You might be asking, what is performance-based video advertising?  To us, it means several things.  First and foremost, it means our advertisers should always see a measurable return on their advertising investment.  While that means generating sales and leads for many customers; for many others, it means measuring and optimizing spend against other metrics such as clicks, % of how much of their video ad is viewed, brand awareness, purchase intent, coupon downloads, interactions and the list goes on.

To achieve measurable returns, SpotXchange has always had a focus on empowering advertisers to eliminate as much waste from campaigns as possible, while enabling them to optimize campaigns in real-time as performance data is revealed and analyzed.  SpotXchange offers a number of unique capabilities that enable us and our customers to focus on performance:

• Exchange-based Marketplace – Exchanges are one of the most efficient ways to buy and sell anything.  SpotXchange’s exchange-based marketplace allows publishers to set their asking price, and allows advertisers to easily purchase ultra-targeted inventory at the price that works for them.
• 25/7 Rule – SpotXchange only charges advertisers when 25% of the video or 7 seconds is viewed by the consumer.
• Real-time Optimization – Like sponsored search platforms, SpotXchange tools enable real-time changes to campaigns based on performance metrics.
• Full Client Services Free of Charge & 24/7 Self-Service Tools – SpotXchange will provide a dedicated client services team to manage advertisers’ campaigns at no charge.  Additionally, clients can access their campaigns any time to manage campaigns and check real-time reports through SpotXchange’s self-service advertiser tools.
• Fully Transparent Marketplace – SpotXchange is the only video ad network that allows you to target specific publishers within the marketplace.  Advertisers know exactly where their ads play and how many times their ads played on those publishers when targeting specific publishers.
• Advanced Targeting – Advertisers can also target across the SpotXchange network using a variety of highly advanced targeting technologies including behavioral, retargeting, de-targeting, geo-targeting, contextual, frequency capping, and day parting.
• Frequency Cap Management – Advertisers can set how many times they would like to show their ad to a specific consumer in any given period of time.
• No Ad Serving Fees - SpotXchange will serve advertisers’ video ads and banners for absolutely nothing.
• Third Party Ad Server Compatibility – SpotXchange can also serve video ads from any third party ad platforms such as DoubleClick and Atlas.
• Flexible Terms – CPM, CPC & CPA – A dynamic exchange-based marketplace gives SpotXchange the flexibility to accommodate any business model for advertisers.  Those that perform best will get the most traffic, and those that do not will receive less traffic.
• No Spending Limits – Purchase as much as or as little inventory as you want.  There are no spending minimums on SpotXchange.  Try it out and expand campaigns as they perform.
• No 24 Hour Out Clauses – We actually call it our 24 Second out clause.  Log into the tools, select the campaign, and deactivate the target that is not working for you.
• Direct Integration with All Publishers – SpotXchange is directly integrated with all of our publishers.  We rarely ‘rep’ a campaign.  This means we have control over every aspect of your campaign, which allows us to provide services like real-time optimization.
• Free Video Ad Creation Services - Securing appropriate video ad creative can be challenging for even TV advertisers. As such, SpotXchange will provide free video ad creation services to advertisers. Just send us all of your other creative like logos, banners, scripts, and other creative assets. SpotXchange will create a video ad complete with professional voiceover at no additional cost.
• Proprietary & Patent-Pending Ad Technology – Unlike many display and video ad networks, SpotXchange operates on own proprietary and patent-pending technology. Many ad networks use Atlas, DoubleClick or have a seat on the Right Media Exchange. Not SpotXchange. We own and control all of the technology. This allows us to drive our own product planning based on our customers’ needs. We aren’t dependent upon others to dictate what we can and cannot offer to our advertisers.

Click here to learn more about what it means to advertise on SpotXchange.

SpotXchange publishers benefit from a competitive marketplace as well.  By combining a competitive auction-based marketplace with powerful video ads, advanced targeting and real-time ad calls, publishers can maximize the value of their unsold inventory.  Click here to learn more about the benefits of becoming a SpotXchange publisher.

Over the past two years, we’ve run hundreds of campaigns for large multinational brands, to small local businesses.  In so many instances, our customers told us that SpotXchange performed the best for them.  We’ve sold tens of thousands of pizzas, subscribed thousands of people to satellite TV services, engaged tens of millions of housewives to interact with CPG ads, sent hundreds of thousands of young males to DVD release web sites, and the list goes on.  If you are planning a video ad campaign, no matter how big or small, you should contact a SpotXchange sales rep (sales@spotxchange.com) to see for yourself how your video ad campaigns can really perform.

