In the first Week in Review of 2016: Vimeo in talks with Sky Q, Snapchat builds an ad tech platform and mobile video increases purchase intent. To receive weekly summary of industry news and other VAN interviews and videos, sign up to the weekly Video Round-Up.
Vimeo in Talks to Join Sky Q
Vimeo is in talks with regards joining Sky’s new premium service, Sky Q, as the pay-TV service gets ready to open its 10 million UK households to internet video services. Vimeo has prioritised small-scale film makers who want to make a return on their investment, with a consumer focus on viewers willing to pay to watch internet content.
Snapchat is Building an Ad Technology Platform
Having rebuffed a Facebook buy-out, it has been reported that instant messaging service Snapchat is planning on moving into ad technology throughout 2016. The company is reported to be looking to either build or acquire technology to build an ad platform, similar to Facebook and Google.
Video Continues to Attract VC Money as Innovid and ViralGains both Announce New Rounds
Video advertising platform Innovid has raised nearly $28m in funding, to boost its global expansion and the growth of its any-screen video platform. Boston-based ViralGains has also raised $7.7 million as part of an investment round. The company plans to spend the money on hiring new employees in sales, marketing, and development this year, doubling its roughly 25-person employee base.
Mobile Video Ads Increase Purchase Intent by 104 Per Cent
Mobile video adverts raise brand awareness by 10 per cent and increase purchase intent 104 per cent, according to a study from Widespace. The report also found that 26 per cent of respondents said their attitude to a brand was positive after viewing a mobile video ad.
Facebook Ditches Flash
Facebook has chosen to move to HTML5 video, ending its use of Adobe Flash. The social media company will still use Flash for its games, but all videos have now moved.
Yahoo Screen Streaming Closes
Yahoo’s video streaming service, Yahoo Screen, has been closed two years after it was created, Variety has reported. Screen was originally created to unite its many original and syndicated programming under one roof.
Video Platforms Brand Ad Spend Increases 43 Per Cent
Brands increased their advertising spend on video platforms by 43 per cent in 2015, according to a report from L2. The nine markets studied, including the US, UK, Japan and France, also spent 42.5 per cent more on social media and 12.5 per cent more on search in 2015, but only 2.6 per cent more on television advertising.
WhatsApp Ban Lifted in Brazil
A judge in Brazil has lifted a ban on the instant messenger service, WhatsApp. Judges suspended the service in a bid to put pressure on Facebook for failing to cooperate with a criminal investigation.
UK Digital Video Revenues Pass £1Bn
Revenues from digital services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime exceeded the £1bn mark for the first time in 2015, the UK’s Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) has found. The report has stated that this surge in revenue makes it “almost certain” that video will become a majority-digital business in 2016. The findings show that games digital revenues, from online and mobile services, grew 17 per cent.
Millennials More Responsive to TV and Smartphones Than Gen Xers
Millennials have more emotional responses to different devices than Generation Xers, according to a new report from Yahoo. The report shows that, between the hours of 7am and 10am 69 per cent of Millennials have an emotional response to their TV, with only 42 per cent of Gen Xers during the same time. The report also showed that ads on smartphones receive a more emotional response than on TV.
OTT Moving to Centre Stage
OTT has become a key area of focus for broadcast companies as changing consumer habits accelerate, according to the State of the Broadcast Industry 2016 from Ooyala. The report shows that 45 per cent of adult viewers are tuning into traditional scheduled TV. The report shows that Millennials account for the largest segment of U.S viewers, although they have shown a 16 per cent decrease in traditional TV viewing.
HEVC Advance Revises Licensing Structure
Independent licensing administrator, HEVC Advance, has announced it has updated its royalty rate structure, resulting from active engagement with market participants across the industry. The adjustments include waiving royalties for public/non-profit TV broadcasting, and content distribution that is free to end-users including over-the-air commercial TV broadcasting and internet content distribution.
60 Per Cent Increase in Google Piracy Alerts
Search engine Google has been asked to remove 558 million ‘pirate’ links in 2015, a report from TorrentFreak has found. According to Google the continued surge is a testament that the DMCA takedown process is working. The majority of the requests are sent by the music and movie industries, targeting thousands of different websites. In recent years the volume of takedown notices has increased hugely, and this trend continued in 2015.
Video Market Goes Multi-Channel
2015 was the first year that the video market has gone fully multi-channel, as the uptake of digital services delivered a better than predicted 30 per cent year-on-year uplift in sales, according to annual figures from IHS, released from the British Video Association (BVA).
Black and White TV Viewing in 9,000 Homes
Despite digital and HDTV breakthroughs over the past fifty years, more than 9,000 people in the UK still watch TV in black and white, TV Licensing has found. The report has shown that 9,356 black and white licences are still in force across the UK.
