Posts for 'Events'

  • 5 Conclusions from Broadband Ad Webcast

    Yesterday's Internet TV Advertising Forum/Maven Networks webcast "Pre-Roll vs. Overlay: Consumer Reaction to New Online Video Advertising Formats" yielded a lot of interesting usability information about various broadband video ad formats. For any content provider or aggregator who's relying on advertising as their business model of choice, it's clear that there are some significant opportunities and challenges ahead.

    Below is a summary of the 5 key usability conclusions I heard in the webcast along with my take on each:

    1. Users hate pre-rolls. Respondents overwhelmingly agreed that video ads are annoying and have developed the same kinds of coping techniques (tuning out, bailing out, etc.) they use to avoid TV ads.

    My take: Yes, but unfortunately for users, I don't see pre-rolls going away any time soon. They're easy to execute, fit media buying habits well, are selling strongly especially for high-quality long-form video and best for advertisers seeking a tonic from DVR behaviors, pre-rolls can't be outright skipped by users. Given all this, let's all hope that targeting improves and publishers use them with some discipline, so users don't preemptively turn off to the broadband video medium.

    2. Overlay ads' effectiveness is correlated to content fit, not demographics. Testing showed that users welcomed ads for products that were highly related to the content itself, and lost interest the less related the two were. Demos were less important.

    My take: This point reinforces the importance of contextual targeting, which of course has worked well on the Internet as a whole. Yet as Bob Kernen at Maven says, a lot of content is "non-endemic" (i.e. doesn't lend itself to specific products or ads), so my guess is that this correlation opportunity is going to be lost for many content providers. Network programs in particular seem non-endemic and therefore will need to rely mainly on demo-based and possibly behavioral targeting.

    3. Overlay ads need better execution to work well. Jeff Rosenblum from Questus summarized 8 best practices for executing overlay ads, such as appropriate frequency and duration, user control, calls-to-action, navigation and the like. For anyone looking to run an overlay campaign (and even for those who have), these serve as a great roadmap of do's and don't's.

    My take: As always, executing right can make the difference between a campaign's success and failure. If you're planning to run an overlay campaign, I highly suggest you review this checklist against your plans to make sure you haven't overlooked anything.

    4. It's difficult to engage an audience. The testing again showed how hard it is to engage online audiences, regardless of approach. Bob laid out a handy engagement hierarchy, Impression, Interaction and Immersion (from least to most engaging). Knowing what level of engagement your campaign aspires to must guide specific tactics and execution.

    My take: Getting the consumer's attention and prompting them to act is the ad industry's oldest goal. It's even harder in the broadband sector. People have shorter attention spans than ever, so grabbing them and getting them to do what you hope gets more difficult all the time. Fortunately video offers emotional appeal unlike any text or graphical ad in the Internet world, so broadband offers new engagement techniques previously unavailable.

    5. More research needed. While this first round of usability testing from the Internet Ad Forum shed a lot of new light on the broadband ad opportunity, it's clearly just a first step. The Forum has ambitious goals to keep researching and testing, continuously educating the market.

    My take: As I mentioned in my remarks at the beginning of the webcast, everyone has a vested interest in solidifying the ad model as soon as possible. The enthusiasm around broadband will soon dry up if participants don't earn an acceptable ROI for their efforts.

     
  • Webcast Reminder

    A quick reminder about tomorrow's complimentary webcast (Dec. 12) entitled, "Pre-Roll vs. Overlay: Consumer Reaction to New Online Video Advertising Formats," hosted by the Internet TV Advertising Forum and Maven Networks. If you're motivated to learn about what real consumers think about different types of broadband video ad formats, this webcast is for you. Results from recent usability tests will be shared. I'll be offering some brief remarks at the beginning.

    If you're interested in attending, click here to register.

    (Note: I have no financial interest in the Forum, this webcast or Maven Networks.)

     
  • Terrific Webcast About Broadband Video Ad Formats on Wed.

    From time to time I'll take the opportunity to bring worthwhile industry events to your attention. In this spirit, there will be a terrific complimentary webcast this Wed, Dec. 12, entitled, "Pre-Roll vs. Overlay: Consumer Reaction to New Online Video Advertising Formats."

    The webcast is hosted by the Internet TV Advertising Forum and Maven Networks. If you're motivated to learn about what real consumers think about different types of broadband video ad formats, then I believe this 1 hour webcast will be well worth your time.

    (Note: I have no financial interest in the Forum, this webcast or Maven Networks.)

