Archive for the ‘Digital TV and Video’ Category

Video Ad Network Tremor Media Announces Real-Time Tech Upgrade, Partnership With Quantcast

Friday, February 26th, 2010

Tremor MediaOnline video advertising network, Tremor Media, announced an upgrade to its Acudeo technology yesterday which will offer advertisers “an enhanced targeting solution that uses real-time audience data to better package inventory across its network.” In addition, the company announced a partnership with online data and audience measurement provider, Quantcast. Read the release.

AdExchanger.com discussed the news and its implications with Jason Glickman, CEO of Tremor Media.

AdExchanger.com: How is Tremor Media making it easier for brand marketers – who are accustomed to TV, reach and GRPs – to buy online video advertising?

JG: In order to have a GRP equivalent for online video, you have to be able to buy and deliver based on audience. For the most part, digital is bought and delivered based on impressions, without any accountability for audience delivery. Our targeting solution allows advertisers to plan, buy, and deliver based on audience delivery (just like they do with TV). Also, because of our first-look targeting capability, we are able to do it at scale – which is another requirement for making online video more like TV.

How does the Quantcast partnership work? Do you share revenue with Quantcast for the audience targeting they provide to your clients?

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With Launch of Adap.tv's Online Video Ad Marketplace, CEO Ashkenazi To Leverage Innovation From Ad Networks And Agencies

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

adap.tvAmir Ashkenazi is CEO of adap.tv, an online video advertising marketplace.

AdExchanger.com:   Let’s start with a bit of background. Has adap.tv always been a video ad exchange or marketplace? You’ve been around for a while, correct?

AA: Yes. We developed Adap.tv OneSource, ad serving and management platform, that is being used currently by hundreds of publishers. We literally were wiring the ecosystem in a world that lacks standards and innovating very frequently on formats. We realized that the monetization of video is just extremely difficult without the right technology platform, so we decided to develop exactly that. In the process, we also learned that technology, or the wiring, is only half of the problem. The second half is actually in the process of buying and selling.

When you get two or three calls a week from buyers looking for more inventory, and we have almost daily conversations with publishers looking for more revenue, you understand that something does not work.

So we decided to take another step in solving the video monetization problem and develop the ideal marketplace for video buyers and sellers.

Are you concerned about others, such as Google, jumping in the space? Yahoo and Google have significant display ad exchange models, couldn’t they just swoop in and grab your advertisers and publishers?

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New Simulmedia CRO Jon Werther Looks At Growing Opportunity For Digital In TV

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

SimulmediaJon Werther, a former AOL/Time Warner executive has joined Dave Morgan’s Simulmedia, which leverages digital to optimize TV program promotion, as Chief Revenue Officer.  View the release on Simulmedia’s website.

Werther discussed the new opportunity with AdExchanger.com.

AdExchanger.com: In your estimation, where is digital in the mindset of broadcast executives today? Have they caught up?

JW: At Simulmedia, we think that one of the biggest unexploited opportunities today is to improve linear television through the use of digital technology. I believe that broadcast executives understand that. There are many ways to use data and technology to make television even more powerful and commercially valuable than it is today.

AdExchanger.com: Looking at your two stints at AOL and your role at Time Warner, can you identify some key learnings from each of those roles that you will bring to Simulmedia?

JW: At Time Warner, we were very focused on creating win-win partnerships. I was very fortunate to be able to work with some of the best deal people in the media industry and to craft transactions that ultimately drove hundreds of millions of dollars in value to our company and its partners. Our approach at Simulmedia will be the same, and I am excited to have the opportunity to participate in this next level of innovation in the television industry.

By John Ebbert

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Video Ad Network ScanScout's CEO Lau On Keys To Successful Cost-Per-Engagement Model, Importance Of VAST For Publishers And More

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

Waikit Lau is President and Co-founder of ScanScout, an online video advertising network.

Waikit Lau of ScanScoutAdExchanger.com: How does ScanScout contextual video advertising solution fit with today’s audience-focused media plans?