Mike Shehan, CEO

SpotXchange

Mike’s quote:

But change is inevitable, and it’s fueling the growth of the casual games business. Mike Shehan, founder and CEO of SpotXchange said, “The money is moving in only one direction.” His company auctions video-based advertising on games sites, with, he said, theatricals increasingly keen on online because movies studios wants their ads to be seen by targeted audiences and “nothing targets as effectively as online games”. Portals are becoming ever more effective at knowing who is playing their games, and what sorts of products they like.

To read the full article, click here:  http://www.casualgaming.biz/news/28953/OPINION-Casual-Connects

With the standards now approved and in place, marketers and agency buyers can include preroll video advertising in their media plans and have accountability just as they would for traditional media. Preroll video advertising can now be evaluated on an apples to apples basis with television on both a national and local level.

When compared to television advertising, all preroll video advertising purchased through SpotXchange will give the buyer much more accountability in the following metrics:
1) how many unique viewers were reached
2) frequency capping for each piece of creative by viewer
3) real time optimization by creative by site based on ad playrate, ctr and conversions
4) re-targeting viewers based on their interaction or lack of interaction with the ad
5) target in-market buyers for auto’s, home goods, consumer electronics and many more product categories.

As a contributing member of the IAB’s DVC, SpotXchange would be happy to review all standards with you and answer any questions you may have. Here are brief descriptions for each of the 4 major standard initiatives and links to the full document.

1) A Digital Video Advertising Overview
This document serves as a high level introduction to the digital video ecosystem and defines in-stream(pre-roll), in-banner and in-text ad units.
http://www.iab.net/media/file/dv-report-v3.pdf

2) Digital Video In-Stream Ad Format Guidelines and Best Practices
This document defines the creative sizes and advertising specs that video sites can offer advertisers. These guidelines simplify operational aspects of creating and delivering pre-roll ads.
http://www.iab.net/media/file/IAB-Video-Ad-Format-Standards.pdf

3) Digital Video In-Stream Ad Metrics Definitions
This document defines additional non-currency in-stream metrics such as playrate and completion rate for all sites. This will allow buyers to receive common reporting metrics from multiple media partners that are consistent.
http://www.iab.net/media/file/DV_In-Stream_Metrics_Definitions.pdf

4) Digital Video Ad Serving Template (VAST)
VAST establishes a standard way for ad servers to respond to video player ad requests. VAST supports linear video ads, non-linear overlay ads, and companion banners, thus matching the formats specification previously released.
http://www.iab.net/media/file/VAST_1_11_FINAL.pdf

Happy New Year to you!

Brightcove Inc. today announced that SpotXchange is participating in the Brightcove Alliance, a global ecosystem of leading technology and distribution partners who have integrated with the Brightcove online video platform, as well as solution providers building customer websites and video applications using Brightcove. Through the Brightcove Alliance, organizations worldwide have access to a broad range of expert partners, pre-integrated technologies and services to support online video initiatives of any size and scope in every market. 

This partnership will provide Brightcove customers seamless integration with the SpotXchange Marketplace where they can efficiently monetize their unsold video ad inventory. Advertisers within the SpotXchange Marketplace compete for opportunity to have their ads run against inventory made available by participating Publishers. Rather than letting inventory go unsold, publishers can make real-time calls to SpotXchange requesting ads that meet the precise specifications (set in advance by each publisher). SpotXchange will then return any ads, in order from highest to lowest CPM, that meet the publisher’s quality and targeting criteria.

SpotXchange is profiled on Brightcove as an advertising partner here:  http://www.brightcove.com/partners/technology-partners/advertising/spotxchange/

What: SpotXchange President/CEO Michael Shehan will participate in the panel, Internet Video, Advertising & Marketing: The Next Generation of Consumer Reach at Digital Hollywood at CES in Las Vegas on January 10, 2009.

Shehan and fellow panelists will discuss where consumer reach is headed as online video becomes a part of the marketing mix.

SpotXchange demonstrations and interviews with Shehan can be arranged prior to the event.

Where: Digital Hollywood at CES
Las Vegas Convention Center
Las Vegas, Nevada

Who: Michael Shehan Founder, President, Chief Executive Officer, SpotXchange

When: Internet Video, Advertising & Marketing: The Next Generation of Consumer Reach
Saturday, January 10, 2009
12 to 1 p.m.

