Leon Siotis is Director of Media and Publisher Services at BrightRoll, a programmatic video ad platform that includes a real-time marketplace, BRX (also known as the BrightRoll Exchange). The company works with brands, agencies, agency trading desks, demand side platforms, and ad networks, who can access the platform through a fully managed solution, a self-service console, and by connecting server-to-server. Here Leon discusses the challenges and opportunities facing video publishers.
Where are the big growth areas in terms of video supply?
Mobile video is probably the biggest growth area we are seeing on the supply side. This was initially driven by non-video apps using video ads between content, however we are now seeing in-stream mobile video grow at a similar pace. Traditional web publishers are also seeing a change in user behaviour and video views on their mobile websites are growing significantly. This time last year, 99% of BrightRoll mobile video came from mobile-only publishers, but we are now seeing this shift towards multi-platform publishers.
How are publishers who are new to video faring? What are the main challenges they face?
As with anything some are faring better than others. Every publisher will face a unique set of challenges, however one common problem is how to grow video views.
Publishers have learned that you cannot simply put a video player on your page and expect views to grow overnight. If you are not a video publisher and decide to integrate video onto your site you need to ensure it is relevant and works editorially.
Certain publishers are starting to experiment with content syndication as a way to grow volumes. This comes with it’s own unique set of challenges, both technical and business related, so it needs to be approached with caution.
Is the brand money following users on to mobile? What could be done to speed up the transition?
We are definitely seeing brands increase spend on mobile video inventory and we expect this trend to continue into 2014. In the UK, we’ve seen a 500% YoY increase on mobile video ad spend across the BrightRoll platform (2012 vs. 2013).
Improved audience targeting and measurement are key to opening up additional spend. We are seeing progress on both fronts, however the speed at which the industry can solve these problems will determine whether we will continue to see the same level of growth in 2014.
Is the sell-side becoming more fragmented or are there signs of consolidation?
There isn’t a clear answer. On one side, we are seeing more and more publishers investing in video and consumers have a never-ending list of websites they can visit to view video content, which by definition means supply is becoming more fragmented. On the other side, publishers are becoming more comfortable making their inventory available through programmatic channels, so although there is fragmentation it’s actually easier then ever for buyers to find their audience and execute online video buys.
