The term “premium online video” has often been used to refer to programming produced by Hollywood studios and programmers, but premium is now increasingly being defined by the marketer and by the viewer, said online video ad experts during the Beet.TV Leadership Webcast which originated in the AOL Studios in New York last month.

The session included Jordan Bitterman, SVP of Digitas; Lisa Valentino, VP of digital sales at ESPN; and Ran Harnevo, AOL SVP.

What constitutes premium content is important as online video takes on a greater portion of new media budgets; eMarketer has said online video advertising will hit $2 billion this year, a 52% rise, and much of that will go to premium inventory.

“When digital channels came along, for the most part [premium content] was things on ESPN or one of the portals, but I think that definition is expanding as you see brands start to create new videos and a whole plethora of production companies working with brands or publishers to create videos,” said Bitterman. “What we’re looking at now is this mid-tail of content.”

paidContent reporter David Kaplan led the panel.

Daisy Whitney