While Google and YouTube continue to rule video advertising, a group of properties have come to underpin the broader marketplace. Indeed, each of the top five video ad properties, including BrightRoll, Hulu, Adap.tv, and TubeMogul, as well as YouTube, delivered more than 1 billion video ads last month, according to the new data from comScore. Following Google’s prized property -- which ranked first with 1.41 billion ads -- the BrightRoll Video Network accounted for nearly 1.39 billion ads; Hulu was responsible for 1.33 billion ads; Adap.tv chalked up 1.15 billion ads; while the TubeMogul Video Ad Platform recorded 1.04 billion ads. Continuing to break records, more than 180 million U.S. Web users viewed 33 billion pieces of video content -- and 11 billion ads -- in June, according to comScore. Driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, Google sites ranked as the top online video content property in June with 154 million unique viewers, followed by Yahoo Sites with 51 million, Facebook.com with 49 million, VEVO with 46 million and Viacom Digital with 39 million. Last month, time spent watching video ads totaled 4.6 billion minutes, with BrightRoll Video Network delivering the highest duration of video ads at 805 million minutes. Overall, video ads reached 53% of the total U.S. population an average of 68 times during the month. Hulu, for its part, delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 52, while ESPN delivered an average of 34 ads per viewer. Looking specifically at YouTube’s partners, video music channel Vevo attracted 45.1 million viewers, while Warner Music drew 26.1 million viewers. Trailing both, gaming channel Machinima ranked third with 23.6 million viewers, followed by Maker Studios with 21.2 million and FullScreen with 16.2 million. Among the top 10 YouTube partners, Machinima demonstrated the highest engagement -- 76 minutes per viewer -- followed by Vevo -- 50 minutes per viewer. Among all YouTube partners, Vevo streamed the most videos -- 567 million -- followed by Machinima -- 447 million.
Another week, another YouTube original channel launch. Uncommon Content on Thursday launched the Reserve Channel on YouTube, which is aimed at the upscale insider crowd that might want to better get to know the tastes and interests of, say, Mario Batali. Incidentally, Batali will be one of the guests on a new cooking show from celebrity chef Eric Ripert called “On the Table,” which focuses on Ripert’s closest friends and their favorite food and drink. Each episode will be a conversation and cooking collaboration between Ripert and his guest in a kitchen. The first “On the Table” guest is Anthony Bourdain, followed by Batali and actor Stanley Tucci. Other Reserve Channel shows launching Thursday include a health and wellness program called “Be Well Week, Be Well Weekend” with health guru Dr. Frank Lipman, “Capture,” a look at the stories behind famous photos taken by celebrity photographer Mark Seliger and his photographer buddies, and “Ex-Pats,” a series about the lives of people who have chosen to live in a foreign country, hosted by Jimmy Buffett’s daughter, Savannah Jane Buffett.
While desired apps for new smart TV come from the most popular online destinations, such as Netflix, YouTube and Facebook, many consumers are still not familiar with the functions of these new TV sets.According to a new Harris Poll, 47% of smart TV owners and 34% of non-smart TV owners want Netflix -- the No. 1 app for new TV sets. Next comes YouTube (owners register 44% number/non-owners 31%) and Amazon Instant Video (owners 34%/non-owners 23%). Social media giant Facebook (owners 35%/non-owners 29%) and online radio leader Pandora (owners 28%/non-owners 18%) round out the top five.Looking at traditional TV brands, the most desired app comes from ESPN, 21% of smart TV owners, and Syfy, at 14%.Still, there is some confusion over what smart TVs do. Harris says almost three-quarters (73%) of non-smart TV owners indicate that they are not that familiar (39%) or not at all familiar (33%) with smart TV or Internet-connected TV.Harris says this could be a problem for future TV set purchases. The survey says only 7% of those who are not familiar with smart TV are likely to purchase a smart TV within the next 12 months. But those more familiar with smart TV are four times more likely to purchase a smart TV, with 29% suggesting that they are likely or very likely to make a purchase within the next year.Manny Flores, senior vice president of Harris Interactive, stated: "As the TV becomes a more overall entertainment device, it is only a matter of time before we see the mainstream use of additional content apps, such as Facebook, being used on the TV."