Slump in Customer Satisfaction in 2015
The year 2015 saw lower customer satisfaction that 2014 across the board, with few exceptions, reports the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). Over 330 companies were included in the review, which saw, among the companies for which there are year-over-year data, 59 per cent experienced a drop in customer satisfaction, while 26 per cent showed improvement.
beIN and Time Warner’s Turner Sign Deal
Media group, beIN, has signed a deal with Turner, a division of Time Warner, to exclusively air Turner-owned channels in the Middle East and North Africa region, beIN Media Group has reported. The deal is intended to diversify the beIN network.
Amazon Prime Reports Record-Breaking Christmas Figures
Amazon Prime saw its Christmas figures nearly double in 2015, with Amazon Prime members watching double their total viewing hours over the holiday period, Amazon has revealed.
Vubiquity Signs Deal With Frontier
Vubiquity has signed a deal with U.S. telecommunications and multiplatform video distribution company, Frontier, to provide the electronic sell-through for Frontier’s pending acquisition of Verizon.
Trial App For Smartwatch TV Control
Norwegian TV distributor, Com Hem, has developed a trial application for smartwatches that will give the user control over their TV from an Apple or Android watch. The app turns the smartwatch into the remote control for the TV.
ViXS Announces Solution for OTA Mobile Video Streaming
Media processing company, ViXS Systems Inc., has announced their solution to cord-cutting with their XCode 5505 chipset and the CordCutterTV stick. The stick will enable users to stream OTA (Over The Air) video content to their mobile device.
ARRIS Completes Acquisition of PACE
The new parent company of the ARRIS Group, ARRIS International PLC, has finalised its acquisition of technology solutions provider, PACE plc.
NexGuard Integrates with ALi on Digital Watermarking
Watermarking technology specialists, NexGuard, have announced they are working with chipset company ALi to integrate its technology in ALi set-top box chipsets.The collaboration provides compliance with the MovieLabs security specifications and enables protection of high value content with forensic watermarking in addition to CAS and DRM systems.
Orange Confirms Renewed Discussions with Bouygues Group
Telecommunications operator, Orange has confirmed it has opened discussions again with the French Bouygues Group to explore the opportunities available within the French telecoms market.
GroupM Partners With Fullscreen To Form ‘Playa’
WPP owned GroupM has signed a deal with media company, Fullscreen, to form Playa, which will give GroupM exclusive access to Influencer data.
Four Year-Olds Left Alone to Surf Web
The age a child starts using the internet unsupervised has fallen from eleven and-a-half to four and-a-half, and fifteen per cent of parents worry their child’s internet footprint could affect future career prospects, a new study from uSwitch has found.
Consumers More Relaxed About Their Data
27 per cent of consumers would sell their data, despite only 1 per cent saying they trust advertisers to look after their data, according to new research from Econsultancy and Acxiom, The Value Exchange from Data Exchange report.
Online Piracy Offenders Jailed
Five members of an online piracy group have been jailed for 17 years, reported the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT). The group, whose case marks the first time that ‘release groups’ have been prosecuted, wanted to be the first to release blockbuster films on the web.
ThinkAnalytics Releases ThinkBigData
Multiplatform video content search and recommendations engine, ThinkAnalytics, has announced that it will be releasing its Big Data analytics platform at CES. ThinkBigData is designed to work with the ThinkAnalytics search engine to give broadcasters and service providers new insight into subscriber behaviour.
83 Per Cent of Consumers Watch On-Demand
More than 83 per cent of consumers watch on-demand video and the percentage of viewers watching more than four or more hours a week has jumped to more than 36 per cent, the second ‘State of Online Video’ report from Limelight Networks has found.
Global Average Connection Speed Increased
The global average broadband connection speed has increased slightly to 5.1 Mbps, according to the latest ‘State of the Internet’ report from Akamai. The report also shows that there has been a growth in IP addresses that are 4K ready.
Views on Gaming Differ By Ethnicity
Nearly half of U.S adults report playing video games on a computer, television, games console or mobile device, and there seems to be little diversity in race, however different ethnic groups will play in different ways, a study from Pew Research Centre has found. Hispanic people are more likely than white or black people to categorise themselves as gamers, the report has found.
This Week on VAN:
LoopMe’s Recent $7 Million Shows Investors Still See Big Opportunities in Mobile Video, read more on VAN
The Tech Sessions: The Basics of Creating Dynamic Video Ads Using JavaScript and After Effects, read more on VAN
Ad Receptivity: TV Still Comes Out on Top, read more on VAN
The Explicit Value Exchange: How the Desktop World Needs to Look to Mobile Apps When Tackling Ad-blocking, read more on VAN
Ad of the Week: Old Spice, #Smellegendary, Wieden + Kennedy, Oregon
Sweat, it’s the reason men haven’t ever reached their potential according to this amusing new ad series from Old Spice. He’s no Isiah Mustafa, but the white horse has got an upgrade.
