VideoNuze Posts

A new report being released today from London-based video ad technology provider Videoplaza, and research firm IHS Screen Digest adds to the case that broadcasters must diversify into IP-based delivery of their content to multiple devices in order to achieve continued growth. The report, "A Future for TV: IP-delivered Video Advertising in a Connected World" presents new data on adoption of connected devices by TV and PC households in North America and Western Europe, share of ads now being delivered by non-PC devices and video ad loads by device, among other data.

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Comcast has been letting me test-drive its new "X1" platform on a second TV in my house for the last couple of weeks. X1, which was recently announced at the Cable Show, is the company's new state-of-the-art set-top box, built by Pace, that delivers video via traditional "QAM" technology along with apps and other content via web-standard IP technology. The latter allows X1 to create a richer, more web-like user experience.

X1's biggest leap forward vs. the traditional Comcast digital set-top (which I still have on my main TV) is its speed and responsiveness. X1 is amazingly fast, unlike any other pay-TV set-top I've ever used, and easily on a par - or better - than any web site or iPad/mobile app I've recently used (it actually feels faster than many web sites I visit given their increasingly bloated pages). X1 also blows away my Samsung connected Blu-ray player's abysmally slow performance.

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In case you missed it while vacationing for July 4th, last week Netflix CEO Reed Hastings posted on his Facebook page that Netflix's streaming exceeded 1 billion hours for June, a new record for the company. BTIG's Rich Greenfield calculated that equates to approximately 2,388 viewing minutes per Netflix U.S. subscriber for the month (that's up from 2,000 minutes/mo which I calculated for Q4 '11). To put the June minutes in context, it's nearly double the average 1,315 minutes that the 180.5 million U.S. Internet subscribers each streamed in May, according to comScore's data.

Admittedly, it's a little bit of apples vs. oranges (comScore vs. Netflix internal data, May vs. June, free vs. paid, etc.), but assuming the numbers are at least in the ballpark, they demonstrate how thoroughly Netflix dominates in time spent per viewer vs. all other sites. For example, Netflix's 2,388 minutes/sub in June is more than 5x YouTube's 462.7 minutes/viewer in May and almost 10x Hulu's 253.7 minutes/viewer in May. Beyond YouTube and Hulu, the disparities become even more glaring; Netflix has 30x or greater viewing time of sites like Yahoo, VEVO, AOL and others.

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Each week it seems there's another research research report showing how viewers are increasingly splitting their time watching video on multiple devices. Audience fragmentation is creating new opportunities and headaches for advertisers trying to reach their target audiences efficiently and cost-effectively.

This was the topic of one of our panel discussions at the VideoNuze Online Video Advertising Summit a couple of weeks ago, which included Marc DeBevoise, SVP/GM, Entertainment at CBS Interactive, Suzanne McDonnell, SVP, Ad Solutions, Discovery and Anupam Gupta, President and CEO, Mixpo, with Nick Buzzell, President and Executive Producer, NBTV Studios, moderating.

Two of the recurring themes of the session were that simplicity is essential for advertisers to capitalize on advertising opportunities across three screens and that it is still early days, so multi-screen advertising approaches vary depending on specific circumstances. The excitement around new technologies and devices is compelling but understanding client objectives and their level of sophistication is crucial. This is one of the reasons that pre-rolls, mid-rolls and post-rolls have become omnipresent; they're comparable and complimentary to existing TV advertising, making them relatively easy to work with.

There were lots of other great insights and lessons shared in this 25 minute session.

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Amazon has been offering its customers the opportunity to upload video product reviews for years, but peruse the site and you'll see that text reviews still dominate, with only a scattering of videos. No doubt recognizing how powerful video has become, it looks like Amazon may be putting a new emphasis on video product reviews. In an email I received yesterday from the company (which millions of other Amazon customers are likely receiving as well), the subject line read "Review your recent purchases at Amazon.com," with a large callout:

"New on Amazon! Grab your video camera or webcam and add video to your customer review. Click on "Review this product" above to upload a video or find a different product to review"

To be accurate, video reviews aren't a new feature on Amazon, though clearly they haven't been used much; for the 3 products I had bought, all had a healthy number of text reviews, but none had any video.

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At the recent VideoNuze 2012 Online Video Advertising Summit, TDG senior analyst Colin Dixon sat down with Ed Haslam, SVP of Marketing at YuMe to discuss the market for video advertising on connected TVs (sometimes also called "Smart TVs"). Ed and Colin agreed that while there are already 20 million or more U.S. homes with these TVs, the ad opportunity is still relatively small, though it has enormous potential as these devices are adopted in hundreds of millions of homes globally over the next 5 years.

Ed has a strong perspective on this space as YuMe has a deal with Samsung and with LG to power advertising on their connected TVs. In the session, Ed discussed the experiences of 2 early advertisers, Toyota and State Farm. He also explained exactly where video ads are inserted today, how these units differ from typical pre-roll units seen online, and how the market is broadening to also include in-app advertising. Ed also describes 2 key challenges for the connected TV advertising space; consumer fragmentation and gaining developers' attention.

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One of the highlights of the recent VideoNuze 2012 Online Video Advertising Summit was the session with Alisa Bowen, Head of Product for Dow Jones (and formerly GM of the Wall Street Digital Network). Alisa is now responsible for all of the company's digital consumer products and had previously overseen WSJ Live, the company's burgeoning video initiative. WSJ is defying the conventional wisdom that newspapers are in inevitable decline by showing how video can help re-invent the brand and leverage existing assets.

WSJ Live has gained huge momentum since its launch last fall, and now includes 14 different original programs, totaling 100 hours per month, which generate 10.4 million streams per month and are distributed across 20 different platforms (Roku, Apple TV, Smart TVs, etc.). As Alisa explains, all of this has allowed WSJ to reach its audience in different environments, with an experience that is more aligned with users' expectations when they're using a particular device. I continue to think of WSJ Live as an outstanding template for other print publishers to follow.

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I'm pleased to be joined once again by Colin Dixon, senior partner at The Diffusion Group, for the 138th edition of the VideoNuze-TDG Report podcast.

Today we discuss two new products that Google introduced this week, the Nexus 7 tablet and the Nexus Q media streamer. Viewing both through the lens of online/mobile video, I think both products are duds, and are generally inferior to other competitive products already available, especially those from Apple. A particular source of concern for Colin and me is the lack of differentiated content. For instance, the Nexus 7 offers no unlimited viewing plan like Amazon Prime for the Kindle Fire, the device it is most similar to.

Colin is less skeptical, and has even ordered a Nexus 7, though more for professional reasons than anything else. However, he's completely underwhelmed by the Nexus Q, thinking the entire whole home audio product category isn't really addressing a strong consumer need. Further, maybe Google has a master plan it's not sharing, but to both of us, the company's silence on how Google TV fits with the two Nexus devices suggests a real lack of coherency in Google's approach to digital media. Listen in to hear all of the details.

Click here to listen to the podcast (18 minutes, 45 seconds)

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