Bloomberg News is reportedly bringing in Mark Halperin and John Heilemann to head up a stand-alone political news site. “Halperin, Time magazine's senior political analyst, and Heilemann, the national affairs editor for New York Magazine, have both signed seven-figure contracts that will keep them with Bloomberg through the 2016 presidential election,” Politico reports, citing sources.

Raining on the NewFronts, The New York Times wonders what percentage of video ads are actually viewed by consumers. “By many estimates, more than half of online video ads are not seen, either because they are buried low on Web pages or run in tiny, easily ignored video players on those pages, or run simultaneously with other ads,” NYT reports. “The crux of the problem is that the number of video ads that agencies and brands want to run far exceeds the amount of quality inventory.” 

It's become a rousing success with its edgy content and at its NewFront presentation, Vice continued to vow to show often macabre video right next to the P&G commercials.

The viewability problem is aided by the fact that every entity involved--publishers, ad platforms and ad agencies--benefits from not doing much about it. Only the advertiser gets hurt. And part of the problem is that video advertising arrives on a Website so many different ways, it's hard to always pinpoint whodunnit.

Enters

The clip began appearing on Webdriver Torso's account in September. They were posted every hour or so for seven months, stopped three weeks ago, before a new clip appeared today. Each upload features blue and red rectangles, and reports believe they were uploaded in France

 According to eMarketer, $68.50 billion is expected to go to TV in terms of advertising budget this year, with only a $5.80 billion budget going to online video. But the video advertisement industry is growing fast, faster than anyone imagined it would do. Video is now proven to monetize efficiently, and often attract premium ad rates when compared to other online advertising channels. 

Findings from a survey conducted by digital video advertising platform Vindico reveal that only 34 per cent of digital video ads are rated as ‘high quality’ by Vindico’s Adtricity, which measures and rates placements based on a variety of metrics including: viewability, player size, location on page and traffic sources. 

"Perhaps the real future of online video is about developing the right characters to tell the story in a more holistic and mutually beneficial way (for the brand and consumer). Instead, it feels like the NewFronts are just trying to like the Upfronts. That may be a massive waste of an opportunit," says Mitch Joels in his commentary from Twist Image.

YouTube users can now upload a three-second introduction to videos on their channels, helping brands boost recognition.  videos on their channels   Software engineer John Gregg said the feature could help users boost recognition for their brands via a "distinctive intro" for their videos.