Tag: tv

Facebook Announced Free Video App For Apple TV And Amazon Fire TV [Updated]

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
After a week of speculations, Facebook has finally confirmed that it will be soon launching a free video app for OTT streaming devices such as Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV devices, and Samsung Smart TV,  with more platforms to come. This way, viewers will be able to watch the videos they already see on Facebook on their TV screens. In addition, Facebook also added some tweaks to video playback, including defaulting the autoplay videos to play with the sound on, picture-in-picture video when people want to watch a video while scrolling, as well as a wide rollout of vertical video format.

Update: On March 1st, Facebook officially released new Video app for fourth-gen Apple TV.

What Brands Need To Do
This announcement reaffirms Facebook’s commitment to building out its video offering in order to vy for a bigger piece of the ad dollars pouring into digital video. Earlier this month, the social network announced an expansion of partnerships with third-party ad tech companies, promising to provide advertisers more data and a clear comparison between social ads and TV ads. And these new video initiatives are all about positioning Facebook as a video destination across platforms.

Once launched, the app would offer brand advertisers a valuable new video channel to leverage Facebook’s audience data to reach targeted customers. As Facebook continues its push into the digital video space and challenges YouTube for a piece of the growing video ad budget, brands should carefully consider their video strategies and take into account Facebook’s growing video ad products.

 

Source: Facebook Newsroom

Amazon Brings Shopping To TV For Prime Members With Apple TV App

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Amazon has released an Apple TV app to let Prime members browse and shop from the comfort of their living room couches. By logging into their tvOS app via the four-digit code generated by their mobile app, Apple TV users can browse and search for products, see product details, and read reviews for millions of products available on Amazon. Prime membership is required to make a purchase on the Apple TV app. The home page of the app features a carousel of Amazon-curated collections, including holiday gift guides and other various packs.

What Brands Should Do
Amazon enjoys some unique advantages in transforming TV into a direct sales channel, given its massive scale and the ability to seamlessly integrate ecommerce functionality into the TV streaming devices by syncing up users’ Prime accounts and enabling one-click purchases. And the latest Apple TV model enables ecommerce brands to reach viewers via dedicated apps. For brands that are currently selling on Amazon, it may be worthwhile to tap into these new TV shopping initiatives to get a better understanding of the emerging shoppable TV experience. To read more on how brands can reach shoppers on OTT platforms with shopping apps and branded content, please check out the Appified TV section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: TechCrunch

NBC To Air Live Ads For Oreo And Toyota During “Hairspray” Broadcast

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
NBC is set to shake things up a bit for the upcoming broadcast of its live production of Hairspray by experimenting with native, in-program advertising. Instead of cutting to a commercial break, Oreo and Toyota will promote their products with live commercials performed in character by the cast of the musical in a retro style that harkens back to the early days of television commercials.

Moreover, the show will also feature a song-and-dance number inspired by Reddi-wip’s milk delivery history. In addition, NBC will also run two segments of sponsored content during two breaks with brand sponsors’ messages showing alongside behind-the-scene looks via split-screen.

What Brands Should Do
This is not the first time that NBC has tried out this type of native ads to appeal to an increasingly ad-avoidant TV audience, as the broadcaster substituted some regular ad spots during its primetime shows in February with AmEx-sponsored native content from the respective shows. This upcoming initiative seems to be a natural continuation of this trend. At a time when ad blockers and subscription-based streaming services are helping millions of viewers actively avoid ads, it is important for brands and media owners to take measures in response and come up with new ways, such as sponsored content and native ads, to engage with their audience.

For more information on how brands should leverage interesting branded content to earn consumer eyeballs, check out the Ad Avoidance section of our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: AdAge

AT&T Plans Personalized Dynamic Ads For DirecTV Now

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
On Monday afternoon, AT&T announced the official launch date and pricing for its over-the-top live TV service. DirecTV Now is set to launch on November 30th and offers three different plans that range from $35 per month to $70. It will carry live programming from most major U.S. TV networks except for those owned by CBS and Showtime. By all accounts, the competitive price and rather comprehensive content offering should make it a strong contender in the growing OTT streaming market and challenge the pay-TV providers.

