In this week’s Week in Review:ProSiebenSat.1, TF1 Group, and Mediaset have jointly established a video ad exchange, Verizon has completed the acquisition of Yahoo, prompting Marissa Mayer’s exit, and SpoX introduces a new tool for privacy-compliant data exchange. To receive an update on the industry’s top stories every Friday, sign up to the weekly Video Round-Up.
Top Stories
ProSiebenSat.1, TF1 Group, and Mediaset Found Joint Video Ad Exchange
Germany’s ProSiebenSat.1, France’s TF1 Group and Mediaset in Italy and Spain have jointly established the European Broadcaster Exchange (EBX). The exchange is designed to address advertiser demand for brand-safe environments and pan-European video campaigns, and marks a “deeper strategic collaboration” by the JV partners on developing online ad technology. The exchange will initially focus on programmatic video campaigns.
Verizon Completes Yahoo Acquisition Prompting Marissa Mayer Exit
Verizon Communications Inc. has announced it has completed its $4.48 billion acquisition of the of Yahoo! Inc. Verizon has combined Yahoo assets with its existing AOL business to create subsidiary “Oath”, which includes HuffPost, Yahoo Sports, AOL.com, MAKERS, Tumblr, BUILD Studios, Yahoo Finance, and Yahoo Mail.
Marissa Mayer has subsequently resigned from Yahoo, citing changes to her role which resulted from the transaction.
SpotX Introduces ‘Audience Lock’ to Protect Privacy
Video ad serving platform SpotX has introduced Audience Lock, aimed to provide a secure environment to conduct data-driven transactions and allow buyers and sellers to maintain complete control of data ownership. Audience Lock will allow media owners to activate their first-party data to target viewers of specific shows, or that fit a specific profile. Media buyers will be able to bring their own audience data to media owners, with assurance that their data is protected.
The Week in Tech
TVTY to Offer Real-Time Online Video Campaigns that Sync with TV Ads
TVTY has announced the launch of its dedicated moment marketing trading desk. The Moment Marketing trading desk will allow brands to add a “moment” dimension to their video campaign optimisation, and adjust the launch of their digital campaigns based on specific moments; be it the airing of a TV ad, changes in weather conditions, or social trends.
Microsoft Unveil 4K-Enabled Xbox One X
Microsoft has unveiled its forthcoming Xbox One X console and announced a November Seventh release date for the device. The ultra HD console will offer both 4K gaming and entertainment, high dynamic range (HDR) support for gaming and video, and Dolby Atmos support.
Verto Analytics Launches Audience Profiles Product
Verto Analytics have announced a media measurement product targeted for US and Europe-based publishers. “Audience Profiles” measures people’s cross-device behaviour from a single source, to offer publishers a picture of their unduplicated audience across devices, plus insights like a “day-in-the life” visualisation of their audience and stickiness as they move across devices and publisher properties.
Snapchat Launches Ad Publishing Tool to Support Snap Ad Manager
Snapchat has announced a new browser-based tool called Snap Publisher, which it promises will allow advertisers to create Snap Ads in under two minutes. Snap Publisher can import existing assets, optimise videos, apply Snap-provided themes, and add motion to still photos and images. The tool also allows users to create multiple versions of the ads to test and determine which creative works best.
The Week in TV
Altice and Netflix Agree Content Deal
Altice has announced a multi-year partnership with Netflix that will bring Netflix’s content to Altice customers in all eligible devices in France, Portugal, Israel and the Dominican Republic. France will be the first Altice territory to launch Netflix. The rollout will advance to other countries throughout 2017.
YouView taps Amazon’s Alexa for Voice Control TV
YouView has announced it is piloting a voice controlled TV experience using Amazon Alexa. YouView said its devices will support Alexa voice control through Amazon’s Echo and Echo Dot devices or other Alexa-enabled hardware. With this integration viewers will be able to search for content and navigate YouView’s user interface using simple commands.
Al Jazeera Fighting Cyber Attack
Al-Jazeera is fighting a large-scale cyber-attack but remains operational, the Qatari network reports. Qatar’s state-run television announced that it had shut down its website temporarily “for security reasons” after hacking attempts. Meanwhile, Saudi has reportedly banned Al Jazeera sister channel beIN Sport.
Entertainment Giants Form Anti-Piracy Alliance
Thirty leading content creators and on-demand entertainment companies from around the world have launched the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), a global coalition dedicated to protecting the dynamic legal market for creative content and reducing online piracy. The worldwide members of ACE include Amazon, BBC Worldwide, Foxtel, HBO, Hulu, Netflix, Sky, Twentieth Century Fox, The Walt Disney Company, and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
According to the Alliance, as more creative content moves online, piracy poses a continuing threat to creators, consumers, and the economy. By bringing together global creative companies ACE aims to expand efforts to reduce the prevalence of online piracy.
