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Exclusive: ABC Has Doubled the Number of Ads in Its iPad App; ABC.com Will Be Next
Yesterday ABC began implementing a new ad policy for its popular iPad app, which up to doubles the number of ads included per episode. ABC intends to apply the new ad policy to programs viewed on ABC.com soon as well. Albert Cheng, EVP, Digital Media for Disney/ABC Television briefed me on the
changes last week, adding that he believes the new ad policy will become common in the industry. ABC also shared with me that its iPad app has been downloaded over 800,000 times, with 4.2 million episodes started since the iPad's launch on April 3rd.
The changes are very significant as they signal a new push by broadcast networks to improve the profitability of their free online and mobile streams. For example, a typical ABC.com program has included 5-6 ads that are 30-seconds, totaling up to 2 1/2-3 minutes of ad time. This compares with around 20 minutes of ads shown in an hour-long program broadcast on-air.
Categories: Advertising, Broadcasters
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Digitas' NewFront: Convergence Underway, Challenges Remain
Following this year's successful TV advertising upfront, yesterday Digitas' branded entertainment arm, The Third Act, presented its third annual and playfully titled, Digital Content NewFront. The similarities are in name only though, as the NewFront is a conference and social gathering, bringing together and showcasing top tier online content creators, distributors, and forward-thinking brands.
Before you start thinking NewFront is a bunch of web wannabes looking for their big break, the guest list was actually packed with tons of traditional media talent who have also been pursuing online content, such as Kevin Pollack, Jason Bateman, Lisa Kudrow, Teri Hatcher, and even Martha Stewart. Their involvement underscores how traditional and new media convergence is already well underway, propelled by branded entertainment.
The enthusiasm at the NewFront was abundant, with Mark Beeching, Digitas' Worldwide Chief Creative Officer, trumpeting in his opening remarks, "Online video is no longer a three minute trivial sideshow!" Still, illustrating the mixed motivations of many online content creators, Ricky Van Veen, of CollegeHumor and IAC's branded content wing, Electus, noted that most creators still view online video as a stepping-stone to TV or film.Categories: Advertising, Branded Entertainment, Indie Video
MeFeedia Unveils HTML5 Analytics for All Player
Search engine MeFeedia is announcing this morning a new real-time analytics suite for HTML5 video viewed using the company's All Player.
Content providers using All Player will be able to track a variety of data for video consumed across all devices supporting HTML5 - iPads, iPhones, Android phones and the web. They can view data by summary, recent, popular, devices, videos and channels to monitor an individual or group of videos' performance. Data can also be exported for offline analysis and viewing. The type of data tracked includes view-through rates, time watched, impressions and the viewing device.
As with the All Player itself, the analytics package is free.
The analytics release follows MeFeedia announcing support for HTML5 advertising just before the iPad's recent launch. MeFeedia CEO Frank Sinton explained to me yesterday that though it's still early for HTML5, the company is committed to building out further HTML5 features for the All Player.
For those not familiar with All Player, which MeFeedia launched last June, it's targeted primarily to small and mid-sized content providers who want to improve their ad monetization. All Player's value prop is that it has integrated with key video ad networks, so that once an All Player content provider is approved, it can add or improve monetization immediately. Content providers can use All Player stand alone or in conjunction with their OVP.
All Player has moved MeFeedia from being solely a video search engine to also being a monetization partner. Frank explained that numerous providers now partner with MeFeedia, in some cases simply syndicating a feed of their content, which MeFeedia offers and monetizes through All Player, in turn sending a revenue share back to the content provider. Frank says MeFeedia is fully ad supported and is now profitable. As HTML5 emerges, adding complexity in the short-term to content providers' work flow, tools like All Player look even more important.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).Categories: Advertising, Analytics
Mobile Video Ad Network Transpera Raises $9 Million
Mobile video ad network Transpera is announcing this morning that it has raised a Series C round of $9 million, led by BlackBerry Partners Fund, with participation from existing investors Flybridge Capital Partners, First Round Capital, Intel Capital and Labrador Ventures. Transpera CEO Frank Barbieri told me yesterday that total company funding to date is $18 million.
In addition to the financing, the company is also now promoting its network
as "The Audience Network," reflecting what Frank said are significantly higher engagement metrics Transpera campaigns are achieving vs. comparable online video ones. Transpera has worked with brand research firm Insight Express to study performance of 5 recent video ad campaigns that ran on Transpera's network. Compared to norms that Insight Express keeps for similar online video campaigns, for the Transpera campaigns it found 9 times higher increase in purchase intent, 19 times higher increase in aided awareness, 4 times higher increase in unaided awareness and 2 times higher increase in ad awareness.
