Advertisers want measurement that assesses video brand safety. And the latest beneficiary of that need is OpenSlate, a video analytics company that can determine if ads were placed alongside appropriate video content on YouTube. The YouTube measurement partner said Thursday it’s bringing a new brand safety auditing tool for YouTube to market, partnering with independent […]
While Google claimed advertisers are returning to YouTube, new data from Standard Media Index reveals advertisers really did tighten their purse strings after the video platform’s brand safety scare. YouTube ad spend declined about 26% YoY in Q2, while ad spend spread across digital video platforms such as Hulu or network-owned video services, in comparison, […]
Facebook Watch, the social giant’s video hub that went live for select users on Wednesday, already has a roster of digital video launch partners – like Time Inc., Hearst, Brit & Co., Tastemade, Quartz and McClatchy. But Facebook also wants to broker content deals with the likes of big TV companies like Univision, Major League […]
Videology revealed Wednesday that it received an $80 million credit facility from lending and payment services provider FastPay and Tennenbaum Capital. Since its founding a decade ago, Videology has raised about $121 million in capital financing, but at this advanced stage in the company’s lifecycle, it didn’t necessarily make sense to raise another round of costly […]
The Atlantic used to have dueling video strategies – one aiming to improve direct monetization onsite and the other to extend its reach and audience offsite. The Atlantic would first monetize video on its flagship site TheAtlantic.com using the Brightcove video player, then push those clips or cuts of them to YouTube. But because off-platform […]
Google’s YouTube measurement system, Ads Data Hub, now works with media bought through DoubleClick and the Google Display Network (GDN). Ads Data Hub is designed to provide insights into ad spend and campaign performance across Google properties while respecting user privacy. It is meant to solve inconsistencies in measurement that have emerged (especially in mobile) […]
8 p.m. Katy Perry. That’s all. 7:40 p.m. Google Preferred FTW Google Chief Business Officer Robert Kyncl claimed Google Preferred (translation: Google’s top tier videos) has tripled its number of advertisers. Kyncl credited YouTube for turning publishers like BuzzFeed, Vice and AwesomenessTV into “daily destinations of can’t-miss programming.” Consumers watch over 1 billion of hours […]
OpenSlate, a video analytics platform which provided YouTube brand safety ratings long before YouTube’s most recent brand safety crisis, has raised $7 million from North Base Media to fund product development and international expansion. The company has raised about $15 million in total. OpenSlate is also deepening its talent pool by hiring longtime Triad Retail Media […]
Alphabet beat its earnings forecast in the first quarter, sending the stock up 5% in after-hours trading. Revenue increased 22% year over year to $24.75 billion. The positive earnings report, however, was overshadowed by investor questions about the YouTube brand safety crisis. Since January, brands and agencies have withdrawn spend, leading Google to improve controls […]
After its merger with Starwood, Marriott is doubling down on paid media to drive awareness for some of its new portfolio brands. One ad campaign, “Go Beyond,” which launched this week, commemorates Sheraton Hotels’ 80th year in business. “We are trying a lot of new things in digital including people-based marketing and sequential messaging with […]
Intuit CMO Lucas Watson wants to give the financial services software company more name recognition among the Googles, Facebooks and Apples of the world. And he’s well positioned to do so, considering he last served as Google’s VP of global brand solutions and innovations before he joined Intuit last July. “As we start to stitch […]
Music and entertainment duo Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter are on an ambitious mission to reach 300 million video views each month. The sister publications have collectively crossed the 210 million monthly mark, thanks to a growth initiative dubbed “Project 300,” which centers on video of all varieties, said John Amato, president of The Hollywood […]
The UK boycott of YouTube and the Google Display Network jumped the pond Wednesday when AT&T, Verizon and Johnson & Johnson joined the ever-growing pile-on of advertisers suspending their ad spend over brand safety concerns. But the issue at the heart of this developing scandal – ads appearing next to extremist and offensive content – […]
The Media Rating Council (MRC) will audit YouTube’s third-party measurement partners, Moat, Integral Ad Science and DoubleVerify, Google revealed Tuesday in a blog post. While the MRC has audited several parts of Google’s ad-serving and search functions for years, YouTube wasn’t historically included, said George Ivie, the council’s CEO: “This will be a first-time audit […]
As the United States ushered in its 45th president on Friday, Google quietly ushered in a number of updates to its ad platforms. But it was Google’s reduction of third-party cookies and pixels on YouTube, as well as the release of a cloud-based YouTube measurement system called Google Ads Data Hub, that had industry insiders […]