Monetisation Of Digital Video Aligning with Linear TV
The gap between ad models for linear TV and digital video is closing, thanks to the growth of live stream and OTT adoption, according to the latest FreeWheel report that looked at what happened in Q1 2016. Video monetisation from live streams that mirror linear TV is increasing, while for the first time over-the-top TV (OTT) has now surpassed desktop as the largest platform where premium video is consumed in the US.
Pay TV Subs Up 35 Percent from 2010 to 2016
The number of pay TV subscribers increased by 35 per cent between 2010 and 2016, taking the global figure to 969 million at the end of last year, according to Digital TV Research. Over the research period digital cable TV added 256 million subscribers; satellite added 77 million extra subscribers; IPTV added 76 million; and pay DTT added 5 million. Simultaneously, analogue cable TV lost 218 million subscribers.
The Week in Publishing
Intel Aiming to Drive Competitive VR
Intel is teaming up with Oculus and long-time partner ESL to launch a VR eSports league, engadget reports. The “VR Challenger League”, is a competitive gaming series where players don headsets to take each other on through Insomniac’s The Unspoken and Ready at Dawn’s Echo Arena.
Avanti Bottoms-Out
Avanti Communications shares hit an all-time low on June 9th, closing at just 8.5p on London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM). Four years ago its stock was trading at 380p. Avanti’s position has not been helped by the company’s statement that despite registering $25 million of contracted new business in the previous two months, the new contracts would not generate material revenue growth in this current half-year.
Ad Blocking Adoption Flagging in EU-3
Peak adoption of ad blocker appears to have passed in France, Germany and the UK, according to eMarketer. Whilst more than 43 million internet users across the three countries are predicted to use ad blocking technology this year, the number of new users has slowed considerably. From years of mid- to high double-digit growth earlier in the decade, new user uptake will moderate to single figures in 2017.
TVT Launches Access Services Arm
TVT has announced a major expansion that includes the launch of a full Access Services business unit, along with a plan to open a new Los Angeles office during 2017. The new TVT Access Services business launch will be support by the appointment of David Padmore as International Advisor. Padmore previously held senior management positions at Ericsson, RedBee Media and the BBC, overseeing delivery of Access Services including subtitling for deaf people and audio description for those with sight impairments.
Google Opens Digital Skills Academy in London
Google is opening a huge ‘Skills Academy’ in London to give the nation training in digital skills. The Academy is dedicated to “educating and inspiring everyone”, from schoolchildren to CEOs, with input from Google staff and other industry experts. The opening of the Academy has been backed by charities and supported by the UK government, in an effort to drive digital skills within the UK.
US Consumers Demand Action from Distrusted Digital Platforms
American consumers are worried that digital platforms are being overrun by ‘bad actors’ and want these digital leaders to take a more hands-on approach to combatting them, according to the Digital Citizens Alliance. Their survey found that two-thirds of Americans gave digital platforms such as Facebook, Google and Twitter a “C grade or lower”, when asked to rate their efforts to ensure they were not overrun by those trying to deceive, scam or trick consumers.
VR to Fuel UK Entertainment and Media Growth
PwC expects the UK’s entertainment and media sector to grow by £10 billion in the next five years, to reach £72 billion overall by 2021. This would make the UK the second largest market in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), after Germany. The UK’s virtual reality industry will grow at a faster rate than any other area within the entertainment and media industry from 2016-2021. PwC forecasts a year-on-year revenue growth of 76 per cent to a value of £801 million in 2021. Making it the fastest growing and largest virtual reality industry in EMEA.
PwC forecasts for UK markets:
Long-Form Video Is Now the Most Popular Content
Long-form video represents the majority of time spent watching video across all screens, Ooyala reports. It now makes up 63 percent of time spent watching video across all screen sizes, of viewing. By device, the study finds long-form content amounts to 98 per cent of all time spent watching video on connected TVs, 81 per cent on tablets, 65 per cent on computers, and 55 per cent on smartphones.
Digital Video Twice as Cost Efficient as TV Advertising
Collective’s TV Accelerator claim that their digital video strategy successfully extended the reach of GoCompare TV ad to a non-TV audience. They also note that the digital video campaign was also shown to be more cost efficient than GoCompare’s TV activity, based on the cost of buying the incremental reach achieved by digital, had they bought more TVR’s.
Consumers Would Ditch Brands Advertising Next to “Objectionable” Content
According to the CMO Council, 60 per cent of consumers across the USA, UK, and Canada say that offensive content appearing on the likes of Facebook and Twitter had already caused them to consume more content from “established media channels”. 48 per cent of respondents will abandon even brands that they love if their ads appear next to ‘objectionable’ online content or on fake news sites.
Consumer Preferences Shift to Digital Content
Consumers worldwide increasingly depend on smartphones to access digital content and tend to go online to purchase video games, movies and books, according to Limelight Networks. Their report found that only 14 per cent of all respondents still prefer to rent or purchase DVDs of movies and TV shows, and only 25 per cent prefer hard copies of books or traditional print media. In comparison, 66 per cent of respondents prefer to stream or download TV shows and movies, while 38 per cent prefer to download books, newspapers, and magazines.