At launch, the same ads on networks’ normal live feeds will also appear on DirecTV Now, and AT&T will start selling VOD ad inventory for 64 channels. Down the line, however, AT&T has bigger ambitions. DirecTV Now plans to introduce data-driven personalized ads by mid-2017, which will be dynamically inserted into live programming for the two minutes of commercial time per hour that AT&T can sell. The commercials that networks sell nationally will mostly remain the same.

What Brands Should Do
According to data from the U.S. Commerce Department, the percentage of U.S. households that have cut the cord on both TV and wired broadband in favor of wireless Internet access has doubled from 10% in 2013 to 20% in 2015. With viewers increasingly choosing on-demand viewing over linear TV, brands wishing to reach consumers at scale should start exploring the advertising opportunities on the ad-supported streaming services preemptively. In that regard, DirecTV Now’s ambition in adding personalized dynamic ads to live programming coupled with AT&T’s massive consumer data should prove to be valuable for brand advertisers.

To read more on how brands can deal with TV’s shift toward streaming platforms, please check out the Appified TV section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: Ad Age

Header image courtesy of DirecTV Now

AT&T To Give Free Apple TV To DirecTV Now Subscribers

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
AT&T is reportedly planning to give away streaming devices for free to incentivize customers to sign up for its upcoming OTT live TV streaming service DirecTV Now. Subscribers who agree to pay for three months of the service will receive a fourth-gen Apple TV, whereas those who pay for one month will get an Amazon Fire TV stick. The service is set to release before the end of the month.  

Why Brands Should Care
While this not exactly a new tactic for enticing sign-ups (Sling TV had a similar giveaway of Fire TV and Roku devices last year), the potential scale and cost of AT&T’s plan far exceeds its precedents. Gradually, we are seeing some ISPs jumping on the cord-cutting bandwagon to court customers either by launching their own streaming services like AT&T and Verizon, or integrating popular streaming services into their own set-top devices, such as the case with Comcast and Netflix. Such a trend will no doubt propel more customers to cut the cord and switch to OTT services.

As more and more consumers choose time-shifted streaming over linear TV, brands should follow the viewers and start to explore new TV ad formats on connected TV devices to engage with the audience in their living rooms. To read more on how brands can reach viewers on OTT platforms with ads and branded content, please check out the Appified TV section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: Apple Insider

Facebook To Sell TV Ads Via OTT Streaming Devices

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Facebook is set to bring video ads to your TV via OTT streaming devices such as Roku and Apple TV starting next week. Partnering with A+E and Tubi TV, Facebook will start delivering video ads to people who watch videos on the two media partners’ TV apps via its Audience Network ad network, similar to the way it delivers ads to publisher websites and mobile apps.

What Brands Should Do
Facebook’s venture into OTT streaming ads should come as a welcome expansion for brands, as the social network can use the same audience data that powers the rest of its ad network to the set-top boxes, offering brand advertisers more targeting capabilities to reach OTT viewers and cord-cutters. As more and more consumers choose time-shifted viewing over linear TV, brands should follow the viewers and work with content creators to explore new TV ad formats on connected TV devices and engage with the audience in their living rooms.

To read more on how brands can reach viewers on OTT platforms with ads and branded content, please check out the Appified TV section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: Re/Code

Hulu Strikes Partnership With Strata For OTT Ads

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Hulu is teaming up with Strata, an ad buying and selling marketplace, to build an ad platform geared toward streaming video. Strata, whose software is used by 99% of broadcast stations as well as over 1,000 ad agencies, says this new platform will offer advertisers an ad buying experience similar to that of local linear TV for Hulu’s streaming content across viewing devices. Hulu will convert ad impressions to TV rating-like metrics to make it easier for ad buyers to incorporate Hulu into their media mix.

