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Opera Mediaworks Launches Connected TV Ad Network

de Silva OperaMoving beyond smartphones and tablets, Opera Mediaworks introduced AdMarvel, an ad network for internet-connected TVs that brings together an ad exchange, ad serving and ad management functionalities.

"A connected TV looks a lot like a tablet computer," explained Opera Mediaworks CEO Mahi de Silva. "Given our experience in the tablet and smartphone space, as well as our experience in building HTML 5 runtime systems that are included in many connected TVs, we're bringing that ad technology to bear for these devices in the living room."

According to eMarketer, 35.1 million households in the US will have connected TV in 2013, rising to 41.3 million in 2014. With AdMarvel for Connected TVs, TV app developers and publishers can connect their inventory with buyers interested in reaching audiences via this new channel; the platform will display pre-roll and other ad formats to viewers on whatever application they are using on their TVs.

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For ESPN's Live Video, 'Real-Time' Advertising Is A Real Focus

Lisa Valentino, ESPN, SVP, Multimedia SalesESPN unveiled results of its first advertising "hackathon" at its cable network upfront presentation this week. The hackathon event divided ESPN staffers into groups and charged them with developing new ad solutions that would be presented to six judges and 250 other employees.

Marketers and media buyers were given a preview of some of the two digital ads to emerge from the experiment: GameBreak, a video ad unit paired with the online GameCast scoreboard, and ESPN Alerts, which will connect marketers with the roughly 80 million alerts ESPN says it sends to smartphones every month.

If this seems unusual for an upfront, that's the point, says Lisa Valentino, SVP for ESPN's Multimedia Sales, who tells AdExchanger that instead of doing a TV upfront and a "NewFront" this year, the sports franchise rolled its "multimedia" sensibility into just one big show.

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Heineken And Tremor See TV And Web Video Ads As 'Friends With Benefits'

Tremor's Doron and Heineken's RonAs Heineken continues its discussions with ad sellers from broadcast, cable and digital for those outlets' respective "upfronts," the beer marketer is looking to tie its campaigns more closely among TV and the web. While there's nothing unusual about that, the company, which also owns the Newcastle and Dos Equis beer brands, is working with video ad analytics and ad serving provider Tremor Video on crafting more original content for online channels.

In addition to ramping up production on original video ads, Heineken is also ready to support more long-form digital programming, said Senior Media Director Ron Amram in an interview with AdExchanger. It's a recognition that online video has matured and that improvements in analytics have given major marketers confidence to shift resources to the web in ways that go beyond repurposing a TV spot.

"It's one thing to talk about matching media investment with consumer behavior," Amram said. "Everyone realizes how much activity and engagement is happening online, especially with video. But it's harder to change brand behavior without real consumer insight. But as we've seen quarter after quarter that lines between TV viewing and web video are converging on the charts and spreadsheets, it's become easier to put more money on the web. It's also paved the way for more coordination among marketers, agencies and ad tech companies."

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Comcast Taps Mediaocean To Manage Broadcast Partners' Ad Sales Workflow

Matt McConnell ComcastMediaocean, fresh from striking a collaboration with digital video rights manager FreeWheel for handling Aol's ad inventory across TV and online, has just netted an even bigger assignment – Comcast.

The media buying workflow software company will be in charge of processing ad buys for Comcast AdDelivery, the cable operator's cloud-based tool for distributing spot TV. It's unclear how much this will add to Mediaocean's claim that it processes more than $130 billion globally across holding companies and agencies, but Comcast says its Spotlight ad sales unit generated $2.3 billion in revenue last year. Mediaocean has partnered with Comcast to develop a dedicated software for the cable operator that promises fully integrated ad management under the title Mediaocean Optica.

Mediaocean Optica goes beyond Comcast Spotlight and is designed to work with all broadcasters on the Comcast Cable network, SVP/GM of Comcast Wholesale Matt McConnell told AdExchanger through a Mediaocean representative.

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Vindico Aims to Inject Transparency Into Video Ads

vindico-usethisAmong the key questions for video ad buyers are these two: Did anyone see my ad? And did my ad run where it was supposed to? Without a set of standardized measurements for viewability and verification, companies have been forced to cobble together various technologies to gain insight into their investments.

Video ad server Vindico is trying to solve this problem with its new video ad measurement platform, Adtricity. Designed for both advertisers and publishers, the platform includes a ranking system and technology that evaluates the quality of video advertisements in terms of where they are placed, their appearance, and other criteria.

“What we found is many publishers will take a video ad, sell it as a linear in-stream TV-like execution, but it’ll end up in a banner somewhere below the fold, or it’ll be in a disposable player, etc. All of these things are viewer-less impressions, but publishers are still getting paid for it,” Vindico President Matt Timothy told AdExchanger.

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Super Bowl Ad Viewability: How The Blackout Affected Big Game Ads

Super Bowl XLVII TivoThe 35-minute power outage at Sunday's Super Bowl XLVII caused consternation for CBS, the network that broadcast the game. For advertisers, the outcome was mixed, as some lost exposure and at least three fast-acting marketers were able to use Twitter to capture some attention.