Japanese and Korean Daily Digital Media Use to top Three Hours in 2017
In 2017 daily time spent with digital media among adults will hit three hours and five minutes in Japan, and three hours 26 minutes in South Korea, according to eMarketer. In Japan and South Korea, increased use of mobile devices is driving time spent with digital media. Among mobile users in both countries the most popular apps are time-intensive activities like games, messaging, and video.
Americans “Uncomfortable” with Smart TV Data Collection
According to Videa just 39 per cent of US consumers say they are somewhat, mostly, or completely comfortable with advertisers collecting Smart TV data, while 48 per cent were somewhat, mostly, or completely uncomfortable with this. The answer most given, at 21 per cent of respondents, was that they were completely uncomfortable with the data collection.
Video to Account for 80 Per Cent of Web Traffic in 2021
Video will make up 80 per cent of all internet traffic in 2021, up from 67 per cent in 2016, according to Cisco. The report predicts that there will be nearly 1.9 billion internet video users, excluding mobile-only, by 2021, and that the world will reach three trillion internet video minutes per month by 2021, the equivalent of five million years of video per month or about one million video minutes every second.
Video Adverts Reinforce Millennial Brand Connections
Thirty-four percent of millennials interviewed by Teads said that exposure to video ads increases the connection with their favourite brands, whilst thirty-six per cent say that they are more likely to look for a perfume brand after watching video ads online. The Teads survey found that millennials discover new fragrances in-store, but research online before making a purchase. And video advertising is the main digital format that influences their decision-making, more than TV.
The Week for Agencies
Oath Chief Forecasts Rise in Digital Ad Prices
Former AOL chief executive Tim Armstrong has told the Financial Times that he expects digital advertising to get “a lot more expensive” in the future as consumers increasingly adopt of ad blockers, thus limiting supply. Armstrong, who became CEO of Oath with the completion of Verizon’s acquisition of Yahoo, said advertisers would have to improve the quality and content of their messages, particularly in light of Apple and Google preparing to incorporate new ad blocking features in their web browsers.
Dentsu Aegis Downgrades Growth as it Forecasts Slowing Ad Market
Dentsu Aegis Network has warned of “caution” among advertisers as it downgraded its growth forecast for the global ad market to 3.8 per cent this year. Though Dentsu expects global ad spend growth rate to fall one per cent in 2017, it forecasts a 4.3 per cent growth rate on global ad spend in 2018, stimulated by with events like the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in South Korea, FIFA World Cup in Russia and US Congressional elections.
Partnerships of the Week
Facebook Expands Third-Party Measurement with Integral Ad Science
Facebook has expanded its third-party measurement deal with Integral Ad Science to cover reporting across Facebook, Instagram and Facebook Audience Network. On Instagram, IAS can now provide viewability and ad fraud data across display and video. For Facebook Audience Network it can provide fraud data for video ads bought through the video view objective.
Kaltura and Akamai Partner for Predictive Offline Caching
Kaltura and Akamai Technologies have agreed to extend their Net Alliance partnership to combine Akamai’s Predictive Content Delivery with Kaltura’s TV Platform. The joint solution facilitates predictive on-device caching of content, using smart resource management to download content in the background while on a strong Wi-Fi connection.
A+E Signs-Up for Parrot Analytics
A+E Networks has signed a multi-year subscription agreement with Parrot Analytics. The service will provide A+E Networks with data to gauge country-specific, audience interest for TV content for its programming channels including History, FYI, Lifetime and Viceland.
Hires of the Week
Simon Frost joins AWS Elemental
AWS Elemental has appointed former Ericsson executive Simon Frost as head of marketing and business development for the EMEA region. Frost previously worked as global head of marketing and communications at Ericsson.
Teads Executive Promotions to Drive Market Synergy
Teads has announced the promotions of Jim Daily to Global President and Todd Tran to Chief Strategy Officer. Daily was previously President of US and Canada, Tran was Global SVP of Programmatic and Mobile The moves aim to drive Teads growth globally.
Facebook’s Rob Newlan joins Vice Media Creative Agency
Rob Newlan, Facebook Creative Shop’s EMEA Regional Director, has joined Vice Media’s creative agency as Chief Executive for EMEA.
Nick Baughan Heads to Essence as EMEA CEO
Essence has appointed Maxus leader Nick Baughan and Steve Williams as chief executives of EMEA and North America respectively. Baughan was previously CEO at Maxus UK, whilst Williams was CEO of Maxus North America.
This Week on VAN
Sky and Virgin Media Confirm AdSmart Partnership in Watershed Deal for Addressable TV in the UK, read more on VAN
Altice USA is Expected to Raise $1.35 Billion in IPO, read more on VAN
Key Takeaways from TV Rise 2017, read more on VAN
Ad of the Week: Effortless Night, Uber, Bartle Bogle Hegarty
Uber’s stylish first TV ad shows what should be an awkward date turning into a fun adventure.
