VideoNuze Posts

Here’s another great incentive to register early for SHIFT // 2015 Programmatic Video & TV Advertising Summit on Tuesday, December 1st in NYC: all early bird registrants will be entered to win a 50-inch Sharp Roku TV (value $450), generously provided by Roku. In addition, early bird registrants also save $100 off the regular rates. And remember, startups and students can register for the reduced $195 ticket.

Roku is also on board as a Branding Partner for SHIFT // 2015 and will be demonstrating its product line in the exhibit area. I’m also pleased to announce that TubeMogul has come on as a Premier Partner and Beachfront Media has come on a Headline Partner. There are now 13 sponsors for SHIFT // 2015, including Adobe (Title Partner); Altitude Digital, FreeWheel and Videology (Premier Partners); comScore, Levels Beyond, Ooyala, Operative and SpotX (Headline Partners) and Alphonso (Branding Partner). I’m hugely grateful for their support of the inaugural SHIFT // 2015.

Programmatic video & TV were a recurring theme at many of the sessions I attended at Advertising Week in NYC this week. A lot of the discussion focused on automation and data benefits. Data was a particular focus in light of all the buzz around ad-blocking and the need to make advertising more relevant so that it is more acceptable to viewers. This week Magna Global also released an updated forecast that programmatic will grow from an estimated 26% of global desktop and mobile video in 2015, to 55% by 2019.

Keep an eye on the SHIFT // 2015 web site for more updates on the program and initial group of speakers. SHIFT // 2015 will be a premier day of learning and networking for anyone with a stake in programmatic video & TV. I hope you’ll join us on December 1st!

Register now and save!

TiVo has introduced its latest product, the BOLT, with key features including faster ad-skipping, 4K support, an accelerated viewing mode and a new form factor which includes a unique curved design. TiVo is retailing the 500GB version for $300 and a 1 TB version for $400, both of which include a year of service (equal to $180).

The most intriguing feature of the BOLT is the new “SkipMode,” which allows one-button fast-forwarding through a recorded program’s entire ad pod. This means that rather than manually fast-forwarding through the ads and overshooting or undershooting to get to the point where the program resumes, the viewer can simply use SkipMode to seamlessly continue viewing (note SkipMode won’t be available for all programs).

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NBCU’s Chairman, Advertising Sales and Client Partnerships Linda Yaccarino said “measurement is an absolute acute crisis” in an interview this morning at IAB MIXX. Yaccarino said that by NBCU’s calculations, it believes somewhere between 12%-30% of its viewership is now unmeasured, resulting in NBCU leaving a lot of advertising money on the table. Yaccarino noted that while there’s progress in measuring new forms of video viewing, it’s been way too slow and is not keeping up with market demands.

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thePlatform’s mpx system has been chosen by Parsifal Entertainment Group for backend video management and publishing for STARZ PLAY Arabia, a new SVOD service in Middle East and North Africa markets. Parsifal is a Swedish media company that STARZ tapped a year ago to assist with its international rollout.

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Ad agency holding company Publicis Groupe has signed on for a year-long commitment to go90, AOL’s new millennial-focused mobile video service. Publicis’ clients will have a 3-month exclusive on ad inventory starting in Q4 ’15. AOL and Publicis did not disclose the size of the commitment, but the WSJ reported it’s worth $50 million and includes 10+ Publicis clients.

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Positioning itself as friend, not foe to the TV industry, Facebook is tapping the Target Rating Points metric to measure reach, efficiency and effectiveness of combined TV-Facebook video ad campaigns.

Facebook said advertisers can use TRPs to plan a combined TV-Facebook campaign and buy a share of TRPs with Facebook. Nielsen’s Digital AdRatings will verify Facebook’s in-target TRPs and Nielsen’s Total Ad Ratings will verify the total TRPs.

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AppNexus has revealed beta test results of its programmatic video ad buying product, saying that clients using the product found 10x to 100x improvements in audience reach, video engagement/click-through increases of 300% or more and reduction in buying costs of 50%-60%. AppNexus plans to release the video ad buying product to all its customers on September 30th.

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I'm pleased to present the 291st edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

Video is emerging as a top priority for Amazon and its varied investments appear to be paying off as it builds an ecosystem to compete with Apple. On this week’s podcast Colin and I dig into the key device and content announcements Amazon has made recently (see also my post from earlier this week) and why they’re important.

Amazon has clearly concluded that video is a successful driver for its Prime service, which is one of the company’s most important consumer-facing priorities. Colin notes that research released from Digitalsmiths earlier this week showed that Amazon Prime video is now used by over 20% of U.S. households, up from 7.5% 2 years ago (by comparison Netflix increased from 28% to 49.4% and Hulu increased from 6.3% to 11.8%).

Colin and I expect a lot more video-related investments by Amazon as it leverages its deep pockets and multiple lines of business to change the rules of the game in OTT.

Listen in to learn more!

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