Posts for 'Advertising'

Connected TVs are soaring in popularity due to plummeting prices of smart TVs and the proliferation of inexpensive devices like Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast and others. As more homes adopt connected TV devices and long-form online viewership shifts to them, there’s a huge opportunity for advertising.

This was the topic of discussion for the Video Ad Summit session, “Connected TVs and Advertising: A Match Made in the Living Room,” which included Tal Chalozin (CTO and Co-Founder, Innovid), Ashish Chordia (CEO and Founder, Alphonso), Josh Mallalieu (VP, Partner, Portfolio Management, Universal McCann) and Scott Rosenberg (VP, Advertising, Roku) with Colin Dixon (Chief Analyst and Founder, nScreenMedia) moderating.

The session touched on what types of video ad units are working best on connected TVs, how advertisers are using data to target audiences on connected TVs, why mobile is benefiting connected TVs, how the ad experience on connected TVs is becoming richer and much more.

Watch the session video now (30 minutes, 51 seconds)

Programmatic is one of the most important trends in the online video advertising industry, with eMarketer forecasting that in 2016 nearly $4 billion of online video advertising will be transacted programmatically. At last month’s Video Ad Summit, one of our sessions focused on programmatic video advertising from the advertiser/buy side and another from the content provider/sell side.

The advertiser/buy side session included Larry Allen (SVP, Business Development, Xaxis), Jim Caruso (VP, Product Strategy, Varick Media Management), Neeraj Kochhar (Managing Director, Buy-Side Platforms, Tremor Video), Troels Smit (Head of Demand Sales, LiveRail), with Gain Dunaway (Senior Editor, AdMonsters) moderating.

The content provider/sell side session included Doug Fleming (Director of Programmatic, Hulu), Manny Puentes (Chief Technology Officer, Altitude Digital), Sorosh Tavakoli (SVP, AdTech, Ooyala), Tim Trevathan (SVP, Publisher Solutions, Defy Media), with Ashley Swartz (CEO and Founder, Furious Corp.) moderating.

The session videos are included below. Taken together they provide a wealth of insights about where programmatic video advertising is today, the key opportunities and challenges for advertisers and content providers, what’s ahead, plus lots more.

Watch the session videos now

Google highlighted YouTube’s audience and revenue growth in last week’s Q2 ’15 earnings call, with viewing time up 60%, the number of advertisers up 40% and the average spending of the top 100 advertisers up over 60%, all vs. a year ago. While Google has never broken out detailed YouTube performance, these selected data point to strong momentum at the video site.

At the 2015 Video Ad Summit, our session, “How to Capitalize on YouTube’s Vast Landscape With Winning Video Ad Campaigns” helped explain why YouTube is succeeding. The session included Michelle Bandler (Director of Brand Activation, Google), Al Cadena (Senior Account Director, Beeby Clark+Meyler), Hermann Hassenstein (Global Head of Marketing Planning, PUMA) and Art Zeidman (EVP, Chief Revenue Officer, Pixability), with Mike Shields (Senior Editor, The Wall Street Journal) moderating.

The session explored, among other things, how ad buyers think about YouTube and the key challenges the site faces in persuading traditional TV ad buyers to pursue YouTube. These include measurement, sales lift, business processes, incomplete experimentation, etc.

The group also discussed how advertisers work with YouTube influencers on branded entertainment, the rising importance of mobile, the impact of Facebook, how ads are optimized for YouTube and social media, plus much more.

Watch the session video now (31 minutes, 26 seconds)

At the 2015 Video Ad Summit, we reprised a session from 2014, focused on NewFronts, Upfronts and the Ongoing Battle for Video Ad Budgets, including Jackie Kulesza, EVP, Group Director, Digital Acceleration, Starcom and Adam Shlachter, Chief Investment Officer, Digitas Lbi, with Tim Hanlon from The Verrtere Group moderating.

The session included a deep dive into why the Upfronts are still important to advertisers even as online video advertising spending has soared. Still, Jackie and Adam agreed that advertisers are seeking more flexibility than ever to buy in real-time and optimize their campaigns, which has put huge pressure on the Upfront process.

