Posts for 'JW Player'

  • Inside the Stream Podcast: Interview with JW Player’s CEO and Co-Founder Dave Otten

    Welcome to this week’s edition of Inside the Stream, the podcast where nScreenMedia’s Chief Analyst Colin Dixon and I take listeners inside the world of streaming video.

    Yesterday, JW Player announced a $100 million financing from LLR Partners. On this week’s podcast, we’re privileged to have JW’s CEO and co-founder Dave Otten joins us as a guest for a wide-ranging discussion.

    Dave provides an update on JW and its competitive differentiators including its ease of deployment and focus on the “monetization layer” (i.e. helping its publishing partners drive revenue from their video assets). Importantly, Dave dives deeply into JW’s data strategy, and how being the video player for such a massive range of publishers gives it critical insights into usage and provides contextual data that can then be leveraged for improved monetization. Dave also gets into why he’s bullish on live, subscription-based models, connected TV, where the industry is heading and much more.

    Dave explains the new financing round and how JW decided to go this route instead of doing a SPAC/IPO which are both very popular (just yesterday Innovid and Buzzfeed announced SPAC deals, here and here).  

    It’s a fascinating interview, which I highly recommend for anyone interested especially in the role of data, and what’s ahead for the video industry.

    Listen to the podcast (31 minutes, 8 seconds)




    Browse all previous podcasts

    Subscribe to Inside the Stream
    Apple Podcasts  Google Podcasts  Spotify  Amazon Music  RSS


    Note I’ll continue to publish Inside the Stream in the prior feed

     
  • JW Player and SpotX Streamline Header Bidding to Spur Video Ad Monetization

    JW Player and SpotX recently announced a new header bidding solution to drive improved video ad monetization across JW’s huge base of content publishers. Dubbed “Video Player Bidding,” the solution is meant to radically simplify and accelerate JW publishers’ implementation of header bidding, while exposing their inventory to SpotX’s deep pool of demand sources. I caught up with JW’s co-founder and SVP, Strategic Partnerships Brian Rifkin and SpotX’s CRO Sean Buckley, to learn more.

    For those not familiar, header bidding is a way for publishers to increase yield on their ad inventory, by simultaneously accepting bids from various demand sources, with the highest bid winning. The approach contrasts with the traditional “waterfall” model, whereby bids are sequentially evaluated. As programmatic buying has gained in display ads, header bidding has become widely used.

    continue reading

     
  • Data, Monetization, and Viewership Trends Across the Video Landscape

    
Speed and growth. Two themes that publishers leveraging video really care about. In 2017, so far, publishers are using more sophisticated tools to measure, automate, and improve processes. In fact, using data and automation for video to drive larger, more engaged audiences and more effective monetization, is more important than ever.

    However, buzzwords don’t push the needle. Driving video business in the real world comes with a host of challenges, and fragmented efforts often tamp down any real growth.

    continue reading

  • JW Player Introduces Live Streaming Service, Aiming for Simplicity

    Aiming for simplicity, popular online video platform provider JW Player has introduced JW Live, a cloud-based, live streaming service for content providers. JW Live is meant to be an out of the box service that is integrated with the JW player and platform, enabling content providers to easily power up live streams for their audiences.

    JW Live is the latest effort to popularize live streaming, a category receiving a lot of attention these days, primarily because Facebook is aggressively pursuing it with Facebook Live. JW Live is another example of how technology providers are positioning themselves to assist content providers in powering their own businesses, as opposed to becoming solely reliant on platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat and others which offer large audiences, but risk undermining control over revenue generation and loyalty.

    continue reading

     
  • JW Player Now Supports Virtual Reality and 360-Degree Video

    Popular online video platform JW Player now supports virtual reality and 360-degree video. With over 2 million publishers using its platform, the new capabilities could help further fuel VR and 360-degree video which have become key priorities for large companies including Google, YouTube, Samsung, Facebook and others.

    continue reading

     
  • Unlocking Video’s Value in the OTT Era [AD SUMMIT VIDEO]

    Everyone knows that video viewing is exploding, but for content publishers and creators, figuring out how to monetize all that usage is an ever-present challenge. This question was the focus of our Video Ad Summit session, “Unlocking Video’s Value in the OTT Era,” which included Jarrod Dicker (Head of Ad Product and Technology, Washington Post), Nathan Guetta (VP, Product and Technology, Conde Nast Entertainment), Shaun Koiner (Chief Product Officer, Perform Media), Brian Rifkin (Co-founder and SVP, Video Sales, JW Player) and Mark Yackanich (CEO, Genesis Media), with Tom Herman (CEO, DashBid) moderating.

    The panelists addressed a number of critical issues including how to deliver world-class user experiences that combine both content and advertising, why it’s critical to distribute content to as many places as possible, how to help advertisers capitalize on emerging opportunities like vertical video and other new formats, the role that data is playing in their monetization strategies and what important trends are going to play out over the next year, among other things.

    It’s a dynamic discussion with lots of insights for anyone involved with content creation and monetization.

    Watch the video now (34 minutes, 52 seconds).

