Posts for 'Advertising'

At last month’s SHIFT // Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit, David Szahun, American Express’s Director of US Media, Global Brand Marketing and Digital Partnerships shared his insights about the evolution of programmatic video & TV and why he’s bullish on both. In particular, David zeroed in on the need for “premium programmatic video” which he defines as a direct buyer-to-publisher relationship, with a fixed CPM, guaranteed premium reserve inventory and first-party data overlay. David explains more about why he believes this is valuable.

In a follow-up interview with me, David also provides thoughts on why programmatic TV is developing more slowly than video, why addressable TV with automation isn’t here yet, how American Express is organized and what role its agency plays, and the key challenges for programmatic. Throughout, David is quite candid and thoughtful about how AmEx views programmatic and how it’s being incorporated into the company’s marketing mix.

Note, all of the SHIFT session videos are now included in the player below.

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Just before the holidays, Innovid, one of the pioneers of online video advertising, raised a $27.5 million round, including $12.5 million in debt. It was one of the larger financings in the video ad tech space in the last several months and followed a March, 2015 $10 million investment in Innovid by Cisco. Innovid’s CEO and co-founder Zvika Netter caught me up on plans for the new funds and the company’s transition to a leading video ad server. Following is an edited transcript.

VideoNuze: Congratulations on the new financing. How will you use the funds?
 
Zvika Netter: We plan on using the funds for 2 main purposes: First, technology - We are continually innovating based on both what our partners need to help grow their businesses and how we envision the Future of TV advertising. And second, international expansion – 80% of our clients are global brands and agencies. We’ve been asked by most of them to provide similar solutions and services in new markets in EMEA and APAC.

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Videology announced this morning that its clients will be able transact video ad campaigns on a new viewability currency (“vCPM”) for a guaranteed price on guaranteed viewable impressions. The impressions are measured by third-parties Moat, DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science.

Clients can use the MRC viewability standard (50% of pixels on screen for at least 2 consecutive seconds) or the stricter Extended Viewability Standard (100% of pixels on screen for at least 50% of the video’s duration with audio on and not autoplay).

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iSpot.tv has announced it is now measuring TV ad performance in linear, time-shifted, VOD and OTT video across 10 million connected TVs. iSpot is tracking TV ads’ view rates, impressions and unduplicated reach, providing unprecedented granular insight into actual TV ad performance.  

iSpot’s founder and CEO Sean Muller explained that the new measurement system is enabled by deals the company has made with select TV manufacturers to integrate its technology with newer connected TVs automatic content recognition. As the ads viewed are anonymously relayed to iSpot, they are checked against the company’s database of ads, gleaned from its core platform which tracks the entire media schedule in linear TV. The ads are then sorted as linear national, linear local or VOD/OTT as well as live vs. time-shifted. The length of each ad’s play is tracked to provide the view time metrics.

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Supply-side platform ConvertMedia has introduced a portfolio of outstream video ad units. While video is the hottest ad category, the scarcity of premium inventory and expense of creating high-quality video continues to be an issue for publishers eager to attract video ad dollars. Outstream ads - video units that can play against text and other non-video content - have become a popular way of addressing this issue.

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What’s driving the growth in programmatic video & TV and what’s ahead? These questions were the focus of our opening and closing sessions, respectively, at last month’s SHIFT // 2015 Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit. Together, the sessions present a compelling picture of the shift to programmatic and its potential going forward.

In the opening session, Magna Global’s EVP and Director of Global Forecasting, Vincent Letang shared the firm’s forecast that 56%, or approximately $11 billion, of online video ad spending in 2019 will be programmatic. Of this, almost $8B will be RTB. The panel, which included Vincent and Keith Grossman (Head of US Sales, Bloomberg), Jason Lopatecki (Chief Strategy Officer, TubeMogul), Trevor Mengel (Director, Programmatic Product - HX, Horizon Media) with Sorosh Tavakoli (SVP, AdTech, Ooyala) moderating, then dug into what’s driving the rapid growth.

Then later in the day, our “Looking Ahead” session focused on how programmatic is going to play out and over what timeline. In particular, key nuances were discussed, such as legacy systems and motivations in TV. The session included Lorne Brown (Founder and CEO, Operative), Noah Levine (SVP, Revenue Operations, Advanced Advertising Product Team, Fox Networks Group), Scott Rosenberg (VP, Advertising, Roku), Alan Smith (Chief Digital Officer, Assembly), Rich Sobel (SVP, Solutions, VivaKi Operating System) and David Silverman (Assurance Partner, PwC), moderating.

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I'm pleased to present the 306th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

This week Colin and I share our top predictions for the video industry in 2016. We also look back at our predictions for 2015 and rate how we did (how’s that for accountability?).

Listen now to learn more!

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As the traditional bridge between buyers and sellers in the video ad business, agencies have a huge vested stake in how programmatic plays out. On the one hand, programmatic gives advertisers more control than ever in terms of managing their spending and targeting their audiences. But on the other hand, programmatic requires highly specialized new skill sets and investments to truly pay off.

