• by Tyler Loechner  @mp_tyler, June 12, 2013

At the Video Publisher Forum in New York City later today, LiveRail is expected to announce additions to its sell-side tools. Mark Trefgarne, CEO of the online video exchange, told RTM Daily that mobile real-time bidding (RTB) capabilities and Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings are the biggest new additions.

"I think what what we are seeing is a shift in perception around RTB and programmatic in general," he said. He commented how the industry seems to be shifting away from viewing RTB as nothing but a means to clear remnant inventory and more as an "efficient, seamless, more automated methodology for executing buys." Trefgarne called RTB inventory just as important as direct reserve inventory.

The company stated that they are releasing these new offerings in direct response to publishers' needs. Punit Sarin, VP of product, LiveRail, told RTM Daily that the needs of the publishers have changed because consumers now have so many diffferent ways to watch online video. "It's less about what device I'm monetizing on and more about monetizing the content," he said.

Trefgarne shared the same viewpoint, also noting that audiences are becoming more fragmented. The addition of tools "across multiple screens" typically means tablets and mobile, but Trefgarne said that LiveRail has been working with publishers on connected TVs and game consoles as well.

The addition of Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings will provide online video publishers with television measurement-like data, Trefgarne claimed. The Nielsen metric data is not available in real-time, but it can be collected "nightly." Sarin believes that ratings are "going to be a hot topic going forward."