Categories: Advertising, Deals & Financings, Mobile Video
Topics: BlackBerry Partners Fund, Rhythm New Media, Transpera
Rhythm New Media Releases Bullish Stats on Mobile Video Usage and Ads
A report this morning from Rhythm New Media, a firm that develops mobile video apps for TV programs and runs its own mobile video ad network, provides fresh reasons to be bullish on mobile video. The report is based on an estimated 250 million video views/month that Rhythm has tracked in Q1 '10 on its mobile video platform. Two key stats that jumped out for me: an average 86.7% completion rate and a 1.7% click through rate for its 15-second pre-rolls. The latter is roughly consistent with data Will reported from Rhythm about 6 months ago. It is noteworthy that Rhythm's click through rates are holding steady as it scales up.
To get a sense of how Rhythm's mobile data stacks up against online video advertising data, I compared it to a report eMarketer and YuMe released based on Q4 '09 data, which showed a steady decline in click through and completion rates for pre-rolls. Rhythm's completion and click through rates are 24% and 56% higher than those in the eMarketer/YuMe report. While it's
a bit of an apples vs. oranges comparison because YuMe's much larger network includes many different types of video content (vs. Rhythm's TV program only) and the ads YuMe surveyed were a mix of 15-second and 30-second spots (vs. Rhythm's 15-second only), the differences may be an early indicator of the contrast between mobile and online video.
Categories: Advertising, Mobile Video
Topics: eMarketer, Rhythm New Media, YuMe
Brightcove, FreeWheel to Launch HTML5 Video Ad Solution
Building on the momentum around HTML5 and all things iPad-related, online video platform Brightcove and video ad management firm FreeWheel are announcing plans today to launch an HTML5 video ad solution this summer. The companies are already partners and share many mutual customers; the new solution means that customers using both platforms will be able to insert ads on HTML5 compatible devices like iPads, iPhones and iPod Touches when it is available. The move is a positive step for content providers who have rolled out iPad apps but not necessarily with monetization included.
Earlier this year Brightcove unveiled its "Brightcove Experience for HTML5" which auto-detects HTML5 devices, in turn delivering compatible content. Now with the FreeWheel piece, in-stream video ads will be delivered as well. No doubt, as Apple and other non-Flash devices continue to proliferate additional HTML5-focused platform/ad solutions will follow.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).
Categories: Advertising, Devices, Technology
Topics: Brightcove, FreeWheel, HTML5
Digging into Adap.tv's New Real Time Bidding Interface for Online Video Ads
Yesterday video ad management provider Adap.tv introduced a "real-time bidding" (RTB) interface for users of its video ad marketplace, which itself was launched this past February. I'm a big believer that innovations in online video
advertising, plus massive online video viewership growth and adoption of convergence devices are together causing big future shifts in brands' ad budgets. RTB is another innovation that over time will help shift budgets. To learn more I spoke to Teg Grenager, Adap.tv's founder and VP of Product last night and have also spent some time reading up on how RTB is working in the display ad sector.
As background, ad exchanges give publishers the ability to expose their content and inventory to interested buyers who can use analytical tools in conjunction to allocate their budgets to better reach their targeted audiences. Exchanges are able to offer more pricing transparency to both publishers and advertisers, with the goal of improving ad performance and ROI. With exchanges, buys are placed in thousands of impressions sizes and in advance, based on anticipated targeting parameters.
As Teg explained, Adap.tv's new RTB feature improves its recently-launched marketplace by allowing ad buying at the impression level with dynamic pricing. The goal is to drive ad effectiveness even higher for advertisers, while still allowing publishers to retain control over their inventory. Teg likened RTB in the marketplace to a next-generation spot market. To use Adap.tv's RTB, the buyer (typically an agency) needs to integrate Adap.tv's API into their own trading desk technology, which as this article suggests are well underway at large firms like Publicis, Havas, The Media Kitchen and others. Once the Adap.tv API is integrated the buyer makes requests to connect with desired publishers for RTB, who in turn can accept or deny access. If accepted the buyer is then able to start bidding on available inventory, alongside other accepted buyers, creating the dynamic pricing environment.
Obviously all of the above is only worthwhile if a large number of publishers are offering inventory to the exchange in the first place and are subsequently willing to allow RTB. Teg said that 700 different properties are currently offering in-stream ad inventory to Adap.tv's marketplace, with hundreds of millions of available in-stream video impressions per month. Though this is only a fraction of the online video market, it seems like a solid start with lots of room to grow ahead. Teg noted that the buy side is in flux, with increasing pressure to be accountable to clients for targeting and ROI (things search marketing has excelled at). RTB caters to these needs.
