Category: Digital

All Things Digital

Interpublic takes big step towards Programmatic TV buying

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Interpublic Group, one of the largest media agency conglomerates, is taking a big leap toward automated buying in a development that could have a huge impact on the current media ecosystem.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Interpublic has begun building a new system that will allow it to automatically buy TV and radio ads and has partnered with Clear Channel, A&E Networks, Tribune Co. and Cablevision to test the new system.

The idea is to use existing technology to better target ad buys, and to get rid of some of the more cumbersome parts of making a TV ad buy, which can take weeks or months to iron out under the current system.

TV networks are cautious as there’s speculation that an automatic system could have an impact on media rates, as it has for online search display ads.

Im a firm believer that anything that can be sold programmatic, will eventually move to programmatic and Interpublic has just taken the first step.

Programmatic Buying makes a play for TV

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Programmatic buying is a hot topic in the digital media world, but recently a new “audience-buying” platform called AudienceXpress has been making the headlines on Madison Avenue as it rolls out an automated system enabling agencies and their trading desks to serve ads into the most premium network television inventory.

Because of its implications for the overall media marketplace, the rapid rise of programmatic trading in online display advertising has been one of the most closely watched developments of the past couple of years, splitting Madison Avenue and its media supply chain into two philosophical camps: Those that want to preserve the world of old-school media-buying based on relationships and person-to-person negotiations; and those who want to shift to a new world of “audience-buying” based on scientific, real-time, transparent programmatic technology enabling brands to reach the audiences they are seeking with their precision at that exact moment they need to reach them.

The fear of losing control over the value of advertising inventory has been the major impediment to programmatic exchanges in the online business, but that hasn’t stopped the online display market from developing a marketplace based on sell-side machines trading with buy-side ones.

While supply was a big factor in the success of programmatic trading online, other big factors including the needs for agencies to improve their margins by utilizing technology to automate the way they buy in an increasingly fragmented media marketplace, as well as their philosophical shift from old school “media-buying” based on the seller’s inventory to the new world of “audience-buying” based on reaching the consumers that their clients’ brands want to reach with their ad messages.

According to the most recent estimates from Interpublic’s Magna unit, programmatic buying of media currently represents about 25% of online display buys, and is growing fast.

Since it went live in January with a beta being used by the trading desks of at least two of the biggest agency holding companies, AudienceXpress has already served nearly 2 billion ad impressions to network TV viewers nationwide — all below the radar of most of the TV advertising industry

One of the first adopters of AudienceXpress are cable operators because the platform gives them an incredibly efficient means of selling their TV advertising inventory to national advertisers in a way that does not cannibalize on the local and regional buys sold by their direct, in-house sales organizations.

The system essentially enables local cable operators to efficiently and automatically pool the local TV advertising avails they split with their cable network partners into an audience trading platform that taps the budgets of national advertisers. In other words, it enables local cable TV operators to compete directly for ad budgets with the national advertising sales organizations of their network affiliates. Generally, national cable TV networks give two minutes per hour to cable systems to sell as part of their distribution agreements.

Programmatic trading has quickly matured on Madison Avenue, and every major agency now has its own trading desk, or works with an array of independents. Almost all of them claim to be either currently buying or close to developing a solution for buying TV advertising inventory through their systems. At least two are doing so already.

In the minds of most TV folks, real-time bidding means devaluing your inventory, The AudienceXpress value proposition is to provide liquidity — largely for the sell-side — by applying
technology on the back-end and the front end, and then layering on audience data that increases the value of that inventory to advertisers.

MTV Hopes to Feed ratings with Food Competition

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MTV is heading into the kitchen as a contender in food media with two new shows, MTV’s House of Food and Snackdown. According to Variety, both programs will feature a competitive culinary element.

MTV’s House of Food, will incorporate elements of MasterChef,America’s Next Top Model and the network’s own Made. Except it will focus on aspiring chefs who are assigned mentors among top chefs and then compete to win “the apprenticeship of a lifetime.” It’ll join Cooking Channel, which in June broadcast an 8-episode documentary about culinary students called premiered The Freshman Class, in covering the beginning stages of a culinary career Snackdown, which is produced by skateboarder and MTV reality TV regular Rob Dyrdek, will be a 30-minute cooking showdown between amateur chefs. Eddie Huang, owner of Baohaus in New York City and known agitator, will host the program. Model Chrissy Teigen, an outspoken foodist with her own food blog, and chef Jason Quinn of The Playground in Santa Ana are among the panel of judges. The contestants are all vying for a cash prize, their recipe published in the “SNACKDOWN” cookbook, and the coveted golden spork necklace!

 

The TV revolution has just begun…

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Apple’s recent purchase of video-recommendation site Matcha.tv is further evidence of the coming revolution of IPTV.

Matcha.tv is a site that enables people to bring together programming guides for a variety of different services, such as Hulu, Amazon, and Netflix.

