It has been a momentous week in the world of video, with Amazon confirming their intention to move into video advertising, a number of unexpected financial results, and a number of companies making some interesting moves in a bid to get in on the programmatic action. 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.
FreeWheel to Serve Ads for Short Form Video on Amazon.com
FreeWheel, a video advertising technology provider, announced yesterday that it is working with Amazon its video advertising platform, after Recode broke the story about Amazon’s video advertising play the day before. Amazon provides users with short videos in search results, so customers can learn more about a product via game trailers, movie trailers, how-to videos etc.
A Freewheel statement said Amazon is working with FreeWheel to integrate relevant brands and e-commerce advertising experiences within this video content. Video Game trailers may include a “Shop Now” button, so that customers can go to that title’s page on Amazon with a single click. Movie trailers may include a short pre-roll advertisement that helps customers discover new products.
Specific Media Launches Programmatic DSP
Specific Media have launched a multichannel programmatic solution which they say also guarantees viewability by using Vindico’s Adtricity technology (Vindico is a subsidary of Specific Media). Called “Programmatic from Specific Media”, the product will be made available as both a self service and managed service, and advertisers will be able to buy display, video and audio inventory.
YouTube Gets a New CEO
Susan Wojcicki, formerly Google’s SVP for Advertising and Commerce, has been made CEO of YouTube, making her the most powerful woman in video in the process. Wojcicki was Google’s 16th official hire
Excited to join #YouTube – wonderful team, amazing community & inspiring creators. I look forward to watching a lot more videos during work.
— Susan Wojcicki (@SusanWojcicki) February 5, 2014
Videoplaza Launches First Joint Broadcaster Co-operative with 4 Spanish Broadcasters
Read the coverage from earlier in the week here on VAN.
The Money
This week we saw AOL’s profits jumped 23 percent and Yahoo’s down 6 percent, which led Terry Kawaja to make the following observation:
The contrasting Q4 results of publishers who invest in ad tech vs. those that lag: Aol up 23%, Yahoo down 6%. pic.twitter.com/o26mwdQi2E
— Terence Kawaja (@tkawaja) February 6, 2014
However, ad tech ownership isn’t a cure-all either. Good old-fashioned eyeballs still count. Mopub owner Twitter saw 116 percent increase in revenue, but added only 9 million users in the last quarter of 2013, which spooked investors and led the share price to plummet by 24 percent.
Here in Europe, revenue of the Weborama group, for the 4th quarter of 2013 increased to €7,862 K. For the year 2013 as a whole, Weborama’s annual consolidated revenue stands at €25.83 million versus €24,26 million in 2012, representing a consolidated increase of 6%. The company says that international (non-French) business now accounts for 61% of the group’s total revenue for the year 2013 as a whole.
Digital-Only DG Rebrands as Sizmek
Following the sale of its TV distribution assets to Extreme Reach for $485 million, DG has rebranded its digital division as ‘Sizmek’. Sizmek will now be the umbrella brand for DG, MediaMind, Peer39, Unicast, Eyewonder, and Republic Project.
Branded Content No Match for Independent Creators on YouTube
A report from Pixability, a YouTube marketing software company, report says that independent creators – including teenage kids – are easily beating big brands when it comes to content, marketing and community on YouTube. For all their creative and advertising investments, major brands have only garnered 3% of the 14.9 billion beauty-related video views on YouTube.
You can download Pixability’s full report here.
Best of the Rest
Chromecast Opens Doors to Developers
Vodafone is Eyeing a Move into Pay TV
Arqiva Acquired Mulitplatform Specialists Capablue
