CTV

Dynamic ad insertion is technically easier on over-the-top (OTT) apps, but it’s less prevalent, at least at scale, in live TV and video on demand (VOD). To help answer that call, Adobe has enhanced its Primetime solution to enable dynamic ad insertion for live, linear TV streams. The solution already supports VOD and OTT devices. […]

When Dentsu Aegis Network bought programmatic shop Accordant Media on Thursday, it was the Japanese holding company’s second major tech acquisition in less than a month, following the majority stake Dentsu took in CRM agency Merkle. “Programmatic is the way of working in the future and we’ll continue to invest in people who have the […]

Consumers are subscribing to more streaming video-on-demand services these days, but “cord cutting” may not be as rampant as some would lead you to believe. Because cable networks measure audience viewership differently than certain Nielsen metrics, the contrast tends to create an apples-to-oranges scenario when tracking overall viewership. That’s why TV networks defend the claim […]

These are the TV brands you know – Sony, Samsung, LG. But the browser inside their hardware comes courtesy of a third party. And Opera TV, the purveyor of said software, is starting to dip its toe into more consumer-facing fare. “We shipped 42 million devices with our software last year and we’re nearly at the […]

Although the Rio Olympics broke its own record for reserved ad dollars set during the London Games in 2012, broadcast is losing its iron grip on live sports media. Ratings for NBC across a portfolio of Comcast-owned properties (like MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, Golf Channel, Telemundo and the NBC smart-TV app channel) were down compared […]

As one of Canada’s top three media companies, Corus Entertainment’s wide-ranging footprint spans TV and radio. Navigating the data landscape is a tall order for any linear TV company, but Corus is placing bets on a future when data flows as freely in broadcast as it does in digital, despite tighter regulatory restrictions that exist […]

After local broadcaster Raycom Media acquired digital ad platform PureCars for $125 million last November, it let local auto advertisers take advantage of programmatic targeting. Automotive marketers – a key vertical for Raycom – needed a better way to connect their upper and lower-funnel tactics. “We’ve embarked on integrating digital and television, so you have […]

Video buy-side platform TubeMogul missed its Q2 revenue forecast by 3%, partly due to slower-than-expected shifts in advertiser spend from desktop to mobile. Revenue in the second quarter reached $55.4 million, a 22% increase from the year before but still shy of analysts’ expectations of about $58 million. The company lowered its FY2016 guidance on […]

On Saturday, small businesses will get a chance to pitch ideas to a GoDaddy executive and other experts at the SheKnows Media conference. To drive viewers to the live-streamed event, GoDaddy will become the first brand to deploy a programmatic video live-stream ad unit from Traction Labs. The session is part of a sponsorship deal […]

Zype, a startup which seeks to power publishers’ video delivery pipes, has raised $2 million in seed funding following an initial raise of $1.6 million last October. Think of it as a “lightweight” competitor to more legacy cloud video distribution platforms like Ooyala and Brightcove. Zype provides app publishing, monetization and analytics tools and a content […]

NBCUniversal finished its upfront negotiations on a high note, citing CPM increases of 12.5% for prime-time slots and even higher percentages for some networks – 13% on USA, for example. Comparatively speaking, NBC aimed for 7% to 8% CPM increases in 2015, but settled in at about 5%, which speaks to the strength of this […]

  Deterministic data from set-top boxes is changing how linear TV is bought and valued. Like the Nielsen ratings panel, set-top box data connects to a physical address and household. But unlike Nielsen’s 40,000 families – which provide a “truth set” for TV viewership – set-top boxes reach millions of households, allowing marketers to overlay […]

Cadent, a media network and data platform for pay TV providers, has rolled out a TV targeting tool that taps into TiVo’s data sets. Available initially as a managed service, the product is Cadent’s first since its acquisition last August of addressable and video on-demand ad platform BlackArrow. GroupM’s advanced TV specialist Modi Media is the first […]

Mediaocean has acquired Invision, a software company that helps broadcasters and major media companies manage sales workflow. The financial terms of the deal, announced Thursday, were undisclosed and Mediaocean expects to add 100-plus employees as a result of the transaction. This deal represents Mediaocean’s first serious foray into sell-side tools, since it had previously focused […]

Satellite TV provider Dish Network is exploring more ways to match marketers’ first-party data with its own window into TV viewership following the launch of its programmatic exchange last fall. Dish already offered access to 82 segments, like age, sex, income and a plethora of propensities, such as the likelihood of a household to watch […]

