Posts for 'Advertising'

This week on Inside the Stream Colin and I cover a number of different topics that have been in the news. First up, NASCAR has signed new rights deals with TV and streaming partners for nearly $8 billion, a huge increase from its current deals.

Next we discuss new research indicating that non-pay-TV viewers will outpace traditional pay-TV viewers by the end of the year. Then, TikTok is encouraging creators to make longer videos, in a move to compete with YouTube. Last, Hub reports that built-in apps on Smart TVs get greater usage.

Listen to the podcast to learn more (36 minutes, 54 seconds)

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It’s earnings season, and on this week’s podcast, Colin and I discuss results from Disney, Roku, WB Discovery and Dish. The four companies’ subscriber counts, profitability and shifting business models all provide insights into larger industry trends and challenges.

Listen to the podcast to learn more (37 minutes, 36 seconds)

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Last Thursday was VideoNuze’s fourth annual Connected TV Advertising Summit virtual which featured 27 senior executives on 6 sessions in 1 high-impact afternoon.

Below are links to each of the session recordings along with descriptions of each session and its speakers.

Many thanks to our 5 generous partners Beachfront, Extreme Reach, PadSquad, Pixability and Roku.

We covered a lot of ground during the Summit which Colin and I tried to distill into our 5 key takeaways on last Friday's Inside the Stream podcast.

Enjoy!

[VIDEO] Welcome and How CTV’s Omnipresence is Reshaping the TV and Advertising Industries

[VIDEO] Inside CTV’s Biggest Opportunities and Challenges - The Three Year Perspective

[VIDEO] Understanding CTV/Streaming Business Model Choices: Paid, Hybrid, FAST

[VIDEO] Why CTV’s March to Full-Funnel/Lower-Funnel and Shoppable TV is Inevitable

[VIDEO] How Innovation is Driving the Value of Content and Advertising in CTV

[VIDEO] Unraveling the Measurement and Attribution Imperative

The following video was recorded at VideoNuze’s third annual Connected TV Advertising PREVIEW: 2023 virtual on February 28, 2023.

Welcome and How CTV’s Omnipresence is Reshaping the TV and Advertising Industries
CTV is now omnipresent in U.S. households, in turn completely reshaping the TV industry. Viewers are embracing streaming and wide array of streaming choices. In this stage-setting session, one of the industry’s leading researchers lays out all most important data, including newly-released survey results underscoring the extent to which viewers are shifting their behaviors.

Bruce Leichtman – President and Principal Analyst, Leichtman Research Group (presenter)
Will Richmond – Editor and Publisher, VideoNuze (interviewer)

The following video was recorded at VideoNuze’s fourth annual Connected TV Advertising Summit virtual on June 8, 2023.

Inside CTV’s Biggest Opportunities and Challenges  - The Three Year Perspective
With nearly 9 in 10 U.S. homes now having at least one CTV device and adoption in other countries rapidly growing, ad-supported streaming services proliferating and brands hungry to replace lost linear TV impressions, the CTV advertising has become the hottest sector of the ad market. Go inside all the key CTV advertising trends with senior industry leaders who will explore the biggest opportunities and challenges over the next 2-3 years.

Laurie Crowley - SVP Group Director, Investment, Havas Media
Stacie Danzis - SVP, Digital Ad Sales, A+E Networks
Justin Fromm - Head of Insights, Samsung Ads
Darren Olive - President, Sales & Strategy, Crackle Connex
Tom St. John - Head of Partnerships, Beachfront
Danielle DeLauro - EVP, VAB (moderator)

The following video was recorded at VideoNuze’s fourth annual Connected TV Advertising Summit virtual on June 8, 2023.

Understanding CTV/Streaming Business Model Choices: Paid, Hybrid, FAST
Media executives face an array of business model choices for their streaming services: pure paid/SVOD, hybrid paid/ad-supported, FAST, or a combination. This insightful session will explore the strategic, financial and real-world foundations for choosing optimal CTV/streaming business models - especially when resources are highly constrained. And then, once decisions are made, how to stay the course in a really noisy environment.

