Programmatic buying has vaulted to the forefront of digital media in the last year, and is poised for more growth in 2014, by all accounts. Online video, too, is experiencing this push, but some hurdles remain. While programmatic buying has spread to many video formats, it hasn't quite touched TV buying online, and that's the dominant ad venue for digital video ad dollars.

So I finally dedicated the time to delve headfirst into HBO's "Deadwood." The much-celebrated but short-lived, gritty Western series met what most fans would consider a premature demise. The show received universal critical acclaim during its run and has garnered a nearly cultish following. But the show only ran a total of three seasons from 2004 to 2006 -- a short run by today's standards. It makes me wonder, was it too good for its time?

Google spent $100 million to figure out that YouTube users didn't place a premium on television content. It took me one pilot to come to the same conclusion. No, it didn't cost me $100 million, but the lessons we learned were probably the same as from YouTube's $100 million initiative.

We've measured Super Bowl viral ad success since 2009, finding both surprising and expected winners. Last year, the big winner was Toyota's "#WishGranted," which had the most views of any campaign released before the game as well as the largest share of post-game views. In fact, automotive was the most viewed vertical sector for the Super Bowl; the day after last year's game, six of the top 10 most viral brands were automotive companies.

What exactly is going on with traditional news organizations and their slew of digital video acquisitions and partnerships? Here are some 2013 news headlines: News Corp acquires Storyful. ABC News and Storyful announce partnership. Scripps to acquire Newsy. NBC News acquires Stringwire and invests in NowThisNews. In case you're not up to speed, while these companies are each different and the relationships vary, the unifying capability is the creation and social distribution of immediate, short-form, digital video news content.

Two years ago, most video marketers were almost exclusively focused on click-through rates. Sure, video CTRs are higher than banner CTRs, but what does that prove in the context of brand marketing? Isn't it possible that a large number of clicks are the result of consumers simply looking for a pause, close or mute button? 2013 was the year of the completion rate. This is a great foundational metric that allows marketers to know, at the very least, that their video assets are being played in a video player somewhere online. It's a good start, but the completion rate on …

Targeting is the answer -- whatever the question is. While advertisers are generally pleased with the growth in online video advertising, many want more targeting, according to a just-released report from research firm Forrester and video ad platform Videology that surveyed 150 advertisers, media companies and agencies in the U.S and Canada.About 51% of brands said the ability to reach specific consumers was a key benefit of video ads, compared with 37% of agencies. Meanwhile, about 43% of agencies like the improved audience attention in video ads -- but only 27% of advertisers cited that as a …

In a misguided attempt at user-gen promotion, Microsoft offered YouTube celebs a CPM bump if they made videos promoting Xbox One -- but without any clear sign that the touts were in fact paid for. Is this where "native" really leads?

Video has proven to be a key difference maker for online success. Product videos, pre-roll ads, social sharing, and YouTube channels have all proven they can deliver cost-effective brand awareness as well as direct, ROI-positive ecommerce sales results. As exciting as all this success has been, there is now evidence to show that we've been leaving a lot of money on the table.

For more than a decade, video has played a role in enterprise presentations, training, meetings and conferences. However, over the past few years, enhanced technology, lower prices and advanced knowledge have created a ground swell in enterprise self-service video. These self-service video tools allow business users to use webcams, video conference units and onsite encoders to quickly conceive, create and broadcast video events to nearly any size audience.