NewFronts, which is now in its fourth year, is well on its way in New York. It’s a spin on the traditional TV upfronts, where digital companies from AOL to Yahoo share their insights across the eight day event. Here’s what’s happened so far:
The overarching theme after the first few days of presentation is that this is the era of choice with more video, content and TV and even more options about what to watch, where to watch it, and what to watch it on. All the major players are rushing to produce and market new content for digital video and the announcements so far at NewFronts have been impressive. They include Bloomberg which is rolling out a number of video experiences, including Responsive TV, a video content and ads offering; Yahoo which will offer 18 new series; and AOL who reiterated its commitment to creating original content announcing a hefty slate of original and co-produced programming and also a licensing distribution deal with NBCUniversal.
Conde Naste also got in on the act, announcing it is set to create more than 2,500 digital videos this year; and NPR, WBEZ and WNYC talked about how podcasting is having its moment with the medium being pushed as a slick ad revenue source. In one of the most clear examples of a traditional media company scrambling to invest in future platforms, Disney’s Maker Studios, a YouTube network that Disney bought last year for up to $950 million, also talked up their plans to focus on original digital content and programming based on the its owner’s Marvel division.
To me though what is most interesting about NewFronts is that the event is much more than a series of presentations – it’s a showcase of marketers’ confidence in digital investment. According to the second annual “Digital Content NewFronts: Digital Video Spend Study,” a survey of 305 buy-side professionals released by IAB, eight in 10 advertisers and agency executives who attended the 2014 NewFronts agreed that their participation resulted in more spending on original digital video content or motivated them to increase their 2015 budgets.
The study also found that the marketplace event has been directly responsible for driving more than a third (36%) of buy-side attendees’ spend on original digital video advertising over the past 12 months. And more than two-thirds (68%) of marketers and agency executives expect to see their digital video ad budgets increase in the next 12 months
This same survey also reported that television is replacing television – that is to say funds are shifting from broadcast and cable to television in its new digital video format. Two-thirds of marketers and agency executives (67%) were reported to believe that original digital video will become as important as original TV programming within the next three to five years. In order to close the gap between digital video and TV programming, both groups will be looking for digital to demonstrate its ability to develop effective sales and branding opportunities, and produce metrics that are consistent with TV.
But with this increase in spend, comes an increased need to address some of the key sticking points for digital advertising. The first of these is that clearer standards are needed to guide the transition. It also highlights a need for new ad solutions and technologies; and new standards for content discovery. One of the more interesting ad solutions outlined is Target’s testing of a new type of mobile video ad—dubbed Kapsule—from ad company Kargo. As readers on websites like Extra TV and Hollywood Reporter scroll down the screen, a sponsored video player slides out of the right side of the page to recommend related content. It will be interesting to learn the results of the trial and explore other uses of the technology.
There’s still much more to be announced at the NewFronts so stay posted for more updates.
By Alice Manners
CEO at IAB Australia