Google has begun testing "Listen Now" ad units, along with Spotify, Rhapsody and Apple's Beats Music, to simplify purchases for consumers through an advertisement. In the Listen Now ad unit, consumers searching for music by an artist can preview a song or songs by clicking on the button that appears in search results, which takes the listener to one of several music services either on desktop and mobile. "We're happy to help users quickly find legitimate sources for their favorite movies, music and more via Google search," a Google spokesperson says. "As always, the ads are ranked according to a variety of factors, including bid, relevance, and click-through rate." The Google spokesperson would not confirm the addition of Listen Now means anything more than the ability to click-through the ad unit to hear tunes on Google Play, Rhapsody or Spotify. The ad unit, once again brought to the forefront by The Wall Street Journal, signals a more important move toward a "buy" button in ads and in search results. Bringing ecommerce to the search engine creates another revenue stream. However, the buy button in banner and display and ad units is not new, but rather is a service waiting for consumers to feel comfortable and technology to mature. Some suggest the move just adds music to the existing movie and TV ad unit running since last year, but a Buy button would more favorably compete with Facebook's and Twitter's tests. It also reduces the number of click and makes bidding more competitive. For consumers, a buy button in search resuts would make it easier to purchase content, give Google more information about the consumer to retarget and cross target products, and eliminates the need to reenter credit card information to make the purchase. Last week, engineers at Two Tap publicly introduced the feature as an API to integrate into a variety of applications. The feature backed by some heavy technology investors. In June, Klick Push rolled out a platform allowing brands to integrate music into banner ads or use tunes as a way to drive loyalty. The company licensed through recording labels about the rights to about 10,000 songs.
Revealing the grandest of ambitions, BuzzFeed just raised another $50 million -- at a reported valuation of $850 million -- which the publisher will use to rapidly expand operations from ad creation to original video production. The Series E financing found comes courtesy of Andreessen Horowitz and Chris Dixon, the highly visible venture capital firm's general partner. BuzzFeed is leading “a major technological shift in which … news and entertainment are being distributed on social networks and consumed on mobile devices,” Dixon explained in a Sunday afternoon blog post. Derided by critics as appealing to the lowest common denominator with its “listicles,” themed questionnaires, and native ad formats, BuzzFeed has nonetheless established itself as a powerful force in online media and marketing. “BuzzFeed started out focusing on lightweight content like memes, lists, [and] funny photos,” said Dixon, who is joining the company’s board. Yet “the company has since moved steadily up market, following the typical path of [other] disruptive technologies.” With the fresh funding, BuzzFeed “plans to invest significantly more in high-quality content,” Dixon promised. As part of that effort, BuzzFeed's editorial team will now operate under the banner “BuzzFeed News, Buzz, and Life,” while the publisher’s video efforts will henceforth be known as “BuzzFeed Motion Pictures.” BuzzFeed's branded offerings for advertisers will be centralized into one group, BuzzFeed Creative, while the company is also launching a new distributed division to create content designed to live beyond its own Web site. BuzzFeed Creative presently claims a team of 60 creatives, led by Melissa Rosenthal, and 40 branded video producers, led by Matt Baxter in LA. The plan is to continue expanding the group and develop new social-media-friendly ad products. Much of its success can be attributed to the fact that BuzzFeed has successfully tapped into the social-media revolution better than most publishers and has become a master at reaching young consumers. In particular, millennials -- who now find most of their content on customizable news feeds like those powered by Facebook and Twitter -- count BuzzFeed as one of their top 10 content-discovery resources, according to a recent study from SDL. BuzzFeed’s popularity among young people has not been lost on agencies. WPP’s Mindshare recently formed a strategic partnership with BuzzFeed, which is designed to identify and activate real-time media and marketing opportunities for clients. Per the deal, Mindshare is receiving detailed access to BuzzFeed Fre.sh data, which analyzes and ranks how its stories move across social media, while Mindshare has made a commitment to buy ads on BuzzFeed. In May, meanwhile, DigitasLBi and BuzzFeed entered into “a skill-swap alliance,” as Tony Weisman, CEO of DigitasLBi North America, put it. Along with developing brand strategies, the BuzzFeed team has been expected to assist in real-time content creation for DigitasLBi’s clients. Beyond Madison Avenue, Buzzfeed’s worth has caught the attention of top media executives. Indeed, Disney was reportedly interested in buying BuzzFeed, earlier this year. Yet, as Fortune reported at the time, the media giant baulked at Buzzfeed’s roughly $1 billion price tag. Just last week, BuzzFeed tapped former Huffington Post head Greg Coleman as its new president. The hire followed the loss of Jon Steinberg, BuzzFeed co-founder, former president and COO, who left in May to pursue other opportunities. (Last month, Steinberg joined The Daily Mail’s Web site, Mail Online, as its North American CEO.) As part of the expansion, Kenneth Lerer, a co-founder of the company, will assume the role of Executive Chairman and advisor, in which position he will be expected to work closely with Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed co-founder and CEO, on company strategy. The New York Times on Sunday suggested that Buzzfeed was now valued at about $850 million, citing a source.