    The Internet TV Advertising Forum, which was founded by Maven, includes a group of leading companies such as Digitas, DoubleClick, Fox News Digital, Microsoft, Oglivy, Scripps Networks Interactive, TV Guide, 24/7 Real Media and 4Kids Entertainment. The Forum is working to define the next generation of broadband video advertising strategies, formats and best practices.

    The Forum conducted a series of usability tests in October, 2007, to study new, interactive ad formats designed for broadband video. During the webcast, Jeff Rosenblum, co-president of Questus, the market research firm that oversaw the usability testing, will share the data and conclusions.

    As many of us would agree, 2007 has been marked by an increasing awareness that ad-support is going to be the primary business model for broadband video, at least in the near-term. Yet there is still much uncertainty about how best to capitalize on the advertising opportunity. So I view events like this, which further industry participants' understanding of what consumers want, as crucial to building consensus and standards necessary for the broadband video medium to succeed.

    Maven has graciously invited me to share some context about the broadband video industry at the beginning of the webcast. Again, I have no financial stake in this event. Rather, I view it merely as an opportunity to share some thoughts, learn alongside all of you about the conclusions of this usability testing and participate in the follow-up Q&A session.

    If you're interested in this complimentary webcast, click here to register.

     
  • 5 Observations from My Digital Hollywood Panel

    Yesterday I moderated a spirited panel at Digital Hollywood. Panelists included:
    Rebecca Baldwin -GM, Zap2it, Tribune Media Services
    Jonathan Bokor - VP, Business Development, Tandberg Television
    Dave Brown - Senior Product Marketing Manager, Cisco
    Rich Cusick - SVP, Digital Media, TV Guide
    Bob Leverone - VP, Television, Dow Jones
    Rex Wong - CEO, DAVE Networks

    I had 5 observations from the discussion:

    1. Broadband video is making its mark - From the panelists' intros, it was clear that these companies are all being impacted by broadband. For example, Cisco used to be all about IP, now "video networking" is driving growth, Dow Jones used to be all about print, now it's creating high-quality original video for multimedia experiences, TV Guide used to be about print and cable, now it has significant online video guide. Broadband's impact is poised to grow further.

    2. With video proliferation, navigation is key challenge - panelists agreed that users' ability to find what they're looking for in the sea of broadband video is a huge issue. Both TV Guide and Zap2it are focused mainly on TV/entertainment content for now, question arises, will there be a one-stop guide destination for all broadband video (TV, films, short form, UGC, news, etc.)? Nobody owns that position right now, so who is best-positioned to fill that role?

    3. Broadband video must be more than just TV - Jonathan made the point most strongly, and others agreed. For broadband to succeed it must do more than just be another medium for delivering existing TV programs. Sure, there's a rush to get broadcast TV shows online, but only real innovation will distinguish broadband from me-too TV delivery. Here, here. I've been preaching that for ages. Broadband offers a whole new creative palette to harness.

    4. Cable operators wary of broadband video - no big surprise here, but Dave made it clear that major cable operators are wary of broadband and are focused on retaining as much control of the video experience as possible. For example, I asked what the roadmap looked like for cable operators to enable users to watch YouTube videos (and other broadband-only fare) on their TVs through cable set-top boxes, and if I understood Dave's response correctly, it sounds like no time soon. Quality, liability, and of course control are key limitations. If cable's not going to bring broadband to the TV anytime soon, might that open the door for third-party boxes?

    5. WGA strike could drive more broadband projects - Rich speculated that a byproduct of a potential WGA strike and writers sitting around would be that maybe more broadband projects would be undertaken. Hard to predict, but there's certainly plenty of interest in broadband-only production, so my guess is writers wouldn't have a problem finding opportunities. Wouldn't it be ironic if the potential strike, which has new media compensation at its core, actually spurred more broadband video?

     
  • Broadband Video Isn't Competition for Cable Says My CTAM Panel

    Today I moderated a spirited discussion panel at CTAM NY’s annual Blue Ribbon Breakfast at Gotham Hall in NYC. The title was "Over the Top TV....Can Broadband Video Be Cable's Newest Opportunity?" We had an amazing group of panelists (click here to see list and listen to podcast) and with 450+ attendees a packed house as well.

    A key question we dug into was whether and to what extent cable’s traditional (and highly successful) paid subscription model will be impaired by the rise of broadband video usage. Try as I did to see if any of the panelists believe that it will, none would admit to it. The reasons given included, "some form of a paid model will always exist but will never succumb entirely to a free, ad-supported model" to "cable networks won’t push broadband video distribution of their programs so hard as to upset the current model of receiving affiliate fees from cable operators", to "the low probability that inexpensive PC-to-TV bridge devices will proliferate any time soon" to "viewers have shown that they want a selection of channels to browse."