Contact: Valerie Quintanilla
SpotXchange
Valerie@booyahnetworks.com
303.345.6623

About SpotXchange
In 2007 and 2008, the SpotXchange patent-pending online video advertising platform received the Streaming Media Readers’ Choice Award for BEST VIDEO AD PLATFORM. The company was spun off from Colorado-based digital marketing and technology company, Booyah Networks in March 2007. Booyah Networks ranked 23rd on the 2006 Inc. 500. Clients and partners include Clip Syndicate, Lycos, TVU, Pando, Voxant, Slingo, NeoEdge, United Press International and others.

With Election Day less than two weeks away, there still remains a large contingency of undecided voters. Many marketing channels are available to reach them, but what channel is going to be the most effective for candidates in terms of getting votes? Traditionally, television gets most of the budget during the entire election cycle. No doubt, TV is a powerful medium because of its reach and its ability to engage at an emotional level with pictures and sound. But are political media buyers missing a big opportunity by not utilizing the full resources of online video advertising? I think that presidential, gubernatorial, and ballot initiative campaigns can reach and engage swing voters in these final days at an even greater level via online video advertising because it allows for not only localized reach, but most importantly, it allows personalized reach.

Personalized messaging. The old adage is that all politics are local. The thinking here is that people in the same locale usually have the same concerns and issues. In some respects, this logic really isn’t flawed. However, in a world that grows smaller with ever increasing forms of communication, locale becomes less relevant.

Collectively, Americans want the best for our country. But, individually we each bring a unique perspective into the voting box. We are at different places in our lives and reside all over the country. Regardless of the fact that I live in Colorado, my concerns may be more in line with a steelworker in Pennsylvania, a mother in Idaho, or a tech executive in Silicon Valley, than with my neighbors. Therefore it may be more accurate to say that all politics are personal.

Online video advertising combines the best of TV advertising (the power of pictures and sound) with the best of interactive advertising. Video advertising enables political media buyers to combine context, locale and behavior with unique messaging. It may scare some people, but it is actually quite fascinating what can be done online from a targeting perspective. Reaching people based on their demographic profile (e.g. age, sex, education, etc.) is fairly standard. But now marketers can also target people based on intent and behavioral patterns such as what they’ve searched for, what sites they’ve visited, what they’ve done on those sites, and what they’ve purchased. It’s anonymous, but it’s powerful nonetheless.

For example, perhaps the Obama campaign knows that you’ve visited the Obama site and that you’ve checked out his plan for small businesses. He doesn’t know who you are, but he could tag you with a cookie, and retarget you on other sites with video pre-roll messages about how Obama will try to help small businesses.

From a targeting perspective the options are limitless. It’s important for political media planners to ensure that the messaging matches up with the target, though. It doesn’t have to be time consuming and costly to create variations of the ads that speak to different voters. Campaign managers can easily create ads using the same video, but change the voiceover. Or they can even just adjust the creative of the companion banner if changing the video is too cumbersome.

Damage control. Online video advertising can even be an effective tool in countering the negative and misleading messaging that has become a mainstay in today’s campaigns. News travel fast. Often campaign managers don’t have time to respond to the 24-hour news cycle with a TV ad. But online video advertising makes it possible to create and launch a campaign in minutes that combats negative news or smear tactics. A recent Veoh study concludes that video viewers are more engaged on the Internet than when watching their television sets. Campaign managers should capitalize on this, especially as the election cycle draws to a close and final assaults make their way in the news and in other forms of advertising.

Real-time feedback and real-time optimization. Campaign managers can not only launch video ad campaigns immediately, but they can also optimize ads in real-time. By taking into account video and banner click-through rates, the average viewing duration and cross-referencing those numbers with post-impression and post-click Web site activity (e.g. – donations), campaign managers can optimize each campaign to maximize effectiveness.

News spreads like wildfire with breaking news e-mails, blog posts, Twitter, social networking sites, and more. In most cases, it remains true that we have no power over how issues and candidates are presented in the news, but the power of online video advertising makes it possible for the candidates to speak one-on-one with the voters about issues that concern them.

Link to article

Winners are going to be announced at Streaming Media West in late September.

Thanks so much for the support! Mike

Video Advertising Network

• BrightRoll Video Ad Network & Videostitial Unit
• SpotXchange
• Tremor Media Network

Video Advertising Platform

• BlackArrow
• Internap Advertising Services
• SpotXchange

What YouTube Needs to Do Now to Turn Things Around 

YouTube hasn’t been able to monetize videos of eighty-year old men mooning a crowd of onlookers? It hasn’t been able to monetize someone lip-syncing “I Kissed A Girl?” Who would have thought that?

