Start-up Revelens plans to release a video player that bookmarks clips which turn into ads that click through to brand landing pages. Founder Lucas Wilson calls the technology contextual video bookmarks. The technology aims to create interactive videos that produce revenue streams for publishers.

As part of a broader expansion strategy, the multiplatform video specialists at Vubiquity have acquired UK-based FilmFlex Movies. With FilmFlex, Vubiquity is getting an established digital storefront and video-on-demand business in the UK. To date, the company has racked up roughly 90 million transactions, by its own count.

Yahoo is planning to start a rival to YouTube by later this summer, according to a report today from AdAge.com. The story, if true, would create a place for video creators to put their wares with a more generous advertising split, "Ad Age" said.

Unless quality video is involved, BuzzFeed no longer has use for smaller content providers. As such, the popular content hub has decided to sunset its existing partner network within a matter of months.

AOL is pushing to become a dominant player in the emerging "programmatic TV" buying space, announcing yet another acquisition -- advanced TV audience targeting platform PrecisionDemand -- which will be integrated into its Adap.tv system. The deal is significant for several reasons, including the fact that PrecisionDemand owns key patents for TV ad targeting, but also because it pushes AOL more deeply into access of conventional "'linear" TV advertising inventory.

Yahoo on Thursday launched its latest digital magazine, Yahoo Movies, aiming to create a video-rich mecca for movie fans. Yahoo Movies has the same visually driven design as digital magazines launched earlier this year, like Yahoo Tech, Yahoo Food and Yahoo Travel. Like Yahoo's other digital magazines, Yahoo Movies is designed to draw native advertising -- ads that mirror the look and feel of the new or revamped sites.

Connected TVs have seen rapidly growing digital video usage. In the first quarter of 2014, U.S. broadband households watched roughly three hours of online video per week on each of three platforms: mobile phone, tablet and connected TV. Connected TV viewing has rapidly climbed from 2.3 hours per week in the first quarter of 2013.

During a recent NewFront event, Hulu promised to triple its content marketing spend over the next year. To lead the effort, Hulu just poached Jenny Wall from rival Netflix. As SVP and head of marketing at Hulu, Wall will be expected to oversee the strategy behind, and implementation of, the marketing blitz.

Although nothing beats prime-time TV, a majority of U.S. consumers now favor original digital video over news, sports and daytime programming on television. That's according to new research produced by GfK on behalf of the Interactive Advertising Bureau.

According to the media research, video consumption is up and time spent with digital media is up. I know that some of the media companies have double-digit increases versus a year ago, but does anyone you know have enough time to watch all this new content? The video presented over the last week is not funded through subscription models, like Netflix and HBO. All of it is funded through advertising -- and the shift from TV to video budgets will have to move a lot faster to pay for this content.