What we're listening to this week. Pink Floyd. Dark Side.

Why do we keep finding ourselves going back to 73? But this was a short, bank holiday week so a more chilled Album that Dark Side of the Moon, you couldn't get.

In fact, a better Album ever, will be hard to get.

Recorded at London's Abbey Road with Alan Parsons as the Engineer (very famous in his own right as The Alan Parson Project but also produced 'Abbey Road', 'Let it be' and others) with possibly, the greatest album artwork of all time by Hipgnosis.

The Studio's Irish doorman Gerry O'Driscoll, features along with other Abbey Road staffers and he says "there is no dark side of the moon. As a matter of fact, it's all dark". "I don't know, I was really drunk at the time" is Henry McCullough from Wings.

It's one of the best selling albums of all time no doubt - but possibly the best album of all time. Roger Waters did all the lyrics but Mason/Wright and especially Davy Gilmour pulled it all together.

We loved listening to it in here this week anyway and had to pinch ourselves to think....it's over 40 years old. And here it is -

The Jinx. One stunning documentary.

Rarely do you come across something as riveting a documentary as 'The Jinx'. Over 6 one hour parts, it's stunningly good and as you may have seen, the last episode brought a flurry of new legal activity.

It's available to download now, this side of the pond, on Sky Atlantic. Ideal Bank Holiday weekend viewing.

But no spoiler here.
You have to see it and we bow down to the Production values, the filming, the editing...everything. It's a story magically told.

It tells the true story of 'Bobby' Robert Durst, heir to a famous and extremely wealthy New York real estate family and murder just seems to follow him. 

Directed by Andrew Jarecki, who also produced a movie about the story called "All good things" which in turn, brought on the documentary (because Durst wanted to give an interview having seen the film).

Jarecki is famous too for the very excellent 'Capturing the Friedmans' and 'Catfish, the TV show' but The Jinx will be hard to equal.

Produced with HBO, there's no digital point to make except that these types of documentaries now get made because the outlets to show them have increased. But then, maybe great film work would've got made anyway. 

And great this is.

What we're listening to this week. Ivan Morrison, Moondance. It's a marvellous night.

We had heard that Van Morrison had a new duets album featuring Michael Buble doing 'Real real gone' and all that did, was to remind us to play something else by Van.

(Apart from anything else, he lives up the road from Streamabout's offices and some of us have met him in local schools and in the park. Honest.)

So we stuck on 'Moondance', the all-time classic that it is. Wonderful record. Just get it.

People talk about 'Astral Weeks' which although features the eternal magical line, "sitting in a corner playing dominoes in drag", it doesn't touch 'Moondance'.

In 1970 it was his 3rd album after Astral weeks (1968) and his ridiculous debut 'Blowin your mind' (which we all believe is almost a bootleg and released without Van's say-so). The Moondance cover is to show that the music comes out of his head - almost jazz improv and something else you didn't know....his real name is Ivan, hence Van for short.

The album featured stars of the time like Jef Labes, Jack Shroer on sax and notably, long standing band member John Platania. It followed too, a long stint with Van and The Band so you can hear those influences.

"Into the Mystic", "Caravan", "Cyprus Avenue" (where he lived) is here, "Moondance" itself but the winner is "Crazy Love". You can hear it below live from The Filmore 1970. It's the great Office Album and will start you on a road of Van worship.

(And if you like that, just get "It's too late to stop now". THE classic live album.)

The word for 2015 is "viewability". TV Stations be afraid.

There's a new word in TV Media buying land for 2015. It's "viewability".

And, it's being bandied about by TV Broadcasters to "compete" (destroy) with online digital in an attempt to re-enforce that digital ads may not be seen. Therefore, they've no "viewability" or so the story goes.

Irony or what?

In fact at a recent conference, by Ad Age, Media buyers called for '100% viewability'. A strange request after 50 years buying TV spots you'd have thought.

But traditional TV Viewability is the issue here, not digital and TV Broadcasters are building a case to beat themselves with. 

We need to start to use our commonsense.

Firstly, we've never measured the viewability of TV Ad Breaks. Never. And we all know that we make the coffee, go to the loo or whatever during them. Some of us do anyway and yet those viewers who aren't watching, are paid for in full.