Looking at it in the context of viewability -- which has been a major issue lately for internet advertisers -- the blackout demonstrated  TV, like the web, can fall short of reaching the eyeballs projected for a given ad placement.

DVR provider TiVo was able to give marketers a small glimpse of which commercials were seen the most thanks to its set-top box analytics. However the company's second-by-second audience measurement data only counts a sample of 30,000 anonymous households. While it's not clear how many people tuned out during the "blackout," CBS has issued a statement promising to "honor all commercial commitments" nevertheless.

According to TiVo's stats, this year's "most engaging Super Bowl commercial" was claimed by Taco Bell's Viva Young. Perhaps tellingly, all the top commercials in TiVo's ranking (read the release) were in the first half. Given the fact that the contest between the ultimately victorious Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers wasn't even close before the half-time show starring Beyoncé, and the fact also, that viewership from non-football fans often drops off after the half-time shows, it seems very likely that the blackout had an impact.

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Is Over-The-Top Video Ready For Advertising?

Is Over The Top ReadyLast week’s news out of the Consumer Electronics Show that Time Warner Cable had struck a deal with streaming video delivery device Roku had ad industry attendees wondering whether “over-the-top” TV was near to having an advertising moment.

So we put the question to a mix of video ad observers: "Given news such as this week’s Time Warner Cable and Roku partnership, does over-the-top finally impact advertising this year?" The answers contain some hope about finding a way to connect advertising to connected TVs, but mostly, we’re still going to be waiting.

Click below to read their responses:

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Even For Traditionalists, TV Media Sales Is No Longer A Linear Process

Total ad spending on Hispanic media in 2011 was $5.7 billion, with $3.6 billion of that going to TV, according to Nielsen data released last spring. Nielsen also noted that Hispanics spend 68 percent more time watching online video and 20 percent more time watching video on their mobile phones compared to non-Hispanic Whites.

That presents a big opportunity for media outlets that cater to the Hispanic market. One of the dominant players in that space is Univision, which Nielsen says attracts the largest audience of Spanish speakers in the U.S. Over the past few years, the company has worked with video ad platform Mixpo to bring its local TV advertisers to the PC-based and mobile web. We spoke with Charlie Echeverry, EVP, Digital Sales for Univision, about the network's plans to take its work with Mixpo to its national advertisers, through a program called Base Media Plus.

AdExchanger: What is the nature of the relationship with Mixpo?

Charlie Echeverry: We’ve been working with Mixpo for a couple of years, particularly in the local interactive space. In addition to national, we have a substantial business that caters to multi-market advertisers. A local car dealer might spend an enormous amount of time and money putting together a local TV spot. But the expense can make extending that to online prohibitive. So we work with Mixpo on transferring the local buy to targeted markets at scale, all with little fuss and muss for the advertiser.

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London Olympics: Live Video Streams Intended As 'Additive,' May Be More Valuable Than Broadcast

The Summer Olympics is still primarily a major broadcast event and is expected to draw some $3 billion in related ad spending -- $1 billion of which could go directly to NBC Universal, which has the TV rights to the global games. But the viewers will have unlimited amounts of live viewing options through mobile apps as well as through PC-based online.

NBCU has sold about $60 million worth of digital ads,  AdExchanger has learned. Although that's a pittance compared to the overall broadcast haul, it's far above the $20 million in ads NBCU sold in 2008 for the last summer games in Beijing.

NBC Olympics, the division of the NBC Sports Group that's the hub for running the show on TV and online, released two apps built by and powered by Adobe to offer authenticated coverage -- users will have to sign in with their pay TV provider for access to the live streams of more than 3,500 hours of content, including all 32 sports, every athletic competition and all 302 medal events.

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Ooyala's Fulcher: Traditional TV Providers Have A Lot To Gain From IPTV Methods

ooyalaEarlier this month, streaming video distributor Ooyala raised its fifth funding round -- $35 million from Telstra Applications and Ventures Group, the investment arm of Australia’s telecom giant, Telstra. In addition to giving Ooyala a big opening in Telstra's home country, the move also signaled a new level of importance for Ooyala to try to attract more traditional TV content distributors to its streaming delivery and analytics system. We spoke to Ooyala CEO Jay Fulcher about the company's general goals and how it sees the digital video ad market evolving.

AdExchanger: The company has raised about $79 million since opening its doors about five years ago. Why did you decide to raise $35 million now?

JF: This is probably the final fundraising we’ll do as we continue to process of getting the company to scale and profitability. In particular, the funding was done to cement the work we’re doing with Telstra. The value in that deal is that not only does it help with international expansion, but they’re an important service provider and a great partner.

What makes Telstra a great partner?

They have a global TV strategy that rests on being a provider of digital TV technology and reaching people with their content, either through traditional TV distribution or IPTV. After the telephonic deal, we felt we had an opportunity to expand in that space and broaden our abilities.

This announcement was about understanding that people are watching TV in a different way. It’s not just for the living room. The commercial agreement with Telstra is putting us in a great position to help a film studio or service provider deliver content and advertising on top of it.

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