Posts for 'FreeWheel'

Connected TVs now account for more ad views in premium video content in the U.S. than any other type of device, according to FreeWheel’s Video Monetization Report for Q1 ’17, which was released at VideoNuze’s 7th annual Online Video Ad Summit in NYC Wednesday morning. Connected TVs, or “OTT devices” as FreeWheel calls them, claimed 32% of ad views in Q1, up 16x from their 2% share just 4 years ago.

In addition, set-top box VOD accounted for another 16% of ad views. Combined with connected TVs’ 32% share, nearly half, or 48% of premium ad views in the U.S. are now occurring in what FreeWheel calls the “new living room.”

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I’m excited to share that FreeWheel will release its Q1 ’17 Video Monetization Report (VMR) at the 7th annual VideoNuze Online Video Advertising Summit on Wednesday, June 14th in NYC.

FreeWheel’s GM, Publisher Platform, James Rooke will kick off the morning by presenting key data from the new VMR. He will then moderate a session “Exploring Premium Video’s Winning Formula,” including Maureen Bosetti (Chief Partnerships Officer, Initiative), Pooja Midha (SVP, Digital Ad Sales & Operations, Disney ABC Television Group) and Scott Rosenberg (SVP/GM, Advertising Roku).

FreeWheel’s VMR has become the gold standard for understanding how ad-supported premium video is consumed across connected and mobile devices. The VMR includes critical data on ad growth by duration, by type of content provider and by ad breaks. The VMR also provides insights into the adoption of programmatic video buying as well as international and TV Everywhere adoption.

All Ad Summit attendees will receive a hard copy of the Q1 ’17 VMR as well. FreeWheel is the Title partner for this year’s Ad Summit.

The Ad Summit program now includes over 40 industry executives are confirmed to speak on 13 different sessions. Highlights of the program include keynote discussions with Troy Young, Global President of Hearst Digital Media and Brian Lesser, CEO of GroupM North America plus a Spotlight Fireside Chat with Jonathan Carson, President of Mic, fast-growing millennial-focused publisher.

Other industry executives from Bloomberg Media, Bonnier, Dentsu Aegis Network U.S., Disney ABC Television, Edelman, ESPN, Hill Holliday, Hulu, IAB, Initiative, MDC Media Partners, NBCU, Publicis Media, Roku, Trusted Media Brands, Turner Broadcasting, The Washington Post, Pfizer, Reuters, USA Today Network, VEVO, Viacom and others.

Don’t miss out - learn more and register now!

FreeWheel has released its 2016 year-end Video Monetization Report,  revealing, among things, that ad views in live streams grew 36% in 2016, powered by marquee sports events and the U.S. presidential election that were streamed to connected devices. FreeWheel cited the Summer Olympics, Super Bowl 50, Game 7 of the World Series, and the first presidential debate in particular as major contributors.

More broadly, live video helped drive the 24th consecutive quarterly increase in both content views (up 20%) and ad views (up 17%) in Q4 ’16. For the full year 2016, content views increased 26% and ad views increased 24%.

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I'm pleased to present the 341st edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

Over the past few years, online video viewing has become a completely mainstream activity. There are no better indicators of this shift than viewers’ adoption of mobile and connected TV devices for watching increasingly long-form entertainment programming. Yesterday’s FreeWheel VMR for Q2 ’16 revealed key data around these trends, which Colin and I dig into today.

Critical for mobile video viewing (which we explored in depth on last week’s podcast) to expand further is improving viewing experiences. This is being addressed in lots of ways, and I continue to believe that downloading, for offline viewing, is one of the main solutions. Colin and I also discuss the value of downloading, in the context of YouTube Go, a new offline viewing app launched earlier this week.

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FreeWheel has released its Q2 2016 Video Monetization Report, once again sharing valuable insights on premium video viewing and monetization. Continuing its precipitous drop from prior quarters, desktop’s share of video ad viewing declined to 34%, its lowest level yet in the U.S. That was down from over 62% one year ago, in Q2 ’15 and 90% just 3 years ago, in Q2 ’13.

While desktop’s number of ad views has stayed steady, the rapid growth of mobile and connected devices has exploded, up 60% in each of the past 2 quarters alone. In Europe, desktop viewing is stronger than in the U.S., with a 43% share, though that’s down from 66% a year ago.

