Leading off the afternoon at OMMA video is a closer look at "Always Open," the branded content series launched earlier this year by restaurant chain Denny's in partnership with Ben Silverman's Electus and Jason Bateman's digital studio DumbDumb. All episodes take place in a live and working Denny's restaurant, where Dave Koechner of "Saturday Night Live" and "The Office" meets up with some of his comedic friends in three-minute interviews. John Dillon, who leads marketing and product innovation at Denny's said the idea came about as an idea to try to make the restaurant more relevant to a younger …

Baljeet Singh, Sr. product manager at YouTube talked about the rather inconceivably larger reach YouTube has, how marketers and brands have taken advantage of the space, "blurring the lines between advertising and content." Some stats he shared: 5.1 billion online video views in just the U.S. in the month of April, representing 16 video views per American on average across the U.S. in the month of April. Globally, he said, the channel has gotten 3 billion views per day globally. "In terms of content creation, we are looking at 48 hours of content uploaded per minute on youtube." That, …

So, what are we defining as video advertising? Nothing less than an ad running in place of video content in a well-defined video player -- either before, during, or after said content -- i.e., the traditional TV definition of adverting, says Alan Schanzer, Chief Strategy Officer at Undertone Networks. Who doesn't define video advertising as such? Well, comScore, according to Schanzer, still measures video ads as “all things video” -- by which we assume he means most rich media ads and any ad creative featured within a video player -- which Schanzer insists is not the right way to define …

That's what Art Zeidman, president-U.S. for U.K.-based social video platform Unruly Media seemed to suggest, showing some pretty compelling data on the dominant languages used to the world's Internet users during the afternoon session of OMMA Video in New York. The bar charts shown by Zeidman still show English as the dominant language, but followed in a close second by Chinese, with Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, "and everything" else playing clean up. "Chinese will probably eclipse English as the most used language on the Internet very soon," Zeidman said, citing current trend lines. How is Unruly Media dealing …

"The more that we train consumers that they suffer through advertising for a free advertising experience, the better off we all are," said Universal McCann's David Cohen, adding, "I hope that Netflix would enter into an ad-supported model." Omnicom Digital's Rob D'Asaro agreed, adding, "I would hope Netflix moves in that direction." Nielsen's Jon Gibs, showed his company's TV centric stripes, quipping, "I'm not as worried about how Netflix impacts online viewership, I'm more worried about how it impacts TV viewership."

Probed by moderator MediaPost's David Goetzl about prospects for Hulu's future, the agency panel all agreed Hulu has done the best job to date of delivering on the promise of the online video experience, but that it will be challenged due to the obvious business issues of its joint parent structure (ie. NBC Universal/Comcast and News Corp.). "It has been the epitome of everything that is right in the online video space," said Universal McCann's David Cohen, adding, however, "I would imagine that over time there will be erosion of the Hulu base." OMD Digital's Rob D'Asaro suggested that, …

MediaPost's David Goetzl is grilling his Buyer's panel at OMMA Video this morning, about the way they "frequency cap" their online video ad rotation online, especially the fact that the same creative runs over and over again, infuriating trade reporters' online viewing experience, if not the average consumer's. The consensus from the panelists is that it is more of a creative issue than a media issue. "I don't think it's necessary the networks fault. I think it is a client and agency problem," explained Renee Whittingstall, partner-digital media director at MediaCom. "Clients don't want to spend on additional creative. …

Rob D’Asaro, US Director of Strategic Alliances at OMD Digital just quieted the OMMA Video audience (which, granted, was already pretty quiet) with news that he’s now securing 80% of digital commitments during the traditional upfronts. “Really?!” asked our own David Goetzl. Really, assured D’Asaro, adding that digital is already up tenfold, and will likely double this year. Without throwing out a percentage, David Cohen, EVP and Global Digital Officer at Universal McCann, agreed that the agency is “much more active in the television upfront,” this year. Likewise, “We’re really starting that process early,” added Renee Whittingstall, Partner and …

Buck up, video pioneer! TV dollars are on the way! So assured John Muszynski, Chief Investment Officer of SMGX, Starcom MediaVest Group, during his morning keynote at OMMA Video. “Don’t be frustrated,” he said. “This is a whole new channel for them,” he said of video in the minds of most media buyers. What’s more -- and in sharp contrast for their familiarity with and expectations for TV -- said buyers are not certain of the values they’re getting. That said, "I think you [video] guys are in a significantly better place than where TV is, but you guys …

Panelists at OMMA Mobil's app panel: Eric Litman, CEO of Medialets asked whether branded apps should be top or mid-funnel. SkyRockit's Vlassopulos said GM's efforts at SXSW should have included a music app. "I would have loved to have seen a music-driven experience brought by Chevrolet, with early access to shows parties. It's part of the core business and then marketing you are doing year around." Michael Burke of AppSavvy, talking cars. Said apps have to be apropos. "Don't launch a dealer finder app. Nobody is going to download your app to help you find a dealer, you only …