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2014 was the year during which the "Big Game" became the "Really Big Game." From the Super Bowl and Sochi Olympics kicking off the year, to the college football Bowl Season closing it out. One could hardly turn around in 2014 without hearing of another programmer boasting cutting-edge streaming coverage of tent-pole sporting events or unprecedented depth of exposure for previously hard-to-find games.

Live sports serve a dual function for programmers trying to expand their digital footprint. In addition to bringing significant numbers of viewers to ultra-premium, high-CPM ad inventory, live sports have also been deployed as an entry point - hooking new adopters and indoctrinating digital viewing habits.

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With the ongoing dialogue surrounding measurement, brands are eager to embrace any metric that can help evaluate video content in today’s digital world.  

However, most marketers are still using the number of video views as a key performance indicator to assess video initiatives – a method of measurement that is severely flawed.  Video views in a vacuum – or alone – are not only misleading but also potentially damaging when it conceals poorly performing content and drives wrong investment decisions.

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In 2014 I cut the cord. We live in Toronto, Canada, are not a sports family, and watch mostly drama. The kids watch only Netflix, so for them, cutting the cord really had no impact. We made the conscious decision to buy whatever we wanted to watch, as I suspected we would never come close to the monthly cable bill we had just shed.  But the truth is always more complicated, and in a surprising turn of events, I find myself back with Bell Canada’s Fibe TV a year later. 

A look back at our purchases and motivations is quite revealing, considering the disruption going on in the video industry.

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In 2013 alone, $2.8 billion was spent on digital video advertising. It’s a significant investment, and one that continues to grow exponentially. Online video investment is increasing at a double-digit pace, and spending is projected to top $8 billion by 2016.*

However, according to data from Vindico’s Adtricity system, only 34 percent of digital video ads rate as ‘high quality.’** In addition, fifty-seven percent of two billion video ads did not have the opportunity to be seen (‘unviewable’) over a recent two-month period. These are not new and surprising findings, however what is shocking is that the advertising industry does not have a consistent standard or approach in how to deal with existing viewability and fraud issues.

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The growth of online video consumption is staggering, and continues to show no sign of slowing down. With YouTube and Facebook alone, well over five billion videos are watched every single day.

Given the rapid growth, it’s no surprise that brands and advertisers have quickly adapted to using video ads as the means of reaching and connecting with consumers.  To measure their investment in these video ads, most advertisers are using the easiest and most simple way they know - counting video views - but the number of times a video was watched, whether partially or in its entirety, doesn’t actually mean much.  
Pre-roll is the most common way advertisers are buying video ads today. However, according to a study by research firm MetrixLab, 94% of viewers skip pre-roll ads.  For the few consumers who don't skip the ad, more often than not they are simply ignoring it. So how much weight should an advertiser place on the value of video views?

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In early September, my 11-year-old son filled out a get-to-know-you school questionnaire, listing his favorite things - tigers, the color orange, and...binge-watching.

My boy, who dove deep during summer break into Alphas (originally on Syfy, now on Netflix, highly underrated), has tons of company. More than 75% of TV Guide users say they binge-watch regularly. Remarkably, a behavior for which we didn’t even have a name a few years ago is now an exploding mass-market consumer habit that is changing the TV game - and benefitting both consumers and entertainment companies - in three major ways:

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Making the long flight back from Las Vegas to London, I always have plenty of time to reflect on the Consumer Electronics Show when it’s over.  As usual, the level of innovation and the growth of consumer connectedness this year was staggering.  The sheer breadth and scale of the exhibition space makes it difficult to initially take it all in. Themes make themselves apparent slowly, trends and developments slowly reveal themselves as connections and commonality coalesce into patterns.

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According to a recent study by Nielsen, 15% of viewers said they enjoyed watching television more when social media was involved. By now, we know that consumers are using these screens to browse the web, talk on social networks about what they're watching or access complementary content that enhances their experience. So what new and different opportunities does this activity create for pay-TV operators and programmers to leverage the second screen for increased tune-in, engagement and ad revenues?

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