Last week, Nielsen released new data showing that the percentage of campaigns using broad demo targeting declined 10% year-over-year, as brands are using increasingly narrower targeting to reach their digital audiences. This apparent shift to more advanced targeting methods shows the strength of the data now available to advertisers, but also suggests they may not be taking advantage of the branding opportunities in video advertising.

In the past decade, social media has risen from nothing more than an obscure dorm room pastime to nothing less than a cultural revolution. As the eyeballs of so many influencers and potential consumers continue to turn en masse toward digital content, agencies must embrace new paradigms faster than ever before. Nowhere is this more true than in the area of content production. The agencies that deftly adopt and integrate these new content production models will become the agencies of the future. Those that do not will become Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.

Apple's live event this week was as magnificent as expected, with the new Apple Watch receiving a standing ovation. It's a testament to the strength of Apple's brand that August and September have become an unofficial smartphone advertising event as competitors try to leverage all of the buzz around the brand's big announcement. But it is also a testament to Samsung's leadership in the vertical that the smartphone wars have taken on a new life in the fall months.

Programmatic advertising has become widespread in display ads, and is poised to make deeper inroads into video and TV. Already, 84% of ad executives in the United States buy display ads using programmatic buying, with about 58% doing so for video, and 60% buying in this fashion for mobile ads, according to a survey by AOL Platforms reported on by eMarketer.

While digital distributors and studios are copying the formats of cable and broadcast networks, the latter are largely ignoring the ascension of digital originals -- just like Vizzini, the character in "The Princess Bride" who continually underestimates the threat from the Dread Pirate Roberts. For the most part, networks are simply creating companion content to supplement their TV product. When they do consider digital, it's to pluck stars from YouTube to bring them to TV -- which in many cases will actually bring native digital stars a smaller audience. In fact, Chelsea Handler's move to Netflix could easily result in …

The NFL regular season kicks off this week with a game between Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks. To celebrate the beginning of the season, we took a look at the most popular NFL players in branded video.

Brand marketers using video report that it outperforms other types of content marketing, according to a new research study conducted by video marketing platform VidYard on the effectiveness of video marketing. More than 70% of the B2B companies that use video in their marketing said it exceeds plain text and images at driving conversions, and many said the ROI from video is on the rise.