Posts for 'Advertising'

I'm pleased to present the 286th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

The past couple of weeks have brought into stark relief the tectonic changes happening in the video and TV industries. Linear ratings are way down, audiences are fragmenting to on-demand sources,  pay-TV subscriber losses are up and advertisers are shifting their spending.

In this week’s podcast, Colin and zero in specifically on the huge shifts occurring in TV and video advertising. Advertisers’ priorities and buying processes are fundamentally moving toward more flexible, data-driven approaches. I explain why programmatic video/TV and mobile video ads are surging, looking at recent results from TubeMogul and SpotXchange as key evidence (see here and here for more). We also get into why advertising-supported VOD could have a bright future.
 
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Watch an ad longer and all kinds of effectiveness measures should increase. That’s a pretty bankable assumption. But in a world where viewers are going to great lengths to avoid ads, just getting them seen and paid attention to have become huge challenges. For example, earlier this week a report from Adobe and PageFair estimated that publishers are now foregoing $22 billion per year due to increased use of ad blocking software.

All of this has triggered a range of new video ad approaches to deliver improved monetization. One of them is “outstream” video ads, where the video ad plays outside of the video stream, instead running in a text article, newsfeed or slideshow, as opposed to instream (i.e. pre-roll, mid-roll or post-roll). I’ve been a fan of outstream ads for a while as I think they unlock lots of new premium inventory for publishers while balancing the viewer experience.

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I’m excited to announce our next VideoNuze conference: SHIFT // 2015 Programmatic Video & TV Advertising Summit, which will be on Tuesday, December 1st in NYC at the Time-Life Conference Center.

SHIFT // 2015 is an immersive new one-day conference which will bring together senior industry leaders and influencers who have a stake in the success of programmatic video & TV advertising. SHIFT // 2015 is the first conference laser-focused on programmatic video & TV advertising, which eMarketer forecasts will account for almost $4 billion, or approximately 40%, of online video ad spending in 2016, up from just $190 million in 2013.

As VideoNuze readers know, I’ve written extensively about how video viewers are fragmenting across countless devices, services and platforms, which has in turn created unprecedented challenges for advertisers and content providers. As David Cohen, UniversalMcCann’s Chief Investment Officer said in his keynote interview with me at this past’s June’s Video Ad Summit, re-aggregating target audiences and delivering the right video ads - efficiently and at scale - have become the media industry’s top priority (last week’s market meltdown in media stocks underscored its urgency).

This is why programmatic video & TV advertising has such huge potential - offering the ability to shift (hence the conference name!) to an automated, data-driven and flexible approach. Programmatic enables ad buyers to target and reach their audiences wherever they watch video, and content publishers to recognize the full value of their inventory.  

Despite this potential, it is still early days for programmatic video and even earlier days for programmatic and cross-screen TV. For many industry executives, programmatic’s complex ecosystem and “alphabet soup” of participants is difficult to understand. Questions about viewability, channel conflicts, pricing integrity, measurement, attribution, etc. swirl. As a result, there’s still caution around programmatic video & TV.

By comprehensively addressing these and other key topics, I’m confident SHIFT / 2015 will create new value for market participants. The SHIFT // 2015 program will focus on the most critical aspects of programmatic video & TV advertising, with experienced industry executives delivering actionable insights and data that help attendees to be smarter and more productive back at the office. SHIFT // 2015 will pick up on important themes raised on our programmatic sessions at the Ad Summit, which drew 450+ attendees and featured 55 speakers.

I’ve spent a lot of time over the past couple of months talking to industry colleagues about the opportunity for SHIFT // 2015 and have been hugely gratified by the response. I’m very aware of the proliferation of conferences and believe SHIFT // 2015 is differentiated by its deep-dive focus on programmatic video & TV.

I’ve set the bar high for SHIFT // 2015 to be a must-attend day for executives at publishers, distributors, agencies, advertisers, trading desks, networks/exchanges, technology providers/platforms, research and investment firms, journalists and anyone else seeking to learn more about programmatic video & TV and accelerate its success.