    Watch now!

     
  • JW Player Nabs Univision As Enterprise Customers Expand to Almost 600

    JW Player announced yesterday that it has added Univision as a new enterprise customer in the first quarter, a significant win for the company. JW Player’s platform is being used in part to support Univision’s streaming of the high-profile Copa America Centenario matches this month, including on its mobile apps.

    continue reading

     
  • Making Programmatic Payoff in Mobile Video [SHIFT VIDEO]

    As wireless carriers ramp up promotion of unlimited data and video viewing, mobile is poised to account for a bigger share of video viewing. As a result, understanding how mobile video will be fully monetized is becoming a more critical topic. The recent SHIFT // 2015 Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit featured a session on programmatic’s role in mobile video advertising.

    As the panelists explained, programmatic is a really good fit for mobile in a lot of ways, including that mobile generates a lot of actionable data, mobile inventory can be volatile due to unexpected viral hits or weather events rendering traditional upfront sales sub-optimal, and that there’s a long tail of publishers that don’t necessarily have direct sales teams. The session explored all of these topics and others such as the technical challenges of delivering mobile programmatic video campaigns, the impact of VAST 4.0, how data is being used to drive improved campaign results and more.

    The panelists included Jeremy Hlavacek (VP, Programmatic, The Weather Company), Brian Rifkin (Co-founder and SVP, Video Sales, JW Player), Chip Schenck – VP of Programmatic Sales and Strategy, Meredith), Frank Sinton (CEO, Beachfront Media) and Gavin Dunaway (Editor, US, AdMonsters) as moderator.

    Watch the session video now

     
  • JW Player Raises $20 Million to Build Data-Driven “Independent Video Ecosystem”

    Online video platform JW Player announced a $20 million Series D round today from existing investors Greycroft Growth, Greenspring Associates, Cueball Capital and e.ventures. JW Player’s CEO and co-founder Dave Otten told me that with the new round the company has raised a total of $46 million, though approximately $11 million of the Series C round was used to buy out prior shareholders.

    continue reading

     
  • Report: Just 10% of Video Ads Are Mobile-Compatible

    More evidence today that viewers are turning to their mobile devices to watch online video. However, it appears that monetization is lagging.

    A new report from JW Player finds that 36% of viewing is done on mobile devices (30% on smartphones and 6% on tablets). Despite this, JW found that just 10% of video ads are delivered in an HTML5 mobile-compatible format. JW believes the key issue is that 60% of ads are delivered using VPAID, which is Flash-only and not  supported on iOS devices.

    continue reading

     
  • JW Player Makes Its Pro Video Player Free in Pursuit of Expanded Market Share

    In a bid to grow its market share among independent online video publishers, JW Player is announcing this morning that it is making the Pro version of its video player free. Important Pro version features include full control over player branding, 9 pre-built skins, social sharing, related video overlays, 5 GB hosting and 25 GB streaming, analytics and player/platform APIs.

    Over 1 million organizations currently using the free JW version will be upgraded to Pro. The move applies for all new Pro customers. Existing Pro customers will receive a complimentary upgrade to the JW Premium tier.

    continue reading

     
  • The Video Industry Still Needs To Solve The Mobile Challenge

    Despite all the advances in online video in recent years, which have been wide-ranging across technologies, business models and consumption habits, most publishers' approach to mobile video continues to fail. While many feel that 2015 is the year of digital video, the industry won't have truly arrived until we're able to solve our mobile problem, and several other lingering challenges.
     
    These challenges were discussed last month in JW Player's second annual JW INSIGHTS conference, which brought together video experts, influencers and partners from a cross-section of companies including Google, Popsugar and Verizon to discuss the state of the online video industry and the factors that are still holding it back from even greater growth.

    continue reading

  • JW Player Raises Additional $20 Million

    JW Player has raised a $20 million Series C round, led by existing investor Greycroft Capital and Greenspring Associates, with participation from Cueball Capital and e.ventures. The company intends to use the proceeds to drive global growth, expand sales, marketing, product and engineering, and further develop its SAS platform.

    The company said its player delivers almost 5% of all streamed video, with 900 million people per month using JW Player to watch video on over 2 million web and mobile sites. An enterprise side of the business now serves 200 companies in the Fortune 1000. Sample customers include POPSUGAR, Zynga, Fujitsu, Thomson Reuters, Philips and many others.

    continue reading

     
  • JW Player to Support Chromecast, Opening Living Room for Thousands of Content Providers

    The march of content providers into the living room is getting yet another boost as JW Player, whose video solution is used by thousands of content providers, will support Chromecast. JW Player's CEO Dave Otten and creator Jeroen Wijering told me yesterday that the beta is underway with 5 different content providers implementing JW Player with Chromecast support, which will go live over the next several weeks.