Erick Opeka - Chief Strategy Officer and President, Cineverse
Rene Santaella - Chief Digital and Streaming Officer, Estrella Media
Robert Schildhouse - EVP, North America and GM, Group Marketing Services, BritBox
Brian Wallach - Chief Digital Officer, Extreme Reach
Jonathan Hurd - Partner, Altman Solon (moderator)

The following video was recorded at VideoNuze’s fourth annual Connected TV Advertising Summit virtual on June 8, 2023.

Why CTV’s March to Full-Funnel/Lower-Funnel and Shoppable TV is Inevitable
In 2023 the vast majority of CTV ads will be bought with upper-funnel KPIs, as TV ad buyers seek to replace GRPs lost due to traditional TV’s decline and cord-cutting. With a $70 billion TV ad market in the U.S. alone, the shift from linear TV to CTV has lots of runway ahead. But more strategically significant are myriad initiatives that are transforming CTV into a full-funnel/lower-funnel channel. In an era when the importance of first-party data is rapidly increasing, engaging viewers on their TVs will soon become table stakes. In this session, learn how CTV is going to create a multibillion-dollar bonanza in shoppable TV, as well as new frontiers in content creation and personalization.

Jenna Chen - Director, Strategy and Business Development, Partnerships, Walmart Connect
Lindsay Pullins - Director, Ad Revenue Business Strategy, Partnerships, Roku
Lance Wolder – Head of Strategy and Marketing, PadSquad
Eric John - VP, Media Center, IAB (moderator)

The following video was recorded at VideoNuze’s fourth annual Connected TV Advertising Summit virtual on June 8, 2023.

How Innovation is Driving the Value of Content and Advertising in CTV
Innovation is everywhere in the CTV and streaming market, creating better viewer experiences and more value for content providers. What does the near-term roadmap look like, where are resources being focused, what key challenges are being addressed, and most important, what does all of this mean the CTV market will look like in 2-3 years? Join a high-impact discussion by experts who chart out CTV’s innovative future.

Michael Nagle - GM of Streaming, USA Today and USA Today Sports
Jackie Swansburg Paulino - Chief Product Officer, Pixability
Damian Pelliccione - CEO and Co-Founder, Revry
Nyma Quidwai - VP, Client Services and Inventory Partnerships, VIZIO Ads
Christy Tanner - Partner-in-Residence, The Nunatak Group and former EVP, CBS Interactive (moderator)

The following video was recorded at VideoNuze’s fourth annual Connected TV Advertising Summit virtual on June 8, 2023.

Unraveling the Measurement and Attribution Imperative
There is likely no single topic that generates more coverage and industry hand-wringing than measurement and attribution. For many in the industry, establishing a single, or possibly multiple credible currencies, is priority #1. Yet tens of billions of dollars of spending are transacted in digital without such currencies, and rather are based on actual outcomes. With a full-funnel/lower-funnel future ahead for CTV, how should CTV’s transaction backbone be informed by a traditional TV currency paradigm? Join us for a robust discussion of how critical measurement and attribution issues are being addressed, with an eye to unlocking CTV’s ultimate success.

Bharad Ramesh - Executive Director Research & Investment Analytics, GroupM US
David Sederbaum - EVP, Head of Video Investment, Dentsu Media US
Andrea Zapata - EVP, Head of Ad Sales Research, Measurement and Insights, Warner Bros. Discovery
Maggie Zhang - SVP, Measurement Strategy and Operations, NBCUniversal
Lynda Clarizio – General Partner/Co-Founder, The 98 and former President, US Media, Nielsen (moderator)

Yesterday was VideoNuze’s fourth annual Connected TV Advertising Summit virtual, featuring 27 senior executives on 6 sessions across the afternoon. Hundreds of industry colleagues attended, hearing insights, data and forecasts from participating speakers. I will post all of the session videos on VideoNuze early next week.

There were a lot of really interesting observations, which Colin and I have tried to distill to 5 key takeaways in today’s podcast. In no particular order, these include

1) There is strong conviction that CTV is ultimately going to become full-funnel, offering advertisers strong ROIs across all desired KPIs.

2) While CTV devices are heavily penetrated in U.S. households, less than half of these households use them to stream on a daily basis, creating enormous opportunity ahead.

3) The key to choosing an appropriate CTV/streaming business model ultimately boils down to understanding audience preferences and serving them.

4) Priorities in CTV innovation span from “what’s-old-is-new-again” optimization of electronic program guides (EPGs) to capitalizing on generative AI.

