In this Week in Review: More acquisitions as AOL eyes up Millennial Media, plus Twitter and Meerkat up their offers. For a weekly summary of industry news and other VAN interviews and videos, sign up to the weekly Video Round-Up.
AOL/Verizon Eyes Up Millennial Media
According to TechCrunch, recent Verizon acquisition, AOL, is in the process of buying mobile ad network Millennial Media for between $300 million and $350 million.
Twitter Allows Apps to Advertise With Video
Twitter is adding to its video offering by allowing advertisers to drive app installs directly from promoted videos. It hopes that previews will lead to more downloads.
Meerkat Makes Real-Time Video More Interactive
Meerkat has unveiled a feature called Cameo, which allows users to invite friends on the app to take over their livestream. Commentators are noting its potential for interaction with brands.
Google Thinks Programmatic
Google describes its adoption of programmatic for its own marketing efforts on its ‘Think With Google’ site. According to digital media manager Brendan Starr, “Our goal for 2014 was to buy 60% of our worldwide brand display marketing programmatically across all channels. We surpassed that goal, with programmatic accounting for 73% of our spend.”
Facebook Revises Measurement
Facebook is adopting a new method for measuring clicks. Previously, measuring likes, comments and shares to determine CPC, as of Wednesday, only clicks on websites and apps count.
Online Video Advertising Mainstream and as Effective as TV
Respondents to the BrightRoll UK Agency Survey think that digital video is mainstream and online video advertising is as effective as TV. The report also found growing confidence in programmatic and that completed views and brand lift are the metrics that matter most amongst respondents.
Confidence in Data’s Potential High, Usage Low
According to Millward Brown, 42 percent of marketers consider big data this year’s top priority – however, only 14 percent are confident they’re using it effectively.
Companies Remove Ads from Rihanna’s Contraversial New Video
Travel company Kuoni and The Co-operative Group have asked to have their ads removed from the start of RiRi’s ‘BBHMM’ on Vevo due to its explicit theme.
TV Now Second Screen for Tablet Owning Kids
A study by Miner & Co Studio has found that in more than half of US family households with tablets and smartphones, kids prefer watching video on portable devices rather than on traditional television screens.
Continued Growth for Broadcast and Media Technology Industry
Sales and profitability across the broadcast and media (B&MT) sector continue to grow according to the latest IABM Industry Index.
28 Percent of all TV Viewing is Now Streaming
A new GfK MRI report, ‘TV Share of Clock’ has identified six new TV viewing audience groups and how they combine emerging and traditional options for TV use.
Sony Plugs Into Latin America
Sony Pictures Television will acquire a majority stake in IMS Internet Media Services, a Latin American digital ad sales and buying firm.
BBC Set for £650m Licence Fee Hit
Culture Secretary John Whittingdale has confirmed that the BBC will take on the cost of providing free TV licences for over-75s, phased in from 2018-9. Legislation to enable the BBC to ‘modernise’ the licence fee to cover the BBC iPlayer will also be introduced. The move has been called a ‘backroom deal‘ by the opposition.
New York Times Extends Content Studio
The New York Times is extending its T Brand Studio content marketing division overseas. A team of four in London will pioneer the unit, focusing on video.
Sizmek Moves in on Mobile Autoplay Ads
Sizmek is introducing autoplay for HTML5, that would let an advertisement run, without sound, automatically when a user lands on a mobile video site. Sizmek hosts a video conference Thursday to discuss the announcement.
Vivendi Raises Canal+ Offer to €8
Vivendi has raised the price of its public tender offer from €7.60 to €8 to make its proposed public tender offer more attractive to the shareholders of the Société d’Édition de Canal Plus (SECP). Former Canal+ chief Rodolphe Belmer has also been sacked.
ProSiebenSat.1 founds Collective Studio71
The ProSiebenSat.1 Group has founded Collective Studio71, a globally-operating multichannel network (MCN). It has done this by acquiring a majority interest in Collective Digital Studio (CDS), in which it has held a minority stake since 2014.
Thailand: “Only a few digital TV stations will survive”
Sunday’s ‘Bangkok Post’ newspaper suggests that “only a few digital TV operators of the 24 who launched are expected to survive” in the country.
Chicago Imposes Streaming Tax
Chicago is to raise extra funds by charging a ‘cloud tax’ — taking an extra 9 per cent from the money raised through streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu.
This Week on VAN
Heineken: Agencies Need to Return to Offering Full Transparency on Pricing, read more on VAN
Many TV Advertisers Still aren’t Integrating TV and Digital Activity, read more on VAN
Ad of the Week: Proctor and Gamble/Always, Unstoppable #Likeagirl, Lauren Greenfield
An update on the #Likeagirl series, Always explores the way we limit girls and asks them to banish their demons.
And Finally…..Pampers, Poo Face, Saatchi and Saatchi
Potty humour at its best. Saatchi & Saatchi go for a slo-mo combination of hilarious baby poo faces in this ad for Pampers nappies.