The session also touched on the important role of data, why price is still a critical issue, how measurement challenges are still holding back true cross-platform audience buying, how advertisers are adapting and much more.

Watch the interview now (34 minutes, 10 seconds)

Mobile ad platform Opera Mediaworks has launched Opera House, a creative studio, to help brands and agencies create compelling mobile video ads based on best practices and data. Opera House includes 60+ professionals around the world who will work with brands and agencies to help optimize mobile video campaigns for mobile’s unique features such as the camera, gyroscope, vibration and GPS.

Beyond creative and technical development assistance, Opera will also test the campaigns at increasing scale and across multiple devices to ensure successful launch. Specific ad unit executions could include native video, short-form video and selfie ads.

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At the Video Ad Summit, Frank Amorese, Media Director, Heineken USA and Dan Kern, SVP/Managing Director, MediaVest shared their insights on how online video and programmatic are changing their marketing mix. Keith Eadie, CMO of TubeMogul moderated.

Heineken is shifting marketing spending to digital channels, especially for its brands that target 21-29 year-olds since they’re watching less TV.  Dan and Frank discuss how they’re using data to drive their spending in video based on both reach and business outcomes.

They measure cost of video on the basis of CPM, viewability, quality of targeting and other factors. Frank also discusses how they’re measuring both sales lift and attribution. Frank and Dan also describe how they’re implementing programmatic, including vendor selection, plus lots more.

Watch the interview now (28 minutes, 40 seconds)

One of the highlights of the recent Video Ad Summit was the keynote conversation with David Cohen, Chief Investment Officer at Universal McCann. David is one of the foremost digital thought-leaders in the advertising industry and oversees billions of dollars of client spending.

In the interview with me, David shared his insights across a range of topics, including how the proliferation of platforms and data is driving a much more complicated landscape, exponentially multiplying how to connect with audiences. David sees the big challenge as re-aggregating today’s fragmented audiences so advertisers can deliver messages at scale.

David says there’s no silver bullet for addressing this, but believes data and measurement are the key pathways. With advertisers demanding more flexibility, David sees the TV upfront process as becoming antiquated, with spending shifting to routes that require lower initial commitments and more room to adapt. He says there’s no “must-buy” in TV any longer, with many digital alternatives now available.

In the interview David also touches on video pricing, how measurement challenges are holding back spending, why SVOD is driving declines in linear TV ratings, why pay-TV unbundling is coming, millennials’ expectations, how programmatic is impacting cross-channel video advertising, why lack of premium inventory continues to be a challenge for online video, how UM’s own measurement solution works and how it’s organizing itself to devote more resources to campaign optimization.

We wrap up with David sharing his thoughts on 4 major video providers and what’s ahead in the next 12 months.

Watch the interview now (37 minutes, 45 seconds)

Mobile video is now up to 42% of all online video viewed and is poised to surpass 50% later this year, making it a top priority for advertisers. So our Video Ad Summit session, “Small Screens, Big Opportunities: Why Mobile Video is Skyrocketing,” was one of the most timely discussions in the day-long program.  

The session explored how mobile video fits with cross-screen strategies, why mobile video durations are shortening, why 15-second ads dominate on mobile but are changing, what role Facebook and Snapchat are playing in mobile video advertising, why there’s more data in mobile video than in desktop video, whether mobile video will move from the horizontal to the vertical format and lots more.   

The session included Mike Berkley (Head of Product, Viacom), Dan Colarusso (Executive Editor, Digital, Reuters), Rachel Pasqua (Head of Mobility, MEC North America), Frank Sinton (CEO, Beachfront Media), with Michael Sebastian (Reporter, AdAge) moderating.

Watch the session video now (30 minutes, 18 seconds)

These are complicated times for video content providers, with more opportunities to monetize their video inventory and partner with advertisers, yet more complexity as well. How to succeed in this rapidly evolving environment was the topic of our Video Ad Summit panel, “Modernizing the Monetization of Video: The Content Provider’s Perspective.”