Secondly, multi-viewing. We also all know that something like 16% of us, watch TV with our laptop/tablet open - second screen viewing during TV. So once the Ad break comes on, we look away and back to our devices.

Thirdly, we all know that the peak for Social Media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter) is during TV evening prime time so whilst the TV might be "on", how many are actually watching the breaks? Are we/they not doing Social Media?

Fourthly, how many of us watch programmes on record and flick through the ad breaks at speed?

So what we do know is the viewability of traditional TV Ad Breaks is the question, not digital.

Digital is one-to-one, up close and personal by seeing your video on your device. Not in a room full of people or at a distance from the TV.

And whereas the spurious arguments exist about bots (robots) delivering viewers on digital that are automated and not "real", that's a poor reflection on the skill of the media buyer themselves. You should buy inventory you trust.

So "viewability" is the buzz word for 2015.
But TV Broadcasters need to look at their Adbreaks first. 

Because the issue, is theirs. 

By the way, here's a test.

If you watched traditional TV last night you probably had about 30,000 dollars of Ads pushed at you. 

Now, Name one you remember......

What we're listening to this week. Eric Church. And he's going to be huge.

Wow! We just haven't heard something new like this in ages that instantly blew us away. Something that gives up hope! 

Eric Church 'Caught in the Act', a 2013 live album which was duly followed by us buying every Eric Church album which are few because he's only just breaking through.

This is country music but don't get turned off - it's more in the vein of Stevie Earle - country rock - but is it stunning.....restores your faith. 

The headline song is 'Springsteen' which is a tribute but listen to 'Drink in my hand' or 'Jack Daniels' or to anything on the album! Really great stuff for a Summer weekend.

But this will give you a sense of what he's about. You can hear 'Born to Run' in it and references to 'Born in the USA' and 'Glory Days'.

Another boost today for Programmatic buying. This time from Apple.

The automation of the media marketplace by bringing buyers and sellers together online through RTB or 'programmatic buying' continues at pace and noting our post of only yesterday (follows below).

Today Apple announced it was extending its mobile advertising network to itunes radio via programmatic ad buying. Targeting includes the ability to cross reference customer mobile numbers and emails with market data - surely one that will worry privacy advocates.

Of course customers can 'opt out' but those that do, is tiny in number.

Brands can also get involved in customer match opportunities which if you use itunes, you'll know it well.

It's guessed that itunes radio has nearly 50 million users and it competes with the likes of Spotify. Apple's carplay will also surely give it momentum "in car", a key marketing tool for radio sellers as more and more 'connected cars' hit the market. Indeed, it's now standard on the likes of the new Suzuki Vitara.

More and more media owners are going to be forced to move to RTB. Simply, it WILL be the marketplace in time.

RTB/Programmatic Buying gets another push on by people with a ridiculous name.

Programmatic media buying or RTB, is here to stay, big time.

It makes absolute sense in automating the transaction between buyers and sellers. As well as, proving better real time data and indeed, more price transparency. 

Today's announcement of CNN, The FT, Thomson/Reuters and The Guardian coming together under a group umbrella of 'The Pangaea Alliance' (interestingly pangaea.com is bizarrely, taken by someone else, we checked!) offering access over programmatic buying to their claimed 110 million users.

Each is bringing 10% of their inventory to the deal from April with its own sales channel (presumably replacing the existing in-house teams). 

Indeed. Perfect sense and will result in selling what has generally been considered 'unsold' inventory because with RTB, all space has a price. These 4 brands together too, offer real advertising opportunities.

But but but.....they've fallen at the first hurdle with quite frankly, a ridiculous name that will do them no good.

What we've been listening to this week. Randy Newman 'Little Criminals'.

We put this on because we were still in that 1970's vibe, this from 1977.

When we now think of Randy Newman in here, the 'Lion King' gets mentioned (!) but he is an extraordinary songwriter. 

On this album, all of The Eagles play on the tracks (betcha' didn't know that) who were probably America's biggest band at the time, having just released 'Hotel California'. Ry Cooder also plays on it as does guitarist Waddy Watchtel. He was known for his association with Jackson Browne so we guess that's The Eagles connection here?

'Short People' always gets a smile on 'Little Criminals' but 'Jolly Coppers on Parade' and 'Baltimore' are superb nevermind the chilling song about a child killer, 'in Germany before the war' (check out Ireland's Freddie White's superb version of this).

