Posts for 'Advertising'

I’m pleased to present the 465th edition of the VideoNuze podcast, with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

Hulu is in the video industry’s sweet spot. A hybrid ad-supported brand-safe streaming service, now with 28 million subscribers. The best opportunity TV advertisers have to recapture young TV-watching audiences who are the biggest cord-cutters. Disney as its primary owner which itself is all in on streaming, willing to support Hulu’s land grab investments in original programming and marketing. And perhaps the biggest growth driver yet to come: bundling with Disney+ starting later this year.

On this week’s podcast Colin and I talk about all of the above (and a few challenges Hulu still faces).

If you want to learn more about Hulu’s success, come to the 9th annual Video Advertising Summit for my keynote interview with Hulu’s SVP and Head of Ad Sales Peter Naylor!

Listen in to learn more!

 
Click here to listen to the podcast (24 minutes, 15 seconds)

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The VideoNuze podcast is also available in iTunes...subscribe today!
 

Hulu announced this morning that it has topped 28 million subscribers, with 26.8 million paid and 1.3 million promotional (Hulu operates both ad-supported/ad-free SVOD services and Hulu Live TV but didn’t provide a breakdown). Hulu added 7.5 million paid subscribers in 2018. Viewership also intensified with average time spent per subscriber up over 20% in 2018 and total hours watched per subscriber up 75%. Importantly, 80% of Hulu’s viewing occurs in the living room.

While Netflix has become the market leader in ad-free OTT viewing,  Hulu has become the clear market leader in hybrid ad-supported premium OTT viewing. This is an extremely valuable place to be as cord-cutting accelerates and advertisers seek out viewer-friendly and targetable environments for their TV ad budgets. Hulu made a very smart move earlier this year, actually cutting the price of their ad-supported SVOD service by $2, to $6 per month, which no doubt is continuing to add to subscriber growth. A deal with Spotify announced in March to give Spotify Premium subscribers access to Hulu's ad-supported service is also likely having an early impact.

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Reminder that early bird discounted tickets are still available for the 9th annual VideoNuze Video Advertising Summit on Wednesday, May 29th at the Westin Times Square in NYC. On top of saving $100, you also double your chances* of winning a 55-inch Roku 4K TV, generously provided by Roku.
 
The Video Ad Summit is a must-attend event for anyone in the industry interested in a deep dive into video advertising, especially the converging worlds of online, traditional TV, mobile and connected TV advertising as well as the broader digital landscape.

Over 30 executives from leading companies including Hulu, CBS Interactive, WarnerMedia, eMarketer, Roku, Cheddar, fuboTV, Group Nine Media, Publicis, Pluto TV, Mindshare, Vevo, Ellation, Univision, Essence and many others will share their insights. The program will feature a mix of keynotes, panel discussions, fireside chats, research presentations and case studies, covering the most critical topics in the industry.

Last year's Video Ad Summit drew over 300 attendees; the 2019 Video Ad Summit will once again be the premier video-focused event of the year.
 
I'm excited to have 10 industry-leading companies on board as initial partners, including Title Partner Deloitte Consulting; Premier Partners Extreme Reach and Telaria; Headline Partners Beachfront Media, Penthera, SpotX, TiVo and Xandr; and Branding Partners Brightcove and Roku.
 
Learn more and register now!
 
(*Early bird registrants get 2 entries for the Roku 4K TV drawing.)

Video adtech provider Beachfront will enable pay-TV operators to monetize their set-top box video on demand (VOD) viewing with ads sourced from programmatic video ad buyers. The move effectively bridges 2 worlds that have been mainly separate - traditional pay-TV VOD and real-time, dynamic digital ad demand.

Chris Maccaro, CEO of Beachfront, told me in an interview that in talking to various pay-TV operators and TV networks, under-monetization of VOD viewership remains a pain point, with up to half of all views not monetized optimally or at all. By enabling a select group of programmatic ad buyers to access this inventory, Beachfront is creating incremental VOD revenue.