5) Measurement and attribution of CTV ad campaigns is complex and won’t be resolved anytime soon given the tug-and-pull of traditional TV measurement priorities and the realities of digital’s “outcomes-centric” precedents.

Listen to the podcast to learn more (41 minutes, 51 seconds)

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Most media and technology companies have now reported Q1 ’23 results. We dig into who’s up, who’s down and who’s pick ‘em, and where they all might be headed. We share all this with the caveat that one quarter’s results are not the final word on a company’s ability to survive and thrive going forward. We hope we’re not in any way contributing to the short-term, quarterly performance myopia so common on Wall Street.

Rather, we’re looking at these companies’ results in the context of prior results, the competitive landscape and their particular products’/services’ positioning. All while trying to do some basic “pattern recognition” - what have we seen before and how is this likely to play out in TV and video. Our discussion is primarily focused on Netflix, Roku, Amazon, AMC, Disney, Comcast, Vizio, YouTube, The Trade Desk, Paramount, Diamond Sports Group, Tegna, Dish and how they’re sorting themselves in the up, down and pick ‘em categories.

Listen to the podcast to learn more (38 minutes,  50 seconds)

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I attended the 2023 IAB NewFronts earlier this week and today on Inside the Stream we discuss my 5 key takeaways. These include 1) connected TV as the dominant throughline in all the presentations, 2) an early shift in messaging around how CTV campaigns should move to more full/lower-funnel KPIs, 3) whether the overwhelming volume and pure free, ad-supported nature of FASTs should be concerning, 4) how CTV platform/glass ownership will be a critical competitive differentiator going forward, and 5) why, of the 14 presentations that I attended, three companies’ presentations stood out in particular.  

Listen to the podcast to learn more (44 minutes, 51 seconds)

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First up this week on Inside the Stream we discuss YouTube’s advertising revenue for Q1 ’23, which was $6.7B, down 2.6% from Q1 ’22 of $6.9B. Obviously growth, not contraction, is the goal, but given the huge headwinds blowing through the ad business, in my view, a slight dip can rightly be considered a clear win. And the quarters that YouTube is now lapping were extremely strong to begin with, so comps will be tough by definition.

We also spend a few minutes discussing YouTube’s four priorities outlined in the earnings call. I’m looking forward to attending YouTube’s NewFront presentations on Monday morning, especially “AI and the Future of Creative Transformation.”

Next up, we both like how Paramount is leveraging Pluto TV by having it stream “THE TONY AWARD: ACT ONE,” preceding the main Tonys broadcast on CBS and Paramount+ on June 11th. ACT ONE is a perfect example of how “shoulder content” that can drive free streaming viewership (helping build Pluto’s brand) while acting as lead gen for Paramount+ and maybe even a little incremental retention for pay-TV.

We expect to see a lot more of this “shoulder content on FAST” playbook run in the future elsewhere too. It’s a solid, synergistic play.

Last, we make a maiden foray into the intersection of AI, video and music, prompted by a well-reported - though maybe slightly over-dramatic - article in The Verge about “AI Drake.” It’s a bit of a head-spinner to keep track of the machinations, but the net of it is that - no surprise to anyone - generative AI is already kicking up some dust related to copyright and Fair Use.

Big players like Google and Microsoft will have to sort out what positions they ultimately want to stake out given their varied business interests. We do our best to decipher things and discuss implications. No easy answers here, but expect a lot more about AI on Inside the Stream in the future.

Listen to the podcast to learn more (31 minutes, 59 seconds)

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Back in our Oct. 21, 2022 podcast, “Netflix is Poised for 2023 Revenue Growth,” Colin and I articulated all the reasons we were optimistic about Netflix’s upside in the new year. Primarily we were focused on its newly launched $7/month “Basic with ads” tier and its plans to eliminate password sharing throughout the world.

Flash forward 7 months, and Netflix provided its first tangible results and commentary from the initiatives, as well as optimistic signs of where things go from here. In today’s podcast, Colin and I dig into these signs, including most prominently Netflix’s disclosure that $7/month "Basic with ads" subscribers already produce a higher average monthly revenue than do its $15.50/month "Standard" plan (ad-free) subscribers. Some basic math reveals that "Basic with ads" subscribers drive at least $8.50/month in ad revenue for Netflix, which in turn means that aproximately 55% ($8.50 / $15.50) of "Basic with ads" subscribers’ total revenue is already derived from ads, not subscriber payments.