The session included Lorne Brown (Founder & CEO, Operative), Sean Holzman (Chief Digital Revenue Officer, Bonnier), Stephano Kim (SVP, Ad Operations & Chief Digital Strategist, Turner Broadcasting), David Morris (Chief Revenue Officer, CBS Interactive) and Lisa Valentino (Chief Revenue Officer, Conde Nast Entertainment), with Tom Herman (CEO, DashBid) moderating.

The wide-ranging discussion touched on various topics including how campaign success metrics are changing, why performance and engagement are paramount, how content providers are creating their own data management platforms and selectively exposing their first-party data, why the consumer is really in the driver’s seat, the role of branded entertainment, the challenges of moving to a direct-to-consumer approach at scale, ad-blocking and much, much more.

Watch the session video now (32 minutes, 36 seconds)

The leadoff session at the recent Video Ad Summit focused on the topic of whether TV and video advertising are converging or diverging. In other words, are advertisers going to opt for converged, multiscreen campaigns that incorporate TV, or is ad spending a zero sum game with advertisers shifting spending from TV to video?

With tens of billions of dollars of annual TV and video ad spending, obviously this is a pressing question. Scott Ferber, Chairman and CEO of Videology, kicked off the session with a compelling presentation that made the case for convergence, with data playing a key role in making this happen.

Then Scott moderated a discussion with Andrew Feigenson (Managing Director, Digital, Nielsen), Kris Magel (Chief Investment Officer, Initiative U.S.), Melissa Roberts (GM, Enterprise Solutions, FreeWheel) and Brian Wieser (Senior Analyst, Pivotal Research Group). The group dug into the convergence-divergence question from all angles.

Watch the session video now 42 minutes, 33 seconds

Teads has announced this morning that its "outstream" video ads are now compatible with Apple's iOS for mobile web. Teads' outstream video ad units can be inserted in text articles on the mobile web and begin to play as the user scrolls the page. They stop playing when the user scrolls past them. This results in 100% viewability.

This past March Teads released its mobile SDK allowing outstream ads to run in mobile apps. But until now outstream ads could not run on mobile web in iOS because the device's full screen native player is force-launched, rather than allowing video ads to be viewed in-page.

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Hundreds of industry executives turned out for yesterday's 5th annual VideoNuze Online Video Ad Summit for a jam-packed day of learning and networking. I'll be posting all of the session video recordings over the next few weeks as soon as they're edited.

Scott Ferber, chairman and CEO of Videology (the Video Ad Summit's Title Partner), kicked off the day with a presentation titled "TV and Video: A Year of Convergence" in which he articulated why convergence is not about "either/or" but rather is about "more" - essentially good news for TV advertising. Scott shared a number of relevant data points supporting the case and then moderated a session which dug deeper into the issues.

For today, I have embedded Scott's slides below, which perfectly set the stage for the Video Ad Summit's program. As you'll see, Scott's "golden rule" for the converging world  is "The One with the DATA Rules." This was echoed throughout every session of the day, with participants repeatedly reinforcing this point, while observing a key challenge is distilling the key data that really matters into actionable insights.

I'll have lots more on the Video Ad Summit in the coming weeks. It was an amazing day and I'm incredibly grateful to our 55 executive speakers and 21 sponsors!

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The 5th annual VideoNuze Online Video Ad Summit is tomorrow, Tuesday, June 16th in NYC. So if you've been on the fence about whether to attend, this is your last chance to decide. Here's are some inducements:

- 55 industry executives will be speaking on 13 different sessions covering the most relevant topics in online video, including TV/Video advertising convergence, mobile video advertising, YouTube, Programmatic from the buy and sell sides, how brands and content providers are modernizing their business approaches for the online video era, viewability, innovation, connected TVs and much more.

- Our 2 fantastic keynote guests are David Cohen, Chief Investment Officer, Universal McCann and Neeraj Khemlani, co-president, Hearst Entertainment & Syndication, who will share their insights on the future of advertising and content in interviews with me.

- Over 500 industry colleagues are registered, guaranteeing a premier day of networking, as well as learning.

- Cocktails on the terrace, on what will be a beautiful summer evening (fingers crossed!).

What else can I tell you?

Join us!

Register now!