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Telaria and Hulu have released research finding that CTV advertising is helping Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) brands succeed with their marketing objectives. Importantly, the research notes that the reasons people shop DTC are similar to why they watch programming via CTVs: they care about value, convenience and choice. The implication is that DTC and CTV could create a virtuous cycle, helping the other to grow.

Examples of DTC brands include Caspar, Harry’s, Bonobos and others who create direct transactions with the buyer, primarily through mobile and digital content. DTC brands have been particularly successful in establishing brand awareness and initial scale via social media and banner ads. Jennifer Catto, Telaria’s CMO, believes they’re now primed to capitalize on CTV for big screen ads, since CTV “is accountable to perhaps more modest budgets through digital’s measurable, data and decisioning outcomes.”

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eMarketer Principal Analyst Lauren Fisher will kick off the 9th annual Video Advertising Summit on May 29th in NYC, presenting key video/TV advertising data and trends. Lauren is an expert in adtech, programmatic, video, measurement and related areas. She has presented at prior VideoNuze events and has been a highlight.

As we all know, there are significant disruptions happening across the video/TV and advertising industries. Lauren will break things down, sharing the underlying drivers of change and how eMarketer forecasts these to play out going forward. Lauren will also focus on the current state and future of programmatic video and TV - data-enabling and automating ads - and what this means for industry participants going forward. Finally she will share her views on measurement, ad metrics and audience considerations.

Lauren’s presentation will tee up deeper dive sessions throughout the day. Lauren is among the 25+ industry thought-leaders confirmed so far to speak (more coming soon, along with full agenda). Other highlights include keynote guest Peter Naylor, Hulu’s SVP and Head of Ad Sales, and agency executives Jeremy Crandall (SVP, Publicis Media) and Christine Peterson (Managing Director, Mindshare) in a fireside chat with Matt Prohaska.

The Video Ad Summit is again shaping up to be a must-attend day of learning and networking for anyone with a stake in video/TV advertising’s success.  

Save $100 on early bird discounted tickets now and double your chances* of winning a 55-inch Roku TV, generously provided by Roku.

(*Early bird registrants get 2 entries for the Roku TV drawing).

I’m pleased to share that we’ll have a featured fireside discussion at the 9th annual Video Advertising Summit with agency executives Jeremy Crandall (SVP, Advanced Video Solutions, Publicis Media) and Christine Peterson (Managing Director, Digital Investment Lead, Mindshare, part of GroupM). Matt Prohaska (CEO and Principal. Prohaska Consulting) will be the interviewer in this featured fireside chat.

Advertisers and their agencies are demanding that premium video providers enable more of digital’s capabilities: better targeting, measurement, interactivity, cross-screen delivery and attribution. As we all know, there are significant industry-level and company-specific initiatives underway to marry the best of digital with the best of premium video/TV’s traditional brand-building strengths. Connected TVs, which hold strong potential to re-energize the entire TV ad business, are a focal point.

In this fireside, Christine and Jeremy will take us behind the scenes of where and how digital and premium video/TV are intersecting today, and what the key challenges are ahead. Both have long track records with video, digital and cross-screen ad buying, working for scores of top brands.

What are these brands demanding of their agencies, what are their most critical KPIs and how are cross-screen campaigns being successfully created? How well-positioned are video providers, TV networks and industry infrastructure to meet buyers’ demands? How are respect for viewers, data, brand safety and programmatic being balanced? Last but not least, what are they critical changes in viewers’ behaviors that inform all video ad buying currently and going forward? These are among the questions Christine and Jeremy will discuss with Matt.

For anyone in the video industry who is directly or ultimately affected by the decisions video and digital ad buyers are making, this fireside chat will be a must-attend session. It is also a perfect complement to the keynote interview I’ll be doing with Hulu’s SVP/Head of Advertising Peter Naylor.

