VideoNuze Posts

With more people accessing web content through smartphones and tablets, advertisers want to make sure rich media ads, including video, play nicely across all types of screens. But a survey released today by Jivox shows ad agencies are frustrated with producing rich media ads for an increasingly complex device universe.

Jivox’s Q1 survey of more than 100 ad agencies (e.g. BBDO, Digitas, Mindshare, Starcom, Razorfish, MediaVest and others), released this morning, found 88% of respondents are “somewhat” or “very” stressed about authoring rich media ads that often include video elements. Another 15% don’t even try.

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Fire up a video on your mobile device and you'll almost certainly observe how social media is playing a bigger role in the ad creative before or during the content. Underscoring this, the latest Social & Mobile Insights Report for Q4 '12 from Rhythm NewMedia shows that 30% of the in-stream mobile video ads carried across its network of 200+ mobile media properties in Q4 '12 included social media buttons like Facebook "Like" and Twitter "share."

Those buttons are there for a good reason: Rhythm found average engagement increased by 36% - from 1.6% to 2.1% - when social media buttons were included. According to Rhythm, that means advertisers that integrate social elements get more value for their campaign budgets.

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With over 700 content partners in its channel store, Roku has built out the most extensive set of content choices of any of the over-the-top devices.

And in a recent interview at NATPE, Scott Rosenberg, Roku's VP, Business Development, Content and Services, explains that's because the company has "very deliberately operated with a pro-content provider strategy" and prides itself on being easy to work with, allowing content providers to use the same standard technologies they use on the web and offering favorable economics. Scott contrasts this with the approach other OTT devices have taken.

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I'm pleased to present the 169th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia. First up today, we review the latest video industry litigation, Cablevision vs. Viacom. We mostly agree that major industry change is unlikely to occur due to the litigation, but rather, over time, the expense of pay-TV and appeal of OTT alternatives will drive changes in consumer choices, which in turn is what will change the pay-TV industry's dynamics.

Speaking of changing dynamics, it's no secret that live TV viewing is under huge pressure as viewers turn to on-demand choices and DVR usage. To help reverse things, Colin discusses an interesting new initiative announced this week by Fox and Watchwith. Fox will be syndicating its FOX NOW "sync-to-broadcast" second screen companion content via Watchwith to numerous network partners such as Shazam, Viggle, ConnecTV and NextGuide, helping drive higher usage and monetization. As Colin wrote earlier this week, it's a clever way of proliferating FOX NOW content and improving the live experience.

Listen in to learn more!

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Note: I'm pleased to post the latest from Stewart Schley, VideoNuze's newest contributor.

Survey: Under 2% of Pay-TV Subscribers Are Using Their Providers' Tablet Video Apps

by Stewart Schley

Digitalsmiths’ Q1 2013 Video Discovery Trends Report is out, and one of the key findings is that less than 2% of pay-TV subscribers use their providers' tablet video apps. The online survey of 1,800-plus adults shows how far the pay-TV industry has to go before their tablet video apps influence TV watching.

Of the roughly one-third of respondents who said they have tablets, 60% said they haven’t downloaded their pay-TV provider’s app, and another 14% aren’t aware such an app even is available. Of the 26% of tablet owners who have downloaded pay-TV provider's apps, only 18% said they actually use them. That means for every 100 pay-TV subscribers, under 2% of them ever fire up their provider's video app.

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Please save the date for the 3rd annual VideoNuze Online Video Advertising Summit on Tues., June 4th in NYC.

Once again, the Video Ad Summit will be a high-impact day of learning and networking for executives at brands, agencies, video content providers, technology companies and others in the online video ecosystem. Last year over 350 industry executives attended, with 40+ speakers.

The volume of video coming online these days is unprecedented. Consumers have more content choices and more devices to watch them on than ever - helping drive viewership to record levels. And the reality is that the vast majority of today's online video is free and ad-supported, making it essential that the advertising model continue to develop and mature.

The good news is that there's tons of innovation happening, which is helping accelerate advertisers' online video spending. But huge challenges still remain. And that's where the Video Ad Summit comes in. Through a fast-paced program of thought-leader keynotes, panel discussions, fireside chats, case studies, presentations and demoes, attendees can expect to take away actionable insights and develop new relationships.

If your business's success is tied to the ever-growing influence of online video and online video advertising specifically, the Video Ad Summit will once again be a must-attend event.

Premier sponsors of the Video Ad Summit include Adap.tv, Adobe and TubeMogul, along with Headline sponsors Altitude Digital, Collective, LiveRail and Videology.  Additional sponsorship opportunities are still available. Please contact me to learn more.

Early bird, discounted registration will be available shortly.

upLynk, which provides a single HD adaptive streaming format, has extended its technology solution to also incorporate native video ad insertion. Whereas traditional video ad insertion requires logic in the video player upLynk moves it all to the server. By integrating the ads with the content this way, upLynk is able to deliver a single continuous adaptive stream to the player. By reducing the player's workload, viewers get a smoother, buffer-free video experience. This in turn builds viewer loyalty and view times, which are critical to ad monetization.

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Yesterday, Cablevision announced that it has filed suit against Viacom, seeking, among other things, to void a carriage deal it struck just 2 months ago. Cablevision is alleging that Viacom illegally coerced it into carrying 14 of its low-rated cable networks in order to get access to the 8 popular ones Cablevision really wanted.

The most obvious first question to ponder is why would Cablevision agree to a deal in December, only to sue to nullify it in February? Surely the presiding judge will ask something similar. If Cablevision was so perturbed by Viacom's negotiating position, why not bite the bullet and sue then? Another interesting question is that given bundling has been upheld by the courts in the past, what's different this time around?

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