SHIFT // 2015 is an important new initiative for VideoNuze which will build off momentum from our many prior Video Ad Summits and VideoSchmoozes. Early bird discounted tickets are now available as are discounted charter sponsorships (contact me to learn more). I’m excited to share a lot more about SHIFT // 2015 in the coming months and I welcome your input. I hope you’ll join us on December 1st!

Demand-side video ad platform TubeMogul reported a very strong Q2 yesterday, with $105 million of total advertising spend on its platform, up 72% vs. Q2 ’14 and revenue of $45.4 million, up 58% vs. Q2 ’14. TubeMogul once again upped its full-year guidance, for total ad spending (to $395-$401 million) and revenue (to $164-$170 million).

While desktop pre-roll video ads still account for the dominant share of TubeMogul’s business, the company reported an upside surprise of between 5-10% of spending coming from programmatic TV (“PTV”), a useful indicator of how TV advertisers are beginning embrace programmatic. Mobile accounted for between 10-15% of spending in Q2 and the company’s new display offering accounted for under 5%.

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Supply-side video ad platform SpotXchange released new data this morning highlighting huge growth in mobile video advertising and private marketplaces by premium publishers.

SpotXchange said it experienced 800% growth in mobile video ad spending in the first half of 2015 vs. the first half of 2014 as mobile accounted for 19% of total spending on its platform vs. just 4% a year ago. There’s almost certainly more rapid growth ahead, as recent data from Ooyala revealed that 42% of all video views in Q1 were on mobile, with 50% expected later this year. eMarketer is forecasting mobile video will account for $2.62 billion or 34% of the $7.8 billion expected to be spent on online video ads this year.

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Tremor Video released data gleaned from 40 billion ad calls in its premium video marketplace, finding, among other things, that 7 out of 10 advertisers are now buying multi-screen campaigns. That’s a bit higher than the 58% Videology reported for Q1 ’15 back in May based on its data.

Both data points illustrate how aggressively advertisers are embracing both online video and mobile video advertising. Mobile in particular now accounts for 50% or more views on many popular sites, including YouTube, making a mobile component mandatory.

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Viacom announced that it has added 3 new executives to its Viacom Vantage data-driven ad product, which was itself announced in late April. Joining Viacom are Bryson Gordon as SVP of Data Strategy, Gabe Bevilacqua as VP of Product Management and Kodi Foster as VP of Data Strategy. Together they’ll oversee development of new data products to micro-target viewers which are overseen by Kern Schireson, EVP of Data Strategy and Consumer Intelligence for Viacom Media Networks.

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A new partnership announced by video ad buying platform AudienceScience and programmatic video supply-side provider SpotXchange aims to accelerate video advertising on the mobile web and in mobile apps. The companies have completed an OpenRTB integration enabling advertisers using AudienceScience’s Helios system to access mobile video inventory that publishers manage using SpotXchange.

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Connected TVs are soaring in popularity due to plummeting prices of smart TVs and the proliferation of inexpensive devices like Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast and others. As more homes adopt connected TV devices and long-form online viewership shifts to them, there’s a huge opportunity for advertising.

This was the topic of discussion for the Video Ad Summit session, “Connected TVs and Advertising: A Match Made in the Living Room,” which included Tal Chalozin (CTO and Co-Founder, Innovid), Ashish Chordia (CEO and Founder, Alphonso), Josh Mallalieu (VP, Partner, Portfolio Management, Universal McCann) and Scott Rosenberg (VP, Advertising, Roku) with Colin Dixon (Chief Analyst and Founder, nScreenMedia) moderating.

The session touched on what types of video ad units are working best on connected TVs, how advertisers are using data to target audiences on connected TVs, why mobile is benefiting connected TVs, how the ad experience on connected TVs is becoming richer and much more.

Watch the session video now (30 minutes, 51 seconds)

Programmatic is one of the most important trends in the online video advertising industry, with eMarketer forecasting that in 2016 nearly $4 billion of online video advertising will be transacted programmatically. At last month’s Video Ad Summit, one of our sessions focused on programmatic video advertising from the advertiser/buy side and another from the content provider/sell side.

