MediaPost.com: video

NY1 Show Goes National

Wed, 22 May 2013 19:32:43 -0400

Time Warner Cable (TWC) will begin distributing a show about Broadway and theater at large to subscribers in its various markets next month. "On Stage Across America" will be based on a local show airing over the past 15 years on TWC's Big Apple news station NY1.

April Another Big Month for Video Ad Views, Less So for Total Viewers

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:21:00 -0400

Online viewers saw a record 13.2 billion ads online in April, but in total, watched a little less. As always, YouTube trumped all others but were there were a few players who went up, and down.

Cricket Makes More From Less

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:00:00 -0400

"We feel there's tremendous savings versus AT&T and Verizon," company representative Greg Lund tells "Marketing Daily." "People have been conditioned to the post-paid experience, and they don't really take stock of what they're paying and what they're being offered."

Fiat Hopes It Has a Cheap Viral HIt Coming at You

Wed, 22 May 2013 15:20:03 -0400

If at this time next month you are either driving a Fiat 500, that's OK. If humming a song called "Sexy People," and driving a Fiat 500, well, you also may be a statistic. I'll understand how it happened.

Google Releases Self-Serve Display Benchmark Tool

Wed, 22 May 2013 14:02:00 -0400

Google introduced a tool Wednesday that lets brand marketers and agencies pull up-to-date industry benchmarks to help plan and measure the success of display campaigns. In the past, DoubleClick published a yearly report of these benchmarks, but now the self-serve tool enables marketers and agencies to run their own, any time.

Multimedia Tool Launches In Hungary

Wed, 22 May 2013 13:54:51 -0400

A new visual storytelling tool, which enables users to bring together video, text and interactive polls into a single multimedia package, has officially launched. Soo Meta, built by a Budapest-based team, offers a simple drag-and-drop system to pull in content from across the web into its online workstation, with the ability for users to search for videos, images, text within Twitter and audio. Users can either 'collect' content in the sidebar 'library' for later use, or 'insert' it directly into the player. The end product can then be password protected, or publicly available and embeddable.

NYC's Anthony Weiner, Felled by Social Media Image, Uses Social Media to Say He'll Run for Mayor

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:12:00 -0400

A YouTube video, and an email, served to announce former Rep. Anthony Weiner's re-emergence into politics. He'll run for mayor of New York, hoping voters can forget a lewd image he sent to a Seattle woman over the Internet.

Multichannel Video Cos. Register Subscriber Loss, Satellite TV Gains

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:55:00 -0400

For the first time in a year-long period, the biggest multichannel video companies have witnessed a collective net loss in subscribers. The biggest loser over the past year was Comcast, giving back 553,000 subscribers. Satellite and telco companies continued to make gains.

Mondelez Focused On Mobile Video

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:06:21 -0400

Mondelez International made a splash last year when the company behind brands like Oreo, Cadbury and Nabisco announced it planned to spend 10% of its annual marketing budget on mobile. How does it plan to spend that money? Sitting on an OMMA Mobile panel on mobile brand strategy, Ed Kaczmarek, Director of Innovation and Emerging Technology, Mondelz, said mobile video will play a big role in the company’s plans, without offering further detail. He noted Mondelez is working with its agencies MediaVest and Aegis Media to plan its mobile efforts. Mondelez has also drawn attention for its internal initiative to pair nine mobile startups with specific company to create fast mobile pilots.

DPAA Taps Enhanced TV Ad Vet Frey As New Chief

Wed, 22 May 2013 08:08:00 -0400

Barry Frey, a long-time cable and interactive television executive who helped pioneer the field of "enhanced television," has joined the Digital Place-Based Advertising Association as president-CEO. He is the fourth TV sales exec to helm the advertising trade bureau since it was founded six years ago as the Out-of-Home Video Advertising Bureau, and the first that is not a woman. He succeeds Sue Danaher, who resigned from the DPAA to take a senior sales position at DPAA member Adspace Digital Mall Network.

The NewFronts Bring A New Day -- What's Next?

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:53:05 -0400

At the end of every NewFront week, our industry asks the same question: Has digital video arrived? While one can never be certain, this time, finally, it looks like the answer could very well be "yes!" Why? The content has matured, and it looks like things could be catching up in terms of ad spend as well. It has been projected that last week's DCNF presentations could have driven over $1 billion in ad spend.

AT&T Loosens Video Chat Restrictions

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:10:02 -0400

Changing course, AT&T has decided to allow all users -- including those with unlimited data plans -- to use the FaceTime video chat app on its cellular network.

Video RTB: Is An Impression An Impression An Impression?

Tue, 21 May 2013 16:38:00 -0400

On the "Is It Primetime for Video RTB?" panel at OMMA Video today, moderator David Goetzl, senior editor, MediaPost, posed the question: "Is an impression an impression an impression?" Another theme throughout the panel was anwering the question: "What is 'premium programmatic,' and what is the key to unlocking it?" Matthew Kramer, director of TV products, Accuen, does not believe that an impression is an impression is an impression. Kramer argued that "even if everything could go to RTB," it wouldn't. He doesn't believe that programmatic can replace contextual buying. "And I don't think it should," he added.

Google Fiber Lives In Smaller Markets

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:43:00 -0400

My Internet speed sucks. I'm frustrated with paying Verizon Fios more than $120 for phone, basic television and Internet service, and can't even make it through an hour-long television show without my Internet TV pixelating or video Webcast buffering because it suffers from latency. It's not my computer. I have one of the fastest Sony laptops on the market.

