Digital Content NewFronts

Microsoft unveiled a slate of new programs for its Xbox gaming console at its NewFront event yesterday and several of shows provide user interactivity.   At the event, we spoke with Scott Ferris, GM of Video Advertising at Microsoft about the new slate, its anticipated appeal for a gaming-oriented audience and the opportunities for advertisers. […]

AOL is touting 16 new video series to advertisers at its 2014 NewFronts event in Brooklyn. Leading the slate, Making A Scene With James Franco will see the actor-director and friends re-make much-loved scenes from old movies. “They’re going to re-do them with a twist – it’s going to be highly social,” AOL’s video president […]

AOL says it will become the first digital publisher to use Nielsen’s TV metrics to quantify its video shows for advertisers – a move that may expose it to comparatively lowly perception by comparison but which could allow it to seek a slice of the $70 billion US TV industry. “We are the first non-TV-originated […]

Ze Frank, the pioneering video blogger and performance artist  who joined BuzzFeed 18 months ago, is running a Los Angeles-based studio that is producing videos that getting 150 million monthly views.   (That number was shared on stage at the BuzzFeed NewFront event by Jonathan Perelman, GM for video.) We spoke with him at the […]

New York Times media and culture and columnist David Carr has been in the forefront of innovative video creation at The New New York Times for about nine years. We caught up with him after The New York Times NewFronts presentation yesterday. He talks with Beet.TV about his approach to video:  keeping it simple and […]

The New York Times is expanding its video production  with some 30 series and has syndication relationships  in place with AOL, YouTube, NDN and Yahoo.  Now it is has a joint production project with a big partner in IAC’s Vimeo, says Rebecca Howard, General Manager of Video at The New York Times, in this interview […]

The two-weeks of presentations in New York of digital video offerings by publishers in what is called the Digital Content NewFronts, is emerging as “futures” market for video buying, akin to TV’s Up Fronts, says Scott Ferber, CEO of video ad tech company Videology, in this interview with Beet.TV He says both the TV and […]

Notwithstanding all the pageantry and hype around the two weeks of presentations by the digital publishers for what is called  the Digital Content NewFronts, there will be deals.  What had been an industry showcase, has become a marketplace, says Michael Kassan, CEO of powerhouse media consultancy MediaLink in this interview with Beet.TV We spoke with […]

Akin to the early days of cable when it a new medium, digital video is emerging as both a cultural force and business, says Randall Rothenberg, CEO of the IAB, the trade association for digital publishers, in this interview with Beet.TV He expects that the two weeks of digital video presentations, called the Digital Content […]

When the Digital Content New Fronts launched in 2008, the medium was Web original video for the desktop.   Fast forward to the revolution in multi-screen consumption —  now the medium is TV-like and that’s a huge opportunity for the industry, explains Erika Nardini, CMO of AOL Advertising, in this video interview with Beet.TV Monday […]

The vision of AOL video chief  Ran Harnevo of a giant, efficient marketplace for video publishers and content creators, which he first launched in Tel Aviv in 2007 with a company called  5Min, and was acquired in 2010 by AOL, has substantially expanded with the today’s news of Microsoft’s MSN becoming the newest distribution platform for […]

CANNES — Video companies are lagging behind what is now a massive consumer appetite for digital programming, according to one online exec. “In Q1, we saw somewhere north of 16 billion video views,” Jon Heller, whose company FreeWheel manages video for media clients, told Beet.TV in this video interview. “What we’ve seen is untapped volume. […]

Digitas has struck a deal with Huffington Post for its real-time branded content newsroom platform BrandLIVE that should help marketers move quickly in earned media, says Anne-Marie Kline, senior VP of marketing at Digitas during an interview with Beet.TV at the recent Digital Content NewFronts.

AOL announced 15 new shows for AOL On channels at the AOL NewFront 2013. Gabriel Lewis, head of AOL Studios, says they “wanted to focus on short-form, docu-style series that really were focused on a particular perspective or talent or point of view, that when you finished watching it, the world was a more interesting […]

In conjunction with its Feed the Beat program, Taco Bell is producing a fan-made rockumentary from this year’s South by Southwest music festival, focusing on bands Passion Pit and Wildcat! Wildcat! Beet.TV spoke with Amy Kavanaugh, vice president of public affairs and engagement at Taco Bell, about this novel way of reaching consumers. “What we […]

The growth of consumer-TV program interaction via platforms like Twitter reenforces consumers’ demand for “two-way communication,” and advertisers are finally starting to embrace it, says Bob Lord, global CEO of Razorfish, a digital marketing industry. Content and technology are coming together at the 2013 NewFronts in interesting ways, says Lord. “You’re starting to see a […]

Kiip, a mobile rewards app, allows brands to connect with consumers by surprising them with tangible rewards for things they do already in the virtual space, like playing a game, logging a run or completing a to-do list. Beet.TV spoke with Kiip Founder and CEO Brian Wong in this video interview at the Digitas NewFront 2013 […]

News consumption is inexorably moving to mobile devices and New York-based start-up “NowThisNews” is making important strides in creating a mobile-first video news platform says veteran publisher Eric Hippeau,  managing director of  VC firm Lerer Ventures, an early investor in NowThis News.  Today, Lerer and other investors announced they would provide $4.8 million in new […]

Honesty, transparency and authenticity are the new trends in advertising, says Lincoln Bjorkman, chief creative officer of Digitas North America, during an interview with Beet.TV at the Digitas NewFront 2013 in New York. “We’re finding for all brands, yes, you can navigate legal; you can navigate budgets; you can navigate all the different things in your organization out in the […]

NEW YORK – Harley-Davidson has turned to customers for creative ideas by relying on crowdsourcing, says Mark-Hans Richer, global chief marketing officer for Harley-Davidson during an interview with Beet.TV at the Digitas NewFront 2013 in New York. “You can say you are close to customers, but how much control are you keeping for yourselves and how much […]