Online Video Videos

The big issue facing mainstream media in succeeding with online video is scale, a lack of inventory of content and lack of viewers, according Vivek Shaw, head of digital news at Time Inc.At the Beet.TV Online Video Roundtable, Vivek was questioned by paidContent Editor Rafat Ali, one of the event's moderators. Vivek says estimates that the size of the online video advertising budget in the U.S. is just over $350 million.Also bemoaning the small scale or the emerging media in this clip is Rob Norman who heads GroupM, the giant digital media buying arm of WPP. Just this afternoon, Rafat reports on paidContent that Vivek will be leaving his post at Time Inc.Andy Plesser, Executive Producer

Despite its enormous position, commanding 40 percent of video streams in the U.S., the quality of the environment for advertisers is not always acceptable, according to leading digital advertising executives.Rob Norman, CEO of WPP's giant GroupM IInteraction, the digital media buying group, says that despite the availability of high quality video ads to go up on the Web, the technical quality and environment of sites like YouTube is not acceptable, hesays the current environment is "complete crap." (His comments come at the end of this clip.) GroupM says it is the world's largest media buying company, with billings of $60 billion.Ogilvy's Robert Davis and Digitas' John McCarus discuss the value of YouTube as a powerful distribution platform with value and limitations. YouTube has recently increased the number of pre-roll ads and has expanded its relationship with many ad agencies. This is an excerpt from last month's Beet.TV Online Video Roundtable held at the New York offfices of msnbc.com. Moderating this section is Michael Learmonth, reporter for Advertising Age. Michael recently reported how consumer package goods are using online video advertising in a big way.Andy Plesser, Executive Producer

msnbc.com, which had the first embeddable video player among the major video producers in the United States, will soon launch a player which provides embed codes for specific segments. The new player will also be resizable and will carry forms of advertising, deemed acceptable on off domain sites, meaning no pre-roll ads. These are some of the comments by Charlie Tillinghast, president and publisher of msnbc.com in response to answers from Rafat Ali, editor and pubisher of paidContent. Rafat was one of the co-moderators of the recent Beet.TV Online Video Roundtable which was held at msnbc.com's New York headquarters at 30 Rock.Andy Plesser, Executive Producer

Advertisers want to know more about their neighbors, and brands want to know who they're running next to and whether their ads are live in safe online environments, said Jayant Kadambi, co-founder and president of online video ad network YuMe. We caught up with him at the Beet.TV Online Video Roundtable last month. As marketers seek scale online with online video, they also want data on where the videos are embedded, he explained. "As video goes from TV to online videos to live to widgets, we give them all the information required so they feel comfortable advertising at scale," he said. That includes data on whether an ad plays next to another ad and what type of content it runs against. Technologies like AdSafe and ad networks like Brand.net are also focused on managing the environments in which ads live online.To deliver the right ads to the right consumers, YuMe relies on consumers' content preferences. "If this is 'Heroes,' based on the data associated with that content we know people 18 to 49 who like dramas watch 'Heroes' and we can use that to place the right ad," Kadambi explained. He added that YuMe doesn't rely much on cookie data and leans instead on user behavior. In general, ad networks also rely on a range of data sources such as Next Action, Blue Kai, RapLeaf, and others to verify audiences and to deliver ads to the right viewers. Daisy Whitney, Senior ProducerDisclaimer: YuMe was the sponsor of last month's Beet.TV Online Video Roundtable

Online video ad network YuMe is generating engagement rates that are as much as three to four times higher or custom spots than for pre-rolls. That's what YuMe's CEO Michael Mathieu told Beet.TV during a recent interview in New York. The company served up more than three billion video ads through the third quarter of this year and custom spots are generating as high as a 5% click-through rate, or engagement rate. That compares to pre-rolls, which generate a bit higher than one percent interaction, YuMe found. On average the engagement for customized spots is double a pre-roll. However, pre-rolls are still the dominant ad format in online video and account for 95% of the ads YuMe delivers. Some of the clients YuMe has served up tailored ads for include Axe, Dove, Vitamin Water, Universal Pictures and LandRover. The company recently released a study detailing click-through rates for various types of video ads. "We can customize so the ad envelopes the whole screen and you're not just watching within the player," he said. "We see up to 5% click yields when people really take the time to develop creative that is online-specific and have the opportunity to engage the audience versus taking a TV ad and sticking it in front of the content." Because of the success with tailored ads, YuMe is exploring additional types of online video ad formats such as embedding ad units in the video. "If someone is watching Beet.TV there might be a white space to the right of you and there could be an ad there selling a product. We will see more embeddable ads within video that is contextually relevant and focuses on the user. Ads around the video player will start to disappear," he said.Daisy Whitney, Senior ProducerDisclaimer: YuMe was the sponsor of the Beet.TV Online Video Roundtable.

Many big advertisers aren't convinced they can achieve the reach and frequency they want with online video, said Rob Norman, CEO GroupM Interaction Worldwide, in an exclusive interview with Beet.TV in New York last week. "We are still spending one percent or less of our total national TV investment into online video," he told Beet.TV. "My conclusion is when our clients think about video primarily they think about TV ads so they are comparing and contrasting the reasons and values they get from TV to the reasons and values they get online." The trouble is online video can sometimes look like a bad bet at first blush. As an example, clients who are used to TV will usually check out Hulu online since it's the most "TV-like" but then will balk at the CPMs, since Hulu is often priced higher than TV CPMs. While Hulu is usually more expensive than TV on a pure CPM basis, online advocates will point to the smaller ad load and more engaged viewer online as a justification for the higher value.Even so, advertisers still want scale, Norman said. "So far in terms of reach for the bulk of advertisers Hulu isn't significant so it's an issue of scale and an issue of price," he said.That scale issue also thwarts creative investment in online video. "On a mass scale advertisers haven't gotten into the mindset of producing 100 assets instead of one, of producing assets of infinite variety in the granularity that allows them to exploit the targeting potential of online video," he said. Still, some GroupM advertisers have experimented with branded entertainment online, such as with Web shows "In the Motherhood," which was sponsored by Unilever and Sprint. Branded content is not new though. But on the Web, its audiences are engaged but still small.Norman was a participant in the Beet.TV Online Video Roundtable in New York last week. Andy spoke to him before the session began. Daisy Whitney, Executive Producer

We were encouraged to read today's Wall Street Journal report about the projected uptick in technology advertising for 2010. Journal reporters Ben Worthen and Jessica Vascellaro cite an IDC study which puts tech marketing dollars up over 3.5 percent for next year, versus the dismal 8.3percent drop this year. In the current quarter, big budgets are being spent by tech advertisers including both consumer and B2B companies Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and Juniper Networks, the paper reports."Big Uptick" at the Wall Street JournalFor the Wall Street Journal, tech advertising has been a mainstay and it has been on the upswing recently. Brian Quinn, who heads online sale for the Journal, told me that 'we have seen a big uptick in tech advertising in Q4." Brian was a panelist at the Beet.TV Online Video Roundtable last week. I spoke with him about the monetization of the Journal's online video initiatives. He tells me that inventory is sold out. Andy Plesser, Executive Producer