These topics and more were part of our “Agency of the Future” session at last month’s SHIFT // 2015 Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit. The session included Christina Beaumier (SVP, Xaxis Media), Adam Kasper (Chief Media Officer, Havas Media North America) with Steve Grubbs (Prohaska Consulting and former CEO, PHD North America), moderating.

Adam and Christina shared how their organizations are structured to capitalize on programmatic, why automation does not lead to staffing cost savings, what the proper agency compensation models are for programmatic, whether programmatic video and TV should be planned/executed in one group, why connected TV advertising is gaining momentum and much more. It’s a fascinating discussion for anyone with an interest in agencies’ role in the programmatic future.

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What exactly is “programmatic TV” and what are its main challenges and initial successes? These were the topics of two of our sessions at last month’s SHIFT // 2015 Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit. While the term “programmatic” was in the conference’s title, as our panelists explained, it means something very different when applied to online/mobile video vs. when it’s applied in TV.

In fact, a number of the panelists on the two sessions objected to the very use of the term “programmatic” for TV advertising (as did our morning keynoter, Turner Ad Sales president Donna Speciale), believing it shouldn’t be carried over from video and display advertising because TV’s specifics are so different.

Regardless of terminology, both sessions highlighted how TV network groups are building out their own data platforms to support a shift to audience-based targeting/buying beyond just age and gender. But many panelists noted that these disparate efforts will cause even more market complexity compared to the singular (if imperfect) current Nielsen system.

Panelists also explained that data-centric buying in TV advertising is happening in many different ways, and “addressable TV” (which uses set-top box viewing data) appears to have emerged as an early favorite.

All in all the two sessions provided many critical insights on programmatic TV (loosely defined), the key hurdles, early successes and likely trends for 2016. For anyone trying to better understand how TV advertising is going to evolve in the face of OTT’s growth, watching the session videos below, will be time well-spent.

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As wireless carriers ramp up promotion of unlimited data and video viewing, mobile is poised to account for a bigger share of video viewing. As a result, understanding how mobile video will be fully monetized is becoming a more critical topic. The recent SHIFT // 2015 Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit featured a session on programmatic’s role in mobile video advertising.

As the panelists explained, programmatic is a really good fit for mobile in a lot of ways, including that mobile generates a lot of actionable data, mobile inventory can be volatile due to unexpected viral hits or weather events rendering traditional upfront sales sub-optimal, and that there’s a long tail of publishers that don’t necessarily have direct sales teams. The session explored all of these topics and others such as the technical challenges of delivering mobile programmatic video campaigns, the impact of VAST 4.0, how data is being used to drive improved campaign results and more.

The panelists included Jeremy Hlavacek (VP, Programmatic, The Weather Company), Brian Rifkin (Co-founder and SVP, Video Sales, JW Player), Chip Schenck – VP of Programmatic Sales and Strategy, Meredith), Frank Sinton (CEO, Beachfront Media) and Gavin Dunaway (Editor, US, AdMonsters) as moderator.

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Eager to unlock the full value of their audiences, premium publishers are tapping into programmatic, using data and a variety of tools. At the recent SHIFT // 2015 Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit we dedicated a session to exploring how this is all unfolding. Among the topics discussed was how programmatic aligns with direct sales, the evolving role of measurement, how to aggregate across all platforms and much more.

The session included Trent Anderson (Senior Director, Client Solutions, FreeWheel), Jason Barnett (Head of Programmatic, Teads.tv), Jason DeMarco (Director, Programmatic and Audience Solutions, A+E Networks) and Jana Meron (VP, Programmatic & Data Strategy, Business Insider), with Tim Hanlon (Managing Director, FTI Consulting) moderating. Follow the link below to watch the session video (31 minutes).

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Happy New Year and welcome to 2016. Changes in video advertising will continue to accelerate this year. To help understand the big themes and some of the particulars, I’m pleased to share videos of both keynote conversations from last month’s SHIFT // 2015 Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit. The morning keynote guest was Donna Speciale, president of Turner Ad Sales (interviewed by Matt Prohaska) and the afternoon keynote guest was Lou Paskalis, SVP, Enterprise Media Executive, Bank of America (interviewed by Michael Kassan).

Each session is approximately 30 minutes, and I promise that watching them both is well worth an hour of your time, providing insights from both the buy and sell sides of video advertising. The big unifying themes are 1) Video/TV advertising is shifting to an audience-based approach, 2) Data and programmatic are enabling far more precise targeting, in turn driving up the value of viewer attention and ad inventory and 3) The viewer experience is poised to improve with fewer interruptions and more well-developed brand stories.

More specifically, Donna discusses, among other things, the extensive data investments that Turner is making, how advertisers and agencies are evolving to converge linear TV and digital buying, Turner’s plan to cut ad loads in half on truTV by Q4 ’16 and how to capitalize on mobile. Lou discussed, among other things, why mass advertising and the reach/frequency model is being replaced, the 3 biggest challenges facing marketers, how BofA is integrating data from across its business segments and why he believes GE is the most effective content marketer today.

