VideoNuze Posts

This week, Avail-TVN made a big splash at the Cable Show, announcing a $100 million financing from The Carlyle Group and the acquisition of the UK-based On Demand Group. As CEO Ramu Potarazu tells me in this interview, Avail-TVN isn't a household name, but it has become one of the most important players in distributing digital video globally. Ramu describes how complex the landscape has become for both content providers and service providers on the other and what roles Avail-TV has in the digital video value chain. He also touches on the disruption that is coming to the digital video advertising space due to dynamic insertion. Watch the video (8 minutes, 35 seconds).

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Early-bird discounted registration for the VideoNuze 2012 Online Video Advertising Summit on Tues, June 19th in NYC ends this FRIDAY, so if you've been on the fence, now's the time to pull the trigger and save money. Note also that for startups and students, there's a special $200 value ticket to make the event more affordable. Contact me for the discount code.

The event is shaping up to be a must-attend for executives at content providers, advertisers, agencies, technology providers and other ecosystem participants. Like last year's ELEVATE event (which this Summit replaces), the day will be extremely focused, and provide critical learning and networking opportunities. As I've often said, the vast majority of online video being created is ad-supported, so it is critical that the model work for everyone.

We have an exciting array of presentations, fireside chats, panel discussions and case studies featuring leaders from 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, Hill Holliday and many more.

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!

Yesterday at the Cable Show in Boston, I interviewed David Preschlack, who is EVP of Affiliate Sales and Marketing for Disney/ESPN Media Networks, and one of the company's point people on its WatchESPN TV Everywhere efforts. As you'll see, David is very bullish on TV Everywhere, calling it the pay-TV industry's "most strategic initiative."

WatchESPN is now available to 40 million U.S. homes, with 8 million downloads to date. David sees customer education as a critical step to broadening its adoption. One key improvement for WatchESPN has been reducing the authentication process from 14 steps 2 1/2 years ago to just 3 steps today. As David explains, the company has also gotten more adept at messaging throughout the process, to help engender subscriber trust. Coming next is WatchDisney, which will offer the company's kids programming on multiple devices for linear and on-demand viewing. Watch the video (8 minutes, 54 seconds).

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I've often said that there is no single industry more impacted - one way or another - by the rise of online video than the cable TV industry, including both operators (e.g. Comcast, Time Warner Cable, etc.) and programmers (e.g. Disney, Viacom, etc.). While some see massive disruption ahead for cable, in the form of rampant cord-cutting, others see an industry that has covered all the angles and is well-positioned for ongoing success regardless of which way consumer and technology winds blow.

What is for sure is that cable is in the middle of the action in every possible way when it comes to online video - from providing broadband service to tens of millions of viewers that enables online video consumption, to deriving billions of dollars of multichannel subscription fees that many OTT companies are so eager to disrupt, to supplying the popular programs that have powered the rise of services like Netflix.

This week, as the industry gathers for its annual Cable Show, here is my perspective on the industry's top 3 opportunities and challenges due to the rise of online video:

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I'm pleased to be joined once again by Colin Dixon, senior partner at The Diffusion Group, for the 133rd edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for May 18, 2012. This week's topic: Dish Network's new "Auto Hop" feature, which automatically skips ads in DVR-recorded broadcast TV.

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It's no secret that with consumer behavior fragmenting over different video sources and media-related activities, advertisers are having a tougher time than ever reaching their targeted audiences. Especially elusive are younger, lighter TV viewers. No surprise, these lighter viewers skew younger with about 31% of 18-49 age group in the category. They're also choice targets for advertisers: they're wealthier, more educated and more diverse.

To help prove the efficacy of online video advertising as a method for reaching these viewers, yesterday Google/YouTube and Nielsen released new research demonstrating that lighter TV viewers (who average 39 minutes per/day) are more effectively and cost-efficiently reached with online video advertising that compliments traditional TV advertising.

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At the recent NABShow, Craig Heiting, VP/GM, Media and Entertainment for Market7, stopped by for a brief video interview. Market7 offers group collaboration software for video pre and post-production, streamlining the work flow for video projects. The process starts with one team member uploading the video, with other members then alerted to the video's availability. They key is they don't need to actually download the large video files in order to begin collaborating. Craig talks about how actress Dyan Cannon is using Market7 for her new production, "Get Your Luv On" as well as other customers. Watch the video below (3 minutes, 40 seconds).

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The nascent market for second screen TV apps on mobile devices - whether from pay-TV operators, content providers, CE/SmartTV manufacturers or social media/discovery startups - is poised to accelerate due to a deal announced yesterday between Tribune Media Services (TMS) and Digitalsmiths. That's because TMS, which is the largest provider of metadata about TV shows and movies will now use Digitalsmiths' Seamless Discovery platform to offer 20 different APIs allowing app developers far easier access to the data than ever before.

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