Robert Andrews

LONDON — The extent to which video advertising is sold using automated, “programmatic” method is booming. But one top ad exec tells Beet.TV of two key pieces that still need solving. “For the creative agencies, there’s a massive education piece to be done around programmatic,” GroupM digital media director Krishan Patel says. “The storytelling element is […]

LONDON — The rise of video-on-demand means ad networks must step up and create environments where brands feel safe advertising, says one video ad tech exec. “Ad networks have a need to stay abreast of what technology is requiring,” global accounts SVP Jana Eisenstein of Videology tells Beet.TV. “Advertisers’ primary concern for VOD is brand safety […]

LONDON —  Advertiser interest in programmatic is growing, but more work needs to be done to better describe and allay fears over the phenomenon, says an exec representing both buy- and sell-side. The make-up of attendees to an Internet Advertising Bureau UK conference on the topic has gone up from 10% advertisers last year to […]

LONDON — The industry is still not configured to easily producing online advertising that works across digital screens, a panel convened by Beet.TV agrees. Unlike Scandinavia, where 90 percent of pre-roll ads last a mobile-friendly 12 to 15 seconds, most UK pre-rolls are dumped from existing 30-second TV spots, sports video firm Perform Group’s UK […]

LONDON — The rise of automated, “programmatic” ad sales methods means premium publishers may not need to use conventional ad networks anymore, GroupM’s digital media director Krishan Patel. “The level of adoption in display is a lot more given we’re in an environment of oversupply,” Patel says. “In a scarce market such as VOD, do premium […]

LONDON — Many brands and publishers think so-called “programmatic” online ad sales mechanisms excel at cheap ad inventory. But times could be changing – and so they should, says one GroupM data exec. “At the beginning, programmatic started more from a performance background,” GroupM’s Xaxis UK MD Nicolas Bidon tells Beet.TV. “It was associated, rightly […]

LONDON — It feels like we have only just begun to see the emergence of the highly-efficiency “programmatic” online ad sales mechanism in pictorial display and in video. Next up, traditional linear TV could be reinvented by the technology. “It can absolutely be done today,” video ad tech firm Videology‘s global TV strategy head Rhys […]

LONDON — The rise of advanced data-driven and otherwise “programmatic” online advertising sales processes is challenging traditional ad networks to step up and defend their place in the future, a Beet.TV panel of industry execs agrees. “For the development of video as a legitimate channel, they were a necessity,” Videology’s global TV strategy head Rhys […]

LONDON — We have heard plenty this year on how so-called “programmatic”, data-driven ad spending is revolutionising advertising efficiency. But how does this new method complement traditional video ad sales? Jamie Wilson, the UK sales MD of the large online sports video outfit Perform Group, suggests programmatic drives incremental performance on the margins. “I see […]

LONDON — A year that started with lingering suspicion from publishers that programmatic ad selling would devalue their inventory is ending with far wider premium publisher acceptance of this collection of technologies. News Corp and The New York Times are now selling in this way, and The Guardian, too, has launched its own Response+ trading […]

LONDON — It started out as The Manchester Guardian in 1821 and had since become a national newspaper. But, this fall, The Guardian crossed another geographical rubicon – it became more popular in the US than its native UK. “Since we moved to theguardian.com, the US audience is bigger than the UK audience,” Guardian News […]

One of the problems with the huge online video opportunity is that premium video ads can typically only be placed in premium video content, which advertisers grumble is not in great enough supply. So The Economist is now beginning to thread auto-playing video advertising in between paragraphs of its respected text articles. The development comes […]

LONDON — So-called “programmatic” buying and selling of online ads may super-target highly efficient inventory – but that doesn’t mean algorithms really understand consumers’ emotions, says one ad exec. “The programmatic landscape is very obsessed with ‘who’ and ‘what’; it’s not looking at ‘why’,” Phil Townend, EMEA MD of viral video monitor Unruly Media, tells beet.TV, […]

LONDON — For a medium so dependent on digital data, it is no wonder the internet has lately seen the rise of super-targeted, highly-efficient “programmatic” ad-buying. But that hasn’t stopped the re-emergence of old-style TV ad-measuring metrics like gross rating point. “When you’re in TV, you’re told ‘there’ll be no such thing as TV’,” sports […]

LONDON — We know that automated, so-called “programmatic” purchasing of online ad space is important and growing. But how important, and how fast is it growing? “We don’t have any independent figures at the moment,” the Internet Advertising Bureau UK‘s data and industry programmes head Steve Chester tells Beet.TV. “We will have that next year […]

LONDON –Videos is the fastest part of Xaxis, the data and technology of GroupM, media agency division of  WPP.  It has been a “watershed” year where the agency is using data to target about half of its video buying across the EMEA region, says Caspar Schlickum, MD of EMEA, in this interview with Beet.TV The […]

LONDON — Consumers are using many different digital devices to watch content and advertising. But ads are still being bought with an air of fragmentation, says one executive. “Mobile is still a very, very tiny fraction of advertising spend,” says Nicolas Bidon, UK MD of GroupM’s Xaxis data-handling unit in this interview with Beet.TV “The […]

LONDON — It’s barely a week since video distribution and monetization service Rightster became that rare beast – a technology floatation on London’s stock markets. But CEO Charlie Muirhead, whose company raised £22.4 million ($36 million), tells Beet.TV he is already talking with companies he wants to buy to grow his video business further. “We’re in […]

LONDON — While many news publishers have eyed the rise of so-called “programmatic” automated online ad trading with skepticism, Guardian News & Media has “embraced” the approach for four years, says revenue director Tim Gentry. The latest example is the deal Gentry signed with ad tech vendor MediaMath last month creating Response+, a trading desk which […]

LONDON — When it comes to content, digital media used to be seen as the poor relation to television. But, when it comes to measuring content, it’s TV that’s now imitating the web, says a Nielsen executive. “One of the most int trends we’re seeing at the moment in Europe is the extent to which […]