    JW Player will support VAST-compliant advertising, so that video ads will be viewable on TVs when playing through Chromecast. As this demo video shows, JW Player has also enhanced its ad implementation by enabling companion banners to appear on the device driving the Chromecast, so users can engage with the advertiser as their video ad plays on the big screen.

    continue reading

     
  • LongTail Video Updates Corporate Name to JW Player

    When your flagship product's name becomes far better known than your company's name, it's likely time for a corporate identity makeover. That's the logic behind LongTail Video's official name change today to "JW Player" as company CEO Dave Otten told me last week. JW Player is the company's hugely successful video player, now used by over 2 million sites. The company has also changed the name of its online video platform, Bits on the Run, to "JW Platform."

    continue reading

     
  • 5 Items of Interest for the Week of Oct. 11th

    Continuing VideoNuze's Friday feature of highlighting 5-6 interesting online/mobile video industry stories that we weren't able to cover this week. Read them now or take them with you this weekend!

    JetBlue Unvails Ads Created By Mullen
    Take a moment to head over to YouTube today where JetBlue has bought out the top-of-page expanding banner for a hilarious new ad campaign, "You Above All," featuring a series of reality-style videos of New Yorkers in situations that mock the JetBlue competitors' service. The clever JetBlue campaign follows the head-turning Sylvester Stallone YouTube ad for "The Expendables" from a couple months ago and underscores the ascendance of YouTube as the #1 piece of online real estate for break-the-mold video campaigns for high-profile brands. Google is capitalizing on YouTube's appeal by featuring it prominently in its current "Watch This Space" ad campaign promoting the value of display advertising.

    Google TV Guns for Cable Deals
    And speaking of Google, with the recent introduction of Google TV, the company is reaching out to cable operators to ink integration deals similar to what it showcased with satellite operator Dish TV last week. Google TV offers tantalizing potential, particularly to smaller operators, to add Internet elements to their core video service, helping better compete with over-the-top entrants like Netflix. Conversely, as we saw this week with the funding/public launch of BNI Video (and in a series of separate product announcements coming next week), technology vendors are lining up to offer cable operators the ability to deliver their own Internet experiences. It's a very confusing time for cable operators, who must figure out whether to go it alone and invest heavily, or partner with a tech giant like Google.

    comScore Releases September 2010 U.S. Online Video Rankings
    comScore's video rankings for September yielded no big surprises, as Google/YouTube continued to be the dominant online video provider and Yahoo narrowly retook the #2 spot from Facebook. comScore changed the way it publicly reports its data this past June which has made it a little harder on independent analysts like me to show trending data as I used to do. Nonetheless, I'm hoping to have some new trending charts to share soon.

    Blip.tv Predicts Best Quarter Yet for Web Creators
    More encouraging news on the online video ad front, as video platform/distributor blip.tv said this week that Q4 '10 is on track to be its best quarter ever. Blip has been a very important player in bringing independent web series to market and its ability to monetize is a key driver of sustainability for many fledgling creators. Blip's news synchs with overall online video ad momentum in first half '10.

    Introducing the JW Player for Flash and HTML5
    Last month I wrote about how the open source JW Player is receiving 15K downloads per day. This week version 5.3 of the JW Player was released which integrates Flash and HTML5 into a single video player, using a unified JavaScript API. What that means is that anyone embedding the new player can seamlessly deliver either Flash or HTML5 video with the browser auto-detecting which playback mode to use. Since browsers and devices are still quite heterogeneous in what formats they support, initiatives like this help reduce friction in publishing and user experience.


     
  • VideoNuze Report Podcast #74 - Sept. 10, 2010

    Daisy Whitney and I are pleased to present the 74th edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for August 27, 2010. We're back after skipping last week due to me taking some time.

    This week Daisy and I further discuss my post from Wednesday about the remarkable growth of the JW Player, an open source video player that is now being downloaded 15,000 times per day according to company CEO Dave Otten. Beyond JW player's success, the larger story is how broadly online video is being adopted. Far beyond the large media companies that are vigorously covered each day, there are thousands of small businesses, enterprises, education, government, non-profit and other entities that are quietly embracing online video. Daisy and I talk about the implications of all this activity.

    Click here to listen to the podcast (15 minutes, 7 seconds)


    Click here for previous podcasts

    The VideoNuze Report is available in iTunes...subscribe today!
     
  • JW Player is Now Downloaded 15,000 Times a Day; Being Positioned as "WordPress for Video"

    Yesterday I had a chance to catch up with Dave Otten, CEO of LongTail Video, who told me that the company's JW Player is now being downloaded 15,000 times a day, and is live on 1.3 million sites globally. Dave estimates that 7-10 billion video streams are consumed via JW Player monthly, a sizable portion of the approximately 90 billion streams he estimates are delivered globally each month.

    If you're not familiar with the JW Player, it is an open source video player that was developed back in 2005 by Jeroen "JW" Wijering and was used by YouTube as its first player. Dave said the player's growth has come purely through viral distribution and he thinks of it as "WordPress for video" (WordPress is the widely-used open source blogging platform). Dave believes JW Player's fast growth reflects the broadening appeal of online video beyond the traditional media industry. Many downloads are for first-time video users looking for an inexpensive solution to get them started (though few have graduated to other players even as their volume has scaled).

    continue reading

     
Previous | Next