Longer term the idea of both exchanges and RTB seem like very useful tools to further unlock online video ad spending and shift dollars over from TV. Still, with estimated total online video ad revenue around $1 billion/year, it is clearly early days for many agencies and brands. Many are still just dipping their toes into online video advertising to learn how it performs and will not yet be ready for such hands-on granular bidding. But as these brands and their agencies get more sophisticated, and for others who are already deeply immersed in the market, the idea of a robust ad exchange with RTB will likely be intriguing.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).Categories: Advertising, Technology
Topics: Adap.TV
VideoNuze Report Podcast #59 - April 30, 2010
Daisy Whitney and I are pleased to present the 59th edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for April 30, 2010.
In today's podcast Daisy and I discuss Tremor Media's new $40 million round led by DFJ Growth, announced earlier this week, and about broader investment trends in the online video and advanced advertising space. As I wrote a few weeks ago, money continues to pour into online video companies, and in today's podcast we talk about the key reasons why. Listen in to learn more!
Click here to listen to the podcast (13 minutes, 13 seconds)
Click here for previous podcasts
The VideoNuze Report is available in iTunes...subscribe today!Categories: Advertising, Deals & Financings, Podcasts
Topics: Podcast, Tremor Media
Tremor Media Raises $40 Million; Biggest Recent Deal in Online Video Sector
This morning the online video ad network and management company Tremor Media is announcing a monster $40 million financing, bringing total capital in Tremor to $82 million. I've been tracking venture capital investments in the
online and mobile video sector for the past 5 quarters and I believe this is the largest recent private company deal yet (I think the only one bigger is Ustream's $75 million deal last quarter, but only $20 million was upfront). Draper Fisher Jurveston Growth Fund is leading the new round, with participation from existing investors. Last night I talked to Jason Glickman, Tremor's CEO and exchanged emails with Randy Glein, managing director at DFJ Growth to learn more.
Jason explained that since Tremor raised $20 million last year and turned profitable, it actually didn't need the money. However, the team believes that online video advertising is at an inflection point and so the decision to really step up and "go for it" as Jason said. Primarily, that means adding more features for publishers and advertisers and enhancing the Acudeo management platform. It also means pursuing a 3 screen strategy to encompass mobile and TV platforms.
Randy said that DFJ has known Tremor for over 2 years and is motivated by the transformation underway in the advertising industry, driven by exploding online video usage to both computers and other connected devices. The shift in ad spending from traditional TV to online video is just beginning, and Randy sees Tremor - with its huge network and ad management platform - as being positioned right in the middle of all this change.
Jason further explained that the company now has the scale to attract 6 and 7-figure campaigns from brands that are increasingly drawn to the online video medium. Key challenges going forward include proving brands with the data that their online campaigns not only reach their intended targets, but also provide required brand lift and ROI. In particular, Jason said Tremor's ability to optimize against certain audiences or by metrics objectives is an important part of its success.
At VideoSchmooze on Monday night there was considerable discussion around hybrid pay/ad-supported models for premium video content. Clearly, if a content provider can garner consumer payments they should. However, the new Tremor financing is further evidence to me of the innovation and excitement around online video advertising that will make it far more valuable than TV advertising ever was. As brands come to recognize online video advertising's value proposition I see monetization per viewer (or whatever other metric of advertising success that's preferred) going up over time.
(Separate, note also that online video management provider KIT Digital yesterday also completed what is probably the largest public company financing in the online video sector - raising $55 million from the sale of over 4.2 million shares.)
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).
Categories: Advertising, Deals & Financings
Topics: KIT Digital, Tremor Media
FreeWheel Raises $16.8 Million; Steamboat is Lead Investor
Video ad management provider FreeWheel just announced a new $16.8 million financing, led by Steamboat Ventures, which is affiliated with Disney, with
participation from existing investors Turner Broadcasting System, Battery Ventures and Foundation Capital. It's another big win for FreeWheel is which is the clear leader in ad management in the syndicated video economy.
Doug Knopper and Jon Heller, co-CEOs, who are 2 of FreeWheel's 3 co-founders will be at VideoSchmooze tonight, along with many other from their team. Join us!Categories: Advertising, Deals & Financings
Topics: FreeWheel, Steamboat Ventures
Discovery and PointRoll Combine Editorial and Ads in "Dig@torial" In-Banner Video Unit
A new ad unit announced by Discovery and PointRoll and called "Dig@torial" (pronounced "digitorial") caught my attention a few weeks ago, and I've been meaning to write about it since. The unit intrigued me because it dynamically leverages Discovery's video library to enhance an advertiser's message in an easy-to-navigate rich media banner. I hadn't seen anything quite like it before and believe it is yet another indicator of how content and ads are blurring into one seamless experience.
To learn more, I talked to Michael Aronowitz, VP of Channel Development at PointRoll, which is owned by Gannett, and Brent Spitzer, VP and Leigh Solomon, Manager of Activation, both at Discovery Digital Media Advertising Sales.
