VideoNuze Posts

I am super excited to announce two additional fireside chats at the VideoNuze Online Video Advertising Summit on June 19th in NYC - one with News Corp's Chief Digital Officer, Jon Miller, and another with Comcast's SVP/GM, Video Services, Marcien Jenckes. Each plays a key role in driving their respective companies' digital video, advertising and technology strategies.

Jon came to his position at News Corp. (where he serves on Hulu's board) after previously starting a VC fund, serving as AOL's CEO and doing stints at IAC, Viacom and the NBA. Marcien oversees all aspects of Comcast's 20 million subscriber video business including on-demand and its new "X1" video platform which is unifying the entertainment experience across connected devices. Prior to Comcast, Marcien ran the media business at Grab Networks and was a senior executive at AOL.

Both Jon and Marcien are as plugged in as anyone I know and Summit attendees will benefit greatly from their perspectives. Having spent lots of time talking about how the video industry is evolving with both of them, I'm confident they'll be candid and insightful, adding huge value to the Summit program.

Learn more and register now!

At last week's Cable Show, BTIG's media analyst Rich Greenfield and I sat down for a wide-ranging discussion of what's happening in the online video, broadband and pay-TV industries. If you're not familiar with Rich's work, his blog posts (note: registration required) are required reading for anyone in the business. I'm a big fan and always learn something new from them.

In our discussion we talk about a number of topics that Rich has written extensively about: why broadband ISPs should price on speed, not usage, why TV networks should get over it with Dish Network's new Auto Hop feature, why Aereo is so disruptive and yes, legal and why we'll see a "virtual" multichannel distributor emerge soon. Rich also shares thoughts on TV Everywhere's challenges, Disney/ESPN's big out-of-home opportunities, the role of escalating sports rights fees, Apple's plans for a TV, and what's ahead in the video industry. Watch the video (26 minutes, 47 seconds).

Watch the video

Streaming video is awesome, but of course it requires you to have a robust broadband connection. Once you're outside your home or business, that's an iffy proposition. WiFi hotspots aren't always available, and even when they are, they're often over-shared so connection quality is too low for video. Wireless 3G or 4G cards are better, but their relatively low data caps seriously crimps viewing. And if you're on a plane, forget streaming entirely, Gogo doesn't cut it at all.

These real-world mobile limitations mean downloading video in advance, rather than streaming it, is the key to on the go viewing. This has been one of the value props of iTunes, Amazon and other services. But the reality is that lots of great content is already sitting on your DVR (and if you're like me, 30K feet is when I most often actually have time to watch any of it). Further, you've already paid a lot of great content with your pay-TV subscription. The problem is that DVR video has been pretty much locked in your home, without an easy way to take it with you. All of above problems are solved with TiVo's new "Stream" companion device, which TiVo announced last week.

Read more and watch the video

Ooyala's co-founder and president of product, Bismarck Lepe stopped by VideoNuze's NABShow booth last month to discuss the company's recently announced content recommendation engine. Bismarck says that an early deployment is driving up to 4x increase in overall engagement. He cites one broadcaster that is generating an incremental $70K per day just by keeping viewers engaged longer.

Bismarck explains that Ooyala's recommendations are based on behavioral analysis of hundreds of publishers' anonymous viewing data. Recommendations factor in type of device as well, so for example, shorter-form content for smartphones or longer-form for connected TVs. Watch the video below (7 minutes, 59 seconds)

Watch the video

Early-bird discounted registration for the VideoNuze 2012 Online Video Advertising Summit on Tues, June 19th in NYC ends TODAY. If you've been thinking of coming, but haven't signed up yet, save yourself a few bucks by signing up today. If you're a startup or student, save even more with the $200 value ticket (contact me for the discount code).

I'm really excited about how the event has come together and it promises to be a high-impact day of learning and networking for industry participants. There are sessions covering every aspect of the online video and online video advertising ecosystems - content, distribution, creative, measurement, connected devices, best practices, research, etc. Executives from leading companies including CBS Interactive, Discovery, Razorfish, GroupM, Google/YouTube, The Wall Street Journal Digital Network, LG Electronics, Macy's, eMarketer, American Express, Digitas, VivaKi, Adobe, TV Guide, TiVo, Nielsen, Hill Holliday and many others will be sharing their perspectives.

In addition, Jivox is going to raffle an $850 Samsung Smart TV!

The Summit is generously supported by Title sponsors Auditude/Adobe and YuMe along with Adap.tv, Innovid, Collective, Conviva, Eyeview, Mixpo, TubeMogul, VideoHub, Videology and LiveRail.

Save now with early-bird registration!

(Note: The Summit takes the place of last year's ELEVATE event, which drew 400+ attendees.)

I'm pleased to be joined once again by Colin Dixon, senior partner at The Diffusion Group, for the 134th edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for May 25, 2012. This week's topic: Comcast's new "X1" TV platform and experience. Yesterday I posted a video interview I did with Comcast's SVP, Digital and Emerging, Matt Strauss discussing details of X1, and today Colin and I get into the details of what it means for Comcast and for the larger TV industry and future landscape.

Two other quick notes related to prior podcast topics. On last week's podcast we discussed Dish Network's "Auto Hop" ad-skipper and the likely legal backlash from broadcast networks. Sure enough yesterday CBS, Fox and NBCU filed their lawsuits. And back in Feb. we discussed Aereo's disruptive potential. This week the company won a minor battle in its legal wrangling with broadcasters, while looking ahead to a big day in federal court next Wed.

Click here to listen to the podcast (24 minutes, 24 seconds)

Click here for previous podcasts

The VideoNuze Report is available in iTunes...subscribe today!

Comcast made a very big splash at the Cable Show this week, officially announcing "X1" a new web-like TV platform and user experience it has been developing for the past 2 years, along with "Dayview" a console for customers to manage all of their Comcast services.

In this video interview, Matt Strauss, Comcast's SVP, Digital and Emerging Platforms, explains the company's strategy behind these initiatives and why it believes in unification of experiences across devices (TV, online, mobile) is so important. X1 is a major step forward for Comcast as it provides a platform where product/feature cycles are dramatically accelerated from the traditionally cumbersome process of dealing with set-top boxes. X1 is scheduled for release in the Boston area shortly, with a nationwide rollout to follow. As you'll see in the demos, the experience is quite slick and sets a new standard for pay-TV operators.

In the wide-ranging interview, we also discuss how TV Everywhere rollouts are progressing (and the key challenges that persist), Comcast's new C3 measurement project for tablets with Nielsen, how Comcast views the role of programmers' own apps (e.g. HBO GO, WatchESPN) vs. its own XfinityTV app and how it decides which connected devices to support, among other topics. Watch the interview and demo (17 minutes, 22 seconds).

Watch the interview and demo

If you're an agency or advertiser trying to run online video ad campaigns these days, you're encountering a fractured, laborious work flow resulting from the numerous ad technology providers you need to deal with. That's the kind of friction that impedes online video getting its fair share of ad spending. To address this problem, Adap.tv is launching its "App Center" this morning, which centralizes the process for buyers to access multiple ad technologies. Adap.tv co-founder Teg Grenager explained App Center and took me through a demo yesterday.

Read more about App Center