Google's TV Measurement Potential; Facebook Could Grab TV Budgets

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Eat Your Fiber

Google’s broadband “Fiber” initiative and its TV ad measurement businesses will dovetail nicely, at least as part of a Kansas City pilot, Adweek reports. “Every household with Google Fiber, obviously, has a Google Fiber box. And that box can put the ad in whenever it’s timely, and tell the client about it.” Read it.

Video Ad Revenue Potential

Nomura analyst Anthony DiClemente says Facebook is poised to attract a significant chunk of TV ad budgets in the next two years, and could generate as much as $3.8 billion in video ad revenue by 2017. Variety reports that volume is triple what analysts have estimated the social giant will reel in this year. “Facebook and YouTube will likely be the largest players in online video, providing differentiated offerings with respect to pricing, targeting and engagement,” according to DiClemente. And YouTube could solve Facebook’s sticky hearability issue with in-feed video ads. “YouTube audiences are more likely to be watching ads with sound, again due to users’ intention of watching video content,” noted DiClemente.

NYT’s Mobile Monetization Battle

The New York Times is shifting resources from every division to mobile as the company struggles to nail down a mobile monetization plan, according to NYT Now editorial chief Clifford Levy. NYT Now is the publisher’s stab at a low-cost, subscription-based app that’s skewed to a slightly younger demographic. “Every division in the company is looking at how they can shift more resources to mobile,” Levy told Ad Age. But for NYT Now, “The business model was not as successful as we hoped. That’s one reason why … we’re considering other options including whether or not to move toward a free model.” More than 50% of the NYT’s traffic comes from mobile, but the channel only accounts for 10% of the publisher’s digital ad revenue.

How ’Bout That MoPub?

Speaking of mobile monetization, Twitter-owned MoPub released some bright video ad stats. Video advertising on the MoPub platform grew 224% last year. Publishers also increased their video inventory sixfold during that time. On the MoPub platform, video ads are outperforming full-screen interstitials and earned eCPMs 29.5% higher than non-video interstitial during Q4 2014. MoPub is also experimenting with new ways to monetize, one of which lets publishers reward users for watching video ads. The data release comes as Facebook reportedly prepares to release its own mobile exchange platform.

Yahoo Touts Tumblr

Speaking to The Drum, Yahoo’s head of international marketing, Robert Bridge, shed some light on the company’s search and mobile roadmap post Flurry and BrightRoll acquisitions. But the sleeper strategy for Yahoo could be social. “Tumblr continues to grow incredibly organically and is at 440 million monthly users per month. The engagement rate on Tumblr is higher than any social network – it’s 16 minutes per session – which is more than Facebook,” Bridge said. “If you look at Facebook sharing posts in-feed means it has a much more limited shelf life – it disappears as soon as it has gone into the feed. Tumblr is more likely to be seen – 30% of the ads are likely to be seen 30 days after posted. It also bubbles up onto Yahoo.”

Rebate Strike

The Marketing Agency Association (MAA), a UK-based trade body, is rising up against Anheuser-Busch InBev. According to the MAA, AB InBev asked agencies to spell out their rebate plans in recent work pitches. In response, the MAA has called on those UK agencies to begin a strike on April 7. “The MAA takes bad pitch practice and exploitative payment terms extremely seriously,” the group’s managing director, Scott Knox, said in a statement. “AB InBev is behaving disgracefully, forcing agencies to provide them with discounts and financial sweeteners across every possible work stream.” Bloomberg has more.

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