Andy Plesser

While the 30 second pre-roll remains the dominant form of online video advertising, the medium is inexorably becoming more interactive, says Steve Robinson, CEO of Panache, the Los Angeles-based software company which is creating new forms of video ad units for major publishers.

In November, Verizon FiOS announced a substantial increase in connection speed to 150 MBPS down and 35 MBPS up for all of its 12.5 million U.S. subscribers. 

Like them or not, online videos with pre-roll ads can't be stopped, fast forwarded or skipped.  At least until now when MTV debuted an ad for Samsung which can be, well,  fast forwarded.

Subscribers to Verizon FiOS TV now have the ability to download a range of premium video to rent or buy onto several devices including Windows PC's, the Blackberry Storm2, HTC HD2, Motorola Droid 2 and Droid X.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass — With its acquisition of ON2 and its video codec VP8,  Google is seeking to establish a unified, industry-wide codec for publishers to create HTML5 video.

NEW YORK — Yahoo will significantly increase its original video offering in 2011 with a new business show on Yahoo Finance,  scripted entertainment programming and with news video in a number of vertical areas, say Erin McPhearson, VP & Head of Originals and Video Programming, Yahoo! in this video interview with Beet.TV

SAN FRANCISCO –  Livestream, the New York-based live webcast platform, had 2.9 million unique viewers in the United States in October, consuming 137 million video views, according to comScore.

MONACO — KickApps, the New York-based online video platform, known for helping publishers with video integration into social networks, is integrating its player/platform with NBC Universal for all its online video — both its destination sites and for syndication, says CEO Alex Blum in this exclusive interview with Beet.TV.

LONDON — Videoplaza, a growing online video advertising solution provider, which recently moved headquarters from Stockholm to London, has announced an expansion in France with a partnership with M6, a major national broadcaster.

MONACO — The digital properties of the BBC Worldwide have been quickly growing, up 18 percent over the past twelve months to 65 million unique visitors in October, according to comScore.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Merton, the American singer/piano player, whose videos on YouTube have garnered over 20 million views, has found a way to parlay his fame into a paying gig with a series of piano improv performances at several U.K. airports and other public venues, sponsored by T-Mobile.

SAN FRANCISCO –  StumbleUpon, the big content referral engine, in which new content discoveries aka "stumbles" are referred to others, is moving directly into video discovery with a new video player and strategy.

MONACO — In an effort to track video consumption of users who view video online, on TV and via mobile, comScore is organizing a global panel of 25,000.

With its small, one-pound box priced from $60 to $100 depending on features, Roku is the “value leader” in the connected living room, says company spokesperson Brian Jaquet in this interview with Beet.TV

The Chinese government, which had been thought for some time to have been the source of the hacking of Google’s servers, leading to Google’s departure from China, was directed by China’s Politburo, according to diplomatic cables disclosed today by Wikileaks. 

MONACO — Bing, the search engine from Microsoft has made "amazing headway" in the battle with Google for market share through "structured data," says Esther Dyson in this interview with Beet.TV

MONACO — A small start-up from Copenhagen, 23 Video, has launched globally its online video platform. 

Digitalsmiths, company which creates metadata around video images, has acquired Gotuit, a company which produces human metadata authoring, the companies announced today.

Ran Harnevo, whose video syndication business 5Min was purchased by AOL in October for a reported $65 million, will head the growing online video operation at AOL, the company announced today.

MONACO — VivaKi, the umbrella for the digital agencies of the Publicis Groupe, has been rapidly expanding the implementation of its online video advertising platform globally.