• by Wayne Friedman , June 16, 2016

More programmatic digital video inventory was made available, with cost per thousands (CPMs) rising modestly, in the first quarter -- despite a traditionally slower advertising period.

According to its recent study, Ooyala says there was a 22% increase in impressions and a 13% increase in private marketplace CPMs in the first quarter of 2016 from the fourth quarter of 2015. This led to an overall 74% increase in paid impressions.

Ooyala says this is of note because first quarter is when publishers typically see a drop in CPMs.

Due to increased ad-blocking technology used by consumers, Ooyala says ad-reinsertion has climbed -- as much as 23% during the first quarter. All this helps publishers/broadcasters meet revenue objectives.

A publisher with 43 million weekly ad impressions -- of which 23% come from ad-reinsertion -- can increase revenue between $150,000 and $250,000 a week when using CPMS between $15 and $25, Ooyala says. Annually this could come to between $8 million and $13 million.

A smaller broadcaster with 7 million weekly ad impressions -- with 17% of its ads being delivered by ad-reinsertion -- can see a $1 million to $1.5 million improvement in annual ad revenues.

When it comes discovery of new video, Ooyala says personalized recommendations is still one of the best tools. It says if a viewer is shown recommended videos 10 times and plays them four times, that yields a 40% “discovery start ratio.”

Ooyala also says overall “lift” from these recommendations averages 10%.