With major upfront negotiations winding down, Fox, NBC and ABC hope to emulate CBS’ strong showing, which reportedly saw CPM hikes in the low double digits and about 5% higher sales volume. Networks have the leverage this year to command higher prices because of the present scarcity, say buyers. National TV networks reported 19% more revenue […]

Programmatic TV will grow but remain a fraction of overall TV spend through 2017, according to eMarketer’s first forecast on the nascent space, released Tuesday. Spend on programmatic TV, which eMarketer defined as the automated process for buying television ads through cable, satellite or broadcast networks, is expected to more than double to $2.16 billion […]

A year ago, E.W. Scripps–owned video network Newsy was predominantly a desktop-focused site. A lot has changed for the publisher, whose 55-person editorial team endeavors to put its own spin on the stories of the day across verticals, from global news and policy to culture and entertainment. Newsy is now on pace to hit one […]

Social data is emerging as a way for traditional TV players to start moving beyond age and gender targeting. For a recent movie release, Turner ran a month-long ad campaign during shows where an audience segment built from social media behavior was predicted to appear in high numbers. That audience segment, built by cross-screen data […]

Looks like Samsung has joined the TV race for ad tech. The electronics manufacturer has confirmed its acquisition of AdGear, a Canadian demand-side platform and ad server with roots in agency-serving tools. “Samsung has acquired Quebec-based AdGear Technologies Inc., a leading digital advertising technology company that provides software and services to media agencies, publishers and […]

With TV upfront negotiations underway, digital tactics are wielding more influence as networks court buyers with cross-platform guarantees and enhanced data products. “You can still invest client dollars in proven media, but upfronts are now about online video partnerships you can make long-term investments in,” said Maureen Bosetti, the chief investment officer for Interpublic Group’s […]

As more brands and publishers seek to reach millennial audiences, FOX’s video ad platform True[X] is eyeing tech like chat bots and messaging apps that are trendy with teens and 20-somethings. In a partnership with messaging app Kik, revealed Wednesday, True[X] will begin to integrate 15-second interactive video ads that allow Kik users to exchange […]

Bell Media, the broadcasting and radio subsidiary of Canadian communications company Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE), is bulking up on programmatic for its linear, streaming video and mobile platforms. Using Videology, Bell Media is building an audience indexing and delivery tool for advertisers to plan and execute cross-platform campaigns. The first phase of the integration will go […]

Custom content was all the rage even as early as 2007, when entrepreneur and actor RJ Williams founded celebrity and lifestyle site Young Hollywood. The millennial-focused publisher claims it averages 150 million monthly video views across desktop, mobile, OTT and social today. Young Hollywood evolved from content partnerships with portals like AOL, Yahoo and YouTube, […]

GroupM’s 25-person advanced TV team, Modi Media, is investing three times the amount it did in connected TV this year over last, driven mostly by exploding consumer demand and growth in media availability. To support its growing investment, Modi will use interactive video ad server Innovid to aggregate audience and measure ad views across 25 […]

A new Snapchat campaign from 20th Century Fox for “X-Men: Apocalypse” will drive awareness and ticket sales for the movie’s Friday premier. Snapchat has run plenty of branding-oriented campaigns, but this new effort is one of very few forays that include a direct-response component (in the form of a Fandango e-commerce call to action), a […]

The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Monday that formalized its opposition to the FCC’s proposed set-top box rules. Under the proposed rules, companies such as Google and TiVo who manufacture their own set-top boxes could access content from multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) without having to […]

TV or digital? Birchbox is still making up its mind. The two aren’t mutually exclusive, of course, but the online beauty retailer has decided to press pause on its TV advertising efforts while it tests out the effectiveness of a targeted social-first brand campaign. “We turned off TV in February to make sure that we […]

Many agree there’s a great need for holding companies to integrate their media buying structure “horizontally”: to collaborate rather than compete across groups. Is it possible the obstacle lies not with the agency, but with the client? Executives from Dentsu Aegis, IPG, Havas, Omnicom and WPP took up the question at the Modern Marketing Summit […]

In a significant expansion of its video ad offering, Facebook will bring video ad formats to its Instant Articles platform and to the external apps and sites in its Audience Network, the company announced Monday. It’s the first time the company will deliver video ads beyond its owned-and-operated properties – excluding its LiveRail video sell-side […]