One space that has benefitted greatly during these COVID-19 times, as you’d expect, is the video-on-demand (VOD) space. With this growth, there has been a shift back to families sitting down in front of the TV and enjoying shows and movies together.

On YouTube, for instance, mobile viewership decreased by nine per cent between Q4 2019 and Q3 2020, but their TV app viewership increased by seven per cent in the same period.

“We saw that increase pretty significantly across our network too,” says Charles Gabriel, Head of Advertising US at WildBrain Spark. “We provide a lot of kids and family content and a lot of full episode content, so it made a lot of sense that you started to see that that shift. Consumers tend to get the larger screen in the living room and sit back and watch longer, more episodic content.

“For us, with the type of programming that we offer, we saw a lot more co-viewing. I think parents of kids under the age of 13 probably tried to make efforts to curate some of the watching, as opposed to their kids being left to their own devices for a significant amount of time during the pandemic.”

WildBrain Spark (WBS) is the Advertising-based video-on-demand (AVOD) division of WildBrain, a Canadian media and production company with the largest independent library of children’s TV programming. The company has produced content for Mattel properties including Bob the Builder, Fireman Sam, and Polly Pocket, while owning the IP of classic children’s programming such as Teletubbies, Peanuts, Yo Gabba Gabba!, Strawberry Shortcake, Inspector Gadget, and many more.

WBS conducted research at the end of 2020 and found that – amongst 2,500 parents with kids under 13 – parents believe that co-viewing sessions will continue as a way for them to spend time with their families beyond the pandemic. In fact, 83 per cent of parents said they thought their overall viewing would remain above pre-pandemic levels.

“The data overwhelmingly suggested that co-viewing would continue at some of these levels just because people found it to be a nice activity to get together again and choose content to watch,” explains Gabriel. “And I think that often is driven by the programming thats available that can appeal to kids and their parents in that scenario.

“You see teens and other audiences co-viewing as well now but whether that remains the same, Im not sure,” continues Gabriel. “I think levels of viewing probably will normalise as activities increase around the world and people are moving about more. I certainly think that will shift back to some individual watch time and mobile usage. I always like to say a ‘screen is a screen’. So, it really is about what people are watching, where theyre watching, and when theyre watching.”

As consumers continue to watch more and more content and the number of platforms available for them to watch this content continues to grow, they are increasingly being forced to consider where they find their content.

Subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platforms like Netflix offer consumers an alternative to AVOD, enabling them to pay a fee in order to watch content without ads. However, there are now so many SVOD platforms to choose from.

“Youre also starting to see, as each individual service opens up, that a premium AVOD offering is becoming more and more important,” says Gabriel. “Certainly, in the kids and family sector, but in other categories as well, youre starting to see more premium content being placed on YouTube. Sometimes it’s in clip form, but were definitely seeing more and more longer form content. And I think that, from an AVOD perspective, is likely due to the device access and the fact that people are watching longer content on mobile devices many times, as well as the connected TV.

“The major difference between AVOD and SVOD is the overall need for the accessibility to content for families that cant afford every single SVOD subscription thats out there, as things start to break apart and have all the individual services,” continues Gabriel. “There’s also the fact that cost is going up on some other services as well. Netflix Premium is $17.99 in the US now. Most consumers have to think about what they’re paying between their internet access and your SVOD services. At some point, they have to make choices, which makes AVOD really important for families that cannot afford every premium choice thats out there.”

With the reliance on AVOD as an alternative to SVOD – and the fact that the largest AVOD platform, YouTube, for obvious reasons, is way ahead of the largest SVOD platform, Netflix, in terms of users and time spent, particularly on mobile – AVOD still provides a good opportunity for advertisers to reach consumers. And, in the case of WBS’ content, a chance for children-focused brands to reach both kids and their parents.

Of course, there are an array of issues that advertisers have to contend with when advertising to kids. Most notably on the issues of brand safety and ethics.

Brands will be looking to guarantee that their ads are running against “quality, produced content” that shows awareness, a positive message, and has a big reach, according to Gabriel.

“Most brands today need to be pretty sensitive to their own message to consumers and to how they are being viewed by consumers finding out where their ad is being placed,” he says. “Thats still going to hold true, no matter whether people consume more on a mobile or CTV or in a continued fragmented environment. That brand safety piece is always going to be first and foremost for brands that want to reach kids.”

