AUSTIN - Delivering video directly to consumers of specific interests is becoming part of the media buying strategy of General Motors, explains Phil Rzepka, VP/Group Director, at Carat for General Motors, in this interview with Beet.TV In addition to the move to "addressable" advertising, GM is bullish on programmatic buying, which Rzepka says is "the future" of the advertising marketplace. We spoke [...]

AUSTIN -- Magnify.net has expanded its curated player solution for publishers with an integration with Time Out New York, the company announced today.   On Saturday at SXSW, we spoke with founder and CEO Steve Rosenbaum who explained the integration with Time Out New York, and value of providing a player that streams relevent content from many sources. Rosenbaum also addresses [...]

AUSTIN -- As video is becoming a central editorial and business focus for news organizations including The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and others, it is not finding favor with "old school" reporters at these organizations who cite it as their chief "complaint,"  says Dylan Byers, media reporter for Politico, in this interview with Beet.TV [...]

AUSTIN -  The conversation at SXSW Interactive has not been focused this year on digital innovation as much as physical topics such as space travel, 3-D printers and yes, cats, according to a comprehensive analysis of social media, Foursquare visualization and registrant information from SXSW, by Digitas, the global digital agency unit of Paris-based Publicis Groupe. Missing this year was a [...]

AUSTIN  What's Trending is one of very A few producer YouTube partners to have a daily live show, and the move to YT has been extremely valuable in building an online community and franchise, explains EVP and host Shira Lazar in this interview with Beet.TV We spoke with her yesterday at the Samsung Blogger Lounge at SXSW where Lazar and her [...]

AUSTIN -- One of the keys to success in migrating a Web show to TV is to stay true to its roots, but also to grow from them, according to the creators of Annoying Orange. Beet.TV caught up with Dane Boedigheimer and Kevin Brueck, the founder and producer, at the recent SXSW show in Austin to discuss the transition from the Web to TV. [...]

In an effort to grow its Web presence, the health and wellness site Everyday Health inked a deal with noted physician Sanjay Gupta. Beet.TV connected with Paul Slavin, Chief Operating Officer for Everyday Health in an interview where he shared details on the site's plans with Gupta, best known for his work as a medical journalist on CBS News and [...]

With the New York Times' transition of the newspaper's digital offering from free to paid, the company has built up its data management and analytics operation to function more like a "retailer," says Michael Zimbalist, VP for R&D Operations. Zimbalist addresses the impact of data on at the paper at 4:00 minutes into this on-stage discussion with Joanna O'Connell, Principal Analyst [...]

Journalism has shifted from text-centric to video-centric and that's why tech platform Wibbitz believes it has an opportunity to gain traction with its text-to-video platform. At the recent Beet.TV executive retreat, Beet.TV spoke with Zohar Dayan, Co-Founder and CEO at Wibbitz about the company's business model and approach to the market. Wibbitz converts text-based content on the Web into lean-back video summaries that can be watched. [...]

Alloy Digital, the New York-based content creation and syndication company for digital video, has raised $30 million from ABS Partners, the company announced yesterday. Following the announcement, we sat down with CEO Matt Diamond who speaks about a number of topics including the proceeds of the funding which will accelerate acquisitions of content, the value of building brands both on and [...]

Nascent online video platform MyPod Studios generated nearly $7 million in revenue in 2012 and is projecting to triple that in 2013, as it grows its audience and branches into new ad formats, says Jay Miletsky, CEO of MyPod Studios inthis  interview with Beet.TV. The company has grown from two full-time employees to twelve, and is also aiming to expand into branded [...]

The next frontier for digital ad formats lies in ads that keep users on a publisher's site rather than letting them click away, says David Payne, Senior VP and Chief Digital Officer with the Gannett Company, in this on-stage dialogue with Ashley Swartz, CEO and Founder of Furious Minds at the recent Beet.TV executive retreat. "We need some kind of indication on an ad that when you [...]

Outbrain, the fast-growing content recommendation engine, has acquired "Visual Revenue," a start-up that helps editors organize news pages with data.  The news was reported earlier today by the Wall Street Journal. Last month at athe IAB Annual Leadership Meeting in Phoenix, we interviewed Tom Foran, GM of Outbrain for North America.  We are republishing that video with today's news.    

There may not be enough ad dollars to go around for video sites, so they should aim to diversify the type of advertising they rely on, says digital video consultant Joanna Breen during an interview taped at the recent Beet.TV executive retreat. "Video content creators have to start looking at a nuanced content strategy in order to survive," she says. While pre-rolls [...]

While video may largely be a branding play, the application of "big data" can make video work harder, says Adam Shlachter, Senior VP and Digital Video Media Lead at Digitas. He spoke to Ashley Swartz, CEO and Founder of Furious Minds, at the Beet.TV Big Data Summit held in New York earlier this month about how data, metrics and video intersect. "We should look at video [...]

Bravo inked a deal with Old Navy for an integrated synch-to-TV experience for the network's Play Live technology. The so-called "participation TV experience" will let fans play along with Old Navy-sponsroed live content during the second season of "It's a Brad Brad World" slated to premiere March 6. The integration is one of Bravo's latest efforts in the digital arena. [...]

Building on its news video recommendations, video discovery and distribution service Taboola is rolling out a recommendation engine for branded content this year, says Adam Singolda, CEO of Taboola, during an interview taped at the recent Beet.TV executive retreat. That's because branded content is one of the biggest growth areas in video, he explains. Display ads aren't as effective as advertisers want, so brands [...]

Interactive and opt-in ad formats can drive engagement substantially, and that's why publishers and technologists are testing a range of new digital ad formats. Jun Group, for example, delivers opt-in video views and has been profitable since its founding five years ago in part because of the opt-in, reward-based approach, says Mitchell Reichgut, CEO of Jun Group, during a panel [...]

Private marketplaces for buying and selling ads are growing in popularity because they afford control, says Mike Shehan, CEO of digital video ad marketplace SpotXchange, in this on-stage dialogue with Joanna O'Connell, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research. "In a private marketplace we are connecting buyers and sellers in an invite-only marketplace where publishers maintain the control they have and who accessess [...]

"The internet is a rich community of languages, and yet the languages tend to exist in isolation from each other," says Jason Pontin of MIT’s Technology Review.  "dotSub has an approach to create a community of people who can actually speak to each other."   On a panel at the Beet.TV executive retreat last  month, Pontin sat down with dotSub Chairman [...]