Vmbc.tv, the video business unit of Versaly Entertainment/Seattle, a producer of mobile TV content, is trying to get its Fast Lane channel to as many phones as possible, so it reached agreement with two “off-deck” mobile platforms, Microsoft Smartphones and Nokia Video Center, last week. Owners of those phones use the HandiTV Plus application to download the channel for free viewing of Fast Lane.
Vmbc.tv launched Fast Lane, which provides action sports, comedy and related content for males 18-34 early this year on Sprint TV, but Matthew Feldman, Versaly’s president/CEO, said the off-deck platforms provide better opportunities to insert advertising into the content. “Carriers are very conservative with advertising, they’re taking small baby steps,” he said. “They’re not sure how their subscribers will react, but the off-decks are looking for any way to monetize it.” He added that the off-decks are “innovators who understand that consumers are used to watching commercials on TV and the Net so it would be okay on a mobile network as long as the video is free.”
As content plays on Fast Lane, Vmbc.tv inserts advertising in three different ways: interstitials, graphic overlays and branded content. Interstitials are ads that play during content, like TV ads. “We prefer 15 second interstitials, we don’t use pre-rolls,” Feldman said. “We use mid-rolls that play after 20 to 45 seconds of content plays.” Graphic overlays are ads that float with the content or run underneath it like tickers. They can be videos or text ads, he said. Branded content is programming made on behalf of products, including Toyota’s FJ Cruiser and the Mini Cooper.
Versaly sells advertising and works with third party ad sales groups, including Starcom MediaVest, Feldman said.
After Fast Deck was launched, content providers often sold their own advertising which offset content costs and enabled Versaly to run the ads on Sprint phones, “because Versaly wasn’t actively selling ad content,” Feldman said. Today, content providers can sell ads and get a commission or Versaly and its media buying partners can sell them.
The addition of the off-deck platforms will boost ad sales because they will increase the audience. “It’s all about the numbers,” he said. “A lot of advertisers are looking at 100,000 views a month to make them feel it’s worthwhile. We’re about 350,000 a month with Sprint. If we grow it to 500,000 or 600,000 a month it will be that much more valuable to advertisers.”
Like Sprint, the off-decks provide a national audience, meaning the additional numbers will be attractive to national advertisers. Jeep, Dodge and Castrol are the top advertisers now, Feldman said.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More