Digital Content NewFronts

The digital advertising world is striving to get over the recent realisation that a large percentage of purchased inventory may never actually be in-view to real human consumers. But, whilst so-called “viewability” is a rating that has reared its head in digital channels, the idea that other media boasted totally viewable ads is a fallacy. […]

The media business continues going through a tumultuous period of creative destruction – but, in the throes of risk, there is also an opportunity for creation and renewal. That is the view of Bloomberg Media’s digital head, as he sets about rebooting TV news through an upcoming partnership with Twitter. “We’re in a tough time,” Scott […]

Condé Nast has decided that while text and images will remain at its roots, video storytelling is the publisher’s path to the future. “Video has to be the core medium by which we tell our stories,” says Jim Norton, Chief Business Officer and President of Revenue. Given its significant investments in premium video to date […]

One big takeaway from the 2017 Digital Content NewFronts on which both buyers and sellers can agree is that “What we’ve been calling digital video has now become a completely mainstream consumer medium,” notes Randy Rothenberg. “The industry is at a complete inflection point. We know that this is big not in the future but […]

Months in the making, Hulu chose the Digital Content NewFronts – a showcase for online publishers to tout their wares to advertisers – to unveil its new live TV service, promising consumers a way to cut their cable cord whist continuing to receive premium TV channels. The company launched the new service in beta on a number […]

If anyone could discern a possible sea change in the formerly one-day event called the NewFront it would be Michael Kassan. The Chairman and CEO of strategic advisory and business development firm MediaLink witnessed its birthing by Digitas and has become an integral player as the event morphed over the years. And so it is […]

While some news organizations struggle for credibility and survival, Bloomberg Media keeps investing in and growing its portfolio of products across all platforms. These include its impending, 24/7 news service with Twitter, the Bloomberg Lens offering, Bloomberg Trigger for advertisers and its OTT presence in Apple TV. “Personally I think there’s never been a more […]

Twitter’s first-ever NewFronts presentation, in which a raft of new live-streaming and premium original programming deals were unveiled, takes the company further along a particular path: taking two-screen experiences to one screen “in a way that no one else can,” according to CMO Leslie Berland. The company announced a dozen new collaborations for hundreds of […]

Twitter’s new partnership with Bloomberg for 24-hour, live news reporting gets a big thumbs up from Bank of America. “I really believe that this is as good as a combination of chocolate and peanut butter. This may be the Reese’s peanut butter cup moment for the media industry,” says the banking giant’s SVP, Enterprise Media […]

As skinny television bundles proliferate, so does Awesomeness, which on May 20 kicks off an original series in a deep, multilayered partnership with youth-oriented retailer Hollister. “We think that it is an amazing time to be a premium content provider,” says Awesomeness Chief Business Officer Kelly Day. Given that many brands are looking to connect […]

In the three years since it was formed, The New York Times’ sponsored content production agency T Brand Studio has made plenty of custom creative work for clients – now it wants to more tightly integrate its newsroom with the offering. “The big shift this year was… if you look back at the the last three […]

It’s not often a company sees its share price rise despite reporting a fall in revenue. But that’s what happened to Twitter last week. On Wednesday, the social network company reported Q1 2017 revenue down 24% on the prior year – and yet, Twitter’s share price is up nearly 20% at time of writing. What’s behind […]

As brands aim to strike the balance between acting as advertisers and publishers, the one rule of thumb is authenticity. That’s the key to producing both content for new digital channels, as well as ads, says Marisa Thalberg, Chief Marketing Officer at Taco Bell, who assumed the CMO post at Taco Bell earlier this year. “It’s not […]

Academy award-nominated documentarian Morgan Spurlock could be dubbed the king of the Digital Content NewFronts after having presented numerous new shows in past NewFronts  Last week, he unveiled ambitious plans for two new series, one for Refinery29 with Maker Studio and another project with Time Inc. We spoke with him after his panel on Thursday at the Digitas […]

With the inclusion of the podcast app in newer iPhone, and the success of series like Serial, podcasts are enjoying  rapid growth, says Ira Glass, the public radio veteran and producer of This American Life. We spoke with Glass last week at the Digitas NewFronts where he pitched the marketing value of podcasts to a […]

At the Digitas NewFronts event on Thursday in Manhattan, the message to marketers was direct and cautionary: In the era of consumer choice and ad blocking, if you don’t successfully engage, “you die.” You become “invisible.” The theme of the Digitas NewFronts was titled “Skip Ads.” At the event, we spoke with Tony Weisman, CEO of […]

For AOL, the NewFront was more than a slate of new original video shows, it was an integrated offering of both media and technology with its programmatic platform, explains Jim Norton, Global Head, Media Sales at AOL in this inteview at the AOL NewFront. Norton says that while automation is bringing efficiencies to the marketplace, quality content is […]

As part of its new slate of web originals unveiled at its NewFront, AOL is reading three documentary series for its marquis brands Engadget, TechCrunch and Huffington Post.  For explanation of the series’ content and format, we interviewed Nate Hayden, VP for Originals and Branded Content. Hayden also talks about the changing form factor for […]

Digital video, once a sort of outlier in the media landscape whose value had to be “justified,” is now fully integrated as part of an agency’s digital buy.  Moreover, the value proposition has been greatly enhanced with audience planning and buying tool which allow planners to target buys to the individual, says Michael Lampert, SVP […]

David Pogue, a Yahoo tech columnist and prolific video blogger, who is also  a host of PBS’s “Nova” series, says that Yahoo will join WGBH Boston, as co-producers of a series on wearable health tech titled “Your Tech.” The six month collaboration was announced at the Yahoo NewFront.  At the event, we spoke with Pogue about the […]