WL: ScanScout rolled out audience targeting about a year and a half ago. Today, majority of ad buys are audience targeted. We also offer contextual, geographical, time of day and day of week targeting. We rolled out contextual targeting first because if you think about audience targeting, one of the signals of who an audience is and what she is interested in, is reflected by the videos the audience watches.

So, in order to do accurate audience targeting, one needs to accurately classify the video the audience is watching, to understand user interest and intent over time. Otherwise, you get “garbage data in, garbage data out”. Essentially, the “understanding” of the video content a user is watching over time is a core signal of audience interests and targeting.

Our platform, which is different from other solutions in the market today, does this automatically by deep indexing the video the user is watching and the page the video is on, using semantic, audio and visual analyses. Our machine learning algorithms allows our system to automatically without human intervention “understand” what a video is about and how it is correlated with other concepts. For example, if a video simplistically has the term “Kobe Bryant” which is meaningless to a machine, our platform knows that that term is related to “NBA”, “Basketball”, “LA Lakers”, “Sports”, etc. and not that related to concepts like “Politics”, etc. Also, because the system is able to correlate various concepts, the system also knows when a video contains elements that are objectionable to a brand advertiser. This allows our system to be very robust in our audience targeting accuracy, while ensuring brand protection for advertisers.

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INVISION CEO Watkins Says Advanced Television Advertising Tools Becoming A Necessity

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

Christine Watkins is CEO of INVISION INC., a provider of advertising sales management systems to the broadcast and cable network industries.

INVISION INCThe advertiser is looking for better attribution models across all forms of advertising these days including TV.  Please discuss INVISION’s transition from a primary focus on tools for traditional television ad sales to an expansion into advanced televisioin advertising brought on by the digital channel.

CW: It simply comes down to listening to our customers (network ad sales teams) who are listening to their customers (advertisers and agencies).  The television advertising marketplace is facing unprecedented pressure to evolve as advertisers and agencies demand levels of flexibility and accountability on par with internet advertising.  In response to these buyer demands, television ad sellers and ad delivery technology vendors are rapidly implementing advanced television advertising capabilities such as interactivity and addressability.

If ad delivery technology vendors are already offering your customers advanced television advertising capabilities, why does INVISION need to get involved now?

Though dynamic (internet-like) ad servers might be the sexier organisms in the advanced television advertising ecosystem, business will not get done at any level of scale without highly flexible ad sales management tools such as our DealMaker.  We learned this harsh lesson with internet advertising in the late 1990’s when the spreadsheets and bailing wire being used for ad operations tasks began to collapse under the weight of the sales being enabled by DoubleClick, NetGravity and other early internet ad servers.

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Simulmedia Bringing Online's Technology-Driven Optimization To Television Says CEO Dave Morgan

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Dave Morgan is CEO of Simulmedia, a television marketing company that optimizes the effectiveness of “on-air” program promotion.

Dave Morgan is CEO of SimulmediaAdExchanger.com: Have you tired of the online ad business, where you’ve already had success (Tacoda, Real Media)? Confess – don’t you miss banner ads? What prompted you to start Simulmedia?

DM: I am not tired of the online business, but I believe that there is a much greater market opportunity today in applying technology within the television industry. Today, television advertising is a $70 billion market annually in the US and television subscriptions represent another $130 billion per year, and neither side of that business has seen any significant technology-driven optimization for many years. Contrast that to the online world, where US ad spend represents $30 billion per year and, outside of search, it’s already optimized at a 70-80% level.

What learnings from your experience in the online ad business are relevant to TV tune-in optimization?

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Tremor Media Balancing Targeting Needs With Scale Says CEO Glickman

Wednesday, September 16th, 2009

Jason Glickman is CEO of Tremor Media, an online video advertising network.

CEO Jason Glickman of Tremor MediaAdexchanger.com: On your website, you identify your #1 ranking in premium video views according to Comscore. What do you mean by “premium”? And, is there such a thing as non-premium video ad inventory? If so, does Tremor Media fill non-premium inventory and is it a significant part of the business?