I'm pleased to present the 277th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

On today's podcast we dig into the incredible growth in mobile video consumption and how it is impacting content creators and advertisers. Earlier this week I wrote about how Facebook's auto-play and audio-off video, which is mainly consumed on mobile, is influencing the creative process. Colin weighs in with new IAB data showing how pervasive mobile video viewing has become, including how many people are now watching 2 screens simultaneously.

Stepping back, we're in agreement that mobile is really a game-changer for everyone in the ecosystem. The advent of larger screen smartphones in particular has fundamentally changed how these devices are used, making video much more important. Neither of us sees this trend slowing any time soon.

Click here to listen to the podcast (20 minutes, 5 seconds)

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These are turbulent times in both video advertising and video content, with longstanding assumptions being rocked by new technologies and viewer behaviors. Nobody has all the answers to how things will ultimately shake out, but at next Tuesday's 5th annual Online Video Advertising Summit, we're privileged to have 2 prominent industry leaders keynoting, who will provide their insights on the current market and where things are heading.

In the morning, I'll interview David Cohen, Chief Investment Officer for Universal McCann, who is widely recognized as one of the advertising industry's foremost digital thought-leaders. David will discuss how clients are looking for ever-greater buying flexibility which renders the upfronts antiquated, the challenge of re-aggregating TV audiences across fragmented video platforms, how UM is driving an "automation agenda," and why cross-platform measurement is so vexing, among other topics.

Then in the afternoon, I'll interview Neeraj Khemlani, Co-president, Hearst Entertainment & Syndication and President, Hearst Digital Studios.  Neeraj will share insights on how online video is reinventing the studio model, why the intersection of news and video is so compelling, what established media companies need to do to succeed with video, and the strategy behind Hearst's big video investments (e.g. Vice, BuzzFeed, Roku, AwesomenessTV, etc.), among other topics.

Both keynotes will be grounded in the realities of today's advertising and content dynamics, but will be forward-looking, as we examine how key trends will further develop. Each keynote will provide critical insights to attendees about what to expect going forward. I'm really excited about interviewing both David and Neeraj to learn from them as they share their respective points of view.

Over 400 industry colleagues are now registered for the Video Ad Summit and there's still time to join them.

Learn more and register now!

More affirmation that advertisers and agencies are shifting spending to video: a new Forrester survey has found that 77% of advertisers and 70% of agencies plan to increase their video ad spending in the next 2 years. In addition, 73% of media companies plan to offer more video inventory to meet demand.

The data is based on a survey Forrester conducted of 529 executives at advertisers, agencies and media companies in 8 countries, including the U.S., for a report commissioned by Teads.

continue reading on VideoNuze iQ

The full program for the June 16th VideoNuze Online Video Advertising Summit in NYC is now complete, with 54 industry leaders set to appear on 13 different sessions that will cover all of the hottest online video ad industry topics (see full program here). If your business relies in any way on online video advertising's success, the Video Ad Summit is a highly-focused, must-attend day of learning.

With over 350 executives already registered to attend, the Video Ad Summit is also an excellent day of networking and business development. Registrants come from throughout the ecosystem - ad agencies, brands, content providers, technologists, venture capitalists, journalists and others.

Headlining the event are our 2 keynote guests David Cohen, Chief Investment Officer, Universal McCann and Neeraj Khemlani, co-president, Hearst Entertainment & Syndication, who will share their insights on the future of advertising and content.

Executives from ABC, Bonnier, CBS Interactive, Conde Nast, Defy Media, Digitas, Google, Heineken USA, Hulu, MEC Nielsen, Puma, Reuters, Roku, Starcom, Turner, Viacom, Xaxis, Zenith Optimedia will also be on stage, along with dozens of others.

The Video Ad Summit is generously supported by 21 sponsors, including Title Partner Videology; Premier Partners DashBid, FreeWheel and Pixability, Headline Partners Altitude Digital, Beachfront Media, Genesis Media, LiveRail, Nielsen, Ooyala, Operative, Teads.tv and TubeMogul, plus Branding Partners Adobe, Akamai, Alphonso, Brightcove, JW, Roku, Tremor Video and VertaMedia.

Learn more and register now!