PointRoll worked with Discovery to build a shell in the requested leaderboard and 160x600 skyscraper formats. In these examples 50% of the space promotes Montana Office of Tourism specifically and the other 50% offers opportunities to engage with Discovery content. When you roll over the ad it unfolds to show a mosaic of photos to look at in the Montana space (plus a link to visit www.visitmt.com), and a choice of relevant articles and videos from Discovery's library in its space. A video begins playing in-banner automatically with 4 thumbnails exposed below, plus a link to view more on a customized landing page. The videos play with a 10 second pre-roll for Montana that is frequency-capped.
Brent and Leigh explained that with the Dig@torial, Discovery works collaboratively with its advertising clients to select the most relevant content to incorporate into the ads. Discovery's team combs through its archive of video clips and proposes a playlist to the client. If the client has its own video that can be incorporated too. The video is fed dynamically into the Dig@torial unit, so it can be updated at any time. The key to making all this possible for Discovery is that it owns all of its programs, so it has a free hand to carve them up and integrate them into ads like these.
It's still early for the Dig@torial unit, but it appears to be succeeding. Michael said that the benchmark "interaction rate" for the PointRoll network (which is the first time someone interacts with a PointRoll ad) over the last 1 1/4 years is 6.4% with a 14 second engagement time. The Dig@torial press release says that regular rich media ads on Discovery's sites exceed the PointRoll benchmark by 70% and that the Dig@torial ads provide another 50% lift. That would imply an approximately 16% interaction rate and 36 second engagement time, both of which are very strong. Attesting to the Dig@torial's appeal, Brent and Leigh said that Dig@torial campaigns for 8 other clients have also recently launched or are being launched (I combed through Discovery's sites, but wasn't able to find them though).
Brands and sites are perpetually trying to identify ways to increase user engagement and conversion. By blending client messages with relevant and strongly branded content, the Dig@torial unit is breaking new ground in delivering value to all parties. It's also a reminder that for content providers, it's worth trying to secure re-use rights to programming and then archiving and tagging them for subsequent retrieval. Dig@torial is showing that content's value can extend well beyond its initial airing.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).Categories: Advertising, Cable Networks
NDS Leads $20 Million Investment in BlackArrow for Advanced Advertising
Amid all the coverage that online video advertising receives, it's also important to remember that advanced advertising in on-demand and pre-recorded TV continues to evolve. News today that NDS, one of the largest technology providers to multichannel video programming distributors
("MVPDs") is leading a $20 million Series C round in BlackArrow, a provider of advanced advertising solutions, is a reminder of progress. Last week I spoke to Todd Narwid, VP of New Media for NDS and Dean Denhart, BlackArrow's CEO, to learn more about the deal.
To put the deal and its upside in context, it's important to first understand there's a big difference between how online video advertising against free streams in the open Internet works vs. how advertising against VOD and DVR programs in paid, subscription-based services run by MVPDs works. In the Internet world, there are pretty well-established standards, allowing significant interoperability among sites and ad servers. While measurement challenges persist, the act of getting video ads inserted where they're supposed to be is now pretty straightforward.
Conversely, in the MVPD world, the first challenge is just getting ad serving systems approved and deployed. Because ads are served from within the MVPD's own infrastructure, new ad servers must be tested and integrated with existing video delivery infrastructure residing in distribution centers often called "headends" in the cable world. Unlike MVPDs' broadband deployments, much of MVPDs' TV delivery architecture pre-dates the Internet and therefore is heterogeneous and often difficult to integrate with. In addition, there are the tens of millions of deployed set-top boxes which also differ in their capabilities and openness. MVPDs have made significant progress in creating their own standards and in deploying advanced services, but as anyone who's ever tried to implement any kind of advanced service in the MVPD world can attest, it's hard work and has ground down many promising technology start-ups.
When I first wrote about BlackArrow, on its launch in Oct, '07, I liked its vision of delivering advanced advertising in VOD and DVR programs, but I noted the above challenges gave it a steep hill to climb. Since then, BlackArrow has made progress, deploying with Comcast in Jacksonville, FL and with other operators (though Dean isn't able to mention them due to MVPD restrictions). Still, MVPDs have so many priorities and their resources for testing and integrating new technology are limited. Further, there's a lingering sentiment that MVPDs have only made a half-hearted attempt to really monetize VOD and DVR.
Given these circumstance, the NDS deal appears to offer BlackArrow a lot of
upside. As one of the largest technology providers to MVPDs globally ("conditional access" systems that provide secure MVPD video delivery are its main product line, among others), NDS immediately gives BlackArrow both credibility and significantly improved sales and support reach, particularly outside North America. The companies also announced a joint solution offering, which will be key to realizing actual sales Importantly, NDS gives BlackArrow improved financial footing for what promises to be a very long-term process of deploying advanced advertising by MVPDs. Conversely, for NDS, as Todd explained, BlackArrow provides the monetization piece of the puzzle that MVPDs need to create business cases to help them justify NDS's advanced technology delivery systems.