    While I think each of these answers is quite legitimate, my point of view is that we are in the early days of an fundamental transformation in the video (and indeed the media more generally) business that will eventually (though of course who knows when and to what eventual degree) see most, if not all programming get unbundled into a fully on-demand paradigm.

    I believe the ultimate answer to how cannibalistic broadband is toward cable ultimately turns on whether consumers believe it’s a "zero sum" game, meaning they choose between EITHER accessing programs via a VOD or DVR offering only available if they’ve bought into a monthly multi-channel video subscription (that’s to say the way the world works today) OR if they opt out of that subscription offering and INSTEAD choose to buy these programs a la carte, or receive them free, courtesy of a highly targeted ad model. The opt out option would of course be available through open broadband video distribution.

    All trends point to the latter ultimately prevailing. While cable operators are well-positioned to shift their models to exploit this behavior if they act aggressively, they are also vulnerable to it if they don’t. The most important driver of the "opt out" scenario is that for an increasingly larger portion of our society, their behavior and expectations are formed by the Internet. And the ‘net is a completely personalizable and on demand medium. Especially for most online media, it is also mainly free, or paid on a fully a la carte basis (e.g. iTunes). Users’ expectations are through the roof and only getting higher. As broadband proliferates they will bring these same expectations to their decision-making.

    Is it really realistic to believe that in 5 years when today’s MySpace/Facebook/YouTube/iTunes crazed 16 year old kid goes to set up his/her first apartment, s/he is going to embrace the notion of subscribing to a hundred channel package just so s/he can watch a handful of programs on demand? And of course, the ‘net’s behavior change isn’t confined to kids, it’s pervasive across all age groups.

    Cable operators have an outstanding opportunity to capitalize on these macro behavioral trends. But doing so will require cable operators to make a significant and risky departure from their traditional subscription-based business models. It’s a classic incumbent’s dilemma. It will be interesting to see if they can do so.

     
  • CTAM NY Blue Ribbon Breakfast is On Tap

    I'm really looking forward to moderating the CTAM NY chapter's annual Blue Ribbon Breakfast on Wednesday morning at Gotham Hall. The session is entitled, Over the Top TV....Can Broadband Video Be Cable's Newest Opportunity?"

    We have a world-class group of panelists:

    • Bruce Campbell, President, Digital Media and Business Development, Discovery Communications
    • Dallas Clement, Senior Vice President, Strategy & Development, Cox Communications
    • David Eun, Vice President, Content Partnerships, Google
    • Herb Scannell, CEO & Co-Founder, Next New Networks
    • Matt Strauss, Senior Vice President, New Media, Comcast

    The event has been sold out for 2 weeks and CTAM just figured out a way to shoehorn in another 25 people from the waitlist, bringing the overall attendance to 460+.

    It's going to be an amazing event. The cable industry – both operators and programmers – are right in the middle of the whole broadband video revolution. Their actions will have a big impact on the course and pace of the industry's future.

    CTAM is recording the event to podcast it, and I'll be sharing my observations in this space as well.

     
  • Just Back From Digital Hollywood: Broadband Video’s White Hot

    Just back in from 2 days at Digital Hollywood. First, kudos to Victor Harwood for successfully expanding the conference to 2 adjacent hotels this time around. As always, it was a major schmooze-fest. Some quick observations: tons of energy, lots of networking and meetings, and many people trying to figure out how to turn ideas/technologies into real businesses.
     
    I moderated a session that should win an award for Clunkiest Title (see more about session here), but we had an standing room-only audience and all our panelists were fully engaged in a spirited discussion. (I certainly learned a lesson - don't bring up the whole "how's-broadband-going-to-connect-to-the-TV" discussion with only 10 minutes to go! Everyone has an opinion on that one.)
     
    Executives from 3 content providers (Showtime, IMG and Associated Press), plus 3 technology companies (thePlatform, Digital Fountain and Entriq) thoroughly hashed out everything from how distributors will distinguish themselves in the broadband era (answers included optimizing advertising, best user experience, most traffic, not possible) to how broadband-only content providers generate a following (viral distribution, building a brand, doing distribution deals) to what business model has the most potential (some agreement that ad-supported and paid will eventually both work, but that ad-supported is where much of the action will be for a while).
     
