Hulu to advertisers: pay only for completed video ad views
The internet has arguably been the most exciting new development for advertisers in the past 50 years, but that doesn't mean that online advertising is without its problems.
Arguably, one of the biggest problems is a misalignment of the interests of media buyers and media sellers, with the latter often not appearing to care much about the value the former receives.
Are pre-roll pains now a solved problem?
When online video was still nascent, there was a general sense that the advertising models underpinning television would one day be a thing of the past.
But despite the online video boom and the rise of powerful digital distribution platforms like YouTube and Hulu, advertising in online video still looks a lot like advertising on television. Case in point: the pre-roll.
Major online video players schedule their own upfront
According to some in the tech startup community, television is dead, or should be.
Instead of striking fear in the hearts of executives at the major television networks, it probably brings a smile to their faces. After all, year after year they count billions of dollars in revenues from upfronts as it rolls in.
Hulu delays promote piracy: report
Most major media companies have accepted that digital is here to stay, and many are embracing digital, recognizing that it could some day soon be their most important channel.
But that doesn't mean that they have stopped making poor digital decisions.
Online video usage up significantly: report
Online video may have a long way to go before it dethrones the television in the United States, but its rapid rise shows no signs of slowing down.
According to Nielsen, home and work online video usage rose a whopping 45% in January 2011 as compared to January 2010. Perhaps the most impressive fact: this growth isn't being driven by new users. The number of unique viewers only increased by slightly more than 3%, meaning that those who are already consuming video online are consuming more of it.
Will viewers really deal with seeing more ads in online video shows?
The more ads, the better. That seems to be the strategy for boosting online ad revenue for publishers of all kinds. First, the Online Publishers Association (OPA) decided that making ads bigger and bolder was one way to help boost publishers’ dwindling CPMs. Now, the TV networks are concluding that loading their online video shows with more ads is the best way to increase digital revenue.
It seems to fly in the face of common sense – after all, consumers have flocked to DVR because they can skip all of the ads hurled at them on broadcast TV or cable. Meanwhile, with shorter attention spans on the web, won’t more ads just make online viewers tune out? Research from the networks says no.
Hulu’s voodoo: Optimized online video ads lead to double the revenue in 2010
Hulu has finally shed light on how much money it's bringing in. At the
NewTeeVee Live event, CEO Jason Kilar said Hulu would close out 2010
with over $240 million in revenue. That’s double the $108 million it
made last year, and a nice benchmark for comparison to online video
platforms across the board.
It’s very strong growth, particularly when gauged against the overall US online video ad market. eMarketer predicts advertisers will spend roughly $1.5 billion on online video ads in 2010. Hulu’s $240 million equates to a roughly 16% share of that market. So how has the company attracted so much demand?
Hulu's freemium model is missing the premium part
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is frantically trying to monetize its digital properties. As part of that plan, popular video site Hulu recently added a premium version that costs $9.99 a month. For consumers looking for high quality video content online, it's an interesting model. But there's one catch.
According to new research from One Touch Intelligence, 88% of the content available on Hulu Plus is already available on Hulu for free.
More choose-your-own ads will come to the web in September
Starting next month, a number of large websites — including MSNBC, Hulu, Yahoo and AOL properties — are set to roll out video ads that allow users to choose which ad they'd like to see before the content they want to watch.
The new format could make users a lot happier with the ads they view online. But more importantly, it will give the sites publishing these ads important insight into which ads work and which don't. But will users enjoy serving as a focus group for internet publishers?
2010 promises massive digital video adoption — and advertising potential
If there was any doubt among media buyers about putting money into online video advertising, 2010 should be the year to change that. Consumers are increasingly turning to the digital space to watch video. Moreover, the influx of professionally produced content is making the digital space more friendly to large advertisers.
As with most any medium, if the eyeballs are there, advertisers will follow. Now it's just up to the medium to deliver on the predictions coming in for the next year.