Save $100 on early bird discounted tickets now and double your chances* of winning a 55-inch Roku TV, generously provided by Roku.

(*Early bird registrants get 2 entries for the Roku TV drawing).

I’m excited to share that Hulu’s SVP and Head of Advertising Sales Peter Naylor will be our keynote guest at the 9th annual VideoNuze Video Ad Summit on Wednesday, May 29th in NYC. I will be interviewing Peter in a session titled, “Hulu Finds the Winning Formula by Putting Viewers First.”

Hulu has become an industry leader in connected TV and video advertising, SVOD, virtual pay-TV, original programming, digital distribution and cross-platform user experiences. Hulu now reaches over 50 million viewers with its ad-supported service, making it the largest addressable marketplace for brands in the industry.

In this keynote interview Peter will share insights about all of these topics and in particular, how Hulu’s dramatic innovation of TV’s advertising experience is driving change across the medium.

Hulu is playing a key role in every one of the top trends in the industry. It is also entering an even more consequential next chapter - becoming majority owned by Disney and a key part of Disney’s OTT strategy, moving to the front of the pack in the virtual pay-TV industry and aggressively promoting its ad-supported SVOD service by recently reducing its monthly price and also offering it at no extra charge for Spotify Premium members (moves which will contribute to Hulu generating $2.7 billion in ad revenue by 2021, according to eMarketer's latest forecast).

I’ve known Peter for many years and I’m confident his perspectives will be incredibly valuable for anyone who is trying to learn from Hulu’s industry leadership.

Save $100 on early bird discounted tickets now and double your chances* of winning a 55-inch Roku TV, generously provided by Roku.

(*Early bird registrants get 2 entries for the Roku TV drawing.)

You can save $100 now on registration for the 9th annual VideoNuze Video Advertising Summit on Wednesday, May 29th at the Westin Times Square in NYC. On top of saving $100, you also double your chances* of winning a 55-inch Roku 4K TV, generously provided by Roku.
 
The Video Ad Summit is a must-attend event for anyone in the industry interested in a deep dive into video advertising, especially the converging worlds of online, traditional TV, mobile and connected TV advertising as well as the broader digital landscape. The program will feature a mix of keynotes, panel discussions, fireside chats and research presentations, covering the most critical topics in the industry. I’ll be sharing detailed program information and our first group of speakers shortly.

Last year's Video Ad Summit drew over 300 attendees and 50 executive speakers. The 2019 Video Ad Summit will once again be the premier video-focused event of the year.
 
I'm excited to have 10 industry-leading companies on board as initial partners, including Title Partner Deloitte Consulting; Premier Partners Extreme Reach and Telaria; Headline Partners Beachfront Media, Penthera, SpotX, TiVo and Xandr; and Branding Partners Brightcove and Roku.
 
If you'd like to learn more about speaking and partnership opportunities, please contact me.
 
Learn more and register now!
 
(*Early bird registrants get 2 entries for the Roku 4K TV drawing.)

I’m pleased to present the 457th edition of the VideoNuze podcast, with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

On this week’s podcast we’re joined by Dan Robbins, who is Roku’s director of advertising and programming research. We explore all of the angles around Roku’s connected TV (CTV) ad business, which has become a critical driver of its growth. As Dan explains, Roku is hyper-focused on helping ad buyers understand how CTV can add incremental value to their campaigns, by using sophisticated tools and industry partnerships.

Among the topics we discuss include which agency buying groups are focused on CTV, how Roku’s measurement partner program is creating new value for advertisers, how Roku is serving the full funnel from lower to upper, why Roku considers itself a “data company, first and foremost,” why the “social contract among advertisers, programmers and viewers is broken,” and lots more.

For anyone interested in how Roku is successfully transitioning its business to ad-supported and the dynamics of the booming CTV category, Dan’s insights are extremely valuable.

Listen in to learn more!