For MVPDs, who are witnessing the rapid adoption of online video and the threat of cord-cutting down the road, it is essential to be able to offer subscribers more flexible viewing options like VOD and DVR and to give their content partners opportunities to effectively monetize these views. This has been the Achilles heel of VOD and DVR to date, and the scarcity of ad-supported programs in VOD (particularly relative to what's available online) is a direct reflection of this.
Going forward, the challenge for MVPDs will only intensify as content providers face escalating choices about where to optimally monetize their programming. This is where BlackArrow fits in. Plus the company has always had a multi-platform vision, so once it's enabled for TV and DVR, BlackArrow could also provide a pathway to online monetization, which given MVPDs' TV Everywhere initiatives, is also a growing priority.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).
Categories: Advertising, Cable TV Operators, Deals & Financings, DVR, Satellite, Technology, Telcos, Video On Demand
Topics: BlackArrow, Comcast, NDS
VideoNuze Report Podcast #56 - April 9, 2010
Daisy Whitney and I are pleased to present the 56th edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for April 9, 2010.
First up this week, Daisy gives us an update on increasing ad loads in TV programs distributed online, building on our discussion from last week. Daisy reports on an interview she did with Mark Garner, SVP of Business Development at A&E Television Networks. AETN has found that in their TV Everywhere trials, when they increased ad loads by 20%, the rate at which people watch the programs all the way to the end was unchanged.
Research continues to build that incremental increases in ads doesn't harm viewership, but enhances monetization. Daisy concludes that AETN's experience is yet more evidence that soon enough more ads in online programs will be pervasive. Separate, Daisy previews an article she's writing about ad verification and how it figures in to the online video space.
Then I add some further color to my post from earlier this week in which I tallied up Q1 '10 financings for private video companies to at least $277.4 million. It was another stellar quarter for video companies, despite the fact that credit markets are still tight. Listen in to learn more.
Click here to listen to the podcast (13 minutes, 44 seconds)
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The VideoNuze Report is available in iTunes...subscribe today!Categories: Advertising, Deals & Financings, Podcasts
Topics: AETN
VideoNuze Report Podcast #55 - April 2, 2010
Daisy Whitney and I are pleased to present the 55th edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for April 2, 2010.
This week Daisy and I first discuss my post from this past Monday, "New comScore Research Available; More Ads Tolerable in Online TV Programs" (the post also includes a link for a complimentary download of the research presentation). Among other things the research concludes is that viewers of online-delivered TV programs could tolerate 6-7 minutes of ads which is approximately double the typical current ad load.
I have argued for some time that the ad load in online programs is way too light and that it was jeopardizing the broadcast networks' P&Ls, particularly as convergence devices allow online video viewing directly on TVs. Coincidentally, this week the CW Network announced that it would double its ad load next TV season. And Hulu, though announcing this week that it has been profitable for the past 2 quarters, is under continued pressure by its content partners to increase its ad load to generate more revenue (recall that Hulu recently blocked the new Kylo browser, which I asserted was due to concern about cannibalizing audience and ad dollars from on-air).
Daisy then tells us more about "hot-spotting," which is the ability to click on an item in an online video and learn more about it and possibly purchase. Hot-spotting has become very hot (no pun), with multiple companies now offering technology that appears to be yielding significant results. Daisy reports that ConciseClick, ClickThrough and VideoClix are among the leaders and she provides some interesting stats on their performance. Listen in to learn more.
Click here to listen to the podcast (14 minutes, 45 seconds)
Click here for previous podcasts
The VideoNuze Report is available in iTunes...subscribe today!Categories: Advertising, Podcasts
Topics: ClickThrough, comScore, ConciseClick, CW, Hulu, VideoClix
New comScore Research Available: More Ads Tolerable in Online TV Programs
An article I read last week in Mediaweek about new comScore research which concluded more ads are tolerable in online-delivered TV programs really intrigued me. The research was presented by Tania Yuki, comScore's director of cross media and video products at an Advertising Research Foundation meeting. I called Tania to follow up and learn more about the data. Today I'm pleased to share her presentation with the research findings as a complimentary PDF download. Outside of the ARF meeting, this is the first time this data has been made available.
Click here to download the research presentation
As VideoNuze readers know, I've been a proponent of increasing the number of ads in online TV shows, in order to improve their economics. Note, I'm not advocating a jump to 18-20 minutes of ads typically found in on-air distribution that would likely turn users off. But I do believe that the current
model of 3-4 minutes of ads in premium network programs is way too light, and that viewers will tolerate more without any drop-off in usage, particularly if the ads are well-targeted and engaging. ABC has told me in the past that research it conducted when it experimented with doubling its ad load corroborated this point, just as the comScore research now does as well. Just last week the CW announced it would double the number of ads in its online-delivered programs.
