Andy Plesser

In just the past six month, Vice has become “one of the biggest newscasts in the country and possibly the world,” says Vice SVP for sales Brian Dietz in this segment on Beet.TV.  Dietz tells our Ashley Swartz that Vice news has some 650K subscribers on YouTube and has had 70 million videos viewed since […]

Twitch, the live video platform that allows gamers to interact over  the Internet, will be acquired by Amazon for over $1 billion, the Wall Street Journal reports.   the site was formerly known as Justin.tv, a pioneering platform for personal live streaming. Last year, we spoke with chief revenue officer Jonathan Simpson-Bint about the company’s fast […]

SAN FRANCISCO – Facebook’s acquisition of LiveRail for a reportedly $400 – $500 million, which was announced on July 2, closed yesterday, reports TechCrunch. Last week in San Francisco, we interviewed LiveRail CEO Mark Trefgarne about next steps.  While LiveRail will operate and serve its clients as a stand alone entity, the company moving its […]

Mountain View, California-based video services company Ooyala, has been acquired by the Australian telco Telstra, the companies announced today.   Telstra will own 98% of  the company which will continue to operate independently. Ooyala was founded by former Google executives in 2007. It has raised $122 million in funding which includes earlier investments by Telstra […]

SpotXchange, the video ad tech company that provides a technology platform for publishers and broadcasters to sell advertising on an automated basis, has sold a majority of its shares to Europe’s RTL, the companies announced today. RTL, the giant broadcaster controlled by Germany’s Bertelsmann, is acquiring 65 percent  for $144 million, giving the company a […]

In five months since its launch, VICE News on YouTube  is “one of the biggest newscasts in America and possibly the world,” says Brian Dietz, SVP of Sales in this Beet.TV session video.   He says that the network has over 650,000 subscribers on YouTube and has had 70 million views of its videos.   […]

Mindshare, the media agency within WPP, has created some 250 branded campaigns for video and television over the past 9 years, says David Lang, Chief Content Officer and President of the agency’s entertainment division,  in this interview with Beet.TV  On the subject of viral video hits and paid vs. earned, Lang stresses the importance of […]

Hearst has just launched “CosmoBody,” a daily fitness show which is advertiser-free and is  being offered on a subscription basis.  This is the first of what will be a number of Hearst titles and Hearst partners who will be part of a new “Netflix model,” explains Chris Grosso, SVP and GM of Hearst Digital Studios, […]

While the viral video hit can be golden for brands, it can’t be done consistently and it’s “not a sustainable business model” says Mitchell Reichgut, CEO and founder of the Jun Group, a digital video ad services firm that secures views for branded content on hundreds of publisher sites.   Viral is great, but paid […]

Whether the dramatic increase of the company’s stock price on its initial day of trading, which closed at 11.50, up $4.50 or 64%, can be sustained or not, time will tell.  For TubeMogul co-founder and CEO Brett Wilson, he is focused on “building a big, transformative company,” he told Beet.TV recently when we interviewed him […]

Comcast has provided  13 million video streams of World Cup matches to subscribers watching via digital devices.   That’s up  55% over the number of streams for the Soichi games, the cable giant says. The enormity of the digital consumption represents something of a watershed moment for “TV Everywhere” — the industry term  for cable […]

The British tabloid the Daily Mail, known as Mail Online,  has become the biggest English language newspaper destination site in the world.  It is growing quickly in the U.S., with a 30 percent  increase over last year, and monthly unique visitors up to 36,4 million, according to comScore.   That growth has come with a […]

Vidyo, the live video platform solution that powers Google Hangouts and a number of other enterprise-level implementations. has raised an E round of $20 million, the company announced today.   Last year we sat down with VP Ray Glynn about the company and the opportunities to implement live streaming across a variety of business and […]

Netflix, AOL and Crackle were among the digital-first video producers to get recognized with a slew of Emmy nominations which were announced yesterday.   Netflix received several nominations for its big budgeted series.    In the category of Outstanding Short-Form, Nonfiction Program, Crackle’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and AOL’s  Park Bench With Steve Buscemi, […]

It may not have the sunshine and parties of Cannes Lions, or the glittery nightlife of CES, but DMEXCO (digital media expo) in Cologne is where business gets done for the digital media industry, says Christian Muche, co-founder of the giant two-day conference in September which will attract  a record-breaking 30,000 attendees, 450 speakers and 850 […]

CANNES, France – While the predominant consumption of video still takes place on the television screen, the industry is moving to a world where the delivery of commercial-free  services like Netflix and Amazon will grow as will the consumption of short form video and mobile. All this presents advertisers with a new set of challenges. […]

In a big move to expand its video advertising capabilities, Facebook has acquired video ad services company LiveRail, both companies announced today.   Earlier this year, LiveRail CEO Mark Trefgarne explained the company’s business model and plans in the video session with Ashley J. Swartz at this year’s Beet  Retreat.   We are republishing that […]

CANNES, France –  Media planning has been pretty easy of the past 50 years, with deals done in back rooms over Scotch and cigars.  The complacency of this dynamic is quickly changing with new technology and CMO’s need to embrace change, says B. Bonin Bough, VP of Global Media and Consumer Engagement at Mondelēz International, […]

CANNES – Powerhouse media investment banker Terence Kawaja has both a booming M&A advisory practice in digital adtech along with growing visibility as a va showman – a gig he clearly enjoys.   Here’s his spoof of  the hit song “Happy,” taped at Cannes last week with a number of media luminaries taking small roles. […]

When advertising spend for digital video doubles to $12 billion by 2018 in the U.S., half of that will be around mobile platforms, says David Hallerman, Principal Analyst at eMarketer, in this interview with Beet.TV.  By mobile, he means both wi-fi-connected devices and phone devices connect via cellular. We spoke with him about the growth […]