Maven Networks isn’t exactly recreating online video advertising, but the Internet TV Advertising Platform it launched last week offers a number of innovations that will open some new doors for the publishers who use it.
The five-year-old company, which launched a media player in March, started focusing on video advertising, “so our customers could monetize video on their own sites,” said Maven’s VP of marketing Kristen Fergason.
The new platform offers three features that will help publishers and advertisers run effective video campaigns–a variety of new ad formats; an insertion engine that will enable ads to be placed in the best position in the videos; and a series of inventory management and prediction tools.
The new formats include versions of overlays, videos and sponsored skins that aren’t unique to Maven but offer some novel features, such as an interactive fulfillment panel that plays at the end of a video that enables the user to play an additional video or request information, such as the address of a local dealer or a brochure that will be sent by e-mail. After users go to a video ad from an overlay, they can be offered additional videos, which appear in a separate box on the right side of the media player.
The new insertion engine is based on a variety of metrics that enable publishers to play ads at different times while the video plays. Everything from the user session time to the video clip length to the average view time and the popularity of the video clip are factored in to provide a “cue point insertion,” which is the best time to insert an ad while the video plays.
The cue point insertion tool is part of the inventory management system that will govern the frequency and type of ads that are played with the videos.
The ability to play an ad at different times during the video creates a wealth of new inventory, as much as three times more, Fergason said. “When the user is playing a video, 15 seconds in you have an opportunity to play an ad, it’s a second ad in a stream. Those placements didn’t exist before, so it offers a new opportunity with a higher CPM.”
Maven has been testing the new ad platform with publishers in closed trials. This week, it will test it with consumers who will be asked to comment on the new ad formats. The results of the tests will be published in November, Fergason said.
The company has also created a forum of publishers, agencies and tech providers who will collaborate on developing the platform. The publishers are Financial Times, TV Guide, Fox News, Scripps and 4 Kids Entertainment; the agencies are Ogilvy and Digitas; the tech providers are DoubleClick and Atlas.
The goal of the platform is to help Maven’s publishing partners upgrade their video advertising. “We want the publishers to use the new forms of advertising,” Fergason said. “The industry is so stagnant. We want to help people kick it into gear. There hasn’t been much innovation during the last five years, but we hope to increase video advertising inventory and revenue.”
Metallica’s Mexico City Show Comes To Apple Vision Pro In Immersive Video and Audio
Metallica is bringing their powerhouse performance from Mexico City straight to viewers' faces courtesy of Apple.
The company said Tuesday that Metallica's show will be delivered in an immersive concert experience on the Apple Vision Pro video headset on Friday. The concert experience will feature the band's iconic hits including "Whiplash," "One" and "Enter Sandman."
Filmed during the sold-out finale of their M72 World Tour last year, Metallica's concert brings viewers closer to James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo with high-resolution, 180-degree video and immersive spatial audio.
"With Metallica on Apple Vision Pro, you feel like you're right there: front row, backstage, and even on stage with one of the biggest bands of all time," said Tor Myhren, vice president of marketing communications at Apple.
The company said Apple built a custom stage layout featuring 14 of their immersive video cameras, including some that moved around the stage.
If you don't own one of the $3,500 headsets, don't worry. Customers are able to book a Vision Pro demo to experience Metallica's performance at their local Apple store.
Other performances that have been exclusively shown on the Vision Pro includes Alicia Keys and Raye. The Weeknd also had his immersive music experience called "The Weeknd: Open Hearts."
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