How Social Is Transforming TV

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:31:00 -0400

Live from OMMA Video, Viacom Media Networks is unveiling its findings from "When Networks Network: TV Gets Social" -- some new multi-country research on the interplay between TV and social media. "The study uncovered three chief types motivations behind TV-related social media activities," according to Stuart Schneiderman, VP of strategic insights and research at Viacom Media Networks. They include functional (getting show schedules and news); communal (branding oneself online and connecting with others); and playful (gaming and contests) -- with functional motivations trumping the others, according to Schneiderman. Most of all, viewers want TV shows and networks to fulfill their "functional motivations," in the words of Schneiderman. "They expect air dates and times, episode recaps and character bios." As one 23-year-old respondent told Schneiderman and his research partners: "Daniel Tosh is the one guy that knows how to use social media well. He will throw a joke in a post that includes the date and time his show is on so I won't miss it." "Respondents also admitted that they unfriended or unfollowed brands that were redundant, or posted too often," Schneiderman notes. "And since social media is a place for emotion and fun, we found that over-selling was another big sin." The full findings from the study can be found here.

One Video Agency To Watch

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:46:00 -0400

In the market for a video agency capable of creating ads that are as sharp and to-the-point as they are easily produced and inexpensive? Then consider Conscious Minds, a small shop based out of Pasadena, California. At OMMA Video on Tuesday, Chris Needham, Fidelity Investments' VP of digital marketing, gave a ringing endorsement of the agency. A new spot that Conscious Minds made for Fidelity features video footage from a street-level ATM, which plays some funky music -- funky enough to get customers dancing and smiling -- before dispensing their money. Entertaining, no doubt, and -- at a cost of just $20,000, according to Needham -- a great deal for Fidelity.

Dove Claims Its 'Real Beauty' Ads Have Set Online Viewership Record

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:10:03 -0400

The Dove "Real Beauty Sketches" ad that went viral in April is now the most-watched online video ad ever, Unilever announced. Mashable says the viral ad has been viewed more than 114 million times.

The Quiet Success of VOD

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:10:03 -0400

After years of missteps, video on demand has now become a crucial part of the television landscape.

The Trouble with Yahoo, Even After Tumblr

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:10:03 -0400

The company held a media event in New York City to formally announce the acquisition. But those who watched the event from home spent most of that time enjoying a hiccupy stream. Or none at all.

What's The Point of NewFronts, Anyway?

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:10:03 -0400

Two weeks after they ended, the question gets asked and answered, in an interesting way at the OMMA Video conference in New York.

Fidelity Frowns On In-Banner Video

Tue, 21 May 2013 14:05:41 -0400

On hand for the afternoon keynote at OMMA Video is Chris Needham, VP, Digital Marketing, Fidelity Investments. He starts by explaining the investment giant has tried everything when it comes in-banner video but it just hasn’t paid off. An experiment with allowing users choose their own ad video went over well with people, but simply wasn't scalable. He noted that pre-roll ad delivers 5 to 8 times the engagement as in-banner, so from now on the company is sticking with in-stream video for digital video advertising.

Online Advertising: The Era Of Lowered Expectations

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:01:00 -0400

While audiences will continue to shift their consumption from TV to Web, it might be a case of "too much, still." There's no logical explanation for why TV ads have not shrunk, let alone increased. Over time it may be inevitable that TV advertising flattens and shrinks -- but whether or not that will be a zero-sum game toward Web ads remains to be seen.

The Bull That Was The Rumored $1B NewFront

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:40:00 -0400

In the run-up to this year's Digital NewFront events, it was predicted by some that advertisers would commit as much as $1 billion in ad buys. Yet, the general consensus at OMMA Video seems to be that these optimistic ad astrologers were stoned. "They were smoking something," said Mike Bloxham, executive director of the Media Behavior Institute. "We still book digital advertisers months and months after [the NewFront]," said Chris Raleigh, SVP of Cable and Cross Platform Ad Sales at The Weather Company. "I think that's hilarious," Alexis Josephs, VP of East Coast Sales at VEVO, said regarding the idea that advertisers would put up so much digital money so fast. "For us, it's unfair to think that you're going to convert immediately after the NewFront." As for those who thought the industry was going to book a billion from April to August, Josephs said: "I think [they might] be smoking many things."

Subway Serves Up Original Content

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:54:00 -0400

Subway knows something about product placement, but don't tell that to Caitlin Burke, Senior Marketing Manager of Media and Branded Entertainment at the massive QSR. "We shun the word 'product placement,'" Burke told OMMA Video attendees on Tuesday afternoon -- suggesting that the term connotes something inauthentic or inorganic. "We want to be an invited guest," Burke said of the Subway brand. Setting a new bar for brands and their content creating aspirations, Subway recently invited itself to star in its own scripted comedy series, "The 4 to 9ers." Written, directed and produced by "Two and a Half Men" director Jamie Widdoes and writer Tim O'Donnell ("Growing Pains," "Dave's World"), the show has succeeded on every conceivable level as a short-form comedy series on Hulu. Produced in conjunction with Los Angeles-based Content & Co., the original has now led to a sequel, "The 4 to 9ers Reloaded," while the series is nearing 10 million views on Hulu, YouTube, and other major distribution hubs. Regarding the content strategy, Burke said it's all about "taking calculated risks." Translation? Trying to entertain audiences, while protecting the integrity of the Subway brand, she explained.

Less Choice, Please

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:38:05 -0400

Like other Bluth Family fans, I am excitedly looking forward to NetFlix's May 26 launch of a new season of "Arrested Development." If the trailer is any indication, the new season will be as mordantly funny as the original episodes, which ran on Fox from 2003-2006. It says something about the state of contemporary television, though, that a show that barely had enough viewers to stay alive on a major broadcast network, is now being touted as a major growth driver for an online streaming service.