What Brands Should Do
This partnership is particularly interesting considering that Hulu has just inked deals with Disney and Fox to carry their channels on its upcoming OTT live TV bundle, which could push more viewers to drop their cable subscriptions. With more and more viewers choosing on-demand viewing over linear TV, brands need to consider adjusting their media mix and increasing ad buys on ad-supported streaming services such as Hulu to follow the eyeballs.

To learn more about how brands can reach viewers on OTT platforms with ads or branded content, please check out the Appified TV section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: AdWeek

T-Mobile Sponsors Segment In Fox Sports’ World Series Broadcast

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
T-Mobile experiments with branded content as it sponsored a “commercial-free break” during Fox Sports’ broadcast of the World Series on Tuesday night. In the middle of the third inning, the network ran an in-game analysis session instead of the usual commercial break. Fox Sports studio host Kevin Burkhardt announced that the break was “brought to you by T-Mobile,” and finished the segment with a live read about the T-Mobile One campaign. A logo for the carrier’s unlimited phone and data plan was also prominently featured on the studio desk as well as on the bottom of the screen during the segment.

What Brands Should Do
This native ad serves as an interesting example of how traditional media companies can incorporate branded content into their existing content. One trend we identified in our Outlook 2016 is that consumers today are getting increasingly annoyed by the constant bombardment of ads and subpar digital ad experiences to the point that many are opting for the ad-free experiences enabled by subscription-based services and ad blockers. Therefore, it is imperative that brands and media owners work together to engage audiences in new ways, such as sponsored content and native ads, in order to earn consumer eyeballs.

 

Source: Digiday

A+E Networks Partners With E-retailer Wayfair To Reinvent TV Shopping

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
A+E Networks is teaming up with home decor and furniture ecommerce site Wayfair to create its first-ever “fully shoppable” TV show. Billed as its most ambitious branded content push, A+E will start airing this lifestyle and home improvement show titled The Way Home this weekend on the Lifetime channel. Every item that appears on the show will be available for purchase on Wayfair’s site. After each segment, the hosts will direct viewers to check out Wayfair.com, and the show will feature on-screen pop-up animations to drive viewers to the Wayfair site.

To better measure the show’s impact on sales, A+E Networks and Wayfair are also teaming up with advanced TV analytics firm Samba TV, which will provide cross-platform measurement and report how effectively on-air marketing drives viewers to the show and how the show drives engagement on Wayfair’s website.

What Brands Should Do
This show still serves as an interesting example of how traditional media companies can work with online retailers to reinvent TV shopping by introducing ecommerce into the living room via branded content. There is also the potential of integrating mobile as a touchpoint to direct viewers to the Wayfair site in a more targeted way. With more and more consumers opting for the ad-free experiences enabled by subscription-based services and ad blockers, it is imperative that brands and media owners work together to engage audiences in new ways, such as sponsored content and native ads.

For more information on how brands should leverage interesting branded content to earn consumer eyeballs, check out the Ad Avoidance section of our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: AdWeek

Fox Leverages Live Snapcode Activation To Drive Viewer Engagement

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
During last night’s live broadcast of the remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Fox placed three Snapcodes as bumpers between ads and the broadcast. For the uninitiated, Snapcodes are essentially QR codes made by Snapchat that people can scan using the app. Viewers were invited to scan the Snapcodes on their TV to unlock special Rocky Horror-themed selfie Lenses on Snapchat. This marks the first time a TV network has incorporated Snapcodes into a live broadcast.

What Brands Should Do
One reason Fox decided to put Snapcodes in its live broadcast is that it wants to engage the significant number of Millennials who are going to midnight shows of the original Rocky Horror movie and watched the trailer for its remake according to its research. This activation sets a precedent for TV networks using Snapcodes to make their broadcast more interactive and engaging, opening the door for more brands to use Snapcodes for their own TV ads.

 

Source: AdWeek