Most of the content we now watch on TV, with the exception of live events and sports, is available online somewhere. The challenge for the consumer is finding the content they want to watch across multiple streaming sites (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc) and then playing it on whatever device they choose.

The TV revolution will begin when someone creates a smart software interface that makes IPTV video content search and playback seamless across devices and platforms. The holy grail moment is when someone creates an IPTV platform that is as easy to use as the box in your living room, but extends the viewing experience to whatever device you currently have in your hand.
One thing Apple has done consistently well is to use software to simplify complex technology problems exactly like this.

This past year has bern flooded with rumors of Apple expanding their “experiment” with TV, but this looks like Apple has taken an important step towards starting a true TV revolution.

Time Spent Watching Free VOD TV Content Jumps 40%

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The amount of time subscribers spent watching free video on demand television fare soared in 2012, according to the latest findings from measurement company Rentrak.

According to the “Rentrak State of VOD Report 2012,” which reflects four years of platform analysis from Rentrak’s OnDemand Essentials Service, the total amount of time subscribers spent viewing free-on-demand TV content grew 40% in 2012 from 2011’s level.

Moreover, the report found that the total number of free-on-demand TV programs watched went up 29% from the prior year. Relative to broadcast network shows, the percentage gains were even greater, as there was a 60% uptick in total time spent viewing those programs and a 47% advance in the number of those shows watched from the prior year.

High-definition VOD viewing escalated by 60% in 2012, while there was a 5% increase to 43 million TVs that accessed VOD content on a monthly basis. That was up 13% from 2010’s levels, according to the Rentrak study.

Given these numbers, Rentrak officials point to the opportunities for advertisers to reach viewers through VOD mechanisms.

“There is no doubt that this kind of growth is reshaping budgets of cable operators, content providers and advertisers,” said Rentrak corporate president and president of the AMI Division Cathy Hetzel in a statement. “Our reporting gives perspective on how many ad dollars could be left behind if on-demand content is not considered by the planners of TV.”

VivaKi study determines the best Tablet ad formats

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The three best ad models for tablets are: banner to full-page rich media, pre-roll with overlay, and rich media interstitial.

This is according to The Pool, a 14-month long research initiative from VivaKi that featured participation from 26 major advertisers and publishers, including Bank of America, Coca-Cola, GM, ABC Television, Crackle, Scripps, Tremor, and Yahoo.

The study uncovered that the three aforementioned ad models “significantly outperformed” their respective benchmarks on at least one of three behavioral metrics (engagement rate, click-through rate, or time spent), and those who engaged with the models saw lifts on all six attitudinal metrics (unaided awareness, aided awareness, mobile ad awareness, message association, brand favorability, and purchase intent).

For example, pre-rolls with an overlay, which the study determined worked best with video content (obviously), generated a 3.3% increase in time spent when compared to a traditional pre-roll video.

Vivaldi study identifies the best Tablet ad formats

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The three best ad models for tablets are: banner to full-page rich media, pre-roll with overlay, and rich media interstitial.

This is according to The Pool, a 14-month long research initiative from VivaKi that featured participation from 26 major advertisers and publishers, including Bank of America, Coca-Cola, GM, ABC Television, Crackle, Scripps, Tremor, and Yahoo.

The study uncovered that the three aforementioned ad models “significantly outperformed” their respective benchmarks on at least one of three behavioral metrics (engagement rate, click-through rate, or time spent), and those who engaged with the models saw lifts on all six attitudinal metrics (unaided awareness, aided awareness, mobile ad awareness, message association, brand favorability, and purchase intent).

For example, pre-rolls with an overlay, which the study determined worked best with video content (obviously), generated a 3.3% increase in time spent when compared to a traditional pre-roll video.

comScore Unveils Multi-Platform Ratings

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ComScore on Monday officially launched its new cross-platform reporting system combining audience metrics from Web sites, video and apps across PCs, smartphones and tablets.

Unveiled in beta in November, the company’s Media Metrix Multi-Platform reporting aims to provide a more complete view of an online property’s audience as people increasingly access the Web and other content on mobile devices.

The impact of the mobile shift has been especially pronounced for a handful of top 100 sites, especially where combined desktop and mobile U.S. audience in February increased by triple digits, according to the new comScore numbers. That includes mobile-centric properties like Groupon, up 223%, Zynga (211%) and Pandora (183%).

Across the top 100, the unduplicated audience grew by an average of 38%, with 19 properties seeing the reach of their desktop audience expanded by 50% on smartphones and tablets. (comScore mobile figures reflect use on the iOS and Android platforms.)

Among sites in the top 25 that saw a healthy ratings bump from the combined desktop/mobile reporting were Apple and Twitter, both up 54%, Yelp (51%), the Weather Channel (37%), eBay and About.com (both 29%), Gannett sites (32%), and Amazon (27%).

With the exception of properties like Pandora, the ranking of the top sites remained similar to that when counting desktop-only traffic. The top five multiplatform sites in February — Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon — were the same ones as through the standard Media Metrix ratings in January.

comScore said the cross-platform reporting will give publishers and media companies better insight into the nature of their audiences in order to align content and marketing strategies and monetization efforts. For media planners, it can help to optimize audience reach and frequency within and across channels.