Increasing the number of ads - and thereby strengthening the economic model for online-delivered TV - is critical for the industry to succeed long-term. The current lack of economic parity between online and on-air is gaining urgency; just last week when Hulu blocked access to its content via the new Kylo browser (meant for on-TV browsing), we were reminded of the absurd lengths to which the popular site will go to prevent its viewership from migrating to TVs. This is because Hulu was conceived as an online-only augment. Given its lack of economic parity with on-air (or with DVR viewing, as ABC.com is now achieving), Hulu on TV would undermine its owners' P&Ls.
The new comScore research concludes that viewers will tolerate 6-7 minutes of "total advertising time" during online-delivered TV programs. And note that this response reflects expectations of conventional advertising. I think it's quite possible that if respondents had been shown the kinds of targeted, entertaining and interactive video ads that blip.TV and others are now offering, they would have said their tolerance would be even higher. Providing further comfort that more ads are reasonable, when asked about the most important reasons for watching TV online, the answers were first, "Missed an episode on TV" (71%) and second, "Convenience" (57%). A distant third was "Less ads" (38%). Ad avoidance is important to online viewers, but it isn't their sole motivator.
The comScore research further underscores the growing importance of online, particularly in terms of raising programs' visibility and sampling. For example, for people who watch both on TV and online, an "online video site" (28%) is already the third most-cited way of discovering new TV shows, following "TV advertising" (59%) and "Friend/family member recommendation" (44%). Related, 28% said that they believed that if they hadn't been made aware of their favorite program online first, they probably wouldn't have discovered it on TV, and therefore would have missed the show entirely. Across all respondents, 20% of shows watched regularly had been watched first online.
As Tania reminded me, TV is still by far the dominant platform for viewing TV programs and that it's important to remember that online-only viewing is nascent. ComScore's research found that only 6% of respondents tune-in online only, though another 29% view both online and on-air. The key for me is looking toward the future. When the 6% of online-only viewers is broken down by age groups, about 75% are between 18-34. And if my 8 and 10-year old kids are any example, no doubt that those under 18 are only going to be even more avid online video viewers. In order for the TV industry to succeed in the future, it is essential that the business models to sustain online viewing be figured out pronto.
For this research, comScore which surveyed 1,825 people from its U.S.-only panel, weighted to match the total online population in age, income and gender. The research was conducted between Dec. 30, 2009 and Jan. 22, 2010. It was not sponsored by any third-party.
A reminder that if you're keen on this topic, join us for the complimentary April 8th webinar, "Demystifying Free vs. Paid Online Video" and then at the April 26th VideoSchmooze in NYC, where our panel topic is "Money Talks: Is Online Video Shifting toe the Paid Model?" (early bird tickets now available).
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).
Categories: Advertising, Broadcasters
VideoNuze Report Podcast #52 - March 5, 2010
Daisy Whitney and I are pleased to present the 52nd edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for March 5, 2010.
First up this week I discuss my post from this past Monday, "ABC.com is Now Achieving 'DVR Economics' for Its Programs," in which I described how ABC is now generating roughly the same revenue per program per viewer in online as it is when its programs are watched in DVR playback mode. Albert Cheng, EVP of Digital Media at Disney-ABC had explained to me last week that ABC recently concluded that since online and DVR are both "catch-up" opportunities, it was more appropriate to compare them to each other than to on-air.
Key to this logic is that ABC maintains a release window for its programs, with them being posted on the site 4-6 hours after broadcast. As a result, people who really want to see the program when it's first available still watch on-air (and may in fact re-watch online or via DVR). As long as there's an audience for broadcast, and online doesn't cannibalize it, the logic makes sense to me. Albert also explained that there's further upside in online through increasing the ad load, which is something ABC has experimented with.
Daisy picks up on that point, noting that CBS's Anthony Soohoo told her in an interview for Beet.tv that CBS is considering moving to a full ad load online because the online and on-air experience are converging, which suggests to them that viewers would tolerate more ads. We dig into the interplay between online and DVR usage, which I think is increasingly going to be a key focus for networks in how they choose to monetize online viewing.
Wrapping up, we review what some of the social media "listening" sites that are tracking the Oscar predictions are saying. Daisy appears officially addicted to following the online chatter.
Click here to listen to the podcast (14 minutes, 41 seconds)
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The VideoNuze Report is available in iTunes...subscribe today!
Categories: Advertising, Broadcasters, FIlms, Podcasts
ABC.com is Now Achieving "DVR Economics" for Its Programs
Last week while I was in LA I had a chance to sit down for an extended chat with Albert Cheng, EVP of Digital Media for Disney-ABC Television. Aside from general catch-up, I wanted to dig into a comment I'd heard Albert make at the recent NATPE conference - that full-length programs on ABC.com are now achieving "DVR economics."