Gas Station TV (GSTV) is shifting from regular to premium. The gas pump media company is changing its brand positioning in tandem with a big expansion program. GSTV says its network reaches 32 million monthly viewers in over 110 DMAs after having added six new markets in the past six months. It plans to expand to three additional markets before year’s end. GSTV got a $50 million infusion from Wayne, a GE Energy Business, late last year to help foot the bill. The new effort dispenses with the six-year-old company’s identification with and against traditional television, "Prime Time at the Pump." Instead the network is putting its consumer marketing solution -- which David Leider, CEO of the Birmingham, Mich.-based company, says represents the reality of GSTV's business -- driving consumer engagement and conversions on behalf of brands like Chevrolet, Choice Hotels & Suites and McDonald's. Out is the long-time "Prime Time at the Pump" brand mantra. In is "Driving Consumers," a double entendre (given that 100% of GSTV's audience is drive-up). "[The Prime Time positioning] helped with exposure but frankly, did us a disservice because it only talked about us as a form of TV," says Leider, explaining to Marketing Daily that the TV identification is a dissonant message when it comes to where they go to buy GSTV. "Our media is sold out of Internet and emerging-media groups, not as TV media." The new B-to-B campaign uses a spokesperson character, a woman who speaks from the pump-top TV screen, touting the virtues of GSTV for driving engagement and consideration. The woman who plays the talking head of the anthropomorphic pump (Leider says GSTV will run a promotion to name her) is, for what it's worth, a dead ringer for Marissa Mayer, the new chief at Yahoo. GSTV is touting its ability to merge traditional advertising with location initiatives, such as a program it had done with Choice Hotels International, which franchises around 6,100 hotels worldwide. The **GSTV (**4788) mobile program directs consumers to the Apple Store for an app that allows consumers to search Choice hotel locations and prices. GSTV promoted it with a contest last month that gave away ten $50 gas cards every day for two weeks and a year's worth of gas as the grand prize. The other play GSTV offers is integration with partner content. The company integrated a recent Chevrolet dealership campaign spoofing “The Office” with AccuWeather. In the ad, dealership staffers are quirky “Office”-esque types who draw weird depictions of each other. Cut to AccuWeather, where the meteorologist is holding a drawing meant to be him, explaining that two of the staffers did it. Leider says that while people only spend on average five minutes at the pump, they are willing captives and remember the ads because "every advertiser has its own ad pod." He says 95% of people watch and the same percentage want to watch again. "Essentially, we found a place where there is that five-minute downtime in the day." Content is focused on sports, entertainment, local weather, personal finance and business. GSTV has its own content program called Your Neighborhood, a hybrid platform with social media where people in local GSTV markets can promote local events at Event.gstv.com. Per Leider, GSTV sees a 7% lift on conversion to the convenience store from the pump. While about 45% of consumers naturally go inside the store after filling up, stations with GSTV get a 55% pump-to-store traffic.