Public companies like Pandora, Zynga, Yelp and Facebook have already begun highlighting mobile audience metrics in quarterly reports in relation to steps they are taking to monetize the sharp rise in mobile usage. Pandora, for example, reported earlier this month that mobile revenue in its fiscal fourth quarter surged 111% — even faster than the 70% increase in mobile listening hours.

For now, comScore will continue to publicly release the desktop-only Media Metrix top 50 Web properties on a monthly basis, but will regularly publish the Multi-Platform ratings in some capacity alongside, according to Andrew Lipsman, vice president, industry analysis at the digital measurement firm. He added that other services, like the Video Metrix and Mobile Metrix ratings, will be maintained.

The new cross-platform tracking service overall includes reporting on more than 300,000 digital media entities, including their unduplicated audience size, demographic makeup, engagement, performance within key user segments, and behavioral trends.

Cable well positioned for TV Ad Market

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Broadcast-television ratings have dropped sharply this season. That, combined with the weak economy and competition from digital media, indicate a bad season for the spring TV ad-sales market, ad buyers and analysts say.

Some of them are predicting that the broadcast networks’ take will be steady to slightly lower in this years upfront,  in which TV executives pitch their new shows for the coming season.

More TV ad dollars are expected to move to cable channels, a shift that has accelerated in the past couple of years. But both broadcast and cable television are facing more intense competition from online media, including Web video outlets.

The ratings declines have some marketers rethinking their ad-buying strategies, ad buyers said. Some are expected to shift money to cable channels, they said. While ratings have declined at some cable channels, ad prices on cable tend to be lower than on broadcast TV, according to ad buyers.

In some cases, the Web could take a share of those dollars. “Advertisers have seen a significant shortage of ratings, and some are willing to take some money and move it online,” said John Muszynski, chief investment officer at ad company Publicis Groupe

Publicis’s ZenithOptimedia expects TV advertising to grow just 2.8% this year to $63.9 billion. Zenith expects outlays on network-TV ads to decline 2% and spending on cable to increase 7%

Full Story at WSJ.com

HBO considers unbundling HBO GO

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HBO could widen access to its HBO GO online streaming service by teaming up with broadband Internet providers for customers who do not subscribe to a cable TV service, HBO Chief Executive Richard Plepler said.

Plepler told Reuters on Wednesday evening at the Season 3 premiere of HBO’s hit TV show “Game of Thrones.” “Maybe HBO GO, with our broadband partners, could evolve.”

HBO launched HBO GO in 2010 to let subscribers view its shows over the Internet on devices such as Apple Inc’s iPads. The service has about 6.5 million registered users, compared with more than 100 million for HBO’s main service globally.

However, HBO GO is only accessible to viewers who pay for cable TV service, plus an extra fee for HBO. This means monthly bills of $100 or more typically for people who want to use HBO GO.

Plepler said late Wednesday that HBO GO could also be packaged with a monthly Internet service, in partnership with broadband providers, reducing the cost.

Customers could pay $50 a month for their broadband Internet and an extra $10 or $15 for HBO to be packaged in with that service, for a total of $60 or $65 per month, Plepler said.

“We would have to make the math work,” he added.

HBO, owned by Time Warner Inc, relies on large financial support from its cable and satellite TV partners to help distribute and promote its shows.

Plepler said in January that it would not make business sense to provide an Internet-only product that circumvents its existing distribution network.

Internet-only rivals such as Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc are challenging this approach by delivering original programming directly over the Internet.

BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield said that for now, it is not within HBO’s economic interest to offer a broadband-only product, since it endangers HBO’s business model.

“The current model is good to them. If it starts to break down, I’m sure HBO will evolve,” Greenfield said.

He added that HBO GO gives the network an edge against other cable networks if since it is “increasingly on everybody’s smart phone, tablet and desktop.”

GAME OF PIRACY

Game of Thrones has been pirated heavily online, a trend that some industry experts blame on HBO’s tight control of how and when the show can be viewed and the cost of such access.

Most of the piracy occurs outside the United States and HBO is trying to control it, Plepler said.

George R.R. Martin, author of the books upon which the TV show is based, said most of the piracy happens in Australia where viewers have had to wait about six months to see the show.

If Australian viewers got access to Game of Thrones at the same time as in the United States, that would reduce piracy, Martin added.

An HBO spokesman said that 176 markets will air season three of the shows within a week of the United States premiere.

John Bradley-West, one of the actors on the show, said piracy may be reduced if HBO offered a full season pass via Apple’s iTunes store for viewers to stream online a day after the official TV broadcast.

HBO is not changing its Game of Thrones distribution windows for DVDs and electronic sell-through, or EST, the HBO spokesman said. EST is a way of distributing video over the Internet that allows viewers to download movies and TV shows.

In the past, Game of Thrones has been available on iTunes and DVD several months after its initial release.