The advertiser/buy side session included Larry Allen (SVP, Business Development, Xaxis), Jim Caruso (VP, Product Strategy, Varick Media Management), Neeraj Kochhar (Managing Director, Buy-Side Platforms, Tremor Video), Troels Smit (Head of Demand Sales, LiveRail), with Gain Dunaway (Senior Editor, AdMonsters) moderating.

The content provider/sell side session included Doug Fleming (Director of Programmatic, Hulu), Manny Puentes (Chief Technology Officer, Altitude Digital), Sorosh Tavakoli (SVP, AdTech, Ooyala), Tim Trevathan (SVP, Publisher Solutions, Defy Media), with Ashley Swartz (CEO and Founder, Furious Corp.) moderating.

The session videos are included below. Taken together they provide a wealth of insights about where programmatic video advertising is today, the key opportunities and challenges for advertisers and content providers, what’s ahead, plus lots more.

Watch the session videos now

Google highlighted YouTube’s audience and revenue growth in last week’s Q2 ’15 earnings call, with viewing time up 60%, the number of advertisers up 40% and the average spending of the top 100 advertisers up over 60%, all vs. a year ago. While Google has never broken out detailed YouTube performance, these selected data point to strong momentum at the video site.

At the 2015 Video Ad Summit, our session, “How to Capitalize on YouTube’s Vast Landscape With Winning Video Ad Campaigns” helped explain why YouTube is succeeding. The session included Michelle Bandler (Director of Brand Activation, Google), Al Cadena (Senior Account Director, Beeby Clark+Meyler), Hermann Hassenstein (Global Head of Marketing Planning, PUMA) and Art Zeidman (EVP, Chief Revenue Officer, Pixability), with Mike Shields (Senior Editor, The Wall Street Journal) moderating.

The session explored, among other things, how ad buyers think about YouTube and the key challenges the site faces in persuading traditional TV ad buyers to pursue YouTube. These include measurement, sales lift, business processes, incomplete experimentation, etc.

The group also discussed how advertisers work with YouTube influencers on branded entertainment, the rising importance of mobile, the impact of Facebook, how ads are optimized for YouTube and social media, plus much more.

Watch the session video now (31 minutes, 26 seconds)

At the 2015 Video Ad Summit, we reprised a session from 2014, focused on NewFronts, Upfronts and the Ongoing Battle for Video Ad Budgets, including Jackie Kulesza, EVP, Group Director, Digital Acceleration, Starcom and Adam Shlachter, Chief Investment Officer, Digitas Lbi, with Tim Hanlon from The Verrtere Group moderating.

The session included a deep dive into why the Upfronts are still important to advertisers even as online video advertising spending has soared. Still, Jackie and Adam agreed that advertisers are seeking more flexibility than ever to buy in real-time and optimize their campaigns, which has put huge pressure on the Upfront process.

The session also touched on the important role of data, why price is still a critical issue, how measurement challenges are still holding back true cross-platform audience buying, how advertisers are adapting and much more.

Watch the interview now (34 minutes, 10 seconds)

Mobile ad platform Opera Mediaworks has launched Opera House, a creative studio, to help brands and agencies create compelling mobile video ads based on best practices and data. Opera House includes 60+ professionals around the world who will work with brands and agencies to help optimize mobile video campaigns for mobile’s unique features such as the camera, gyroscope, vibration and GPS.

Beyond creative and technical development assistance, Opera will also test the campaigns at increasing scale and across multiple devices to ensure successful launch. Specific ad unit executions could include native video, short-form video and selfie ads.

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At the Video Ad Summit, Frank Amorese, Media Director, Heineken USA and Dan Kern, SVP/Managing Director, MediaVest shared their insights on how online video and programmatic are changing their marketing mix. Keith Eadie, CMO of TubeMogul moderated.

Heineken is shifting marketing spending to digital channels, especially for its brands that target 21-29 year-olds since they’re watching less TV.  Dan and Frank discuss how they’re using data to drive their spending in video based on both reach and business outcomes.

They measure cost of video on the basis of CPM, viewability, quality of targeting and other factors. Frank also discusses how they’re measuring both sales lift and attribution. Frank and Dan also describe how they’re implementing programmatic, including vendor selection, plus lots more.