When it comes to ethics, the US has the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) to ensure that anything directed at children on the internet is properly regulated. And then there’s YouTube’s ‘Made for Kids’ initiative, which makes sure content on its platform meets COPPA standards.

The measures in place ensure that no data is used to target children through ads so, in some ways, “it goes back to the former TV model predating user data usage” and places the emphasis on contextual alignment, states Gabriel.

Nonetheless, Gabriel still concedes that there is a grey area that exists when it comes to advertising to children in the form of branded content and through influencer marketing.

“On YouTube, for instance, you cant run a McDonalds ad and show food and you cant run a General Mills cereal ad in front of kids content, but a kid influencer can be seen interacting with that type of product or even eating that product in their content,” Gabriel points out. “I think that’s an area that likely needs some more oversight. It just seems to be a little bit odd that the brand cant run a message in front of content, but their food can be inserted into programming.”

With or without that grey area, advertisers still need to understand that attempting to influence children isn’t quite how it used to be, as children are not being brought up in the same way as they have in the past. And this presents further challenges.

“Modern day parenting has changed significantly, and kids have a much louder voice in the world than theyve ever had. You see kids at an early age being activists,” says Gabriel. “From our perspective, kids are incredibly important in the home for decision-making. Weve seen research around that. And I think brands need to make sure that they pay attention to that, so that they dont miss an entire generation that grow up not knowing their brands and wind-up choosing challenger brands that are across every single category that exist.”

The post “Important for families that cannot afford every premium choice”: WildBrain discusses AVOD appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

In the India trial, Shorts – which gives creators the ability to shoot videos of 15 seconds or less – enabled creators to string multiple video clips together, record with music, control speed settings, and record hands-free.

Now, as the beta expands to the US, YouTube Shorts will enable creators to add text to specific points of their videos and sample audio from other Shorts. The latter will be extended further in the coming months when YouTube launches the ability to use audio from videos across its platform.

YouTube has already introduced a row to its homepage especially for Shorts and has launched a watch experience that enables viewers to swipe vertically between videos. It is also testing the addition of a ‘Shorts’ tab on mobile and exploring ways it can integrate Shorts into the wider YouTube experience through, for instance, making it easy to find a full song after hearing a snippet of it in a Short.

And, on that music front, creators will have access to the music catalogues of over 250 labels and publishers including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, Believe, Merlin, 300 Entertainment, Kobalt, Beggars, CD Baby, Empire, Peer, Reservoir, OneRPM, and more.

The Shorts beta will gradually roll out to all YouTube users in the US over the next few weeks, but YouTube hasn’t given any indication as to when we can expect a wider rollout to more markets.

The post YouTube expands its TikTok rival to the US appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

BeIn Sports North America will utilise Dugout’s embed player, which will provide access to 3,500 videos from Dugout’s production team every month and tens of thousands of pre-existing archive videos. There will also be livestreamed content including pre- and post-match interviews and training session updates.

“The partnership with Dugout unlocks a wealth of extraordinary soccer footage for North American fans. Our loyal viewers are always hungry for new forms of entertainment and unique ways to engage with the game they’re passionate about,” said Juan Di Polo, Senior Digital Director at BeIN Sports North America. “Working with Dugout furthers BeIN Sports’ mission to be a destination for world-class sports content and we are glad to offer even more of this content to our growing fanbase through this partnership.”

BeIN Sports North America holds the rights to leagues and competitions including La Liga, Ligue 1, Turkish SüperLig, Copa Libertadores, and Copa Sudamericana.

“We’re extremely pleased to announce a partnership with such a high profile and well-regarded global publisher that has established deep roots with North America’s dedicated soccer fanbase,” said Elliot Richardson, Chairman and Co-founder of Dugout. “BeIN Sports’ audiences will gain access to hours of archive footage in addition to Dugout’s live-stream product, which work together to give audiences that electric feeling of being at the games, while having additional off-limits footage to provide a fuller fan experience.”

The post BeIN Sports inks video content partnership with Dugout appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

The deal will enable Meitu to monetise video ad inventory sold on its BeautyPlus, Beauty Cam, and Meitu Xiu Xiu platforms via SpotX’s supply side platform in the Asia Pacific region.

“There’s great demand for beauty editing tools outside of China, with over 30 per cent of our users from abroad, we’re seeing huge potential in markets like Indonesia and Thailand in terms of user growth and programmatic monetisation,” said Cyrion Wang, Head of Programmatic at Meitu. “With SpotX powering our video ad programmatic capabilities, we’re excited to offer a premium and engaged audience to video advertisers in the region.”