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The opening session of our recent Video Ad Summit, “Convergence Realized: Why TV and Video are Now Inseparable,” featured panelists David Bickford (Head of TV Sales & Multi-Platform Group Director, Bloomberg Media), Jon Heller (Co-founder and Co-CEO, FreeWheel), Nick Johnson (SVP, Digital Ad Sales Strategy, Turner Ad Sales) and Paul Williamson (Chief Investment Officer, Publicis Media Exchange U.S.).

Tim Castree (Managing Director, North America, Videology) moderated the session and also shared a 10-minute presentation at the beginning providing some of the key contextual drivers for why TV and video are converging for advertisers and publishers (Tim’s slides are posted here).

Topics of discussion included changing viewers’ behaviors leading to fragmentation, the resulting measurement challenges and what’s being done to overcome them, how advertisers are coping with “patchwork” metrics, how content providers should think about cross-screen distribution, how advertisers are planning campaigns across different and much more.

Watch the video (52 minutes, 43 seconds).

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FreeWheel has acquired Paris-based video supply-side platform StickyADS.tv, for an undisclosed sum, the companies announced this morning. StickyADS.tv is one of the largest independent SSPs and has a team of approximately 100, including a beachhead in the U.S. that was established last Fall. The companies have been working together since last year, including an integration when StickyADS.tv was one of the initial SSPs to join FreeWheel’s Preferred Partners program.

FreeWheel’s co-CEO and co-founder Doug Knopper told me that the acquisition was in direct response to customers’ requests to have a single platform to manage both video ads that are direct sold and those that are transacted programmatically. FreeWheel’s customers are among the biggest broadcasters, cable networks and online publishers, and while Doug said direct sold still accounts for the vast majority of inventory for its customers, they recognize how critical programmatic has become and are aggressively positioning themselves for the future.

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The FreeWheel Council for Premium Video, an advocacy group of 30 programmers, operators and digital publishers, has released its first white paper, spelling out the case for premium video’s quality difference, explaining two specific impediments to its future growth and making recommendations for unlocking premium video’s full value.

From a quality perspective, the paper notes that in addition to premium video delivering valuable audiences at scale in a transparent context, it also delivers higher viewability vs. all video, according to a study FreeWheel conducted with Moat. That study found that the two-second video in view rate for premium video from a FreeWheel set of publishers was 76.8% (vs. 62.7% for all Moat video) and the five-second in view rate was 72% for FreeWheel’s set (vs. 57% for all video).

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In a sign of how extensively connected and mobile devices have proliferated, video ads viewed on them have surpassed video ads viewed via browsers on desktops and laptops for the first time, as measured by FreeWheel in its new Q4 ’15 Video Monetization Report.

As seen in the graphic below, while desktops/laptops accounted for 40% of video ads views (up .1% vs. Q4 ’14), video ads viewed on connected TV devices accounted for 22% (up 76% YOY), with smartphones accounting for another 19% (up 92% YOY) and tablets at 9% (up 40% YOY). Combined, these devices account for 50% of ad views. FreeWheel also reported 10% of of ad views occurring on pay-TV operators’ set-top box VOD.

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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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I'm pleased to present the 299th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

This week there was a lot of industry data released that Colin and I covered. To streamline things, on this week’s podcast we highlight and discuss our 5-6 top takeaways. These include rising TV Everywhere usage, the shift in viewing from tablets to smartphones, how SVOD appears to be complementing pay-TV, why younger viewers are more tolerant of lower video quality, and how technology is defeating bots in online video advertising.

Here are links to some of our coverage of this data:

FreeWheel’s Q3 Video Monetization Report Shows Continued Industry Growth

Conviva Survey Shows High Abandonment Rates for Lower Quality Video Experiences

Survey: OTT Usage is Up, But Pay-TV is Still Hugely Popular, Even Among Millennials

Videology - White Ops Study Details Cost of Bots on Video Advertising

12-fold Increase in Mobile Video Volume by 2021, Led by Smartphone

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FreeWheel has released its Q3 ’15 Video Monetization Report (VMR), which reveals the continuation of a number of important industry trends. Both ad views and video views grew 28% vs. Q3 ’14, consistent with growth rates seen over the past few quarters.