 
Click here to listen to the podcast (24 minutes, 4 seconds)

Click here for previous podcasts

Click here to add the podcast feed to your RSS reader.

The VideoNuze podcast is also available in iTunes...subscribe today!

Note, Roku is a Branding Partner at our 9th annual Video Advertising Summit on May 29th in NYC. Register early to save and to double your chances of winning a Roku 55-inch 4KTV!

I’m pleased to present the 456th edition of the VideoNuze podcast, with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

On this week’s podcast we cover 3 different topics. First, AT&T had a busy week - its deal for Time Warner was finally cleared after the DOJ’s appeal was rejected, both HBO CEO Richard Plepler and Turner president David Levy resigned, and a Variety report has Disney interested in buying AT&T’s 10% stake in Hulu. Colin and I discuss all of these and their implications.

Next, Colin weighs in on the new collaboration between the BBC and ITV to launch a version of BritBox in the U.K. and why it matters. Finally, another week, another YouTube content malefactor(s), leading to an advertiser pullback. We discuss how YouTube is playing whack-a-mole but that at the end of the day advertisers need YouTube and are unlikely to leave altogether.
 
Listen in to learn more!

 
Click here to listen to the podcast (24 minutes, 47 seconds)

Click here for previous podcasts

Click here to add the podcast feed to your RSS reader.

The VideoNuze podcast is also available in iTunes...subscribe today!

Looking for confirmation of the outsized rewards of being well-positioned in the booming connected-TV (CTV) ad space? Then look no further than the Q4 ’18 and full year 2018 performance of 3 public companies representing 3 different vantage points on CTV ads - Telaria, The Trade Desk and Roku - all of which reported strong results in the past week, powered at least in part by their CTV success.

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I’m pleased to present the 455th edition of the VideoNuze podcast, with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

Connected TVs are rapidly re-making the TV landscape and, according to new data from Extreme Reach yesterday, an emerging benefit is that they’re reenergizing 30-second ads delivered online. On today’s podcast Colin and I talk about why this is happening and more importantly why it’s likely the beginning of a strong trend.

We then transition to talking about “password sharing” which has been a longstanding, but quite murky topic in SVOD. Most SVOD services have dealt with it by imposing caps on concurrent streams, users or devices, relying on subscribers to get hooked on the programming and then feel the need to upgrade or add plans. Colin reviews recent data that supports the idea that password sharing is mostly a nonissue.

Listen in to learn more!

 
Click here to listen to the podcast (23 minutes, 34 seconds)

Click here for previous podcasts

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The VideoNuze podcast is also available in iTunes...subscribe today!

Extreme Reach has released its Q4 and full year 2018 Video Advertising Benchmarks report, which further reinforces the ascendance of connected TV (CTV) viewing and monetization. Importantly, the ER research is the first I’ve seen that highlights how CTVs are actually helping 30-second ads gain share of impressions vs. ads of other durations. This is a critical development as it helps re-energize TV advertising’s traditional workhorse unit that has been under pressure from all corners.

First, CTV’s share of video ad impressions jumped to 38% in 2018, up from 16% in 2017. CTV video ads are benefiting from a perfect storm: rapid device adoption, launch of numerous apps by premium content providers, emphasis on ad-supported business models with the exception of a few SVOD or hybrid stalwarts (e.g. Netflix, Amazon, etc.) and heavy investment in CTV ad tech stacks. All of this is leading ad buyers to rapidly embrace CTV as a must-have in their campaigns. (And by the way as just one indicator of how accessible CTVs have become, I just noticed that Amazon is selling its Toshiba Fire TV 32-inch model for just $100 today only. Yes, you read that right.)

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Yesterday eMarketer shared its U.S. advertising forecast for 2019, predicting that digital ads will account for $129.3 billion or 54.3% of spending, while traditional ads will drop to 45.8% of the market. eMarketer said it’s the first time digital will surpass  traditional in share of market.