Streaming video service Aereo is pushing forward with its argument that it should be allowed to resume operations on the grounds that it's now a “cable system” and entitled to transmit television programs as long as it pays licensing fees. “The Supreme Court’s holding that Aereo’s live ('Watch Now') functionality is indistinguishable from a cable system under the Copyright Act also means that Aereo is eligible for a compulsory license,” the company says in papers filed on Friday with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. “The broadcasters cannot rely on one part of the Supreme Court’s holding while ignoring its logical and necessary corollary.” Aereo's latest round of court papers come in response to a motion by broadcasters for “summary affirmance” of U.S. District Court Judge Dale Kimball's order enjoining Aereo from operating in six states: Utah, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Wyoming and Oklahoma. Kimball issued that order in February, four months before the U.S. Supreme Court said that Aereo's system infringed copyright by transmitting programs without a license. Aereo enabled paying subscribers to stream over-the-air television programs to their smartphones and tablets. The company also offered DVR functionality, allowing people to record shows for later viewing. Broadcasters sued the company in three cities -- New York, Boston and Salt Lake City -- arguing that it infringed copyright by publicly performing shows without a license. Aereo took the position that its transmissions were private, due to its technology. The company relied on multiple antennas to capture and then stream shows on an antenna-to-user basis. Kimball was the only judge to rule against Aereo until June, when the dispute reached the Supreme Court. That court sided with broadcasters, ruling that Aereo resembled a cable system, which must be licensing fees before it can transmit shows. The Supreme Court didn't actually say that Aereo was a cable system, only that it resembled one. Nonetheless, Aereo now contends that the Supreme Court's ruling transformed the company into a cable system. The company, which says it wants to pay cable licensing fees, is asking the 10th Circuit to lift Kimball's injunction. It's not clear that other judges will agree that Aereo is a cable system. In New York, a federal appellate court ruled several years ago that ivi TV, which also streamed programs online, was not entitled to the same rights as cable companies. But the judges noted in that case that ivi TV could stream programs nationwide. Aereo only streamed shows to users who were within one of its markets. Late last month, the broadcasters asked the 10th Circuit to reject Aereo's newest arguments for procedural reasons, noting that the company didn't give Kimball the opportunity to rule on the arguments. But Aereo says in its latest papers that its latest legal theories stem directly from the Supreme Court's recent decision. “The broadcasters seek to prevent the merits panel from considering the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision on Aereo’s eligibility for a statutory license and the legality of its Cloud DVR by contending that these arguments were not presented below,” the company argues. “Aereo’s arguments on appeal arise out of the Supreme Court’s supervening opinion ... As a result, they are properly before the merits panel.” Aereo also is asking the 10th Circuit to allow the company to resume offering DVR services. The Supreme Court didn't address whether Aereo's cloud-based DVR service infringed copyright. On Monday, the 10th Circuit told broadcasters to file their next round of papers by Sept. 10.