Watch the interview now (28 minutes, 40 seconds)

One of the highlights of the recent Video Ad Summit was the keynote conversation with David Cohen, Chief Investment Officer at Universal McCann. David is one of the foremost digital thought-leaders in the advertising industry and oversees billions of dollars of client spending.

In the interview with me, David shared his insights across a range of topics, including how the proliferation of platforms and data is driving a much more complicated landscape, exponentially multiplying how to connect with audiences. David sees the big challenge as re-aggregating today’s fragmented audiences so advertisers can deliver messages at scale.

David says there’s no silver bullet for addressing this, but believes data and measurement are the key pathways. With advertisers demanding more flexibility, David sees the TV upfront process as becoming antiquated, with spending shifting to routes that require lower initial commitments and more room to adapt. He says there’s no “must-buy” in TV any longer, with many digital alternatives now available.

In the interview David also touches on video pricing, how measurement challenges are holding back spending, why SVOD is driving declines in linear TV ratings, why pay-TV unbundling is coming, millennials’ expectations, how programmatic is impacting cross-channel video advertising, why lack of premium inventory continues to be a challenge for online video, how UM’s own measurement solution works and how it’s organizing itself to devote more resources to campaign optimization.

We wrap up with David sharing his thoughts on 4 major video providers and what’s ahead in the next 12 months.

Watch the interview now (37 minutes, 45 seconds)

Mobile video is now up to 42% of all online video viewed and is poised to surpass 50% later this year, making it a top priority for advertisers. So our Video Ad Summit session, “Small Screens, Big Opportunities: Why Mobile Video is Skyrocketing,” was one of the most timely discussions in the day-long program.  

The session explored how mobile video fits with cross-screen strategies, why mobile video durations are shortening, why 15-second ads dominate on mobile but are changing, what role Facebook and Snapchat are playing in mobile video advertising, why there’s more data in mobile video than in desktop video, whether mobile video will move from the horizontal to the vertical format and lots more.   

The session included Mike Berkley (Head of Product, Viacom), Dan Colarusso (Executive Editor, Digital, Reuters), Rachel Pasqua (Head of Mobility, MEC North America), Frank Sinton (CEO, Beachfront Media), with Michael Sebastian (Reporter, AdAge) moderating.

Watch the session video now (30 minutes, 18 seconds)

These are complicated times for video content providers, with more opportunities to monetize their video inventory and partner with advertisers, yet more complexity as well. How to succeed in this rapidly evolving environment was the topic of our Video Ad Summit panel, “Modernizing the Monetization of Video: The Content Provider’s Perspective.”

The session included Lorne Brown (Founder & CEO, Operative), Sean Holzman (Chief Digital Revenue Officer, Bonnier), Stephano Kim (SVP, Ad Operations & Chief Digital Strategist, Turner Broadcasting), David Morris (Chief Revenue Officer, CBS Interactive) and Lisa Valentino (Chief Revenue Officer, Conde Nast Entertainment), with Tom Herman (CEO, DashBid) moderating.

The wide-ranging discussion touched on various topics including how campaign success metrics are changing, why performance and engagement are paramount, how content providers are creating their own data management platforms and selectively exposing their first-party data, why the consumer is really in the driver’s seat, the role of branded entertainment, the challenges of moving to a direct-to-consumer approach at scale, ad-blocking and much, much more.

Watch the session video now (32 minutes, 36 seconds)

The leadoff session at the recent Video Ad Summit focused on the topic of whether TV and video advertising are converging or diverging. In other words, are advertisers going to opt for converged, multiscreen campaigns that incorporate TV, or is ad spending a zero sum game with advertisers shifting spending from TV to video?

With tens of billions of dollars of annual TV and video ad spending, obviously this is a pressing question. Scott Ferber, Chairman and CEO of Videology, kicked off the session with a compelling presentation that made the case for convergence, with data playing a key role in making this happen.

Then Scott moderated a discussion with Andrew Feigenson (Managing Director, Digital, Nielsen), Kris Magel (Chief Investment Officer, Initiative U.S.), Melissa Roberts (GM, Enterprise Solutions, FreeWheel) and Brian Wieser (Senior Analyst, Pivotal Research Group). The group dug into the convergence-divergence question from all angles.

Watch the session video now 42 minutes, 33 seconds