    It's just so fascinating to me how quickly we've moved from the "here's what I think's going to work" stage to "here's what is actually working" stage. While I'm fond of saying that the broadband video industry is still in the 1st inning of its ultimate evolution, there are already a lot of very solid lessons learned.
     
  • My Cable IPTV Panel Today: Is Cable Bypass for Real?

    I was in NYC today moderating the opening session at Cable IPTV, which is a new and very timely conference organized by Fred Dawson, editor of ScreenPlays magazine (kudos to Fred and his team for a very well run event).
     

    The panel was entitled, “The Cable Perspective on Trends in “Over-the-Top” and User-Generated Video” and the panelists were Sean Doherty, CEO, Channels.com, Keith Kocho, Founder, ExtendMedia,Jim Turner, VP, Interactive, A&E Networks and Bill Wheaton, VP, Digital Media, Akamai Technologies, Inc.
     

    We had a wide-ranging conversation, mostly focused around the theme of whether broadband video is going to shape up as a real “cable bypass” or “over-the-top” medium, or whether cable operators are going to maintain their dominant role as video packagers.
     

    I’ve said for a while that the broadband video aggregation role is cable’s to lose. With tens of millions of traditional video and broadband Internet access subscribers, cable is extremely well-positioned to bring together the best of broadband video with the best of traditional broadcast and cable programming. Yet I’ve been disappointed that cable operators have been slow on the uptake while other aggregators have aggressively ramped up (e.g. Apple, Google, Joost, Yahoo, etc.). Aided by new bypass devices like AppleTV, Xbox, Netgear, etc, these companies are all aiming to eventually steal cable’s video customers.
     

    Today’s panelists reinforced my thinking that these would-be bypassers are in for a tough fight. Bill pointed out that since operators own their own networks, they can deliver quality-of-service (QOS) that others can’t. This is especially important when it comes to delivering really big Blue-Ray or HD-DVD files. Meanwhile, Jim reminded all of us that “most favored nations” clauses in most cable networks’ carriage agreements with operators will be keeping plenty of lawyers busy just determining if networks can even make deals with the upstart broadband video aggregators.

     
    And then of course our panel followed Andrew Olson’s opening keynote (who is co-founder of thePlatform, and now SVP, Strategy and Development for Comcast Interactive Media), during which he highlighted all of Comcast’s new broadband video initiatives (Fancast, Ziddio, etc.). Plenty of messages that Comcast is hip to broadband video and is now moving fast to defend its turf.

    Lastly, cable operators are now being offered some interesting new technology that will bridge broadband video over to existing digital set-top boxes inexpensively and without truck rolls.
     
    I saw a demo of ICTV’s ActiveVideo platform at the Cable Show last week and it was pretty compelling. It is at least one viable alternative for operators to accelerate their own convergence initiatives.

    The broadband video aggregation area is going to be very interesting to watch…..

     
  • Nisenholtz’s Streaming Media Keynote: Times Gets Broadband Video

    I was at Streaming Media East today, moderating a session (“Broadband Video: What’s the Formula for Content Success?). First off, kudos to Dan Rayburn and the SM team – there was a ton of energy at the conference, lots of exhibitors and great sessions.

     

    I got a chance to sit in on Martin Niesenholtz’s keynote. As many of you know, Martin’s the longtime SVP, Digital Operations, for the New York Times Company.

     
    As many of you know, I’ve been very bullish on newspapers’ opportunity to use broadband to morph themselves from print-only outlets to multi-platform content providers. The Times has really been out in front on this. Some key stats Martin shared:
    • 5M streams/month – up 3x from a year ago
    • 20 people dedicated to video
    • 100 new video pieces created/month

    Martin shared a back-of-the-envelope analysis he’s done to back into how many streams the Times needs to provide to generate $30M in annual revenue from video. His calculation: 60M streams per month, or 12X today’s rate. I didn’t agree with all of his assumptions (for example he assumed $60 CPMs, which is too high, yet only a 1:1 ratio of ads:streams, which I think is too low given the opportunity to surround an in-line video player with display ads), but I did think he was in the ballpark.

     
    Importantly, he’s targeting to generate 5X the viewership of Times video via 3rd party distributors as will be generated at Times.com. Pretty strong endorsement of the syndication model.
     
  • Revisiting the Long Tail on My Cable Show Panel Next Week

    Next week I’ll be in Vegas for the annual Cable Show. This is the cable TV industry’s annual gathering of operators, programmers and vendors. I’ve been attending this show for years and it’s great fun to reconnect with lots of old colleagues and friends.
     