Ad management platform Sizmek on Monday announced it has acquired Aerify Media, a mobile tracking and retargeting firm. Sizmek paid $6.25 million in cash for Aerify. Sizmek will retain all Aerify employees and plans to fully integrate Aerify’s tech into Sizmek’s ad platform, MDX. “Sizmek acquired Aerify Media to strengthen our technology platform, adding mobile expertise and talent to the company,” stated Neil Nguyen, CEO and president of Sizmek. “Through Aerify, Sizmek acquires new capabilities in the exploding mobile app market.” Andrew Bloom, SVP of Sizmek, explained to Real-Time Daily that Sizmek is acquiring Aerify to round out its mobile tech stack. “We’ve been delivering ads into mobile environments for a while, so the actual delivery component of our mobile tech stack is strong,” Bloom said. “What this is about is the attribution and tracking capabilities. It’s challenging in mobile -- particularly in-app -- to attribute what’s actually happening within the app.” Aerify has an SDK and APIs that help advertisers understanding what consumers are doing inside apps. “That’s their core technology,” said Bloom. Once integrated to Sizmek’s platform, Aerify’s tech will connect the delivery of Sizmek-delivered ads to app installs. The retargeting component of the company, explained Bloom, comes from collecting consumer information based on in-app behavior. Retargeting on mobile has been difficult to achieve because mobile devices don’t collect cookies, so Sizmek is working around the cookie conundrum by using Aerify’s tech to build in-app audience profiles, based on what consumers have done inside of apps. Advertisers can then retarget against those profiles. Bloom also highlighted Aerify’s “deep linking” technology, which is connected to the retargeting component of the company. Essentially, the deep linking tech remembers where a consumer was on the path to purchase before dropping out. For example, if a consumer was on Step 4 of buying shoes in an app before leaving, the retargeted ads would link the consumer straight back to Step 4. Bloom claimed mobile retargeting typically puts consumers back to the home page. Both companies are headquartered in New York.
While traditional TV networks don’t seem to be moving quickly to higher-quality TV technology, aggressive competition from over-the-top TV-video services -- like Netflix, Vudu with more HD content -- will push the market. The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based ABI Research says 4K/Ultra HD is still the future, but it will be slower for traditional TV services. For example, while 1080p TV screens appear to the norm, much HD content is distributed in 720p or lower. “We expect pay TV operators will seriously consider 4K movie services over IP connections directly to smart TVs, bypassing the set-top box,” says senior analyst Michael Inouye. “This will allow them to compete with OTT providers on feature set before rolling out 4K capable set-top boxes in 2015 to 2017.” Traditional TV providers may even be a step behind -- especially when it comes to the 1080p technology. ABI Research says when it comes to TV Everywhere content, for example, pay TV providers are more likely to settle for 720p for smartphones and tablets. It estimates that TV Everywhere homes worldwide will grow to 20% in five years (2019) from 4% in 2013.
Following a trial in San Francisco earlier this year, OpenTable on Monday said it will expand its mobile payments service nationally in the coming months. The new feature allows users to pay for meals through the OpenTable iPhone app in addition to booking restaurant reservations. OpenTable, which was acquired by Priceline in June for $2.6 billion, has rolled out mobile payments to about 45 restaurants in New York and will extend the service to 20 more cities by year’s end. People pay with OpenTable by adding a credit card to the app, with no check-in, scanning or barcodes involved in the process, according to the company. An OpenTable spokesperson declined to provide details on the pilot program in San Francisco, except to say that the initial results suggest the ability to pay via mobile at tables leads to faster turnover of tables and “encouraging trends in tip and check size.” The company isn’t charging customers or restaurant clients extra for mobile payment, providing it as a value-added service. Other companies this year have begun to offer a pay-at-table option through their mobile services including PayPal and Cover. The aim is to eliminate the sometimes-frustrating experience of having to wait to pay a restaurant tab. “OpenTable’s prospects look particularly promising, as it has relationships with 31,000 restaurants from its reservation service that it can tap into,” noted Jordan McKee, a senior analyst, in a commentary about the payments service in June. Interestingly, a recent USA Today story indicated that widespread mobile use has actually led people to linger longer at tables as they text, tweet or post photos of meals to social media. The move into payment is part of OpenTable’s broader push to be more mobile-centric. Last year, it seated 110 million diners via mobile, and in the first quarter, 40% of the total came through mobile. OpenTable, on average, seats more than 15 million diners a month. It charges restaurants a monthly fee to seat diners booking online. Among New York restaurants adding OpenTable’s m-payments service are Agave, Café Luxembourg, Il Buco, Le Cirque, Ruby Foos and The Odeon.
Searching for the latest news on George Clooney, Jay Z or Prince George of Cambridge? Microsoft has quietly rolled out SNIPP3T, an iOS app built on the Bing platform that gives fans another way to get the latest information on celebrities, from actors to musicians. Bing's partnership agreement with Apple, announced last year, seems to be paying off. Powered by Bing, the iOS app aggregates and curates top celebrity news that users want to follow in real-time across YouTube, traditional entertainment sites and social media. The SNIPP3T app lets users scroll through individual stories, images, videos, social mentions, and profiles of more than 10,000 celebrities without having to jump from one app to another. Bing helps the app understand relationships between stories, and identifies trending topics. For those who perform the same search for a celebrity daily, the app automates the search process by subscribing to people of interest to view a personalized stream of related headlines. Users subscribe to their favorite celebrity, tap to view their profile and explore timeline of news stories. The app also has a feature that allows users to share their thoughts about the latest news with other fans.