Live video was once again the fastest-growing genre, with a 113% year-over-year growth, compared to 30% for long-form and 9% for short-form. Sports was again the biggest driver of live with 63% of sports video viewed live, compared with 17% of news video viewed live (other genres were in low single digits). News had the biggest proportion of short-form (76%), while Entertainment (60%) ad Kids (59%) had the biggest proportion of long-form.

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FreeWheel has released its Q2 '15 Video Monetization Report, finding once again that long-form and live viewing drove the biggest increases in video ad views. Live viewing increased 146% vs. Q2 ’14 with long-form up 26% vs. Q2 ’14. Short-form again lagged, up just 16% year-over-year. Overall, ad views increased by 32% and video views increased by 25%, both vs. Q2 ’14.

For broadcast and cable TV networks plus pay-TV operators (which FreeWheel calls “programmers”), 66% of their ad views in Q2 ’15 came from the combination of long-form (35%) and live (31%). As always, the biggest share of live viewing was sports at 78% (though that was down from 82% in Q1 ’15), distantly followed by news at 15%. For long-form, scripted drama had the highest share (42%), followed by reality (26%) and comedy (17%).

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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

FreeWheel has released its Q1 '15 Video Monetization Report, which reinforces many of the key trends seen in recent quarters. Of note, TV Everywhere viewing increased 328% vs. Q1 '14, now accounting for 57% of long-form content viewed. Once again, live content grew the fastest, up 140% year-over-year. Sports accounted for 82% of live ad views, basically flat from Q4 '14.

Overall, FreeWheel found that video views grew 40% in Q1 '15 vs. Q1 '14, with ad views up 43%, the fastest growth since 2012.

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More evidence of TV Everywhere's momentum today, as FreeWheel's Q4 2014 Video Monetization Report found that 56% of long-form and live ads were viewed via authentication. That's more than 4x greater than the 13% authentication rate for long-form content in Q4 '13. Total long-form viewing was up 43% in Q4 '14 vs. the prior year.

The new data follows Comcast's news last week that 30% of its Xfinity TV subscribers use TV Everywhere monthly. (Note Comcast owns FreeWheel).

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Once again demonstrating the rapidly blurring lines between online video and TV on-demand, ad tech provider BlackArrow has announced that it will be powering dynamic ad insertion (DAI) in on demand content viewed on connected and mobile devices by Time Warner Cable subscribers. BlackArrow has already supporting DAI for TWC in traditional set-top box VOD and linear streams over IP.

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This has been a significant year for TV Everywhere growth and no question, live sports has been the biggest driver. At the recent VideoSchmooze, one of our sessions explored how sports is playing a pivotal role in introducing TV Everywhere to millions of viewers and in turn, is creating a path to using TVE for entertainment programming as well.

The session featured Brian Dutt (FreeWheel), Vito Forlenza (Comcast), Dina Juliano (NBCU) and Clark Pierce (FOX Sports), with Colin Dixon (nScreenMedia) moderating.

The full session video is included below.

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I'm pleased to present the 250th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

(Programming note - While we were quite tempted to add our voices to this week's raging net neutrality debate, we decided to pass, on the assumption that listeners are likely fatigued. But if you'd like us to do an episode on net neutrality, please let us know.)

Instead, we start this week with FreeWheel's newly-released Q3 '14 Video Monetization Report (VMR), and specifically how sports are playing a big role driving TV Everywhere's adoption. As Colin wrote, a whopping  82% of live online video ad views are now tied to sports content. Live video ads themselves grew by 214% year-over-year and now account for 21% of all video ad views for programmers.

This is critical because it's increasingly clear that sports are going to play a pivotal role in broader TVE adoption. Colin will be moderating a session at VideoSchmooze on Dec. 4th that will dive deep into the subject with FreeWheel's Brian Dutt, who oversees the VMR, along with executives from Comcast, NBCU and Fox Sports. The session is a key part of our jam-packed VideoSchmooze program.

We then discuss Yahoo's acquisition of video ad platform BrightRoll for $640 million cash. As I wrote earlier this week, the deal is the latest in a string of video ad tech acquisitions, fueled by the market's growing acknowledgement of online/mobile video advertising's growing importance. We also dig into what the deal means for Yahoo.  

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