Watching videos on cell phones continues to gain speed, and advertisers can take heart that the "captive" screen is boosting completion rates and other important metrics for digital video advertising.

Video quality is vital, right? Well, of course it is. But what is the line that separates acceptable quality from high quality, and when is acceptable good enough? The quality issue is particularly applicable to how-to videos.

When it comes to retail and commerce, mobile site visitors are three times more likely to watch a video than traditional visitors. That's the result of a research study conducted by Invodo, which provides video commerce solutions for brands and retailers. In studying more than 100 retailer and brand clients and surveying consumers, Invodo found that only 5.5% of its traffic comes from mobile devices, but that mobile visitors account for 14.3% of all video views.

It had to happen. The only question is why it took so dang long for a cat food maker to launch an award for best original cat video. But give it up for Purina, which just rolled out an award for the best new Internet cat video of 2012 in a contest dubbed "The Friskies" that includes charitable donations of cat food and a $15,000 grand prize.

TV and movie viewing on tablets by older Americans is quickly rising, according to a new study. The number of tablet owners 55 and older who watch TV and movies weekly on tablets increased from 11 percent last year to 19 percent in 2012, while the number of tablet owners in the 45 to 54 age range who watch weekly rose from 15% to 24%, said strategy consulting firm Altman Vilandrie & Company, based on an online survey conducted in partnership with Research Now.

How to sell razors has been one of the challenges that advertisers have faced for the last fifty years. As real-time video ad-buying platform TubeMogul just released new measurement tools to help marketers analyze the brand lift in online video, the company shared a sneak peek with me of one of its first case studies looking into which razor brands are popular in different areas of the country.

Whenever a regular online video series undergoes a change, that can be a good opportunity to learn about what works and doesn't work in a regular Web video show. One such example is CBS Interactive-owned Chow.com's "SuperTaster" series. The show, fronted by Chow columnist James Norton, who taste tests mass-market food in each episode, is downshifting from five days a week to a three-day-a-week schedule.

The amount of live video being viewed on mobile devices, such as phones and tablets, more than doubled in the second quarter (prior to the Olympics) compared with the first quarter, according to a just-released report from online video firm Ooyala. Live video represents interesting opportunities for advertisers because programmers can sell the same spot on the additional screens, or rely on digital ad insertion technology to deliver more targeted ads to online or mobile users. In addition, live streaming viewers are often highly engaged because they have actively chosen to tune in, underscoring another benefit of this audience for …

Consumers aren't just watching video on many different devices; they often start a video on one device and finish it on another. In a report detailing multi-screen behavior, Google studied how consumers shifted from tablets to smartphones to PCs for various activities.

During a recent interview with Media Magazine, Ogilvy's Chief Digital Officer Brandon Berger offered up one of the most insightful remarks about mobile devices that I've heard: "We have this idea that the TV is the first screen, but where is the activity occurring? It's occurring on the tablet or the mobile device, so which one is the priority screen?" Given the attention that consumers devote to their phones and tablets, it seems clear that the most important screen has become the one that allows viewers to look up information, or buy products, or talk about what they're watching.