    Last year I moderated a session with video executives from AOL, Google, MSN and Yahoo, which, based on feedback I received afterwards, helped a lot of attendees understand how significant these companies are going to be in the video distribution business (and therefore, why they need to be on cable executives’ radar screens).
     
    Once again I’ll be moderating a discussion session, this year entitled, “Video’s Online Adventure: New Ideas for a New Generation of Television.” The session features Doug Hurst, SVP, Scripps Networks, Joe Gillespie, EVP, CNET, Ian Blaine, CEO, thePlatform, Bob Leverone, VP Video, Dow Jones Online and Karl Quist, President, TotalVid.
     
    As a former “cable guy”, one of my main goals with these sessions is to continue helping the industry recognize that the world of video is changing dramatically. Cable executives have been remarkably adaptive to change over the years. But with broadband’s openness now allowing scores of new video providers and distributors into the market, many of cable’s fundamental operating assumptions are going to be severely tested.
     
    For example, if the concept of the Long Tail (originally an article, and now a book by Chris Anderson), is applied to the cable industry it suggests that cable’s “walled-garden” content paradigm is going to be undermined by broadband’s infinite choice and personalization. I wrote an extensive piece about this way back in March, 2005 and I think it’s truer now than ever.
     
    All of the panelists have a great vantage point to comment on the Long Tail’s impact on cable. Bob and Joe come from publishers (print and online respectively) that haven’t done a lot with video previously, but are now aggressively pursuing it. Karl has started a specialty video distribution business that is only possible due to broadband. Doug’s company is leveraging broadband to create many new broadband experiences. Finally Ian’s company is powering many broadband video initiatives from established and startups.
     
    All in all, this group will bring an invaluable perspective to attendees trying to figure out how the video proliferation that broadband is causing will impact their corner of the cable business!
     
  • Back from NAB - Super Session was Standing Room Only

    I'm back in Boston after a short, but grueling (tip: don't fly through 2 East Coast airports during a Nor'easter!) trip out to NAB. Our Super Session ("The Revolutionizing Impact of Broadband Video") was SRO, overflowing the room that seated 700. David Eun led us off with a great keynote with my key takeaways:
    • "Market for content is much larger than anyone has every imagined"
    • "We see ourselves as a conduit, connecting users, advertisers and content providers"
    • "Broadband provides an infinite # of at-bats, the traditonal scarcity is gone"
    • "Content identification isn't easy. If it were, we'd have it by now."
    • "We are in a clip-driven culture. YouTube now delivering well over 100M clips per day."
    After Dave's talk, our panel (George Kliavkoff from NBCU, Dan Scheinman from Cisco, Blake Krikorian from Sling, Shawn Gold from MySpace and Gary Gannaway from WorldNow) got down to business. George, who's the acting head of the JV with NBCU and News Corp, filled in some details for how the venture will work, and that affiliates will be a key part of it going forward.
     
    The panelists all agreed that community is going to be a big part of the equation moving forward and that broadcasters will be embracing in a big way. Gary articulated well that local broadcasters have a huge opportunity to excel in local content in a way that big portals will never be able to match, and that if they sell their inventory the right way, they'll be able to avoid being commoditized.
     
    I tried to get Dan to take the bait on whether the era of broadband-delivered TV programming spells concern for cable TV operators. But given Cisco's ownership of Scientific Atlanta, he deftly deflected my attempt to stir the pot....Lastly, Blake encouraged broadcasters to see his Slingbox as an opportunity for them to build loyalty with their viewers, both for viewership while on the road, and also for deepening viewership, through non-TV displays. All-in-all, despite the fact that the first attendee question during a brief Q&A session labeled us as "dying dinosaurs", it was a spirited and lively session!
     
  • Keynoting at NAB Futures Summit in Pebble Beach

    I'm heading off to Pebble Beach on Sunday morning, where I'm delivering one of the keynotes at the NAB Futures Summit (a small executive-level annual gathering) there, entitled, "Profiting from Broadband Video's Disruptive Impact".

    We released a report in Q4 '06 analyzing the broadcast industry's (both networks and local stations) broadband video initiatives, and one of the report's key conclusions was that local stations' broadband efforts are all over the board. Many have embraced broadband video big time, while others are still at the starting line. I'll be sharing thoughts on how broadband is transforming the video distribution value chain, and where local stations' most attractive opportunities lie.

    Unfortunately, my golf shoes are not making the trip with me...hopefully they will next time!

     
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