• by Ross Fadner , April 20, 2012

Happy Friday, folks,

Today’s Video Daily Roundup starts with a look at how Hulu and Google’s ads fared in comScore’s March Online Video Rankings. Next, we’ll look at the media bigwigs being asked to testify before a Senate hearing on video migration. After that, we have two contrasting, but equally effective video spots (be sure to check them both out), and lastly, SlashGear warns that Netflix may be losing its way.

Hulu, Google Account For 36% of Video Ads Viewed In March

Last month, Americans viewed a record 8.3 billion video ads, according to comScore’s online video rankings for March, a figure that refers to real video advertisements, not in-video overlays or in-banner video ads.

Hulu, with 1.7 billion ad views, accounted for a whopping 21% of the total, followed by Google/YouTube, with 1.2 billion video ad views, or nearly 15%. The Hulu figure is even more impressive when you consider its 31 million unique users per month compared to Google/YouTube’s 146 million uniques.

It will be interesting to see how these results are affected by Google and Hulu’s new video advertising initiatives. Hulu this week promised only to charge for completed ad views, while Google plans to count “viewed impressions,” or ads that are at least 50% viewable for one second or more.

Media Bigwigs To Testify Before Senate Committee On Video Migration

IAC/InterActive Corp Chairman Barry Diller and other Internet and media bigwigs have been summoned to appear in front of a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on video migration. Diller’s appearance will be particularly interesting, given that he is currently being sued by several broadcasters over his latest investment, Aereo, an online subscription service that transmits live TV broadcasts to any Web-enabled device.

Microsoft’s Blair Westlake, Nielsen’s Susan Whiting and Amazon’s Paul Misener were also on the Senate hearing list. Interestingly, Committee Chair Jay Rockefeller actually announced next week’s hearing via his Twitter account.

“Everything about television is changing," Rockefeller said Wednesday. "The digital age is fusing the television screen with the computer screen and it's important to explore this topic. I want to focus this hearing on what these changes mean for consumers, especially in rural areas, and if this evolution of video can bring them higher quality content at lower rates."

TNT Scores Viral Hit With Branded Entertainment Ad

Branded entertainment and original branded series are all the rage in online video these days. Scores of new examples are released every day, but, as with any marketing initiative, some brands get it right, and some get it wrong.

ReelSEO.com’s Chris Atkinson applauds TNT for producing one of the better examples: a video ad for its “We Know Drama” campaign that has already been viewed more 24 million times. If you haven’t seen it yet, I won’t spoil it for you with the details (click the hypertext above), but rest assured it IS a really funny and clever use of the Improv Anywhere style, which Atkinson points out always seems to benefit from “people just looking puzzlingly at the action.” This particular spot also benefits from the fact that it takes place in a public square in a town in Belgium, as opposed to somewhere like New York City, where its easier for the public to shrug something like this off.

“Masterful” P&G Video Spot Links Moms And Olympic Triumph

As Forbes contributor Robert Passikoff says, “Once in too-great a while, a brand message comes along that deserves high praise.” Well, Procter & Gamble’s “P&G London 2012 Olympic Games” video spot for Mother’s Day is particularly worthy of the highest praise, he says, for several reasons.

Whoever created the spot “did a masterful job at tapping into not just one but two powerful constructs–mothers and triumph–and weaving the story around what P&G actually sells: household products,” Passikoff says, noting: “It took a deft hand to tell this story without turning it into a product placement vehicle.” Shame that at 2 minutes in length, the spot may never make it to television.

To Survive, Netflix Must Acquire Better Streaming Content

Netflix is losing its luster, SlashGear’s Don Reisinger says. The firm that took down the likes of Blockbuster and Hollywood Video has taken its eye off the ball, he says, especially if you’re talking about its streaming service. “From outdated television shows to a general lack of movies, I’m left wondering how long it’ll be before a larger company swoops in, acquires the firm, and breaks it up,” Reisinger says.

Indeed, as Netflix loses streaming rights to premium networks like Starz, it’s moving headlong into new areas, like original content. “ Has Netflix forgotten where it came from?” Reisinger asks. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to boot up Netflix to watch a film, only to find that it’s offering nothing new…even worse, its collection of films is inundated with B- or C-rated titles that I’d never want to watch.” On the other hand, Netflix is being strong-armed by the studios, but nobody ever said they had to play nice. “If Netflix wants to see its service grow again and finally assert itself in the movie space against cable services, it must be willing to accept some of those deals and fill its thinning content library back in,” Reisinger asserts.