LONDON -- If every TV ad campaign can be individually targeted, what good is fixed ad pricing anymore? UK satellite and telco provider BSkyB, which this year launched its AdSmart addressable ad initiative, envisages a spectrum of prices for different advertisers. "The conversation has moved on from being a commoditized rate that is transparent for all advertisers to being a bespoke [...]

For serious news video, forget Vine's microscopic content, says the co-creator of Huffington Post's live streaming video network, HuffPost Live. "The average video being watched on mobile devices is getting longer,"HuffPost live president and co-creator Roy Sekoff tells Beet.TV in this video interview. "A lot of people have made the bet on micro nuggets - you're not going to tell people what [...]

CHICAGO -- Branded content still plays best as a brand awareness tool, rather than as a direct sales driver, says Vincent Geraghty, EVP and Executive Director of Production at Leo Burnett, in a panel discussion for Beet.TV. "Purchase and sales is a tough thing. When you're talking about starting a conversation about a brand, that's a much easier thing to do with [...]

Digital video won't follow display down the "programmatic" ad-trading route until publishers are ready and willing, says one of GroupM's digital division chiefs. "For video to truly become programmatic, the reach will have to increase, there needs to be more inventory," GroupM interaction global COO Rudd Wanck tells Beet.TV in this video interview. "Publishers are not making it programmatically available because they're able [...]

CHICAGO -- Facebook is a marketer's dream for video, but brands need to be smart about how to use the targeting, fan base, and types of video on the social network, says Len Kendall, Director of Social Marketing at Havas Worldwide, in an interview with Beet.TV. "Because of segmentation and targeting, it is a great ad platform and great way to reach [...]

TouchCast, the interactive video platform co-founded by former TechCrunch editor Erick Schonfeld, wants advertisers to start using its new video format as an engaging new ad format. The startup counts broadcasters and newspapers amongst early adopters on the editorial side. "Their people on the advertising side want access to TouchCast as well because they see the engagement rates that we’re getting," [...]

CHICAGO -- When embarking on branded content, a marketer should consider what part of its story fits best in that format, Cristel Turner, Director of Brand Advertising, Strategy and Business Marketing at U.S. Cellular, in an interview with Beet.TV. "What doesn't lend itself as easily to a 30-second spot or a print ad?" she asks. "What is it that you are you [...]

When Vivek Shah took over at the helm of PCMag.com publisher Ziff Davis, the company was still recovering after emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, continuing to sell off properties. If he says so himself, Ziff Davis under Shah may has turned a corner. "Ziff is probably one of the more remarkable turnaround stories in media today," he tells Beet.TV in [...]

While TV Everywhere tends to dominates the chatter about non-linear viewing, many cablers are actively marketing and delivering viewers for their existing VOD services. Comcast, for instance, logged its 30 billionth program viewed on demand in the last year and has seen 100% growth in time spent viewing in the last three years, says Matt Strauss, Senior VP and Business [...]

CHICAGO -- What are the key ingredients to a making a video that works both as editorial and marketing? One big barbecue food maker mixed entertainment, education and a healthy dose of passion. IPG's BPN chief strategy officer Chris Hiland tells Beet.TV in this recorded panel interview how his agency helped food client Hilshire appeal to so-called "grill masters" with its [...]

CHICAGO -- Digital video is performing highly as an advertising medium, and nearly approaching the volume of TV in some quarters, says one of the leaders of venerable media metrics house comScore. "You need about three times as many display impressions to get to the same lift in impact which you get with video," co-founder and chairman Gian Fulgoni tells Beet.TV [...]

Viewability, the recently-defined metric that defines whether an online ad slot is really viewable by consumers is a wholesale change for the industry - but its benefits may be blunted as too many platforms are vying to help advertisers capitalize, according to Ziff Davis CEO and IAB chair Vivek Shah. "We’re creating a standard in digital media that is different and [...]

LONDON -- Mobile video heralds a chance for advertisers to reach consumers who may appear to be distracted or in the outdoors - but who are actually highly engaged and watching TV, according to Weather Channel international yield and programmatic Daniel Young. "It’s personal," Young tells Beet.TV in this video interview. "They’re watching it not only out of home but in-home as [...]

They are two of the best-known names in online video service provision - and now they are coming together as one. Video streaming service Ooyala, itself now owned by Australian telco Telstra, is acquiring its video advertising peer Videoplaza. The buying company says the deal "allows Ooyala to tap into the fast-growing video ad market", "the first step in a multi-step strategy [...]

Videology has established a strong profile for itself by helping TV ad buyers make intelligent decisions to buy online video ads. Now it wants to help them buy good old fashioned TV ads in the same way. The New York-based company is opening a dedicated TV practice. As CEO Scott Ferber tells The Wall Street Journal, the idea isn't to devalue the [...]

CHICAGO - Ad network Jun Group's CEO Mitchell Reichgut "recoils" when he hears about auto-playing ads, the new format being picked by Facebook and others to deliver video messages. But that doesn't mean he won't try introducing interruptive ads of his own. "(Auto-play) smacks of things that less than ingenuous," Reichgut tells Beet.TV in this video interview. "In an interstitial, an [...]

Historically, videos which start automatically on Web pages and in mobile apps can be offensive to users, but the approach taken by Facebook by setting videos to autoplay without sound, is an important step forward for publishers and marketers, says Vivek Shah, chairman of the IAB and CEO of Ziff Davis, in this interview with Beet.TV Since setting videos to autoplay [...]

CHICAGO - Put your money where your mouth is. That's the new mantra of digital ad execs who believe gaining free audiences by building viral social audiences is over. "There is an urban myth of organic reach, of something going viral," Mindshare digital innovation and strategy MD Jim Cridlin says in this interview with Beet.TV. "If you’re not prepared to pay to put [...]

For the giant insurer AETNA, a majority of its advertising budget is spent on digital media and at least 10 percent of the total spend going to programmatic video, says Gary Templeton, head of media,  in this interview with Beet.TV With advent of the Affordable Health Care Act, AETNA has been focused  on education and information which is targeting key demographics. [...]

CHICAGO -- Working with a publisher partner can be a smart strategy for branded content, especially to drive awareness and visibility, says Spencer Bahler, Managing Director-Chicago at Maxus in an interview with Beet.TV. "We have some challenger brands we represent and we look to partnerships to help elevate what we can do," he says. That includes amplifying and distributing the content, but [...]