Andy Plesser

In his comments about the merger of Publicis Groupe and Omnicom, Publicis CEO Maurice Levy explained advertising has reached a new era, where “Big Data” is driving how advertising is both created and delivered.   Explaining how marketing and media is being transformed by technology, he is quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying:  “exponential […]

San Francisco-based LiveRail, a video advertising platform which helps publishers manage automated video sales, is now the second largest online video ad property behind Google (YouTube) with 2.3 billion ads viewed in June, according to the most recent report from comScore. BrightRoll was a close third in video views served, but surpassed LiveRail in the […]

While Yahoo is committed to creating original programming, it will become more of a “platform” for content from  sources including major broadcasters and by user generated content surfaced via Flickr and Tumblr, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer said in today’s earnings call. Last month in Cannes, we interviewed Yahoo video chief Erin McPherson who outlined the […]

CHICAGO  –   Having  a clear set of analytics around where video ads appear on publisher pages has become essential to advertising agencies who are demanding more accountability.   This movement has lead to the introduction of “viewability” tools from several players including Tremor Video’s VideoHub, a consortium lead by TubeMogul and a product from Vindico. The […]

CHICAGO – VivaKi, the digital agency unit of the Publicis Groupe, has forged strategic alliances with about 15 emerging ad tech companies in a mutually productive relationship, explains Alyson Hyder, VP, Ventures at VivaKi, in this interview with Beet.TV Some of the companies in the program are Flite, Mass Relevance, Nativo and Visible Measures.  Hyder […]

CHICAGO – While the buying of selling of video advertising via automated exchanges is growing quickly, there are a number of conflicting agendas emerging between advertisers, who  are seeking effective pricing,  versus the sellers of the content who want to maintain control over rates and inventory, observes industry analyst Ashley Swartz in her wrap-up of […]

Carlos Slim, the Mexican billionaire, has made a $40 million investment in Shazam, the U.K.-based software company, Reuters reported earlier today.  The company identifies music and television programming via the microphone on a mobile device and displays related information on an App.  It has been growing quickly with broadcasters and advertisers seeing to be part […]

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, NJ –  CNBC’s production and syndication of video clips has been primarily segments of the the network’s live programming.  That is expanding with the introduction of slate of Web only video programs, says Kevin Krim SVP/GM at at CNBC Digital in this interview with Beet.TV Some of the original Web programming is being […]

The fast-emerging landscape around the automated buying and selling video advertising will be the focus of a three-hour Beet.TV leadership summit on Wednesday, July 10 in Chicago at the global headquarters of VivaKi, a unit of the Paris-based Publicis Groupe. Headlining the event is Kurt Unkel who is president of products and services at VivaKi […]

MOUGINS, France –  The choice of video consumption is not dictated by devices but around genres, like music says Nigel Walley, managing director of the London-based media research firm Decipher, in this interview with Beet.TV. Walley references a research project concluded recently for YuMe.  We spoke with him last month at YuMe event hosted by […]

TubeMogul, the video advertising technology platform that provides solutions to agencies and brands who buy media through electronic exchanges, is seeing nearly half its growth overseas with accelerated activity in Asia, says Brett Wilson, CEO of the Emeryville, California-based company, in this interview with Beet.TV We sat down with him recently to talk about growth […]

ENGLEWOOD CLIFF, NJ – CNBC has launched  its live, linear programming for the desktop.   It can be watched by subscribers to several of the largest cable and satellite operators in the United States including Cablevision, Comcast, DISH and Verizon.  This “first phase” of the service launched last month. Viewing via the desktop, notably in […]

CANNES – The automated buying and selling of advertising inventory is quickly growing and will soon involve linear television ad sales, say Jay Sears, GM of the REVV Buyer unit of the Rubicon Project.   We spoke with him earlier this month at the Cannes Lions festival where he moderated a roof-top session with most of […]

CANNES –  While the move to automated platforms for buying and selling advertising inventory is steadily growing, the industry needs to find a more effective way to measure how all that activity is creating value and impacting brands, says Michael Brunick, SVP for Programmatic at IPG’s Magna Global, in this interview with Beet.TV. He said […]

The launch of TouchCast is part of the inevitable  evolution of the Web into a  video-centric and interactive medium,  says co-founder Edo Segal, a technology entrepreneur and former AOL exec who is a co-founder of TouchCast. Users of the free App can create videos with various interactive elements inserted into the video.  Viewers can interact  […]

TouchCast, a New York-based start-up,  has  launched an App for the iPad that allows content creators to use the tablet to record, edit and produce multimedia video.   A “TV studio in the box,” is how co-founder Erick Schonfeld describes the company’s offering.   Beyond editing, the the App allows users to import live feeds into the […]

CANNES – AOL has an agreement with video discovery engine Taboola to increase video views both on and off AOL properties, explains Ran Harnevo, SVP for Video at AOL, in this video interview with Beet.TV taped last week at Cannes Lions. We caught up with him in AOL’s roof-top suite of the Majestic Hotel where […]

CANNES – While so called “native advertising,” meaning advertising messages integrated into what might appear as editorial content, is growing as publishers seek new sources of revenues, there is a danger that such content can diminish a brand’s editorial standing, says James Cooper, Editorial Director of Adweek, in this interview with Beet.TV. Cooper cites BuzzFeed […]

In a development which seeks to merge the buying of television and digital video, video ad tech platform TubeMogul has announced a new product called BrandPoint which allows ad buyers to move to a unified approach to buying media based on GRP’s or gross ratings points. For an overview on the new product and the […]

CANNES – While there has been a big movement to buying and selling digital advertising through automated exchanges at agency trading desks, several “premium” publishers are looking to trade in a more closed, private exchange scenario, where they have more control over their inventory and pricing. VivaKi’s Audience on Demand unit is expanding its private […]