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Social TV is finally ready for Prime Time

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Last month, Nielsen released the “Nielsen Twitter TV Rating” which promises to provide a standard measure for TV show performance in social media. The rating system uses real-time data from Twitter, in tandem with the robust classification system from SocialGuide to measure the actual reach of the TV-related conversations happening during the airing of shows.

According to comScore, as of September 2013, there were only about 38.3 million U.S. internet users on Twitter. This sounds like a large number until you consider that there are 139 million Internet users on Facebook (over three times the reach of Twitter). According to Facebook 88-100 million people in the U.S. use Facebook during primetime TV hours. That number alone is over twice the size of Twitter’s U.S. Audience.

So why would a mass medium like TV find a social media partner in Twitter instead if Facebook, which is not only the top social networking site in the U.S., but also the top social networking site in the world?

The answer is twofold. The first the difference between the Twitter feed and the Facebook news feed. Twitter feeds are populated by Tweets from other users they follow who are Tweeting at the time they are logged into Twitter. This means that the content of the Twitter feed is “linear” – the content is real-time with what the users and their followers are doing in real-life. In this way Twitter can easily function as a chat room during a TV show. The Facebook news feed, is populated according to an algorithm which selects content based on popularity and past user behaviors. This makes it more difficult for users to engage in live conversations related to TV shows since there’s no guarantee that two users posting at the same time about the same TV show will actually see each other’s posts.

The second reason is related to search and content discovery. Twitter hashtags make it easy to find posts related to a specific topic and for TV networks and their technology partners to identify users who are watching their shows while they’re on air.

Facebook has been implementing changes to address these challenges. In June, the company introduced hashtags to enable users to easily identify others in their networks engaged in conversations. So far, hashtags have not been as successful on Facebook as they are on Twitter but this could turnaround quickly if major TV networks start promoting Facebook hashtags during live programming.

Facebook also recently introduced Keyword Insights, which provides visibility into users engaged in conversations about specific keywords. TV networks can now tally the number of users discussing specific shows on Facebook during specific times by age, gender and geography.

The important point in all these developments is that advertisers and TV networks are finally seeking ways to measure the potential marketing communications opportunities generated by social TV behaviors. Social TV is finally ready for primetime.

Netflix becoming more like TV

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Netflix has announced what it’s calling the biggest update ever for its more than 40 million streaming customers, rolling out a more visually rich design that will be the same regardless of what kind of device is used to bring videos from the Internet to the TV.

Netflix says that the majority of the 1 billion hours of video its users stream each month is viewed on televisions, via TV apps or devices like the Roku, Blu-ray players or gaming consoles.

Under the new format, which began rolling out Wednesday, clicking on a show or movie will call up a full-page description, with multiple images and an explanation of why Netflix recommended it for you. Descriptions of the videos will be sharper, Netflix says, and users who choose to let Netflix access their social-media profiles will get recommendations based on their activity and friends’ activity, as well as on videos they’ve watched in the past.

Until now, most versions of Netflix streaming looked like a relatively flat grid, consisting of row after row of suggestions based, generally, on what kind of videos had been streamed by the user in the past.

“The new interface, which has been two years in the making, is a visually striking departure from the familiar grid of movie tiles and boxes, and it is designed to mirror the experience of TV watching.

Other new features include expanded support for Netflix Profiles, a way to let people in the same household customize their experience, and support for voice controls on Xbox 360. Post-Play, the feature that automatically starts the next episode of a TV show you’re watching or suggests others when you’re done, also is being redesigned.

Netflix says the update will take about two weeks to reach all devices, which include PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Roku 3, and new and future smart TVs and Blu-ray players.

Some older smart TVs and Blu-ray players may receive the new look if manufacturers update them, and the overhaul will be added for the Roku 2 box early next year.

One set-top box that won’t be getting the update is Apple TV. That system has “specific templates that are set by Apple,” according to Netflix.

Netflix says it has more than 31 million U.S. subscribers to its streaming service, plus almost 10 million international subscribers.

Mobile Advertising expected to surpass desktop by 2017

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Mobile advertising is growing so rapidly that it will pass desktop advertising by 2017, according to a new report from eMarketer.

Leading the way will be search ads; mobile accounts for 22% of all search ads this year and is expected to grow to 60% by 2017. It was at 2% only three years ago. About half of all spending on display ads will be in mobile’s column by 2017 as well. Other key findings:

Mobile search ads should be worth $4.34 billion this year, up from $3.95 billion in 2012.

Mobile display ads should bring in $3.81 billion in 2013, up from $3.38 billion last year.

Mobile ad dollars overall will more than double from last year to $8.5 billion.

Video-ad revenue on mobile and desktops is expected to hit $4.1 billion this year and rise to $9.2 billon in 2017.

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!

 

New study shows Moms prefer iPads over iPhone

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A new report from mobile-analytics firm Flurry.com, The Who, What, and When of iPad and iPhone Usage, reveals that moms and home-design enthusiasts, are using iPads more than iPhones.

Meanwhile, health and fitness, music lovers, and video enthusiasts are all over the iPhone.

The heaviest period of use for the iPad during the day is from 6 pm to 11 pm; iPhone app usage also peaks during these hours.

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.

Mobile Devices Account for only 2% of TV Viewing

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Most folks don’t use their mobile devices for TV viewing. According to a study from the Council for Research Excellence, mobile devices account for just 2% of all TV viewing. However, the group that the study calls “early adopters” and “opinion leaders” are far more active on mobile TV than that. Still, if TV execs want watchers to actually be paying attention to their content, they should hope they are watching on smartphones. Smartphone TV watchers were multitasking on other electronic devices while viewing only 14% of the time while tablet viewers were doing other things 27% of the time and those watching on computers were doing other things 31% of the time.

The number actually goes up on regular old broadcast TVs with viewers multitasking 34% of the time. Another piece of data supporting smartphone viewership as the strongest is that 39% of those viewers looked up show information, posted about the show on social networks or engaged in some other kind of online activity relating to the TV programming. Meanwhile, those who actually watched the show on TV only had 21% of viewership do those things, lower than both tablet viewers (27%) or those that watched on computers (31%).

In Other Words: Focus your mobile efforts on smartphone users.

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.”