comScore Releases October 2011 U.S. Online Video Rankings
Record 20 Billion Content Videos Viewed on Google Sites
RESTON, Va., Nov. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore Video Metrix service showing that 184 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in October for an average of 21.1 hours per viewer. The total U.S. Internet audience viewed 42.6 billion videos, representing an all-time high.
Top 10 Video Content Properties by Unique Viewers
Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in October with 161 million unique viewers and reached a record high of 20.9 billion videos viewed. Facebook.com ranked second with 59.8 million viewers, followed by VEVO with 57 million, Microsoft Sites with 49.1 million and Viacom Digital with 48.2 million. More than 42 billion videos were viewed during the month, with the average viewer watching a record 21.1 hours. Google Sites demonstrated the highest engagement with 7.1 hours per viewer
Top 10 Video Ad Properties by Video Ads Viewed
Americans viewed 7.5 billion video ads in October, with Hulu generating the highest number of video ad impressions at more than 1.3 billion. Tremor Video ranked second overall (and highest among video ad exchanges/networks) crossing the 1 billion mark for the first time. BrightRoll Video Network ranked third with 756 million, followed by Specific Media with 512 million and CBS Interactive with 415 million. Time spent watching video ads totaled more than 3.2 billion minutes during the month, with Tremor Video delivering the highest duration of video ads at 614 million minutes. Video ads reached 53 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 47 times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 46.5.
Read More: PR Newswire
A beginner’s guide to mobile ad networks
Mobile advertising spend is expected to grow from $3.3 billion to $20.6 billion by 2015 (according to Gartner). A major component in this projection is the staggering number of users moving to smartphones who are quickly growing more comfortable with mobile apps as well as their mobile browsing experience.
With those users spending even more time on their mobile devices, advertisers are itching to get their attention, and the best way to do it is through mobile ad networks. Just like the advertising giants on the web like Yahoo Network, Real Media, AdBrite, and Google Ad Network, mobile has spawned a new host of major players that include InMobi, Jumptap, Millennial Media, Tapjoy, and others. Of course, we’ve also watched the big guns enter the race, including Google, which purchased AdMob, and Microsoft, which created Microsoft Mobile Advertising.
The two main reasons mobile advertising is exploding are:
Mobile ads are highly targetable — enormous amounts of information are available about smartphone users, helping you to determine exactly which demographics you need to target.
You can reach customers at the point of purchase. Reaching out to customers as they are actively making purchase decisions gives marketers an incredible opportunity to convert them.
Read More: iMedia Connection
Google Looks Forward to an Early Christmas Present From Washington: An Okay for Admeld
Google’s deal to buy ad tech start-up Admeld, announced in June, looks like it is finally ready to close.
Industry sources expect the Department of Justice, who had been reviewing the $400 million transaction for antitrust violations, to approve the deal in the next couple weeks, perhaps as early as this Friday.
It’s unclear whether the DOJ will impose any restrictions on the deal. But Web ad players, reading tea leaves and DOJ body language, are betting the sale goes through unhindered. No comment from Google; I’ve yet to hear back from a Department of Justice rep.
Admeld helps publishers sell their ads by negotiating bids from multiple buyers, and is a big player in the complicated and fractured display advertising business. Google, which has long been dominant in search advertising, has been steadily increasing its presence in display ads via acquisitions like DoubleClick and Invite Media.
Read More: All Things D
Jumptap MobileSTAT Report Projects iOS Users Adopt Platform Upgrades 3x Faster Than Their Android Counterparts
October Ad Network Report Summarizes Apple 4S Launch Versus Other New Devices
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Jumptap, the leader in targeted mobile advertising, released its October MobileSTAT report, which, among other findings, showed that Apple is the industry leader in getting its customers to embrace new platforms and features – a conclusion that reveals something about the habits of Apple users, as well as the company’s approach to marketing and product.
October proved to be a release-heavy month with high profile launches of iPhone 4S and iOS 5, the announcement of Android 4.0, and the release of Blackberry’s BBX operating system. However, the most interesting insights from the Mobile STAT report focused on the way in which device releases impacted OS adoption rates. In less than three weeks since its official release, iOS 5 had already accounted for 32 percent of the total iOS traffic on the Jumptap network. In contrast, new Android releases were slower to catch on. More than six months after the launch of Android 2.3, the OS had an adoption rate of less than 50 percent of the overall Android market. The previous system, Android 2.2, kept its share of approximately 40 percent of the market.
