Back in January, YouTube closed a deal with the National Football League to set up an NFL channel on its video platform, offering viewers game previews, highlights and more. In anticipation of the next season, YouTube is looking to capitalize on its NFL programming to secure lucrative advertising deals. The tech giant has set its NFL ad package at $5.2 million for the entire season, on the condition that marketers also commit to paying that same amount to enlist in its Google Preferred program. Continue reading Google Leverages NFL Content Deal to Push YouTube Ad Sales

Turbo Tax ran a 30-second spot on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” this past weekend, marking the first “programmatic” ad for the sports network. Turbo Tax purchased the ad time through a Web-based auction, a model that is part of a new initiative recently announced by ESPN. The ad ran during the Saturday 1:00 am broadcast from a giant video screen on the show’s set, and was introduced by an anchor who said, “SportsCenter will be right back in 30-seconds.” This approach could lead to a major shift in the current advertising model. Continue reading ESPN Airs First Programmatic Ad During SportsCenter Episode

Google has developed a new measurement tool to determine the number of people who are watching, ignoring or skipping video advertisements. Revenue from digital video ads, although expected to grow in the coming year, still trails far behind the money generated by TV ads. Google aims to use the measurement tool as an effective way to draw marketers to the idea of digital video ads. Neal Mohan, Google’s vice president of display and video advertising spoke about the new tool at CES. Continue reading Google Tool Measures How Consumers Interact with Video Ads

Hewlett-Packard’s most recent television advertisement, released Monday, is made entirely of Vines. The 30-second spot features the Pavilion x360 notebook, promoted by Vine stars through short video clips. The company worked to identify social media talent with marketing agency Niche, which focuses on Vine stars. HP’s creative agency 180LA also worked on the commercial. Normally, a 30-second ad takes about 10-12 weeks to produce, but HP’s new spot only took 11 days. Continue reading New HP Pavilion TV Ad Leverages Talent of Vine Celebrities

Omnicom Media Group and Twitter announced a mobile-advertising deal yesterday that is said to be valued at $230 million over the next two years. The agreement will integrate Accuen, Omnicom’s ad buying unit, with MoPub, the ad exchange that Twitter acquired in September for $350 million. The deal will lock in advertising rates and access to inventory for Omnicom agencies, while also providing a first look at new ad units and related opportunities being developed by Twitter. Continue reading Omnicom Media, Twitter Agree to $230 Million Mobile Ad Pact

Facebook and Publicis Groupe, the advertising holding company with clients such as Procter & Gamble, Verizon and Coca-Cola, have struck an advertising deal reportedly worth “hundreds of millions of dollars.” The partnership will give Publicis increased access to Facebook’s user data, ad inventory, and opportunities to advertise on Instagram and to utilize video ads. The deal is the largest to-date between an agency holding company and a tech company. Continue reading Publicis Groupe and Facebook Announce New Ad Partnership

Facebook is expected to launch its mobile advertising network during the F8 developer conference in San Francisco at the end of this month. Facebook plans to leverage its massive user information database for better ad targeting, and will pitch the ads to publishers and developers. The social giant will also benefit from expanding its ad reach, and will allow the company to profit from its over 1 billion users even when they are not on the site itself. Continue reading Facebook Plans to Launch its Long-Awaited Mobile Ad Network

Marketers are still seeking better tools for tracking advertising data as they continue to experiment with approaches to mobile. Measurement firms Nielsen and comScore both made recent announcements regarding related initiatives. Nielsen is partnering with digital ad-sales firms BrightRoll and TubeMogul for a tech trial before expanding its Online Campaign Ratings to mobile, while comScore is expanding its Validated Campaign Essentials measurement product to track ads that appear on phones and tablets. Continue reading Nielsen and comScore Initiatives Highlight Focus on Mobile

We recently reported that Facebook is getting ready to launch autoplay video ads, which will appear in users’ news feeds two to three times per day. The social giant has a clever plan to help ensure the ads are worth watching and possibly minimize the inevitable backlash of such a move. Facebook has developed a prescreening process it hopes will lead to users actually enjoying the video ads and possibly sharing them with friends. The first ads to use the platform are expected to come from Hollywood movie studios. Continue reading Movie Studios to Advertise via Facebook’s New Video Ad Model

As part of a new long-term programming deal with Disney, Dish will curtail the use of its DVR ad-skipping feature, Auto Hop, for ABC shows. The deal will also provide Dish with online video rights to Disney’s flagship TV channels for a planned Internet-based TV service. The rights deal, confirmed by both companies Monday, marks a first of its kind for Disney. ABC and other major broadcasters have been involved in litigation over the Auto Hop feature since it launched in 2012. Continue reading Dish Programming Deal with Disney Resolves Auto Hop Dispute

According to a new Consumer Electronics Association study, 79 percent of online U.S. adults obtain the video content they watch from traditional TV providers, although a significant number of viewers are turning to other sources. Online video streaming is most common with consumers ages 18-34. However, traditional TV viewing remains consistent for most age groups, suggesting that online services are being used as a supplement rather than a replacement of traditional programming. Continue reading Digital Video Content Not a Replacement for TV Programming

Marketing data and analytics firm comScore has announced a partnership with Google to help advertisers understand specifically who is looking at their advertisments, and optimize the ads in real time. This partnership will combine Google’s DoubleClick ad-serving platform and comScore’s Validated Campaign Essentials (vCE) technology for measuring ad performance. The vCE technology will measure how viewers are interacting with Google advertisements. Continue reading Google and comScore Combine Efforts to Optimize Online Ads

Although many have thought that phones are largely used to consume short form content, stats recently released by BuzzFeed suggest otherwise. More than 50 percent of BuzzFeed’s traffic now comes from mobile devices. Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith believes this is partly due to the form factor of mobile devices. They feature a simple singular screen that allows the reader to infinitely scroll through an article without any disruptions, similar to a regular page of a book.  Continue reading BuzzFeed: Consumers Reading Longer Stories on Their Phones

Since its launch in 2010, Pinterest has quickly transformed from a quirky website into a social media base used by one-fifth of American adults. To continue nurturing this growth, Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann has announced a new business model that will finally start to generate revenue. Pinterest plans to charge advertisers for promoting their products on the site. An analyst at Wedbush Securities believes this has the potential to earn Pinterest more than $500 million in 2016.  Continue reading Pinterest CEO Unveils Revenue Growth Plan for the New Year

Spotify has removed streaming time limits for all users. The company announced last week that it would offer unlimited free music streaming via the platform’s desktop app and on the Web. The move follow’s last month’s announcement that Spotify would offer free shuffled music streaming to its phone and tablet apps. Less than 24 hours after Spotify announced lifting its time restriction, competitor Rdio revealed that it would do the same in the United States. Continue reading Free Music Streaming from Spotify and Rdio is Now Unlimited