• Mobile Video: Are Marketers Missing The Boat?
    By just about any measure, marketers are missing the boat on the mobile video opportunity. Mobile provides an incredible revenue-generating and brand-building lever, yet most of the best marketers out there are simply not leveraging the channel to the extent that they should. I don't even work for a company specializing in mobile, but as someone who's been in the video space for a long time, the case for mobile is compelling.
  • Why The Online Video Industry Is Waiting For Its Potato
    According to Harvard's Nathan Nunn and Yale's Nancy Qian, 22% of the increase in population growth after 1700 could be attributed to the potato. Requiring no tools, potatoes were easy to grow - and that fact, combined with the vegetable's health benefits, which led to a lower child mortality rate, partly explains why the world population exploded after the potato's introduction. Without the potato, the world simply wouldn't be what it is today. Somewhat analogously (please, bear with me), I think that many in the online video landscape are waiting for the proverbial potato to come along and reduce the …
  • Upfront 2013: Confessions Of A Digital Guy -- It's All About TV
    As always, the next coming television upfront will dictate the overall trajectory for 2013 media spending. But for the first time, the prospect of digital video grabbing a more significant share of advertiser budgets actually goes beyond hype-for the first time, it's a viable possibility!
  • Younger Consumers Using Mobile Devices For TV Listings, Remote Control
    Recent data from Parks Associates indicates that U.S. consumers often turn to their mobile devices regularly while watching TV. The research firm said 22% of U.S. broadband consumers check or update their social network on a smartphone or tablet while watching TV, while 18% of U.S. homes with a smartphone or tablet use an app from their pay-TV provider to check TV listings, program their DVR, or watch TV programming. Those are solid numbers, demonstrating how quickly mobile devices have become vital "companions" while watching TV.
  • Optimize Video Creative To Increase Campaign ROI
    TV advertisers make up the vast majority of brands moving media dollars to in-stream video. More than 90% of their online video creative is the same as, or a variation of, the ads they run on TV. This multiscreen approach opens up a variety of new opportunities for optimizing ad creative across screens. New cross-media technology solutions are enabling advertisers to increase their campaign ROI and take greater advantage of the unique and combined benefits of both TV and online video.
  • The Unfulfilled Promise Of Branded Content
    These days, you have to be living under a rock not to have heard the term native advertising. There's no single, commonly accepted definition for it. But whereas native advertising implies one thing for non-content producers like Twitter and Facebook, I think that for producers and publishers of content, the line between native advertising and branded content (or advertorial) is way too slim to matter. However, always the cynic, I think that part of the reason why so many have jumped on the native advertising buzzword is because the branded content moniker failed to deliver on its much-ballyhooed promise.
  • A New Game: Engaging The Audience
    "Subscriber," "customer," "home passed." There are many terms that cable operators or other pay-TV providers use to refer to those who purchase or who are potential purchasers of their products and services. "Audience" is rarely one of them. But things have changed.
  • A TV Franchise In The Video Generation: 'The Insider'
    Celebrity entertainment show connoisseurs likely noticed "The Insider"'s recent name change to "omg!Insider," part of its partnership with YahooOMG. The rebranding may not be all that surprising to fans who have seen the show undergo many evolutions: at least six anchors and various formats from traditional news to panels. But this change holds real significance for the franchise in the digital era. Although "The Insider" started out as a standalone TV brand, it has grown into several publishing legs: a cable and broadcast show and an online video channel on omg.yahoo.com. But even this isn't enough. To make it in …
  • Digital Content NewFronts Poised to Drive Digital Dollars Past $1 Billion
    I stand corrected. Or rather, I'm ready to stand corrected. For many years, I've been quite a doubting Thomas about digital upfronts, saying the industry doesn't need them, that there's no scarcity, and that efforts to create an upfront for anything other than TV have failed. But you know what? I might be wrong.
  • There's A Word For 'Buying Traffic': It's Called Advertising
    I'm writing this in the air, on my way back to New York from Ad:Tech in San Francisco, and I'm feeling... I don't know. Confused? Frustrated? It's hard to find the right adjective. Throughout the ongoing procession of meetings and conversations, both preplanned and impromptu, there seemed to be one theme, never actually mentioned outright, but rather subtly alluded to. Apparently, when it comes to online media companies, the negative connotation associated with "buying traffic" has broadened to include visitors reached through paid advertising on tier-one outlets, including Google, Bing, Facebook and others.
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