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.
Supreme Court Allows Multibillion-Dollar Class Action Lawsuit To Proceed Against Meta
The Supreme Court is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors' lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent Meta, stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.
The justices heard arguments in November in Meta's bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.
The high court dismissed the company's appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.
Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users' personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump 's first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.
Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company's shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the court's action. "The plaintiff's claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court," Stone said in an emailed statement.
Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.
Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon. It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.
The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class-action lawsuits against tech companies. The justices also are wrestling with whether to shut down a class action against Nvidia.... Read More