Together, Donna’s and Lou’s insights provide an excellent strategic roadmap for where the industry is heading and what key challenges lie ahead. As you’re thinking about your 2016 priorities, I highly encourage you to watch their videos and learn from them.

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At the recent SHIFT // 2015 Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit, the data’s vital role in programmatic was a recurring them. In a dedicated morning session, “Data is the New King: Re-Aggregating Audiences in the Programmatic Era,” Matt Spiegel, SVP/GM, Marketing and Technology Solutions at MediaLink led an insightful discussion

Participating on the session were Bob Ivins (EVP, Cross Media Business Development, comScore),
Brian Leder (SVP, North America Media, Razorfish), Manny Puentes – CTO, Altitude Digital and Julian Zilberbrand (EVP, Audience Science, Viacom).

Among the many topics the group explored were how to validate 3rd-party data sets, how data drives ROIs, the impact data has on content creation, new staffing requirements and lots more.

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Moat has extended its measurement and reporting capabilities to include Watchwith’s in-program advertising within TV shows, under a new partnership announced by the companies today. Moat will use its MRC-accredited platform to measure and report in-program ads’  aggregate audience time spent and user engagement with in-program ads. The reporting will be enabled on both desktop and in mobile video apps.

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Demand-side platform DataXu has published a new white paper on programmatic TV which provides great insights on opportunities and challenges going into 2016. The paper notes there’s still a lot of confusion around how to define programmatic TV and what the unique benefits are. The paper does a nice job of breaking down different types of programmatic TV opportunities and use cases. To make things more tangible, it also includes an auto manufacturer case study.

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I'm pleased to present the 301st edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

First up on this week’s podcast, I share some of the key highlights from this past Tuesday’s SHIFT // 2015 Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit. Perhaps the biggest takeaway is the diversity of perspectives on what programmatic means in video and TV. Most definitions focus on automation and data, but understanding which business model applies makes things fuzzier. I’ll have a lot more on SHIFT as I post the session videos in the coming weeks.

Next we discuss Digitalsmiths’ new Q3 2015 Video Trends Report which was released this week. Colin zeroes in on a couple of noteworthy data points: the soaring adoption of over-the-air antennas plus how these complement SVOD subscriptions and the wide variation of SVOD subscription rates by pay-TV operator. Colin has much more detail in his analysis of the report here.

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We had a jam-packed day at SHIFT // 2015 Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit today, with 50+ industry leaders speaking on 14 sessions. There were tons of insights shared about what programmatic does and doesn’t mean for video & TV, with more than a few speakers saying they strongly dislike the term “programmatic” even being used in this context!

Our 2 keynotes guests, Donna Speciale, President of Turner Ad Sales, who was interviewed by Matt Prohaska, CEO and Principal of Prohaska Consulting and Lou Paskalis, SVP, Bank of America, who was interviewed by Michael Kassan, Chairman and CEO, MediaLink, totally hit it out of the park with their incisiveness and candor.

Many thanks to all of our speakers, our 18 sponsors and the hundreds of industry colleagues who attended.

I’ll have many more takeaways to share about SHIFT in the coming days and will also be posting all of the session videos on VideoNuze. There are also lots of tweets at #ShiftVideo2015!

The SHIFT // 2015 Programmatic Video & TV Ad Summit is tomorrow, Tuesday, December 1st in NYC. If you've been on the fence about whether to attend, this is your last chance to decide. Here's are some incentives:

Over 50 industry leaders will be speaking on 14 sessions. Executive speakers represent companies including A+E Networks, ABC, AMC Networks,  American Express, Assembly, Bloomberg Media, Business Insider, Fox Networks, Havas Media, Trilia/Hill Holliday, Horizon Media, Magna Global, MediaVest, Meredith, NBCU, RAPP, Razorfish, Roku, The Weather Company, Tribune Media, Truffle Pig, Viacom, VivaKi, Xaxis plus many others.

Our 2 fantastic keynote guests are Donna Speciale, President of Turner Broadcasting Ad Sales, who will be interviewed by Matt Prohaska, CEO and Principal of Prohaska Consulting and Lou Paskalis, SVP, Bank of America, who will be interviewed by Michael Kassan, Chairman and CEO, MediaLink.

Over 450 industry colleagues are registered, guaranteeing a premier day of networking and learning.

A special bonus will be Lior Manor, an internationally-recognized mentalist, who will be doing a 20-minute show during cocktails, courtesy of Jinni. He’ll also join me on stage briefly in the afternoon to provide a couple of teasers. It will be a lot of fun!

Many thanks to our 18 generous sponsors, Title Partner Adobe; Premier Partners Altitude Digital, FreeWheel, Jinni, TubeMogul and Videology; Headline Partners Beachfront Media, comScore, JW Player, Levels Beyond, Ooyala, Operative, Placemedia, SpotX and Teads.tv; and Branding Partners Alphonso, Cedato and Roku.

Please join us for this must-attend day of learning and networking!

Learn more and register now!