Meitu’s ‘selfie enhancement’ and social sharing apps are used by 250m users around the world each month. 112m of these users come from outside of China, with Indonesia and Thailand among its top markets.

“As consumer behaviour and trend change it is crucial for advertisers to understand their changing needs. SpotX’s partnership with Meitu is an exciting opportunity for brands to reach a generation of active social media users who express themselves with selfies and photos,” said Gavin Buxton, Asia Managing Director at SpotX. “We are thrilled to be selected to help scale Meitu’s video ad monetization capabilities and support their ambitious growth plans.”

The post Chinese beauty platform Meitu launches programmatic video ads appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

There has been much speculation about the intentions of several countries to ban the popular short-form video app over security concerns in recent weeks and months. In a bid to prevent that from happening, Microsoft has entered into talks with TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, about buying its US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand businesses.

“This new structure would build on the experience TikTok users currently love, while adding world-class security, privacy, and digital safety protections. The operating model for the service would be built to ensure transparency to users as well as appropriate security oversight by governments in these countries,” said Microsoft in a blog post. “Among other measures, Microsoft would ensure that all private data of TikTok’s American users is transferred to and remains in the United States.”

Microsoft and ByteDance have provided a notification to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) about their discussions. Microsoft is also exploring the possibility of inviting other US investors to take up minority stakes in any purchase.

The US government will continue to be a part of the discussions, with a hope of coming to a resolution with ByteDance by 15 September 2020.

There may also be least one other major company interested in picking up TikTok’s business, according to a Bloomberg report.

The post Microsoft confirms TikTok acquisition talks appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

The Creator Fund will start with the $70m investment in the first year but is expected to rise to at least $300m (£231m) within three years. TikTok will share more information about the fund over the coming weeks.

“The UKs creative impact is almost without parallel in terms of its variety and influence and our platform reflects this. Every day, people on TikTok all over the UK bring together video and music, sparking new trends or riffing on a theme. This mishmash of memes, songs and hashtags is not only taking a new genre of creativity to a wider audience but also influencing mainstream culture,” said Rich Waterworth, General Manager for TikTok Europe.

“The rich cultural diversity here is hard to rival and were excited about how the Creator Fund can help to further nurture the potential of a new generation of creative talent.”

The launch of the European fund comes just a week after TikTok announced its $200m US Creator Fund, which is expected to grow to over $1bn in the next three years. Both funds will provide an additional avenue for creators in the US and Europe to monetise their content.

TikTok already helps creators to earn from their content through its Creator Marketplace, where brands, agencies, and marketers can discover and engage with TikTok creators on paid campaigns.

The short-form video app also has its $50m Creative Learning Fund for emerging teachers on its platform in the US and the app’s live streams, which enable US creators to host live shows for their audience.

The post TikTok launches $70m fund for creators across Europe appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

49 per cent of marketing professionals, up from 40 per cent in 2019, are allocating more than 25 per cent of their budget to mobile, according to a survey of 596 EMEA marketing professionals conducted by Warc and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA).

Despite more marketers using more of their budgets on mobile, Covid-19 has made a significant dent in the amount of mobile budget available. Before the outbreak, 66 per cent of marketers were expecting their mobile budgets to rise over the next year. Now, just 39 per cent can say the same.

“The findings of this years survey reveal that despite reduced budgets bought on by Covid-19, mobile marketing remains the fastest growing channel providing opportunities, such as mobile video, e-commerce and gaming, for brands to effectively engage with consumers,” said Amy Rodgers, Managing Editor Research & Ranking at Warc.

These reduced budgets will, for the most part, be focused toward mobile video – where 50 per cent of mobile budgets, on average, will be allocated by marketers this year. With this focus, 75 per cent of marketers are paying significant attention to ad length and design for mobile-specific content. At the same time, mobile game advertising is predicted to grow alongside 5G advances and, by 2025, 48 per cent of marketers feel mobile-based branded content will be their main focus.

When it comes to types of advertising, mobile display is used in 25 per cent of ad campaigns and is the biggest focus of 2020 for 47 per cent of marketers. Paid search and mobile display now account for almost all of global mobile ad spend.

The post Mobile remains fastest growing ad channel despite Covid-19: report appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

On the Shoploop platform, all videos are shorter than 90 seconds, providing a way for users to quickly review products and help out those who may be interested in possibly buying certain items.