More testing of on-screen messaging is occurring for one of TV’s biggest sports franchises: the NFL. During pre-season 49ers games on KPIX, San Francisco, Toyota on-screen messages appear when action occurs in the “red zone”: inside the 20-yard line when teams are pressing for a score. This isn’t a small messaging overlay. “Toyota Red Zone” appears in big and bold red letters, taking up virtually the entire screen. Can you even see the players? While the message is on the screen, it’s hard. This started during the recent 49ers-Baltimore Ravens game. And the reviews are in: Everybody hates it. What a surprise. Hey, don’t be greedy. If the ball sits on the 20-yard line, the messaging only appears on the defensive side of the field. All this is a portent that more on-screen messaging, either electronic or in actual signage (including uniforms), will continue to make its way onto TV coverage of the major sports: not just the NFL, but Major League Baseball and the NBA. The NBA, for one, is mulling the idea of becoming the first sports league to include marketing/sponsorship messages on uniforms. During the World Cup, we witnessed on-screen marketers’ messaging. It’s something TV soccer broadcasts have done for some time. With the growth of that sport, viewers are being conditioned. But the soccer messaging can be viewed as somewhat muted compared with KPIX’s experiment. No worries -- there is little to no chance that on-screen Toyota-like messages will make their way to regular season games. If I were KPIX, I would assuage viewers in an on-screen tweet which might appear at the same time on the lower third of the screen: “Hey, this is only pre-season. Okay with you?” Sports TV advertisers are hungry, ready to dangle hefty premium pricing for bigger marketing results. Why? Live programming increasingly has become a bigger premium attraction -- as more users time-shift shows or are distracted by other media. That is why networks will continue to shell out more money in sports license fees. If higher carriage/retransmission fees aren’t possible, networks will need more sponsors buying in. And they’ll have to give up something for that.
I’ve produced or streamed thousands of corporate events since 1998. Since then, I’ve seen the different use cases of live video change. It went from an “add on” to a business or marketing event, to a core strategy and advanced way to connect with consumers around the world. But when marketers, brands and publishers that I speak are considering live video, their first question isn’t about the benefits of live. Instead, they ask when they should use live video -- and when VOD is more important to reach a broader audience. First, let me disclose that I love live video. There’s a certain level of excitement when you tune into something as it’s happening. Live video is also a powerful tool for execs to make internal and external announcements within the company or with shareholders. Live video is also the best way to broadcast an awards show or sports event. Anything that is live-streamed can be made available on-demand for consumers to listen in or watch when, where and on what device they want to. VOD is more than binge-watching "Orange is the New Black on Netflix. The beauty of VOD is the convenience of watching your content from virtually anywhere on any device. Here are some thoughts on when and why you should use live video versus pushing out the VOD. Benefits of Live Video 1. It’s instant -- you’re getting the content streamed while it’s happening, and that is powerful. 2. It’s interactive. When you do a live-streamed OTT event you have the ability to poll, take questions and engage with your audience. Your audience can participate at the same time. 3. By live-streaming an event you can expand your audience to interested parties who couldn’t attend physically. Benefits of VOD 1. It’s always accessible. Consumers, corporate leaders or press can watch the content whenever and wherever. 2. It’s content that you can perfect. The content can be edited before it’s distributed. 3. It’s vast. Large amounts of content can be distributed instantly on a site or through a link. 4. It’s easy. Simply put, it is easier to go viral with VOD than it is with live video. If your product launch feels like it might be a rocky one, don’t launch it live on-air. Do a well-produced video and push it out after the product has had time to stabilize. And, here are four examples of how video needs vary according to the type of event: 1. Conferences: It’s common for event producers to worry that live stream will cannibalize physical attendance numbers, but the reality is that it’s a valuable tool to encourage people who can’t make it to engage with your content in another way. You can reach executives, new business leads and press this way. You also have national or global reach potential and can build a new online audience. You don’t have to stream every session. Consider just the keynote or breakout sessions with the most important content. You can also live-stream the conference and deliver it on-demand via an OTT channel or on the Web. 2. Educational events: This type of content is ideal for VOD, so anyone can watch a lecture, webinar, etc. when and where they need to. College professors can schedule a live lecture or exam during scheduled class time and deliver the content on-demand for students to review. VOD can also be used to teach online courses and for SAT or other testing prep. 3. Concerts, sports or awards shows: Most people want to tune in live to a big game or important awards show. If not, they’ll catch all the spoilers on Twitter as it’s happening. Engage with your virtual audience in real time by showing them something they wouldn’t see if they had attended. Shoot behind-the-scenes footage, ask viewers to engage on social media, or live-stream an interview with someone notable during the event. You should syndicate the content for on-demand as well so you can include highlights of the event. Most OTT channels let consumers watch on-demand concerts and award shows. 