Robert Andrews

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 […]

LONDON — There comes a point in the life of every buzz phrase when it knows the writing is on the wall. Has that time already come for “mobile-first”, the industry’s recent recognition that mobile devices are now the primary content consumption spaces for many consumers? “This idea of putting ‘mobile first’ is starting to […]

LONDON — “Programmatic” ad-buying, so much talked about through 2013 yet apparently so misunderstood, may be giving way to a clear and flexible definition of the practices it encompasses. Videology global accounts director Jana Eisenstein tells Beet.TV: “Our definition of ‘programmatic’ is automating media buying,  integrating supply and demand, making decisions in real-time and optimizing against […]

LONDON — The best way for brands to exploit the real-time marketing opportunity is with a combination of copious amounts of data and a healthy dose of new-wave creativity, says ad group Starcom MediaVest Group’s EMEA chief digital officer. “Real-time marketing is becoming a part of what we do on a day-to-day basis – we […]

LONDON — In a multi-screen advertising universe, what’s the role of TV anymore? First amongst many but merely the seed for all, says one digital ad boss. “Our approach is integrated screen planning – we see all TV screen content as video,” SMG’s EMEA director of performance marketing and mobile development Richard Hocking tells Beet.TV. “The traditional […]

LONDON — Ad traders are adjusting to what they see as a two-speed video advertising ecosystem, as broadcasters are slower to adopt new-wave data-driven ad targeting techniques see in online. “TV has a very successful model,” SMG UK digital trading director John Baylon tells Beet.TV. They need to be very careful about not disrupting that […]

LONDON — Bigger isn’t necessarily better. In fact, when it comes to video advertising, smaller screens perform better than big, says YuMe UK Country  Manager Paul Lyonette. Having commissioned research via Decipher and IPG Labs, Lyonette tells Beet.TV: “The size of a screen doesn’t necessarily correlate to the effectiveness of the advertising. People will spend as […]

LONDON — It’s barely been three weeks since the BBC’s global news division launched a new video and text strand to cover news of, with and for the heartbeat of social media platforms. Now it already plans to launch further spin-offs. #BBCtrending is an initiative to reflect issues surfaced in social platforms and to take […]

LONDON — How many users really viewed your video ads last week? Guess again – the number may be lower than you think, thanks to unscrupulous publishers who play videos out of view or without consumers even asking. “Fifty percent of ads, apparently, in display aren’t seen,” Publicis’ VivaKi EMEA MD Marco Bertozzi tells Beet.TV in this […]

LONDON — Amongst the broadcasters on AOL’s Adap.tv client roster, the BBC’s revenue-making arm has begun to sell some of its online video advertising using a programmatic system to attract higher bids. “If you’re dealing with a fixed-price IO (insertion order) business all the time, it’s very difficult to increase the rate,” Adap.tv‘s EMEA MD Brian […]

Mobile media are intensely personal. So how do marketers configured for an age of demographic targeting reach and switch on consumers nowadays? InMobi brands executive director Stephanie Sarofian‘s light bulb moment came after reading a recent US census. “Not only have families changed… the way people act, their interests, their behaviors, the way they buy […]

Soon to be spun out from Time Warner, magazine publisher Time Inc will launch a mobile-specific video brand by year’s end. “You’ll see something from over the next four to six weeks – a video-only offering in mobile,” company video SVP J.R. McCabe told Beet.TV’s cross-platform monetization summit, hosted by Starcom MediaVest and sponsored by Dailymotion. “Mobile […]

Don’t bet that the future of digital video advertising platforms will be any less fragmented than it is already. “It will continue to be more fragmented, there will be tons of different ways to consume television,” Innovid CTO Tal Chalozin told Beet.TV’s cross-platform monetization summit, hosted by Starcom MediaVest and sponsored by Dailymotion. “People are watching Crackle […]