VideoNuze Posts

I’m pleased to present the 523rd edition of the VideoNuze podcast, with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia. As always we wish our listeners all the best and hope everyone is staying well.

Peacock launched nationally this week and Colin and I are both impressed. The user experience and value proposition to advertisers are both strong. As more library and original content is added, it’s only going to get better. However, Peacock’s distribution is currently limited without deals with Amazon Fire TV and Roku, which is why Comcast’s own Flex device is critical. Peacock is also entering a highly competitive SVOD/AVOD market; it is poised to play a lot of different roles for NBCU and Comcast.

Listen in to learn more!
 
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Peacock launched broadly yesterday, though as a Comcast Xfinity broadband subscriber, I’ve had access to it for several months using my Flex device. I’ve spent a bunch of time with it and have been quite impressed. That the Peacock team put it together during the pandemic is quite a feat.

Some of the highlights to me are the very strong UI, the comfort food of popular programs like ’30 Rock,” “Parks and Rec,” “SNL,” and others, plus plenty of movies, the modest ad load of 5 minutes max per hour and the “Channels” which are about 30 virtual linear networks sorted into a traditional program grid.

As I’ve spent time with Peacock and followed the pre-launch coverage it’s become apparent how many different roles Peacock is poised to play for NBCU and its parent Comcast. Here’s a quick rundown:

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SpotX has released new research highlighting how use of connected TV has become mainstream behavior, with 40% of U.S. adults using CTV, for an estimated reach of 100 million 18+ adults. Among CTV viewers 63% watch daily and 94% watch weekly. CTV users watch an average of 3 hours per day (pre-Covid when SpotX fielded its survey). CTV viewers are quite evenly distributed by age group; 18-24 year-olds represent 21%, 24-34 year-olds (24%), 35-54 year-olds (27%) and 55+ (29%).

These findings and others are included in SpotX’s new paper, “CTV is for Everyone: An In-Depth Look at Connected TV Viewership in the U.S.”

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With the Covid-19 pandemic ongoing, this year the Connected TV Advertising Summit will be a virtual event, on the afternoons of September 21st and 22nd. Registration is complimentary and one lucky attendee will win a drawing for a Roku living room makeover including a Roku TV, wireless speakers, wireless sub-woofer and one year Netflix subscription, all generously provided by Roku.

There will be plenty of opportunities for audience participation and interaction with speakers. My goal for the CTV Ad Summit is to make it a robust learning and networking experience for all participants. Sessions will be a mix of keynotes, research presentations, interviews and panel discussions.  

The pandemic has further accelerated CTVs’ rise, with recent estimates that 80% of U.S. TV households now have at least one CTV, and that there are over 400 million CTVs deployed in the U.S. alone. Distribution on CTVs is critical to all recent SVOD and AVOD service launches and were a key focus of presenters at the recent IAB NewFronts.  As consumption has shifted, CTVs have begun accounting for around 50% of all video ad impressions.

Even as advertisers are moving spending over CTV, many questions still remain, especially around measurement, cross-platform buying, pricing stability, distribution, control/access to user data, business rules and more. CTV has grown quickly but a lot is still being figured out. We’ll dig into all of the critical opportunities and challenges over the 2 afternoons of the CTV Ad Summit.

Many thanks to our CTV Ad Summit's 8 partners who have been amazingly gracious and supportive. Our Presenting partner is Deloitte; Gold partners are Extreme Reach and SpringServe; Silver partners include Beachfront, SpotX, Roku and Xandr and Branding Partner Verizon Media. Please contact me if you’d like to learn more about sponsorship opportunities.

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I’m pleased to present the 522nd edition of the VideoNuze podcast, with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia. For all our listeners especially in states seeing a spike in Covid, we hope you’re staying safe.

There were several examples this week of how linear TV is continuing to adapt in the OTT/CTV era which Colin and I discuss. Top on the list is Comcast’s decision to offer the Sling TV app for its Xfinity Flex broadband-only users. Comcast has been adding broadband subscribers and losing video subscribers for a while and the move seems to signal Comcast wants to enhance the competitiveness of Flex, giving cord-cutters an inexpensive option to rejoin the pay-TV world.

The bar for Flex is getting higher partly due to Fire TV which this week unveiled content discovery integrations with YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV and Sling TV. The integrations make accessing linear TV seamless within one UI, and will drive virtual pay-TV subscriptions within the Fire TV base.

Listen in to learn more about how linear and “virtual linear” TV are adapting to find viewers!
 
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Join my partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia and me next Tuesday, July 14th for a webinar, OTT in Europe: Solving the Unique Challenges of 2020. Our panelists include Edward Bos, Liberty Global’s Director of Product Development for Multiplatform, Mobile and TV Apps, Sander Saar, Red Bull Media House’s Consultant for Product Strategy and Growth and Josh Pressnell, Penthera’s CTO.

OTT providers in Europe face many issues including those brought on by Covid-19, increased competition, content rights for digital/mobile distribution, shifting viewer behaviors, evolving business models and more. Our panelists are all innovating to meet viewer demands and compete aggressively. We’ll be diving into all of these topics in the webinar, which will include new European OTT research presented by Penthera.

The webinar is on Tuesday, July 14th at 9am Eastern U.S. Time / 2pm British Summer Time. Registration is free.

New research by Hub Entertainment Research highlights strong interest in streaming first-run movies by younger audiences. According to Hub’s new “Monetizing Video” study, 63% of 18-34 year olds said they would probably or definitely pay to stream a first-run movie.

Further, 18-34 year olds showed little price sensitivity in deciding whether to stream a first-run movie. When the price to stream the movie is set at $15, 67% said they would probably or definitely stream; at $20, 65% said they would probably or definitely stream and at $50, 57% said they would probably or definitely stream.

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I’m pleased to present the 521st edition of the VideoNuze podcast, with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia. Colin and I wish all of our listeners a safe and healthy July 4th weekend.

YouTube TV raised its price 30% this week, from $50 per month to $65 per month. On today’s podcast Colin and I explore what’s behind the increase and what its likely impact will be.

From my standpoint, the increase says a lot about how bullish Google now is about using YouTube itself to reach coveted TV ad buyers. That’s due not only to YouTube’s improving content quality but to the adoption of connected TVs as a primary way to consume YouTube content. This dynamic makes YouTube TV less strategic for Google, and therefore diminishes its willingness to subsidize monthly losses.

Meanwhile Colin sees YouTube TV falling into the “big bundle” trap of adding more networks and continually raising rates, that has led to record cord-cutting among traditional providers.

Listen in to learn more!

(As a side note, Colin is participating in an interesting webinar next week on pay-TV providers can help SVOD and AVOD services to succeed. Free registration)
 
Click here to listen to the podcast (22 minutes, 39 seconds)

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