VideoNuze Posts

Digitalsmiths is taking video metadata to the next level, unveiling its Unified Data Service, a one-stop shop for pay-TV providers to access multiple, pre-integrated data feeds.

Digitalsmiths CEO and co-founder Ben Weinberger explained to me last week that as pay-TV operators have rolled out their own on-demand services and video apps, they're striving to make them as rich as possible. This includes adding the kind of related data (e.g. actor, cast info, schedules, merchandise, etc.) and social tools (e.g. Twitter/Facebook feeds, etc.) that are commonly found in entertainment-oriented web sites and apps.

continue reading

If you've recently visited the guide provided by your pay-TV operator, chances are you were pretty underwhelmed. Never known for its usability, the typical guide increasingly looks like a relic from another age, as rich apps and online video services have continued to raise the bar on program discovery.

One company looking to change all of this is ActiveVideo Networks, which leverages cloud-based processing to deliver sophisticated HTML5 experiences to even the most humble, low-end digital set-top boxes. The result is a pivotal change in bringing pay-TV providers' guides up to par, cost-effectively and with low operational impact. Late last week, ActiveVideo gained momentum for its approach, announcing that big U.S. cable operators Charter and Cablevision are using its "CloudTV H5" platform for cloud-based UI and interactive applications, respectively, and that Sumitomo will help roll out the platform in Japan and Asia.

continue reading

(Note: this week has been a juggling act with Tuesday's Online Video Ad Summit, but VideoNuze will be back to its regular editorial schedule next week.)

I'm pleased to present the 183rd edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia. This week I share very brief reactions to the Video Ad Summit, which was a big success. We had 45 speakers on 14 sessions and 550+ industry executives registered. Pictures and session videos will be posted over the next couple of weeks.

Colin moderated a terrific session, "Anywhere TV: How Devices are Driving an Explosion in Video Advertising," and he shares his takeaways and we discuss the challenges that the fragmented device landscape presents to content providers and advertisers. We also discuss a couple of interesting solutions that are bubbling up, which we'll get into in more detail next week.

Listen in to learn more!

Click here to listen to the podcast (17 minutes, 56 seconds)

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!

Today is the VideoNuze Online Video Advertising Summit in NYC. We have over 550 industry executives registered for what promises to be an action-packed day of learning and networking. If you're not able to join us, follow all the sessions on Twitter at #VideoAdSummit. We're also video-recording all of the sessions and I'll be posting them in the next couple of weeks.

Over 450 industry executives are now registered for Tuesday's VideoNuze 2013 Online Video Advertising Summit in NYC.

The entire video ecosystem of content providers, advertisers, agencies, technology companies and network operators will be represented at the Video Ad Summit. Executives from companies such as Carat, Conde Nast, Discovery, Google, Hulu, IBM, Mediavest, Merck, News Corp., NHL, Pepsi, PGA Tour, Time Warner Cable, Zenith Media and tons of others will be on hand.

The program features 45 speakers on over a dozen sessions, spanning the hottest topics in online video advertising today. The 3rd annual Video Ad Summit will be a high impact day of learning and networking for industry executives.

This is the last call for tickets, which are available for $595. For startups/students, there's a special $195 ticket to make the event more affordable. Contact me for the discount code.

Thanks to all 18 industry-leading companies that are supporting this year's Video Ad Summit: Premier Partners Adap.TV, Adobe, Akamai, TubeMogul, ValueClick and YuMe; Headline Partners Altitude Digital, AOL, BlackArrow, Collective, Innovid, LiveRail, VideoHub and Videology, plus Branding Partners EXPO, Extreme Reach, Mixpo and Real Media. All of them will have representatives at the event and it will be a great opportunity to engage with them.

Learn more and register now!

I'm pleased to present the 182nd edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia. Apologies in advance for audio quality this week as Colin was dialing in from a London hotel room and his audio level is low.

In today's podcast Colin leads off by sharing key takeaways from Cisco's latest Visual Networking Index (VNI) that was released this week. Cisco has been forecasting strong online and mobile video growth for years and this version continued the trend. Colin also wrote about it here.

Then we move on to discussing BlackArrow Linear, a new product announced yesterday that enables pay-TV operators to dynamically inserts ads into live and linear video viewed on devices. Colin and I agree that it should move the TV Everywhere ball forward, helping programmers monetize better and therefore help catalyze broader video distribution.

Listen in to learn more!

Click here to listen to the podcast (16 minutes, 54 seconds)

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!

Advanced ad technology provider BlackArrow is unveiling "BlackArrow Linear" this morning, which enables pay-TV operators to dynamically insert ads into live and linear streams viewed on connected and mobile IP devices. BlackArrow has traditionally focused on video-on-demand streams to TVs.

The move is significant because BlackArrow Linear broadens pay-TV operators' flexibility to offer and monetize live and linear TV Everywhere streams. TV Everywhere began as an on-demand only offering, but a move is now underway to expand into live as well. In just the past month, both ABC and Turner have announced linear streaming to devices (more here and here), with TV Everywhere authentication. While I have questioned how broad the appeal of linear is in an age of time-shifting and ad-skipping, I believe it will become widely adopted by other broadcast and cable networks over the next 12 months as they race to embrace devices.

continue reading

Net2TV is announcing this morning that its Portico service will be available on Roku in June and that it is enabling dynamic ad insertion. Portico, which I last wrote about here, curates and packages short-form content into longer-form, TV-style programs, for viewing on connected TVs. Portico uses the ActiveVideo CloudTV platform with a thin client, which means it can be deployed and updated quickly on connected devices.

continue reading