At a recent meeting of Internet videoSelling-Entertainment-Online Jan-08 executives at the RBC Capital conference, the panelists told those in attendance that user-generated content simply doesn’t provide any real monetization value and Google needs to find new ways to turn things around if it wants to turn a profit.

Later on, the execs said that the key to Google’s success has nothing to do with user-generated content and everything to with professional content, which can be controlled, analyzed, and properly determined to appeal to the key demographics advertisers are looking for.

“What we’ve found is that advertisers and agencies are only interested in professional media, so professional content providers are having a good time finding extremely high demand because they have a lack of video views,” Blinkx CEO Suranga Chandratillake said.

And for once, we’ve finally heard what YouTubeYouTube ’s business model should be. It needs to forget about user-generated content and trying to monetize that and actively seek ways to entice more people to its professional content and make it a greater value proposition for its advertisers.

Of course, Google has already taken significant steps in that direction as of late with deals between YouTube and Seth MacFarlane that will see the “Family Guy” creator working on a series of short cartoon spots designed exclusively for Google.

But the company’s initiatives need to go far beyond just that. It needs to keep user-generated content on YouTube because that’s what people are looking for most when they go there, and try to support that section of the site with display ads. On top of that, it needs to coax more companies to bring professional content over and actively sell advertising on that content, which is not only controlled, but user demographics can be analyzed and advertisers will be able to determine if the site is worth spending money on.

YouTube is an extremely expensive endeavor for Google that has yet to bear fruit. But if Google is smart, it will listen to what the execs said at the RBC Capital conference and start to actively seek out professional content that will entice more companies to spend money in the space.

If it doesn’t, look for YouTube to look even more like a bloated waste of money.

Link to article

Mike Shehan, CEO of SpotXchange

The player: Mike Shehan, CEO of SpotXchange

The play: SpotXchange is an online video advertising network that brokers deals for ads against online video content. Ads can be pre-rolls, overlays, banners and pre-game ads in which a video advertisement plays before a casual game starts. SpotXchange is the sister company to Booyah Networks, which builds technologies and provides solutions for sponsored search.

The pitch: Because of parent company Booyah’s work in search, SpotXchange can allow advertisers to tweak their campaigns on the fly based on real-time Web results, much like advertisers can do with search campaigns. “We provide a lot of transparency to allow advertisers to see exactly where their ads are being placed. They can load and launch campaigns within minutes as opposed to 30 days,” Mr. Shehan said. “The biggest thing our advertisers appreciate is the ability to optimize campaigns based on performance, just like you would with search.” Advertisers can pick and choose the sites and inventory they want.

In the mix: SpotXchange reaches 84 million people per month across its network of publishers, including Blinkx.com, ClipSyndicate.com, Pando.com, Videojug.com, Voxant.com and Vuze.com. Advertisers have included big brands like the U.S. Army and Ford, agencies like Universal McCann and direct-response marketers like Netflix. SpotXchange also works with local advertisers such as attorneys, retailers and restaurants because SpotXchange can target by city. “It’s a powerful marketing tool because it does drive phone calls and leads to them. For every local video ad, we overlay with a unique phone tracking number,” he said.

The backstory: Mr. Shehan founded parent company Booyah in 2001 with proceeds from selling his house. That company is now profitable.

The money guys: SpotXchange was funded by Booyah Networks at launch in 2006 with $6 million. The company also has raised an undisclosed amount of strategic investment money. SpotXchange makes money from selling ads and expects to be profitable in 12 to 24 months.

The pros: Online video advertising is a fast-growing business and revenue should rise from $471 million last year to $7.2 billion in 2012, according to Forrester Research.

The cons: Competition is stiff from online video ad networks like Tremor Media and Broadband Enterprises.

Background: Mr. Shehan was born in Westchester, Pa., and grew up in Baltimore. He graduated with a degree in biology from Vanderbilt University. Before founding Booyah in 2001, he was CEO of an image search technology firm and founded e-commerce company Logex. He lives in the Denver area with his wife and four children.

Who knew? In 2001 Mr. Shehan and his wife sold their dream home in Boulder, Colo., to fund Booyah Networks. Three months after they moved the house was featured in Better Homes & Gardens, with the couple in front of the home on the cover.

Posted on August 3, 2008 8:50 PM | Permalink

Link to article