JG: Our network is comprised of 100% premium content which we define as professionally produced, non-UGC, above-the fold placements with brand safety guaranteed. We view all user-generated content as non-premium video ad inventory and we do not serve ads against this content. All of our publisher partner sites are carefully vetted and are required to meet our quality standards before we agree to include them in our network and serve ads against their content. As an additional quality control mechanism, we have partnered with ContentWatch to ensure that these standards are continually met.

Do you think digital media – and video, in particular – needs to embrace reach, frequency and GRPs in order to receive a larger slice of the overall media pie? What strategies is Tremor Media putting in place to get more “pie”?

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blip.tv Co-Founder Kaplan Says Web Video Offering Opportunity To Brand And Direct Response Marketers

Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Dina Kaplan is co-founder of blip.tv, an online video broadcasting company.

Dina Kaplan of blip tvAdExchanger.com: What does the future of online video content look like in your estimation?

I think we’ll see a proliferation of three types of content online.  First, we’ll continue to have network shows available on the Web and also original Web content produced by the networks.  I’d put that in the “professional content” category that sits at the top of the content pyramid.

Second, we’ll have far more original Web shows of increasing quality and covering an ever-expanding diversity of topics.  This goes in the middle of the content pyramid and is the content blip.tv hosts and distributes, so this is the market we focus on.

Third, you have friends and family videos and one-off viral videos that you’d typically watch on YouTube.  This content sits at the bottom of the pyramid but may be seen by millions of people if it’s particularly funny or interesting.

I think we’ll see an increasing blurring of lines between “professional” content and independent Web shows, especially as more talent from traditional media dabbles with Web originals.  Eventually I could see us each having something like a content toolbar, and during the day we’d feed different types of content into it – some Web shows, some network programs and some videos from friends and family.  We would then have the ability to send that content to a TV screen at home, to a computer or to a mobile device.   So you’ll be choosing what you watch, when you watch it, and exactly how you will consume that media.

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Addressable Media Only Just Beginning Says FreeWheel Co-CEO Knopper

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

Doug Knopper of FreeWheel Doug Knopper is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of FreeWheel, an online video advertising technology company.

AdExchanger.com: What are some of the key learnings that you’re bringing forward from your experience as DoubleClick’s GM?

DK: There are two key parallels that come through. One is the critical importance of building a strong team, which has been one of our key areas of focus. A second one is the parallel to the market cycle of 2001. Back then, the growth rate of the online display advertising market was early and uncertain, similar in many ways to the online video advertising market of today. Inevitably, the market comes back and we need to be ready for that. This is the time to innovate.

In your opinion, where does addressable media today compare to its potential?

It’s clearly the top of the first inning for addressable media. When you stop to consider that the bulk of display ads are still being served by legacy ad management software and systems that were initially installed years ago, or that semantic or story-based targeting is just getting under way online for text, you begin to realize just how little innovation there has been in the past decade.

How does Freewheel differentiate from other video ad inventory management platforms?

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Exchanges Will Play Role In Addressable TV Says Visible World President Tara Walpert Levy

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

Tara Walpert Levy of Visible WorldTara Walpert Levy is President of Visible World, a provider of targeted television solutions.

AdExchanger.com: What momentum has Visible World seen in 2009 for itself as well as its clients?

TWL: Visible World’s business is up substantially in 2009, despite the tough economic environment.  While many advertisers are cutting back on TV advertising, they are also looking for new ways to make each dollar more effective.  We are pleased that our solutions are able to help advertisers improve their marketing results during this critical time.  We typically see client campaign performance improve by more than 30% from running targeted, relevant campaigns.

Is big media and Madison Avenue ready for addressable TV media?  When will the scale in addressable TV arrive?

Addressable TV exists at some scale today.  Our zone-based addressability platform will cover 80% of cable homes by year-end, and our household addressability deployments will be in the millions of households by early next year.  Madison Avenue adoption is growing rapidly as well – we ran 5,000 different spots just last week, and annual campaigns are nearly doubling year on year as more performance results are shared.  The combination of message and media optimization is proving particularly powerful, and the number of targeted spots per campaign is also growing rapidly.  Current campaigns average 18 spots per campaign although advertisers range from only two spots into the hundreds at any one time.

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