Once a user sees a product they like the look of, they can either save it to purchase later or click straight through to the seller’s website. Users can also follow their favourite creators and share videos on external apps.

Initially, Google is giving posting powers to content creators, publishers, and online store owners in the beauty industry. The platform is currently only optimised for mobile, but Google says it is working to bring Shoploop to desktop users ‘soon’.

Shoploop is the brainchild of Lax Poojary, who previously worked at Area 120 on travel planning platform Touring Bird.

The post Google launches video shopping app appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

AdColony surveyed more than 100 mobile publishers from around the world about monetisation and user experience. These publishers consisted of both gaming and non-gaming apps and had an average of 3m monthly average users.

“The Mobile Publishing Survey is a valuable insight into how publishers are making their money and which monetization methods work best for them,” said Liz Waldeck-Pinckert, director, client partnerships North America, at AdColony. “Knowing revenue from ads continues to rise, app developers can optimize their own monetization strategies to generate higher earnings. Advertisers can also use these survey results to optimize ad campaigns strategy to take advantage of the most popular and effective types like rewarded and interstitial video, and display.”

There are a number of different ways by which publishers can monetise their apps but by far the most popular are video ads and in-app purchases. 89 per cent of respondents said they use video ads, while 68 per cent utilise in-app purchases (IAPs). Display advertising came a distant third at almost half of those using IAPs (35 per cent).

The most effective monetisation methods are seen to be rewarded video ads, interstitial video ads, and interstitial display ads – the first two showing just why publishers opt for using video ads so heavily.

The true effectiveness of the methods used can, of course, only be highlighted by the amount of money each brings in. Overall, mobile app publishers estimate that advertising accounts for 63 per cent of total revenue on average – breaking down into 35 per cent coming from video, 21 per cent from display, and seven per cent from native. IAPs, despite being the second most popular way to monetise apps, sit behind display on 18 per cent.

However, when the publishers are separated into gaming and non-gaming, there are clear differences between the revenue splits.

Gaming apps see 63 per cent of their revenue, on average, come from advertising – with 44 per cent from video, 16 per cent from display, and three per cent from native. On the other hand, non-gaming apps make 66 per cent of their revenue from advertising – broken down into 27 per cent from video, 29 per cent from display, and 10 per cent from native.

Away from advertising, 29 per cent of gaming and 16 per cent of non-gaming revenue, respectively, is gained through IAPs and eCommerce. Interestingly, non-gaming apps also see 16 per cent of their revenue coming from installs and subscriptions, though just 19 per cent of all the mobile publishers surveyed use paid app downloads (17 per cent) and subscriptions (two per cent) to monetise their apps.

Nonetheless, it’s clear to see why 51 per cent of publishers are most excited by video ads – with the formats they are most excited about being interstitial video, interstitial display, and playable ads.

Meanwhile, rewarded video ads were found to have the biggest impact on user experience, followed by interstitial video, and interstitial display. 

The report also explores what publishers believe to be the key indicators of user quality, the avenues used to monetise through advertising, their use of programmatic, and more.

AdColony’s Mobile Publishing Survey 2020 can be viewed in full here.

The post Top publishers are relying on video ads for mobile monetisation: report appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.

Discovery and Axel Springer will retain a minority stake in Group Nine with Discovery as the lead investor. Group Nine intends to use the funds for continued IP investments across its brands, to fuel growth of its newly launched commerce division, and for potential acquisitions.

The collaboration with Discovery includes co-selling advertising campaigns across linear, mobile, and experiential. Group Nine has also previously produced social content for discovery for Shark Week and Inside the Royal Wedding.

“In a rapidly changing industry, it’s easy to get distracted,” said Ben Lerer, CEO of Group Nine. “Our commitment to executing on our original vision has been a real advantage that has allowed us to build best-in-class brands supported by a mature multi-brand infrastructure. This strong vote of confidence from our investors underscores the fact that we have the right model for a next generation diversified media company and we’re incredibly well-positioned to lean in – even while others are stepping back. More to come.”

The video publishing group, which is parent company to NowThis, The Dodo, Thrillist, and Seeker, was formed in December 2016 following an initial investment from Discovery of $100m. Now, The Dodo is the most engaged-with media brand on mobile in the world, NowThis is the most-viewed news brand on digital in the US, Seeker is the number one science brand on mobile in the US, and Thrillist is a top three publisher for food, drink, and travel in the US on mobile.

The post Group Nine secures $50m from Discovery and Axel Springer appeared first on Mobile Marketing Magazine.