OTTVideo.news by Dan Rayburn

The best news, podcasts, and events about the OTT video industry, curated daily by a team of trusted industry executives. A custom news experience – to help inform, educate and empower the streaming media industry.

The best news, podcasts, and events about the OTT video industry, curated daily by a team of trusted industry executives. A custom news experience – to help inform, educate and empower the streaming media industry.

Dan Rayburn

Trending

DigitalTV Europe

Low-Latency Live Streaming: THEO Player and Synamedia Forge Alliance for New HESP Protocol

Summary by Glenn Goldstein:

While most of the live streaming ecosystem has been focusing on optimization and standardization of CMAF with DASH and HLS, THEO has been working on its own low latency live streaming protocol called HESP (High Efficiency Streaming Protocol). To promote adoption, they have partnered with Synamedia on an alliance in which members can license and integrate the technology and develop to drive further innovation. HESP makes some bold claims: 100ms zapping time and 400ms latency.

Reuters

UK Regulators Take Aim at Apple’s Search Engine Deal with Google

Summary by Jon Watts:

Google paid about $1.5bn to be the default search engine on various devices in 2019, the “substantial majority” of which went to Apple, for Safari.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority claims that this is “a significant barrier to entry and expansion” for Google’s rivals in the search engine market.

PARQOR

Can WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar Shift AT&T and HBO Max Away From Linear And Towards a DTC Business Model?

Summary by Andrew Rosen:

The Information reported on new WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar’s first month on the job, how he was making decisions for HBO Max, and the types of decisions he was making. Wireless growth and churn will still matter most to AT&T in terms of how it defines HBO Max’s success. So, is Kilar a visionary for a broader vision, as he is presenting himself internally at AT&T? Or is he more of an executive that AT&T CEO John Stankey trusts to manage a streaming business and little more?

the verge

YouTube TV’s Price Hike is Part of a Larger Problem

Summary by Scott Favelle:

YouTube TV announced yesterday that it’d be raising its prices by 30 percent to $65 per month. FuboTV followed shortly after, announcing increases of its own that put the lowest tier of the service at $60. The first era of internet-streamed TV — the one of cheap, innovative cable alternatives — is over, and what comes next is going to look a whole lot more like the traditional cable services it promised to replace… with prices to match.

Promoted Post

The NAB Show from October 21-22, will now be online only. More details to come on the Streaming Summit’s online plans.

More Details

Recent News

multichannel

Media Economy May Be ‘Back to Normal’ in 2021, Wells Fargo Analyst Predicts

Summary by Scott Favelle:

Television advertising could “see a quick recovery” – especially in the spot market – “if the economic recovery is V-shaped,” according to Wells Fargo analyst Davis Hebert. Media economics, especially ad sales, should be “back to stability in the fourth quarter and may be back to normal in 2021

adweek

All Eyes Are on Connected TV, but Advertising Is Just Not Simple to Buy

Summary by Scott Favelle:

Connected TV was the star of this year’s NewFronts presentations, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to buy. "That’s the biggest challenge of this space," said Danielle Krauter, vp media strategy at Goodway Group. "We’ve passed the point of ‘Should I buy it?’ Now we’re into ‘How do I buy it?’"

digital tv europe

SVOD Subscribers Paying Via Telco’s to reach 170M

Summary by Scott Favelle:

The number of SVOD users paying for their subscription via mobile operators is expected to reach 170 million by 2025. According to new figures from Digital TV Research, the gross number of smartphone SVOD subscribers will double across 138 countries between 2019-25, with the total climbing by 25 million in 2020 alone.

beet.tv

Three Ways Connected TV Ad Fraud Is ‘Swelling’: DoubleVerify’s Ross

Summary by Scott Favelle:

In 2018, budgets weren’t huge in the CTV space, and the associated fraud was still pretty low, but we saw the fraud started in early 2019. Then, by Q4 of 2019, fraud really started to explode. This has really continued into 2020. We’ve detected something like 161% increase in fraudulent impressions just from January to April of this year versus last year.

