Here’s an overview of the week’s big stories in online video, with highlights from Facebook, The Sun, Ebuzzing and ITV. To stay up to date and have the latest industry news and insights delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for the weekly VAN newsletter.
Facebook to Offer Video Campaigns for as Much as $2.5 Million Per Day
Facebook’s video advertising products will cost as much as $2.5 million per day, according to Bloomberg. The fifteen second ads will appear in users’ news feeds and brands will be able to target users according to gender and age. “Every night, 88 million to 100 million people are actively using Facebook during prime-time TV hours in the United States alone,” Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said last week on a conference call about second-quarter results.
The Sun Puts Up Its Paywall, Video a Core Part of New ‘Digital Entertainment Bundle’
The Sun has erected a paywall and has started to reposition the news title as a ‘digital entertainment bundle’. From tomorrow Sun+ members will be able to access exclusive news, showbiz, features and sport coverage for £2 a week. Sun+ will be made up of three pillars: Sun+ Goals, Sun+ Digital and Sun+Perks. With access to Sun+ Goals, members get exclusive access to near-live video clips of every Barclays Premier League goal (The Sun’s video content will continue to feature video advertising). The Sun+Perks include money off at high street stores, free apps and ebooks and cinema tickets. The Guardian reports that The Sun will need to attract 250,000 subscribers to break even.
LiveRail Launches Deal ID Support for Programmatic Video
LiveRail, a sell-side video monetisation platform, announced the industry’s first implementation of Deal ID for Video. Deal ID enables publishers sales teams to have greater control over their programmatic inventory to negotiate, prioritize, optimize and control pricing, sell-through and inventory access with pre-negotiated deals. LiveRail say Deal ID will allow publishers using their VPX (Video Private Exchange) toolset can now create more differentiated video offerings while simplifying the workflow for buyers.
Kantar Media Partners with Twitter to ‘Enhance UK TV Planning and Analytics’
Kantar Media, an audience measurement company, today announced a strategic alliance with Twitter to develop a new suite of tools to support planning and analytics for the UK TV industry. The first of these new products will be available commercially to UK broadcasters, media agencies and the wider industry in 2014. Kantar say the tools will enable broadcasters to assess programmes and series, plan programme promotions more effectively and assist media buyers and sellers to integrate social data more comprehensively into their TV buys.
Ebuzzing Announce 50% Top-Line Growth in H1 2013
Ebuzzing, a video advertising platform, announced that company turnover grew from $20 million in the first half of 2012 to $30 million in the first half of 2013. The company says most of its growth has come from the UK, Spanish, Italian and German markets, with the company achieving an EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) operational profitability of close to €2 million in the same period. The company recently announced the opening of offices in New York and Miami to increase its presence on the US and LATAM markets, and has started moving into Asia.
Tremor Drop In-Banner Video Ads to Focus Soley on In-Stream
Tremor Video, a video advertising solutions provider, announced it will no longer service in-banner video advertising and will focus solely on driving consumer brand engagement through high-quality, in-stream video ad content. “Tremor believes strongly that in-stream creative within premium content environments delivers what brands are looking for most: engagement, brand lift, optimization and viewability,” said Bill Day, CEO, Tremor Video, Inc. “If brands are serious about driving engagement, in-banner video advertising is not getting the job done. This is best for our brand partners and our own continued growth.”
ITV Sees Digital Revenue Rise by 19%
ITV‘s digital revenues from online, pay and interactive rose by 19% to £56 million according to the broadcaster’s latest interim results. The company says the shape of the television advertising market in 2013 is very different to 2012 (partly due to the fact that 2013 lacks the major events the UK enjoyed in 2012). ITV saw ITV Family NAR (National Advertising Revenue) fall by 3% in the first half as a whole. In spite of monthly volatility we expect ITV Family NAR to be broadly flat for the nine months to the end of September with Q3 up 9%.
Sky Launches £10 Now TV Box
Once connected, users of the NOW TV box can access contract-free access to BBC iPlayer, Demand 5, BBC News App and Sky News, plus NOW TV – offering instant access to Sky Sports and Sky Movies. They can also access other online services such as Facebook and Spotify – all delivered over IP to the TV.