October handset releases also impacted the Jumptap network. Both the highly anticipated iPhone 4S and rival handset Android Samsung Galaxy S2 showed steady increases and acquired market share against other devices. The MobileSTAT showed that Samsung smartphone users access applications 27 percent more than iPhone users. On the flip side, iPhone users are twice as active on the mobile web as Samsung smartphone users. Gaming is the top content channel on Samsung smartphones, which is most likely tied to the higher app usage and suggests a younger audience. For iPhones, News and Entertainment is the top channel, which helps explain the prevalence of web browsing and suggests an older audience.
Read More: Businesswire
Three Years Later, the Guardian Wants a Buyer for PaidContent
Three years after buying PaidContent, the Guardian Media Group has put the New York-based media news site and its parent company ContentNext Media on the block.
The British newspaper publisher has hired boutique bank Coady Diemar Partners to market the company. People familiar with the sale believe the Guardian is looking for something in the $15 million to $20 million range for the property, which would let it recoup its initial investment and subsequent infusions of working capital.
The move, which the company has contemplated for the last year or so, comes as the British newspaper publisher is going through a cost-cutting round while simultaneously gearing up for an attempt to create a U.S. foothold, via a New York-based Web operation. Alan Hudson, a Bank of America executive hired by the Guardian this summer to “oversee the company’s investment portfolio,” is overseeing the sale.
Read More: AllThingsD
BrightRoll Secures $30 Million in Funding
Investment Comes Amid Continued Expansion of Network, Exchange and Mobile Video Solutions
SAN FRANCISCO, CA–(Marketwire – Nov 15, 2011) – BrightRoll, the leading provider of digital video advertising services, announces it closed $30 million in financing. New investor Trident Capital led the equity financing and Senior Managing Director Evangelos Simoudis will be joining the BrightRoll board. Existing investors True Ventures, Scale Venture Partners and Adams Street Partners all participated, as did Comerica Bank.
This funding comes amid significant momentum as BrightRoll continues to double revenue year over year. While demand for video advertising is increasing faster than any other online ad format — projected to rise 54 percent in 2012 by eMarketer — BrightRoll has continued to outpace the industry. The success is fueled by significant investments in technology and research, as well as expansion of the senior leadership team across key operations and strategic roles.
“As long-term adtech investors, we continually look for companies with a leadership position in important sectors of the online advertising space. After following online video advertising for some time we have decided to invest in BrightRoll, which we consider one of the market leaders. We are impressed by the company’s leadership, vision and cutting-edge technology,” said Simoudis. “Tod and the rest of the executive team have built a solid company and we look forward to helping them continue to grow the business.”
Read More: Marketwire
Conde Nast Becomes Latest Publisher to Unveil Private Ad Exchange
Admeld-Powered Exchange to Feature CPM Price Floors, Real-Time Bidding
The assault on third-party ad networks continues. Today, Conde Nast, publisher of magazines such as The New Yorker and Vanity Fair, is launching a private ad exchange to sell unsold inventory on its digital properties to a select group of advertisers. The exchange, powered by Admeld, will feature CPM price floors and real-time bidding.
“Like any publisher, we’re interested in maximizing the revenue on our inventory,” said Drew Schutte, exec VP and chief integration officer at Conde Nast. “By opening a private exchange, we’re getting all the controls we wanted while providing access to our premium advertisers who commit to Conde Nast in the most significant way.”
The minimum requirement for advertisers to get access to the exchange was that their fourth-quarter ad spend with Conde Nast this year had to be higher than last year’s. Five advertisers, including eBay and Macy’s, will have access to the exchange through the end of 2011. Mr. Schutte said Conde Nast will offer access to more advertisers in 2012.
Read More: AdAge
Tapad Taps Evidon For Mobile Opt-Outs
As the traditional online behavioral advertising industry engages the issues of consumer privacy and data control through new standardized ad icons and opt-out procedures, the best approach for a mobile privacy protection solution remains unclear.
The in-ad AdChoices icons that signal a display unit use behavioral targeting to find that consumers seem unwieldy on diminutive mobile ads. The number of app, banner and operating system platforms on which a reliable opt-out system must ork is daunting — even in the world of complex demand-side platforms and real-time targeting.
But cross-platform retargeting ad platform Tapad has partnered with Evidon to start looking for a solution.
Evidon is one of the early developers of notification and opt-out systems that comply with the requirements of the Digital Advertising Alliance program, a self-regulatory regimen led by a collation of online and offline advertising and business associations.
Read More: MediaPost