Digital has been on a trajectory for years to achieve this milestone, so in a sense there’s no major surprise here. What is a surprise is the outsized role that Amazon is playing in both growing the digital ad market and taking a bigger slice of it - and how quickly this has happened.

eMarketer believes that in 2019 Amazon will take nearly 9% of digital ad spending, chiseling into Google’s and Facebook’s (the “duopoly”) combined share which stood at 60% in 2018 but is forecast to drop to 59.3% in 2019. eMarketer cites Amazon’s “shoppers’ behavioral data for targeting and provides access to purchase data in real time” which was previously only available to advertisers/agencies through retail partners.

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It’s no secret that everyone in the TV advertising business is trying to make ads more data-driven, automated and effective as platforms like Google, Facebook and Amazon double down on their efforts to siphon away TV ad dollars. Videa is one company that is having a real impact, tightly focusing on helping TV broadcast stations become more competitive in the fast-changing ad business. I caught up with Videa’s president Shereta Williams recently for an update.

Videa had a strong 2018 and is closing in on relationships with 600 different stations from all major station owners spanning nearly 160 markets around the U.S., with Shereta adding that the goal is to have 90% coverage by the end of 2019. Through these partnerships Videa gains access to the stations’ full schedule of local inventory across all dayparts in the stations’ primary linear feed, regardless of whether the viewer is accessing over the air, via pay-TV or a virtual pay-TV operator (e.g. YouTube TV, DirecTV Now, etc.). Some virtual pay-TV operators enable dynamic ad replacement or non-linear ads and Videa is not selling those ads. Videa is 100% linear at this time but they aspire to sell across the other streams in the future.

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Perhaps the most noteworthy thing about Netflix’s solid Q4 subscriber growth was the company’s ongoing success with a pure ad-free subscription model. Netflix is becoming even more unicorn’ish among big video providers in completely eschewing ads. Virtually every other major video provider (aside from established premium TV networks like HBO, Showtime, etc.) is reliant, at least in part, on advertising (Amazon’s ad-free approach gets an asterisk because of the outsized role Prime/free-shipping still plays - and even Amazon is now integrating ads in various ways, see below).

In fact, though we’re barely a month into 2019, there are signs everywhere of advertising’s growing role in the future of the video industry.

Consider just the following:

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SpotX has released its “2019 Video Advertising Trends” report, highlighting 4 key trends:

1. New offerings will come into play for OTT video services.
2. Traditional TV will continue to transform for today’s digital landscape.
3. Shifting consumer expectations of ad experiences and personal data usage will drive innovations in ad transactions and delivery.
4. Industry-wide transparency efforts and regulation will spur larger investments in data management.

The report offers numerous insights about each of these 4 trends (and others). The report’s discussion of the latter two are especially relevant and thought-provoking.

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I’m pleased to present the 448th edition of the VideoNuze podcast, with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

Continuing our tradition for our final podcast of the year, this week Colin and I discuss the top 10 video stories of 2018 - at least in our humble opinions. Once again it has been a very active 12 months, with lots of innovation and change. Colin and I have had a great time analyzing and discussing the critical industry trends each week and we hope you’ve enjoyed listening to our thoughts in 2018.

Let us know what you think of our choices, whether you agree or disagree!

Listen in to learn more!

 
Click here to listen to the podcast (37 minutes, 16 seconds)

Click here for previous podcasts

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The VideoNuze podcast is also available in iTunes...subscribe today!

Beachfront, a leading video supply-side platform, said that connected TV ad requests jumped to approximately 30 billion in November, 2018, a stunning 1,640% increase from November, 2017 when it received approximately 1.8 billion requests.
Beachfront works mainly with mid-tail and long-tail video providers as well as virtual MVPDs.

Roku continues to dominate, with Beachfront saying that 87% of CTV ad requests in November ’18 were on Roku devices. Trailing well behind were Amazon Fire TV, LG, Samsung TV, Vizio and Chromecast, in that order.

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