Ad Network Category
Getting Back to Our Roots with the Embedded SDK
Yesterday was an exciting day for YuMe. It was a day we went back to our roots. You may not know this, but before we created our advertising technology platform, ACE, YuMe launched in 2004 as an IPTV company. Our first product enabled people to download and watch movies directly on their TV:
YuMe, like online video, has come full circle. It started with television, and then moved to the computer screen, then to mobile phones and tablets. Now seven years after our first IPTV box, we’ve announced the Embedded SDK and established our position as the operating system for TV 2.0. The YuMe Embedded SDK is the only video advertising platform to be built directly into TVs, Blu-Ray Disc™ players, and other connected devices.
For advertisers, this means access to consumers at every stage of interaction with the TV. Even as consumers’ attention continues to fragment, advertisers can maintain a presence on every screen on which video is being watched. For publishers and CTV app developers this means even more access to TV brand dollars, enabling them to maximize revenue and simplify their ad serving and management. And because the Embedded SDK is built into the firmware of the TV, CE manufacturers can easily integrate with ACE for Publishers and the Connected Audience Network, and finally participate in the advertising value chain of television.
What makes this announcement even more exciting is that we’ve secured the support of one of the most innovative automotive advertisers, Toyota. Through their participation in this important launch, they’ve proven the value of this fast-growing channel for video—a channel in which we’ve helped participated and innovated since the beginning.
We’ll be making several exciting announcements about our Connected TV products in the coming months. Check out our News Page for updates!
DIGIDAY Video Upfront – State of the Industry
Today Gian Lombardi, our SVP of Sales, presented findings from a research study we conducted with DIGIDAY at their annual Video Upfront event in NYC. If you missed it, our CRO Scot McLernon is presenting the results again at DIGIDAY’s Video Upfront event in Los Angeles this Thursday, April 14th. ForDIGIDAY’s “State of the Industry on Digital Video” report, we asked the industry questions about video content, ad formats and how marketers judge the success of their video investments. Why are some companies still sitting on the sidelines of the digital video experience and what will it take to convince them that online video has arrived? And, what are advertisers planning to spend on mobile video and connected TV in 2011? You can read more about the results here or download a copy of the report from our Insights & Papers section.
New Custom Video Ad Units
Today we launched 3 new video ad units. The first, Lights Out, creates a semi-transparent gray out of the site, emphasizing the pre-roll and companion unit and creating a theatre-like viewing experience. Viewers can reverse this effect at any time while the ad is running by clicking on the “Lights On/Off” watermark. Lights Out simulates a page take-over, making it ideal for advertisers who are interested in creating strong brand awareness.
The second, SideKick, was launched with our advertising partners Frasier Communications and FIRST5. SideKick is a pre-roll that has design elements, either animation or audio cues, synchronized with the companion banner.
The third unit, Expanded View, is a pre-roll framed with a border image for the duration of the ad. Once the ad ends, the branded frame disappears. Expanded View provides a strong branding impression by allowing an advertiser to further extend its message and branding experience beyond the confines of the video player.
You can see the new units for yourself in our Ad Gallery.
We’re supporting HTML5
YuMe is committed to providing the most powerful video advertising technology for publishers, wherever and however they choose to publish their videos, from PC to mobile, to IPTV. So we are excited to announce that our ACE technology platform now supports HTML5. Check out what NewTeeVee says about the news. This means that publishers now have the option to monetize video distributed through HTML5-compatible devices — both on desktop and mobile devices such as Apple’s iPad®, iPhone®, and iPod® Touch, and Google’s Android devices. By ACE-equipping their HTML5 players, publishers can choose to use the ACE Ad Management System to take control of their video ad operations, or to serve ad-supported content through our premium video ad network. If you’d like, you can learn more about ACE or become a YuMe publisher here.
In-Stream Video Ad Formats Launched by the IAB
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced yesterday the release of “In-Stream Ad Format Guidelines.” YuMe was involved in crafting these, which like any process where you try and get multiple companies to agree, was trying at times. That being said, we are very excited to finally have some parameters out in the marketplace that make buying video advertising easier!
Video is still a moving target and it is still early in the game, but the guidelines announced are at least a step in the right direction and should help encourage consistency across publishers in terms of ad formats and specs supported.
Ad products addressed by the guidelines include:
Linear video ads – ads that are consumed before, in the middle or after the video content. Just like a commercial on TV. Examples include pre-rolls, mid-rolls and post-rolls.
Non-linear video ads – ads that run concurrently with the video content so the user sees the ad while viewing the content. An example of this is the increasingly popular interactive overlay ad. Below is an example of this ad format that we created for one of our advertisers – Kellogg’s.
Companion ads – display ads, rich media, or skins that wrap around the video experience.
Andy Plesser from Beet.TV did a great post on this announcement that I recommend checking out.
Also, as part of these guidelines the IAB launched an Ad Format Compliance Seal and I am happy to say that we at YuMe are already compliant.
- Molly Glover Gallatin
What Is the Right Ad to Content Ratio?
So, I just got back from iMedia’s Breakthrough Summit, and it was definitely a worthwhile show. While there are always differing opinions at the conference, there seemed to be consensus around one idea that I heard across every panel: in online video, the type and length of a video consumed will in large part dictate the type of ad unit it can support.
So what are the different types and lengths of online video content and what level of ad presence will they support? According to Hulu’s Kevin McGurn, a :30 spot for every 7 minutes of content isn’t an annoyance to consumers and is a fair trade for free content. Networks have been good about this, but seem to fall down on the frequency with which they show the same ad. Networks should be rotating different advertisers, or at the very least, different creative into full length shows.
At the other end of the spectrum, you’ve got what Shelly Palmer, Monday’s keynote speaker called “video snacks”, short clips 2 minutes or less that are often viral in social media and user generated. His feeling was a: 30 pre-roll simply can’t be supported long term against such clips. The consensus was a :15, :7 or :5 second pre-roll made the most sense and no doubt an overlay is probably the least intrusive, most viable unit in this environment.
What about the middle ground, the online video clips that are between 2 and 7 minutes in length, for example webisodes? No one addressed this head on, but the conventional wisdom seemed to be that a: 30 pre-roll can be supported in this environment for clips that approach 7 minutes, and a :15 pre-roll is a fair trade for clips on the shorter side, and :7’s and :5’s will also work here, in isolation or in conjunction with overlays.
It was refreshing to see so much consensus around how best to make ad supported online video work for both advertisers and consumers alike. The ad to content ratio, taking into account content length versus ad length, is an important consideration, lest online video advertising becomes as annoying as pop-ups became in their day.
Samantha Voisin, Digital Media Director, MediaVest Worldwide and me, YuMe’s VP of Eastern Sales, at the Breakthrough Summit
At the YuMe cocktail party at iMedia – Larry Allen, SVP Network Development, Platform A, Thom Hoge, YuMe’s VP of Western Sales and Emily Allen, Digital Media Group Director, Smithsonian Media
- Gian Lombardi