Google is enabling YouTube targeting based on search data, and will also release a proprietary YouTube measurement system. The company discussed the first development in a Friday blog post that went live just minutes before the US presidential inauguration. “Now, information from activity associated with users’ Google accounts may be used to influence the ads […]
Pulpix, a video platform that aims to increase the time consumers spend on publishers’ properties, has raised $850,000 in “pre-seed” financing. The two-year-old, Paris-based Pulpix is a Y Combinator startup whose backers include Studio VC, Ace Capital and angel investors such as Chon Tang, who invested early on in the video DSP TubeMogul. The startup […]
For YouTube, the recent election cycle was the best of times and the worst of times. Multiple campaign sources think the Google-owned video network remained the single largest platform for political video dollars (aside from TV networks), despite Facebook’s meteoric rise. “YouTube is the second most trafficked site in the US, so it played a […]
Because Wix, a website builder competing with Squarespace, doesn’t have a traditional sales force, its marketing needs to go the extra mile. The public company is under pressure to grow profits, so Wix has to make sure marketing investments (pegged at about $150 million this year, according to recent guidance) translate into revenue performance. Wix […]
When General Mills launched Tiny Toast in June, its first new cereal brand in more than 15 years, the company also launched its first completely digital marketing campaign. Because General Mills was targeting millennials, it stayed away from traditional TV and instead placed short video clips across YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram. In the two months […]
Studio71, a multichannel video network (MCN) owned by German broadcast, radio and print media giant ProSieben, aims to be a media company for the social media creator. To ensure content makers and brands work together effectively, Studio71 snagged agency vet Matt Seiler as president of marketing solutions last month. The former chairman of IPG Mediabrands […]
Like many companies, outdoor lifestyle brand Columbia Sportswear was no stranger to using 15- and 30-second YouTube videos as a complement to TV. Because consumers weren’t necessarily going to YouTube for “conversion-based” content like product reviews, Columbia experimented with 360-degree video to make its content more immersive. Columbia sent its production crew out with US […]
Google’s programmatic video revenues are growing fast, thanks in part to its decision to turn on exchange-based monetization of YouTube’s TrueView ad formats. Just how fast they’re growing can be seen in figures obtained by AdExchanger as well as in data released by Google directly. Google claims programmatic buying on YouTube via its demand-side platform, […]
Google debuted a number of shopping and travel ad products on Tuesday, including dynamic price alerts for flights based on Google search queries. But first, YouTube. When Google rolled out TrueView for shopping last spring on YouTube, it claimed the units generated three times the revenue of standard TrueView video ads – and the volume […]
Kim Kardashian and pop star Taylor Swift are the only people with more social followers than Ellen DeGeneres. The popular talk show host’s brand transcends demographics and geographies, which has spurred a deeper shift into digital despite Ellen’s TV ratings strength. In May, Ellen Digital Ventures and Warner Bros. Television launched the Ellen Digital Network […]
At face value, AwesomenessTV looks like your average YouTube multichannel network (MCN). Except it’s not, according to Paul Kelly, AwesomenessTV’s chief partnerships officer. AwesomenessTV has amassed 160 million total subscribers and now boasts nearly a billion monthly video views across platforms. A network of creators helps support its shows, but the company is also a […]
YouTube reaches more 18- to 49-year-olds on mobile alone than any cable network or broadcaster, said Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, during Google’s glitzy Brandcast event Thursday night in New York City. She cited MAGNA Global’s $250 million upfront commitment to Google Preferred as evidence of the shift of brand TV dollars to digital. YouTube […]
MAGNA Global, the strategic investment arm of Interpublic Group, revealed Wednesday it would shift $250 million from its TV budget into Google Preferred over a three-year period, making it the latest agency to commit big upfront dollars to YouTube. Other agencies, such as WPP, Publicis and Omnicom, have collectively committed “billions” through the Preferred program to […]
Judging by the billions of dollars spent on World Cup advertising alone, the game of soccer commands a maniacal fan and brand following. Global soccer video platform KICK, which launched as early YouTube multichannel network “KICKTV” in 2012, wants to capitalize on that craze with an eye toward reaching millennial soccer fans with cross-platform video. […]
Will Google’s grand plans for TV, evidenced by its launch of DoubleClick Dynamic Ad Insertion on Wednesday, be successful? Google’s move into dynamic ad serving across live, linear and on-demand programming marks a critical shift in the search giant’s strategy, which some industry insiders say was necessary to meet future business objectives. “Google will not […]