The comment caught my attention because, as I've written a number of times, I've been concerned that the broadcast networks' streaming initiatives (and Hulu specifically) could be undermining their traditional business models. The main reason for this is that the ad load in streaming programs is a small fraction vs. what it is in on-air. If all online viewing is incremental to on-air that wouldn't matter. But despite certain research that suggests online doesn't cannibalize on-air, for some viewers who have long since transitioned to time-shifted consumption, it surely does. More importantly, as convergence devices that link broadband to TVs gain penetration, the choice for viewers of how to watch a particular program - via online or via on-air - gets even more pronounced, putting further pressure on on-air.
Albert explained that ABC has been closely following the economics of programs' different viewing methods and recently concluded that it was more appropriate to compare online's economics to DVR's economics
than to on-air's. Their reasoning is that because online is a "catch-up" medium it should be weighed against other comparable opportunities, not against on-air. Importantly, ABC "windows" the online release of its programs by 4-6 hours, so that hard-core fans who have to watch immediately will skew to on-air, rather than waiting. (Of course the question arises - in our increasingly on-demand, time-shifted world, how sizable is the "must-see" audience for all but the most popular programs like "Lost?" But that's a question for another day.)When looked at this way, ABC believes online delivery compares favorably to DVR. No surprise, Albert would not disclose ABC's revenues or research, but he did give me a wink-and-a-nod when I shared my estimate that the on-air revenue per program per viewer is in the $.50-$.75 range (of course specific programs and specific episodes are above and below this range). To be clear, this only means the revenue generated is in this range. Because of bathroom breaks, channel flipping, viewers chit-chatting, etc. obviously not all of the ads are actually viewed.
Estimating the revenue per program per viewer range for DVR playback, given its attendant ad-skipping, is more complicated. Ad-skipping is surely high, but it's unclear exactly how high. For example, last Nov, the NY Times reported Nielsen research that somewhat remarkably showed that 46% of viewers age 18-49 still watched a program's commercials when in DVR playback mode. A different story is told by TiVo, which released data last Sept saying that for the programs that won the top Emmy awards, somewhere between 55-83% of the audience viewing these programs in DVR mode skipped the ads.
Just to round off, if we say that 60% of the ads in DVR playback are skipped, then DVR economics - and therefore ABC.com's economics - are in the $.20-$.30 range on a per program per viewer basis (i.e. 40% of $.50-$.75). Even on the low side of that range, that's better than my previous estimate of $.15 per program per viewer for Hulu in particular (which in reality was probably a little high anyway).
Further, Albert said that there's plenty of room for improving online's economics. One key focus is increasing the ad load, possibly to as much as double the current 5 ads per program. ABC.com has experimented with this and its research shows that neither the viewer nor the advertiser experience is diminished. As a result, ABC is inclined to increase the ad load to continue improving online economics further, but is somewhat constrained by advertisers' desire to minimize clutter and their own desire to remain consistent with non-ABC sites' ad loads.
Online distribution of full-length programs is still in its relative infancy. Yet as consumers hunger for it, broadcast networks have little choice but to provide it. The key is how to make this new delivery method profitable and also not harmful to the traditional network P&L. The use of windows for example, seems like an effective tactic insofar as there exists an audience intent on watching a program the moment it's shown on-air. Based on last week's conversation with Albert, along with prior ones, it seems like ABC is balancing things well - taking steps to pursue online, but doing so in a well-researched and analytically sound manner.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).
Categories: Advertising, Broadcasters
VideoNuze Report Podcast #50 - February 19, 2010
Daisy Whitney and I are pleased to present the 50th (woohoo!) edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for February 19, 2010.
This week Daisy first walks us through a piece she's writing for AdAge focused on viral video. In reviewing data on which videos have broken out online, Daisy concludes that invariably they are also supported by related advertising. In other words, viral video isn't accidental any more (if it ever was) - now it must be stoked by paid support. An example Daisy provides is for Evian's "Live Young" babies ad which has been seen online 76 million times. Evian initially promoted the ad with YouTube takeover ads. Daisy also discusses the online performance of Super Bowl ads based on Visible Measures' new Trends application, which shows a big disparity between ads that were viewed heavily online vs. rated highly when seen on TV.
Then we discuss my post, "In Trying to Preserve DVD Sales, Studios are in a Tight Spot," in which I described the lengths to which Hollywood studios are going to squeeze out the last remaining profits from DVD sales. As I explain, while the recession has had a dampening effect on DVD sales, the larger problem is that rather than buying them, increasingly consumers are expecting films to be available for rental or subscription or even for free, with ad support. A number of moves from Disney, Sony and Warner Bros. in the last week underscore the consequences studios face as they try to shore up DVD sales.