MediaDailyNews

Pixalate Rates Freewheel Best SSP for Programmatic Inventory on Connected TV Platforms

Summary by Glenn Goldstein:

Pixalate’s new “Seller Trust Index” rates SSPs on metrics such as reach, share, percentage of invalid traffic, ad-serving transparency and channel integrity to provide advertisers guidance in assessing ad effectiveness on Connect TVs. The Comcast Freewheel SSP scored highest on average across Roku, Samsung, and Amazon CTV platforms, followed by Verizon Media.

techcrunch

YouTube’s Latest Experiment is a TikTok Rival Focused on 15-Second Videos

Summary by Scott Favelle:

YouTube is taking direct aim at TikTok. The company announced on Wednesday it’s beginning to test a new feature on mobile that will allow users to record 15-second long multi-segment videos. That’s the same length as the default on TikTok as well as Instagram’s new TikTok clone, Reels.

The Hollywood Reporter

The Shape of Things to Come: Disney UK to Shut Kids Channels

Summary by Scott Favelle:

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Walt Disney Company is closing down its three Disney Channels in the U.K. and moving the content to Disney+. From Oct. 1, Disney+ will become the exclusive U.K. home for content from Disney Channel, DisneyXD and Disney Junior, the company said Thursday.

zdnet

Veritone: Two in three TV CEOs are on board for AI adoption, according to report

Summary by Scott Favelle:

Almost three out of four (73%) of CEOs and 67% of CTOs cite innovation and differentiation as driving AI adoption in their organisation, but also cite lacking knowledge about the potential benefits. Respondents indicate asset metadata creation (40%), content recommendations (37%) and captioning/subtitling/ scripting (33%) as the top uses of artificial intelligence.

beet.tv

Streaming Apps Drive Sales Growth During Pandemic: Discovery’s Jon Steinlauf

Summary by Scott Favelle:

Discovery forecasts that it will end the second quarter with higher ad sales than a year earlier for its streaming apps, which are a key part of its strategy to help advertisers reach younger audiences and higher-income women whose viewing habits are changing.

broadband tv news

Ofcom: UK’s Internet Use Surges to Record Levels

Summary by Scott Favelle:

According to Ofcom’s annual online nation report, one in three now watch online video more than traditional TV, with two in five making videos themselves. However, the increased usage brings with it concerns over the content that is being view. Nine in 10 online adults have concerns around video-sharing sites and apps

TechCrunch

Hulu Announces Second Screen Ad Interactivity Format: GatewayGo

Summary by Glenn Goldstein:

At their virtual NewFront event, Hulu announced a new format that allows viewers to use their phones to interact with ads viewed in the Hulu service through Connected TVs and connected streaming devices. Hulu sited results of recent behavioral studies indicating that majority of their audiences are using their phones while streaming on the TV, and that they want some degree of personalization from advertisers.

adweek

Deloitte: Streaming Subscriptions Are Up – But So Is Churn

Summary by Scott Favelle:

In May 2020, four out of five U.S. consumers subscribed to at least one paid streaming video service, Deloitte reported in the 14th edition of its Digital Media Trends report, released today. That 80% figure of U.S. consumers subscribing to streaming video services is seven percentage points higher than the 73% of U.S. consumers who had subscribed to a streaming video service at the end of 2019. But since the pandemic began, 9% of consumers both added and canceled at least one new paid streaming video service.

adexchanger

Google Opens Its Black Box And Shares Fees Across DV360, Google Ads And Google Ad Manager

Summary by Scott Favelle:

Google attempted to put to rest questions about its fees in a pair of blog posts Tuesday that shared the take rates for its buying portals, Google Ads and Display & Video 360, as well as its publisher tech, Google Ad Manager. It is the first time that Google, under scrutiny from regulators, has made these fees public.