howard Homonoff for his weekly "Media Reporter" show at the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information which he produces in addition to his consulting practice. In the interview we touch on a broad range of topics including how technology is helping traditional TV, the impact of online video on pay-TV operators and networks, online originals, NewFronts, rise of devices and mobile viewing, net neutrality, industry deals and much more.

The interview runs about 28 minutes.

Watch the interview

From a strategic perspective, AT&T's deal to acquire DirecTV for $49 billion ($67 billion when debt is included) sure seems backward-looking, as it completely misses the imperative of broadband and online video in all of our lives.

Broadband and online video have driven many of the recent deals in the headlines (e.g. Comcast-Time Warner Cable, Disney-Maker Studios, the rumored YouTube-Twitch deal, etc.). Smart companies are looking at the massive shifts in consumer behavior and technology and are scrambling to position themselves for future paradigms that look very different from those of the past.

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