That Netflix accomplished all of this despite 1) it still being very early days for the ad offering, 2) a massive headwind in the ad business due to recession/etc. worries, 3) all of its ad revenue being “linear TV replacement” or upper-funnel reach and frequency inventory, with nothing yet from more valuable full/lower funnel offerings, suggests the ad business is already a big win for Netflix and has huge potential.

(At this point I can’t resist noting that I have been badgering Netflix for years to launch a lower-priced ad-supported tier because of the upside…see “Why Netflix Will Launch an Ad-Supported Tier in 2020” from Dec. ’19, “6 Reasons Why Netflix Should Launch an Ad-Supported Tier Now” from Mar. ’20, and “Revisiting Why Netflix Should Launch an Ad-Supported Tier” from Mar. ’21 for a sample of my haranguing. So, in the category of “better late than never,” hallelujah, Netflix finally, finally put aside its religious objections to advertising and saw the light.)

Listen to the podcast

Beachfront’s head of strategy and operations Laura Wu discusses connected TV advertising innovations in a 10-minute interview below. Laura dives into how publishers are better controlling/monetizing ad pods, using first-party data and converting CTV into a lower-funnel channel. Laura also explains how consumers crave simplicity, which will likely lead to more bundling going forward.

If you want to hear more from Laura, then after the jump, check out her recent session at VideoNuze’s Connected TV Advertising PREVIEW: 2023, “The Big Picture: Trends and Opportunities in CTV in 2023.” Laura is joined by Aaron Goldman (Chief Marketing Officer, Mediaocean), Paul Josephsen (Chief Strategy Officer, WMX Content & Media Division @Warner Music Group) and Brian Wieser (Principal, Madison and Wall), with Danielle DeLauro (EVP, VAB) moderating.

Watch Laura’s interview now.

At this past Tuesday’s VideoNuze Connected TV Advertising PREVIEW: 2023 virtual, 22 speakers on 5 sessions provided critical insights about the industry and its future direction. We discuss our key takeaways on today’s podcast.

All of the videos are posted here.

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Yesterday was VideoNuze’s third annual Connected TV Advertising PREVIEW: 2023, which featured 22 senior executives on 5 sessions.

Below are links to each of the session recordings along with descriptions of each session and speakers. There are many great insights about CTV advertising and what’s ahead as it evolves to full-funnel capabilities, FASTs continue to expand, the UX for both advertisers and viewers is reinvented and publishers invest heavily in delivering innovative experiences for viewers.

Thanks again to all the 22 speakers, and especially to CTV PREVIEW’s four amazing partners, Beachfront, PadSquad, Roku and Wurl.

Enjoy!

[VIDEO] Welcome to Connected TV Advertising PREVIEW 2023

[VIDEO] The Big Picture: Trends and Opportunities in CTV in 2023

[VIDEO] Is CTV’s Future at the Bottom of the Funnel?

[VIDEO] Interview With TMB’s President and CEO Bonnie Kintzer

[VIDEO] CTV UX Innovation – The 2023 Roadmap

[VIDEO] FASTs – Road to Gold or Road to “SLOW?”

The following video was recorded at VideoNuze’s third annual Connected TV Advertising PREVIEW: 2023 virtual on February 28, 2023.

Welcome to Connected TV Advertising PREVIEW 2023 virtual
Connected TVs and streaming are transforming the TV and advertising industries. CTV has become the hottest corner of the advertising business, forecast by eMarketer to grow another 27% in 2023 to $27 billion, in the U.S. alone. All in the face of significant economic headwinds. Yet, we are still in the very early innings of the CTV era.  

This afternoon’s program will explore topics including:

- Key macro trends and opportunities in CTV in 2023

- How/when CTV advertising will be optimized for the bottom of the “purchase funnel,” which will in turn attract huge buckets of ad spending

- If the proliferation of FASTs might lead to “SLOW” (SVOD Losses On the Way)

- How CTV UX innovation (in both content and ad formats) is driving new value for viewers and advertisers.

- How Trusted Media Brands (TMB), as a traditional publisher that includes a portfolio of digital-first brands, is successfully capitalizing on CTV and streaming

Will Richmond – Editor and Publisher, VideoNuze