4. Press events: You have tremendous opportunity to build up the hype before the event and offer a live-stream link for anyone who can’t attend. It’s crucial to the timeliness of your news that viewers can listen or watch in real time. You can also take questions in real time from reporters and consumers. If you’re going to produce content and make it available to watch virtually, deciding between live or on-demand is ultimately going to depend on the type of content as well as the audience you want to reach. Keep in mind the timeliness of the content and the breadth of consumers you want to engage with. Not all parts of the content need to be live-streamed, and not all parts of the content need to be available on-demand. You can pull the most important segments for viewers to tune in to or syndicate on-demand. You can also monetize your content by charging a fee for viewers to tune in. Just make sure the content is something people would be willing to pay for. Whether you decided to live-stream the content or distribute it on-demand, keep in mind that your goal is to engage the audience in the best way possible. Remember that the content should be exciting or influential, so you can build momentum and discourse around it.
Are you frustrated with the leadership in your organization? Perhaps it can be explained by which generation they belong to. A lot has been written about generations: the Baby Boomers, Generation X, Y and now Z. Marketers like these terms, as they help to group together an otherwise diverse slice of the population. It simplifies, much as “young adults” or “moms” do as a qualifier. However, as much as the generations are a means to define a group of people, they also apply to the generations of marketers themselves that work across our magnificent industry. And I believe it’s undoubtedly true that your “membership” in a certain generation influences how you think and act. I have attempted to simplify the generations in an incredibly crude and non-scientific way in the overview below: Current leadership in our industry generationally consists mostly of Gen X, with a few Boomers hanging on for dear life. Generation X grew up in the era of disco, punk, MTV, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and the yuppies. There have been studies published stating that some of the uber-materialistic stereotyping of this generation is perhaps exaggerated. But it is no doubt true that their world view was in large part formed by a focus on money and material prosperity. Home ownership, a steady (“good”) job, getting their kids to college are all important values to them. Decision-making by this crop of industry leaders is therefore motivated by their desire for financial betterment, and their preferred organizational model is an easy-to-understand hierarchy (the pyramid). This means that current trends of flat organizations, open-plan office layouts and constant iteration and pivoting all go against the structures and values they grew up with and thus are comfortable with. Mind you, they are obviously not stupid or ignorant, but there is a big difference between how you would like them to lead versus how they are comfortable leading. This may also explain why many marketing leaders find it hard to evolve and adapt. And why, when the going gets tough, they default to the tried and tested rather than the untried and uncertain. Gen X's immediate successors, Generation Y-ers grew up on a diet of big disruptions such as the first Internet bubble, 9/11 and a loss of belief in the promise of a steady job/career, to name just a few. No wonder, then, that this generation is looking to disrupt. After all, in their minds they believe that what got us to today is sub-optimal and beginning to fail, so there must be a better way. In their world, “better” often means both better for business and better for humanity (real or perceived). And then there is the future crop of leaders from Gen Z, some of whom have already bypassed all previous generations. Bob Johansen from the Institute of the Future called them the first generation of true digital natives, and recommends reverse-mentoring, of which I am a great believer (just ask my 13-year-old son). We are raising them on a steady diet of immediate everything, instant gratification and constant “newness.” All generations except Z have to unlearn things related to the kind of marketing they grew up with to fully understand, embrace and successfully lead in today’s new marketing economy. So if you’re frustrated with your leadership today, mentor them -- or failing that, just remember Joseph Jaffe’s quote: “How do you kill a dinosaur? You don’t. Evolution does.”