Click here to listen to the podcast (14 minutes, 8 seconds)
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Categories: Advertising, FIlms, Studios
Topics: Disney, Podcast, Sony, Visible Measures, Warner Bros.
Panache Unveils "Ad Flow" Tool for Streamlined Fulfillment
Panache has unveiled Ad Flow, a new work flow tool for online video ads intended to streamline the process for publishers adding and approving new video campaigns. I got a short demo of Ad Flow from the Panache team and it looked intuitive and thorough.
According to Panache's EVP Cheryl Kellond, who was formerly a VP of Advertising at Yahoo, ordinarily this process is very manual and is based on home-brewed work flow tools which can result in a lot of emails back
and forth among the publisher's team members. The result is that it can take up to 6 weeks and end up costing 25-40% of the value of the campaign with all the personnel time involved. With these delays, Cheryl said Yahoo sometimes had to turn business away because they couldn't process the ads quickly enough.Though I've never personally been involved in this type of process at a major publisher, I have a glimpse into how complicated it must be from my own experience with VideoNuze's ads. First I receive sponsors' creative which was to have been developed according to published specs. Then I load the ads into my ad system and test them along a number of different dimensions. For one reason or another, frequently there are 1-2 rounds of revisions before they finally go live.
Even for a relatively simple site like VideoNuze which accepts Flash ads, though not video ads, there are a number of things that can cause deviations, resulting in delays for the campaign's start date. Mind you I'm not complaining, I've just come to understand that all of this is part of being in an ad-supported business.
With Ad Flow, the publisher's ad sales, ad product strategy, operations and creative teams can all monitor the step-by-step progress of new campaigns from initially being loaded through testing and to final approval. Rather than using email to monitor progress, everyone gets access to the tool for their specific tasks. Importantly, testing can be in the publisher's video player offline, which has been hard in the past. Ad Flow is another element in online video's foundation which will reduce the friction involved in getting ads live so that more TV ad budgets can be shifted to online video.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required)
Categories: Advertising, Technology
Topics: Panache
New "Trends" Application from Visible Measures is Invaluable - and Addictive
Visible Measures, the third-party measurement firm for online video, is taking the wraps off its new "Trends" web-based application this morning. I've been playing around with it for the last couple of days with a courtesy login and not only does it pack a ton of value, it's also really addictive.
Trends offers access to videos in 3 different data sets, or "collections": Social Video (currently 165 online ad campaigns that have gone viral), Film Trailers (currently 115, and growing by 3-4 per week), and all the recent 2010 Super Bowl ads. The results table for a query displays the campaign's thumbnail image and its name, along with its views or "reach" based on Visible Measures' "True Reach" data (either incremental or cumulative) plus the number of comments, ratings and points of distribution. The table also displays each ad's industry categorization, ad agency, brand name and type of creative type (humor, contest, product demo, etc.). Viewing any particular ad is also just one click away.
Users can take advantage of Trends in any number of ways, depending on their particular interest. As one example, I started by choosing the Social Video collection and "Cumulative Reach" for the current time period. I was interested to see just campaigns for beverages, so I chose that category, but allowed all agencies, brands and creative types to be displayed. In an instant I was presented with a table of 20 results on 2 pages, starting with Evian's hilarious "Live Young" campaign featuring the dancing babies that has garnered almost 74 million views to date. After looking it over, I also reviewed the other campaigns in the top 5, from Pepsi, AMP and Anheuser-Busch. Click on the image below if you'd like to see a 4 minute video demo.
In the social and online video-dominated world we now live in, Trends data is invaluable for brand advertisers and their agencies. It allows them to customize their views of the database, compare different campaigns and analyze what worked online and what didn't. Online distribution is now a key part of calculating the ROI on a campaign, so being able to benchmark the performance of past campaigns provides insight not normally available in traditional TV advertising.
For example, say an agency is formulating a plan for its client's new shampoo - Trends lets its creative executives understand whether prior campaigns featuring product demos, humor or celebrities worked best online. A few quick queries will yield data that can be exported to create charts and graphs for everyone on the team to review. Of course past experience can perfectly predict the future, but Trends provides hard data that lets the creative discussion quickly move beyond gut instinct.
The Visible Measures team told me last week that they've been gradually exposing more and more of their data, through top 10 lists with media partners like AdAge, Variety, Mashable and Motor Trend. With Trends, the data is even more accessible. Visible Measure is also making a public beta of Trends available, though just for the Social Video collection. It's free and it's fun - I recommend giving it a try.
What do you think? Post a comment now (now sign-in required).
Note - Visible Measures is a VideoNuze sponsor.
Categories: Advertising, Analytics, FIlms
Topics: Visible Measures
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