Anyway, it's been a lovely listen all week in Streamabout. Really has.

Here's 'Baltimore' as a taster......."man it's hard just to live"....

Apple's Watch is on time. Today.

The launch today of The Apple Watch, is another milestone in the history of the company introducing, their first foray into wearable tech. It's as significant as the Ipad, Itunes or Iphone.

It's going to be available mid-April but with a starting price of about 350 usd and upgrades to about 550 usd. Not cheap.

Built into it, are a whole series of clever bits which no doubt, will extend in time but it does need to be paired with an Iphone 5 (or better) to work. 

It has a fitness app so you can "watch" (ha!) the calories you burn and select a goal every day. It also keeps track of heart rate for training. An easy interface allows you to swipe for weather, your calendar, your music and other stuff, like Uber.

Siri is in there too, so too email and instant messenger (text in effect). Plus you can take calls with an in-built mic. 

Many different faces too combined with an 18 hour battery (so you'll have to recharge your watch at night). And it tells the time - in whatever zone you move to.

Bizarrely it doesn't take pictures or video. You'd have thought there was a great GoPro opportunity there! 

But this will be a standard - we'll all have one - and possibly soon!

What we're listening to - Madman across the water Elton John. A gem.

Another 1971 classic on all week being played in Streamabout.

Forget "I'm still standing" and just get this now. A real beauty of a record from the brilliance of Reg Dwight and Bernie Taupin. It's something really beautiful in the 'Honky Chateau' domain and 'Tumbleweed Connection'.

Really - it's something special. Absolutely adored in here. Rick Wakeman played on it as did David Glover.

"Boston at last and the plane's touching down...." Love it!

HBO Talking about pay-per-view online.

HBO are in talks for broadcasting over a web service like Apple TV and Google as an 'a la carte' version - in other words, pay-per-view. 

HBO Go is already on Apple TV but only for subscribers only - so this pay-per-view version makes total sense and something we blogged about before. In fact in April 2014, where we suggested (!) that the only way to go for cable TV was "to introduce pay-per-view to supplement subs".

You can search the blog top left of this page or copy here;

http://streamabout.blogspot.ie/2014/04/pay-tv-is-going-to-be-in-decline.html

This will push HBO to compete with Netflix given they have 'True Detective', 'Game of Thrones' and many other quality series.

A huge amount of online viewers watch 'on demand' rather than on subscription and this will capture those. This is also now a fundamental issue for 'Sky' this side of the water and they need to take notice.

But online broadcasting, online TV, is taking a further twist. Better content online will continue to drive viewers away from traditional TV Stations. Their days are numbered.

(And thanks to Adforce's Kevin Foley for pointing it out. Always on the ball.)

Updated March 9th - HBO Announce Apple as their streaming partner so the service will be available on all Apple devices.

Is Facebook taking YouTube's Video fast forward?

YouTube is 10 years old and without it, businesses like Streamabout, simply wouldn't exist. So hats off to YouTube...but....

What seems to be changing its dominance, is market behaviour and audience reaction. Bought by Google for 1.6 Billion usd in 2006, it's still not profitable despite revenues of 4 billion usd in 2014 - that's about break-even (which is ridiculous even in itself).

Faced with competition such as Vimeo, Vice, Vine, Snapchat and so on, makes life a bit harder for YouTube but their biggest threat is Facebook. The point is that when I see a video on a friends page on Facebook, it's probably something that I might like too - because they're friends and because they'll be 'like minded'. On YouTube, I have to search and search albeit through subscribed channels. So the viewing relevance is very different.

Facebook looks like a video sharing site, YouTube looks like a video hosting platform especially as you can upload video to Facebook directly rather than sharing a YouTube link giving Facebook ownership of the Ads.

The recent YouTube kids version marks a great initiative which brings back audience relevance as does, some of the channels - notably in Sport. But it's not as effective as Facebook even with over a billion monthly views. Facebook has 50% more views and produced nearly 3 billion usd in profit last year.

The growth of autoplay on Facebook (where videos automatically play when you see them) and currently on trial with Twitter - but not on Youtube - is a big failing. 

One wonders is YouTube becoming complacent? 

