Andy Plesser

Carlos Slim, the Mexican billionaire, has made a $40 million investment in Shazam, the U.K.-based software company, Reuters reported earlier today.  The company identifies music and television programming via the microphone on a mobile device and displays related information on an App.  It has been growing quickly with broadcasters and advertisers seeing to be part […]

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, NJ –  CNBC’s production and syndication of video clips has been primarily segments of the the network’s live programming.  That is expanding with the introduction of slate of Web only video programs, says Kevin Krim SVP/GM at at CNBC Digital in this interview with Beet.TV Some of the original Web programming is being […]

The fast-emerging landscape around the automated buying and selling video advertising will be the focus of a three-hour Beet.TV leadership summit on Wednesday, July 10 in Chicago at the global headquarters of VivaKi, a unit of the Paris-based Publicis Groupe. Headlining the event is Kurt Unkel who is president of products and services at VivaKi […]

MOUGINS, France –  The choice of video consumption is not dictated by devices but around genres, like music says Nigel Walley, managing director of the London-based media research firm Decipher, in this interview with Beet.TV. Walley references a research project concluded recently for YuMe.  We spoke with him last month at YuMe event hosted by […]

TubeMogul, the video advertising technology platform that provides solutions to agencies and brands who buy media through electronic exchanges, is seeing nearly half its growth overseas with accelerated activity in Asia, says Brett Wilson, CEO of the Emeryville, California-based company, in this interview with Beet.TV We sat down with him recently to talk about growth […]

ENGLEWOOD CLIFF, NJ – CNBC has launched  its live, linear programming for the desktop.   It can be watched by subscribers to several of the largest cable and satellite operators in the United States including Cablevision, Comcast, DISH and Verizon.  This “first phase” of the service launched last month. Viewing via the desktop, notably in […]

CANNES – The automated buying and selling of advertising inventory is quickly growing and will soon involve linear television ad sales, say Jay Sears, GM of the REVV Buyer unit of the Rubicon Project.   We spoke with him earlier this month at the Cannes Lions festival where he moderated a roof-top session with most of […]

CANNES –  While the move to automated platforms for buying and selling advertising inventory is steadily growing, the industry needs to find a more effective way to measure how all that activity is creating value and impacting brands, says Michael Brunick, SVP for Programmatic at IPG’s Magna Global, in this interview with Beet.TV. He said […]

The launch of TouchCast is part of the inevitable  evolution of the Web into a  video-centric and interactive medium,  says co-founder Edo Segal, a technology entrepreneur and former AOL exec who is a co-founder of TouchCast. Users of the free App can create videos with various interactive elements inserted into the video.  Viewers can interact  […]

TouchCast, a New York-based start-up,  has  launched an App for the iPad that allows content creators to use the tablet to record, edit and produce multimedia video.   A “TV studio in the box,” is how co-founder Erick Schonfeld describes the company’s offering.   Beyond editing, the the App allows users to import live feeds into the […]

CANNES – AOL has an agreement with video discovery engine Taboola to increase video views both on and off AOL properties, explains Ran Harnevo, SVP for Video at AOL, in this video interview with Beet.TV taped last week at Cannes Lions. We caught up with him in AOL’s roof-top suite of the Majestic Hotel where […]

CANNES – While so called “native advertising,” meaning advertising messages integrated into what might appear as editorial content, is growing as publishers seek new sources of revenues, there is a danger that such content can diminish a brand’s editorial standing, says James Cooper, Editorial Director of Adweek, in this interview with Beet.TV. Cooper cites BuzzFeed […]

In a development which seeks to merge the buying of television and digital video, video ad tech platform TubeMogul has announced a new product called BrandPoint which allows ad buyers to move to a unified approach to buying media based on GRP’s or gross ratings points. For an overview on the new product and the […]

CANNES – While there has been a big movement to buying and selling digital advertising through automated exchanges at agency trading desks, several “premium” publishers are looking to trade in a more closed, private exchange scenario, where they have more control over their inventory and pricing. VivaKi’s Audience on Demand unit is expanding its private […]

CANNES – With Connect technology part of the new Xbox One device, which has many millions of users, Microsoft has presented a “real game changer” to the media world with many possibilities says Norm Johnston, chief digital office for Mindshare Worldwide, the big global media unit of WPP’s GroupM. We spoke with him on Thursday […]

CANNES – While the move to automated systems of buying and selling advertising inventory is inevitable, the ad agency trading desks and the holding companies need to do a much better job in creating technical and business standards around the emerging electronic marketplace, says Randall Rothenberg, CEO of the IAB, the digital publishing industry’s trade […]

CANNES –  With the success of the HuffPost Live,  a 12-hour live interactive video program, parent company AOL  be will doing more live shows around both day-part programs and special events on its home page, says Susan Lyne, CEO of the Brand Group, at AOL. The veteran television executive explains that a confluence of forces, […]

CANNES – Video will becoming increasingly delivered via a highly personalized “streams,” explains Erin McPherson who heads video at Yahoo, in this interview with Beet.TV.   She explains the importance of the Summly integration — along with the the streaming delivery of content. Scale is high on the agenda, with an eye on greater, more diverse […]

CANNES – Michael Kassan, CEO of the LA/NY-based  MediaLink, a highly influential media and technology consulting firm,  has emerged as one of the Cannes Lion’s most important players, hosting the the week’s most in-demand party and programming five days of sessions in the convention center, principally with the firm’s clients. We spoke with Kassan this week […]

CANNES – Mariane Pearl,  who is spearheading a global advocacy group for woman called Chime for Change, will launch a global news site about women with correspondents from locations around the globe, she says in this interview with Beet.TV.  She will serve as managing editor. She says that the organization is growing quickly and raised more […]