Earlier this week, a report surfaced that AT&T intends to charge wireless customers an extra fee for using FaceTime video chat. AT&T hasn't yet confirmed the report, but hasn't denied it either. Instead, when asked about the company's intentions, CEO Randall Stephenson replied, "It’s too early to talk about pricing.” If AT&T does decide to charge an extra fee for FaceTime, the telecom will be launching a direct attack on the Federal Communications Commission's neutrality rules -- at least according to digital rights groups Free Press and Public Knowledge. Those rules, which went into effect late last year, prohibit wireless broadband providers from blocking competing apps. Preventing customers from using an app unless they pay extra is equivalent to blocking that app, contends Free Press policy director Matt Wood. "If AT&T wants to charge you for the privilege of using that app, we would argue they are blocking you," he tells MediaPost. Public Knowledge senior vice president Harold Feld added in a statement that the purpose of the neutrality rules is "to keep companies like AT&T from charging twice for the same data service." Even so, there's no guarantee that those rules will hold up in court. Verizon and MetroPCS recently filed papers asking the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to vacate the neutrality order. They argue that precedent is on their side, given that the appellate court already ruled in a case involving Comcast that the FCC lacks authority to regulate broadband. In that matter, the court vacated an order sanctioning Comcast for throttling peer-to-peer traffic.
I'm one of the fortunate ones. I emerged from college and grad school without accumulating any debt, owing less to my scrimp-and-save moxie than to parents who were willing to do just about anything – cut tuition checks, endow classics departments, build cross-campus monorails, whatever - to get me out of the house. And while my first few jobs may have teetered on the cusp of indentured servitude, especially in their implicit adverbs-for-cubicle-sanctuary promise, the absence of debt allowed me to spend my post-rent dollars on taffy and iToys. Again, I was very lucky. I do not lose sight of this. But in the [mumbles into sleeve, sounds air horn] years since I completed my education, costs have spiraled way the hell out of control, to the extent that I'm already bracing myself for my infant son's cost-effective pursuit of a career in the sweeping of chimneys. That's why we need more web resources like the ones rolled out earlier this week by the National College Finance Center and more video-intensive campaigns like "Don't Major In Debt." Using simple terms (and often simple math), both programs break down the largely theoretical nature of college loans for a generation of grads, students and would-be matriculants who might not understand the potential heft of their debt burden. The campaign enjoys a little celebrity cachet courtesy of Jane Lynch, who backstops her involvement with a play on her Glee teacher/loon. But the real value comes in the form of simple, casually rendered testimonials from recent and soon-to-be graduates. We hear from Travis, who calculates that he goes $1.25 deeper into debt with every passing hour, and from Shannon, who describes the urgency she feels to address a situation that could quickly devolve into a personal-finance apocalypse. Best, we hear from Joshua, who describes what it takes to come out on the other side. Rather than bemoan their inability to travel and purchase shiny items, the three students address their situations unemotionally. In essence, they say, "Here's my circumstance. Take from it what you will." It's a smart approach, one that should awaken would-be education debtors to the true cost of borrowing more powerfully than would an in-your-face approach. Nobody needs an overdramatization of goony debt collectors showing up on the doorstep of petite post-grads, accompanied by a "read the fine print, son" voiceover by Samuel L. Jackson or some such badass. Still, I can't help but wish the campaign was a little more expansive in its thinking. Of the testimonial videos, all feature graduates with degrees that don't exactly make 21st century employers feel all tingly downstairs (television writing, literature, performance studies). Maybe this will come in future installments, but it'd be interesting to hear from someone with a degree in a career-bait area of study - statistics, say, or one that pairs cash-register words like "biomedical" or "petroleum" with "engineering." I also wish the campaign would add a splash of humor - maybe in the form of a slap-some-sense-into-that-square-head-of-yours component, which could be delivered by an overeducated, overcaffeinated classics grad. "Listen, idiot, you can follow your chocolate rainbow ponytail dreams or you can afford rent and fresh vegetables. Don't make the same mistakes I did, no matter how intellectually rewarding 'Monologue, Mockery and Modernism: Semantic Recontextualization on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart' might sound to you as a 19-year-old hemp enthusiast." Etc. These mini-quibbles (quiblettes?) aside, "Don't Major in Debt" ranks as one of the worthier and most tonally precise PSA campaigns in some time. The clips inform without resorting to scare tactics and dispense advice without filtering it through peanut-gallery-caliber chatter. I'm zipping it over to every 16-year-old in my extended family/friend network; I hope you'll do the same.