FreeWheel European Summit, Cologne, 2016

COLOGNE — Over the last year, we have reported how Belgian quad-play operator Proximus is trying to balance its broadband and TV subscribers’ customer experience with offering better ad targeting to clients. Now the outfit is ready to find out how well that balance can work, by lighting up a new addressable TV ad offering for Proximus TV, […]

COLOGNE — It’s no wonder MTG’s VOD service looks so slick. After all, the Swedish media company’s Play catch-up TV offering is based in Stockholm, whose digital designers have created brands like Spotify and beyond. Now MTG’s pan-Scandinavian, free Play is changing the way it monetizes the multi-platform application. “We’re transitioning that sale model from a direct sales […]

COLOGNE — When programmatic ad trading burst on to the scene, it was as a mechanism to allow real-time, automated buying of lower-value auction ads. But times are changing. In fact, the needs of broadcasters dictate as much. They don’t want to give up their inventory to lack of control and poor returns. So technology vendors […]

COLOGNE-Being a big ship that cannot turn quickly is not a ship you want to be piloting when it comes to technology platforms, according to Diane Yu, CTO and one of three co-founders of premium video solutions provider FreeWheel. Unless you are agile enough to grow while anticipating all customers’ demands, “You then fall behind […]

COLOGNE — For some, it’s the holy grail of television – the ability to reach individual TV viewers with customized messages, overcoming the inefficiencies of mass reach. But is this advanced TV advertising all it’s cracked up to be? For Jon Heller, the opportunity is a mixed bag. “It’s a double-edged sword,” the co-founder of video ad-tech vendor FreeWheel tells Beet.TV […]

COLOGNE — Now that Sky’s German and Italian operations are part of the same Sky Europe entity, the continental outposts’ activities are benefitting from technology developments led by the pay-TV and telco company’s UK division. Case in point – Sky Deutschland is now enabling dynamically-inserted ads – a technology which allows broadcasters to swap out default ads […]

COLOGNE-As it gains traction around the globe following its acquisition by FreeWheel, StickyADS.tv is preparing to release a solution to facilitate the competitive separation of ads. Meanwhile, its CEO & Co-Founder sees technology that makes video ad blocking more difficult as providing a stepping stone to linear programmatic television. In an interview with Beet.TV at […]

COLOGNE-Most newspaper publishers might be satisfied with regularly selling out their digital video inventory via good old-fashioned direct sales, particularly if they’ve managed to survive for well over 100 years. Nonetheless, Italy’s RCS MediaGroup sees the importance of programmatic sales to help monetize video content in a rapidly changing media landscape, said Simone Branca, Head […]

COLOGNE-A year ago, headlines abounded in advertising and media circles about the impending death of television and a skepticism about brand marketers’ need for premium video. “Fast forward 12 months to today and the headlines are literally the exact opposite,” says James Rooke, Chief Revenue Officer at FreeWheel. Rooke cites two main reasons for the […]

COLOGNE-Irish public broadcaster RTÉ took the plunge into native branded content several months ago to provide a more immersive experience for advertisers like the Irish Tourism Board. But as the broadcaster continues to expand its reach across devices, it faces the same gremlin as its competitors: accurate audience measurement. “We’re primarily a broadcaster and we’ve […]

COLOGNE-While few marriages are actually made in heaven, the union of FreeWheel and StickyADS.tv comes pretty close. On the eve of FreeWheel’s European summit, Co-Founder and Co-CEO Doug Knopper prefers to call his company’s acquisition of StickyADS.tv a “partnership” that melds the best of direct and programmatic premium video sales and provides a much broader […]

COLOGNE — The UK may be preparing to leave Europe, but UK satellite TV platform and ISP Sky is heading farther in to combining its European business and uniting advertisers’ opportunities, across multiple screens and across the continent. The company, which is the UK’s leading pay-TV provider, has satellite addressable TV system AdSmart and cross-platform ad sequencing system AdVance under […]