Andy Plesser

The media landscape is changing quickly, as evidenced by today’s announcement of Verizon’s plans to purchase AOL Inc.   For a look at where the media industry might be heading in the next 5 to ten  years, we sat down with AOL CEO and Chairman Tim Armstrong  earlier this year.  With today’s news, we are republishing […]

Native advertising has become a central focus for revenue at The New York Times, according Chief Revenue Officer Meredith Levien in this profile article in Digiday. And, video has become an integral part of the solution says Sebastian Tomich, SVP for Advertising and Innovation and head of the publisher’s native advertising unit, in this interview with […]

For AOL, the NewFront was more than a slate of new original video shows, it was an integrated offering of both media and technology with its programmatic platform, explains Jim Norton, Global Head, Media Sales at AOL in this inteview at the AOL NewFront. Norton says that while automation is bringing efficiencies to the marketplace, quality content is […]

As part of its new slate of web originals unveiled at its NewFront, AOL is reading three documentary series for its marquis brands Engadget, TechCrunch and Huffington Post.  For explanation of the series’ content and format, we interviewed Nate Hayden, VP for Originals and Branded Content. Hayden also talks about the changing form factor for […]

Data, analytics and programmatic advertising have been part of the conversation at Cannes Lions for the past couple of years. The dialogue has taken place at meeting suites, beach cabanas and at networking events.  This year, for the first time, Cannes will host the Lions Innovation Festival, a two-day (6.25-26) program held in the Grand […]

BBG Ventures, a New York-based, early stage  venture capital firm, backed with $10 million from AOL,  that invests in women-lead tech start-ups, has made investments in 12 start-ups.  Headed by media industry luminary Susan Lyne, BBG makes seed investments of generally less that $250,000.  The fund was launched in September. We spoke with Lyne about the fund.  She […]

Digital video, once a sort of outlier in the media landscape whose value had to be “justified,” is now fully integrated as part of an agency’s digital buy.  Moreover, the value proposition has been greatly enhanced with audience planning and buying tool which allow planners to target buys to the individual, says Michael Lampert, SVP […]

David Pogue, a Yahoo tech columnist and prolific video blogger, who is also  a host of PBS’s “Nova” series, says that Yahoo will join WGBH Boston, as co-producers of a series on wearable health tech titled “Your Tech.” The six month collaboration was announced at the Yahoo NewFront.  At the event, we spoke with Pogue about the […]

While consumption in mobile video has been explosive, advertising has lagged due in large part to a lack of adequate user analytics.   That will change with the integration of Nielsen’s Digital Ad Ratings (DAR), says Bruce Falck, COO of programmatic video company BrightRoll.  The integration with DAR was announced yesterday at the BrightRoll Video Summit […]

At its NewFront presentation on Thursday, Time Inc. announced a slate of eleven new programs.   It also announced a syndication agreement with Amazon Video Shorts, along with alliances with radio, TV and local newspapers groups Cumulus, Gannett and Nextstar Broadcasting. After the presentation, we interviewed J.R. McCabe, SVP for Video at Time Inc. about the new slate of […]

While advertisers and their agencies are looking for quality programming, they want to buy audiences in a flexible scenario, powered programmatically, explains Lisa Utzschneider, SVP, Sales, Americas, Yahoo, in this interview with Beet.TV She explains how the acquisition of video programmatic platform Brightroll, provides Yahoo vast reach into 188 million video viewers. Utzschneider also talks about […]

With the introduction last year of a live daily concert series produced with Live Nation, live programming has become a major traffic driver to Yahoo and a growing opportunity for advertisers.   “Live has become a big priority for Yahoo,” says Lisa Licht, SVP, Marketing Partnerships, in this interview with Beet.TV At Monday’s NewFront at […]

While the breadth and quality of digital video continues to grow, as demonstrated during the Digital Content NewFronts, a big challenge remains discovery and consumption.  While that has historically been a problem, discovery is developing in good measure due to personalization of social feeds, says Adam Shlachter, Chief Investment Officer, DigitasLBi, in this interview with […]

From full-length, TV-style video produced by Yahoo to six-second Vines, the opportunities around digital video is diverse and promising. The medium has come of age and marketers need to embrace it, says Scott Donaton, Chief Content Officer of DigitasLBi, in this interview with Beet.TV We spoke with him at the Yahoo NewFront event on Monday evening […]

While quality content remains core to premium, digital video, it is the ability to harness data to target specific audiences which is as important. Technology needs to be a central part of the Digital Content NewFronts offering, says Robin Steinberg, EVP at MediaVest in this interview with Beet.TV We spoke with her at the Yahoo NewFront event […]

At its NewFront event on Tuesday, AOL and NBCUniversal  announced a content development and distribution arrangement.  For an overview on the arrangement, we interviewed  Bob Lord, President of AOL Inc. More on the deal reported by The New York Times.

From its place on the desktop mobile, digital video is finding its place in the living room via Internet-connected devices, says Dermot McCormick, President of Video at AOL.  We spoke with the former Viacom exec bout the evolution of digital  video and the strategies at AOL around multi-screen devices. We interviewed him  tonight at the AOL Digital […]

The challenges of distributing virtual reality at scale is one of a  number of hurdles at the moment, but the immersive medium will come to The New York Times newsroom, predicts Rebecca Howard, General Manager of Video in this interview with Beet.TV We spoke with her at The Times NewFront event yesterday where the paper demonstrated […]

At the Yahoo NewFront last night, the company announced a number of new programmings in live, vertical “magazines” shows and in the long-form “Yahoo Originals.” At the event, we spoke with Kathy Savitt, CMO and Head of Media who gives an overview of new shows, the dramatic growth of “live” at Yahoo and the developing opportunities […]

At last night’s Yahoo NewFront event at Lincoln Center, interest in programmatic video advertising and the opportunity to buy highly targeted audiences, was widely talked about by Yahoo executives and several of media agency executives. For Yahoo, programmatic video is now a key part of the company’s monetization offering with its BrightRoll unit, which it acquired […]