But one thing is for sure - it's all about Video, Video and more Video.

What we're listening to this week. Patti Smith 'Horses'.

Just that we heard that Patti Smith is coming to Dublin this Summer to play 'Horses' live, we decided to stick it on.

Considered a punk album (but it's not) and released 1975 with the iconic Robert Mapplethorpe cover - shot in Greenwich Village (we note the jacket has a horse shaped pin) - and featuring a cover version of Ireland's own Van Morrison's 'Gloria'.

It was Patti Smith's debut and 40 years later, just blew everyone in the office away. 

Because quite simply, it's one of the greatest albums ever made. There can't be any arguments. It just is.

"There is a little place, a place called space...."

2 million advertisers on Facebook up 33%. 4 million active on Google. The advertiser switch to digital is on.

Another Facebook milestone this week as announced by Business Insider, achieving 2 million active advertisers, a +33% increase on July last year.

Facebook is therefore gaining ground on Google but leaving Twitter in its wake at 60,000 advertisers. Google has 4 million.

These advertiser relationship growths, point to a healthy future and the opportunity to grow the revenue (spend) per advertiser in the longer term. If you have that many clients, you're going to grow.

If Facebook keep developing their Search capabilities, they could really extend into Google territory and we know that Facebook continues to grow its users year-on-year.

But importantly too, is shows the advertiser move away from traditional. If digital wasn't of real, core interest, they wouldn't be building these relationships. It's coming, it just has taken longer than we thought.

Ad Blocker software is on a surge. Blocking Ads online creating problems for publishers. 300 million times and rising.

The surge (or scourge depending on who you are) in the growth of Ad blocking software is likely to accelerate on digital and that's a worry.

Simply, they remove Ads from content online so you watch without the Ads - although it's unclear if publishers still count them as "impressions" when the Ads are never seen. Easy to download, Ad blockers just sit in your browser as an extension and they're available for every browser. They even take out YouTube Ads.

Adblock, one of the better known software, already stands at 300 million downloads. It's reckoned that over 200,000 downloads of Ad blockers occur every day. A recent survey of 100 million impressions on top tier websites, saw 9% of them being blocked already, with usage growing at 70% per year.

That's a lot.

Some publishers are rumoured (but it's true) to pay Ad blockers not to include their site, such is the scale of the issue.

The appeal to viewers is not just stopping what they consider, "annoying Ads" but by blocking them, you browse faster. That's a real advantage so it's hard to see the surge decreasing.

Of course we're bound to say it, but generating your own Video content or Video Ads, is one way around it. They haven't found a Video blocker, nor will they!

Streamabout can help!

What we're listening to.....

Last week another 1973 Album from The Doobies caught our attention in Streamabout. The Captain and Me was played and played in here anyway. 

Their 3rd Album but we found a link to last week's Steely Dan Album 'Can't buy a thrill' in that Jeff 'The Skunk' Baxter plays on both.

Seriously good artwork on the vinyl album too by the way!

Regional Press are launching regional radio. Online. Clever idea.

Interesting idea from regional newspapers in the US. They're now doing online radio. From small local, regional press titles to larger ones such as The Boston Herald.

What they're doing is taking the printed stories and reading them on-air via Internet broadcasts. In Ireland, you need a licence to broadcast (ridiculously) granted by The State (so more State control of Media) whereas one wonders about online radio? Can it be controlled in the same way?

But US regional press have the content and have the journalists, with online broadcasting being inexpensive. 

What they do then is "bundle" their advertising between print and radio with on-air advertising. So it either protects existing ad revenues or grows them (upsell by throwing in some radio spots) and gives regional press new digital assets to sell to advertisers at low cost.

It's a clever way of using the content they've already collected. Indeed, just a small step up from podcasting. Radio too, has always been about local content and of course, online radio is growing. But having a print title also allows you the "mouthpiece" to generate listeners through cross-promotion.

One clear factor as cars become more connected (like the new Suzuki Vitara is), access to digital radio via smartphones is easy now. Mac Play allows you to do that for free by downloading an App.

And in-car is a clear prime radio market. 

Online broadcasting is cheap - you need a microphone and a laptop essentially to start - and regional content is not expected to have all the broadcasting bells and whistles.

Nice idea.

Time Warner Revenue falls, reflects audience switch away from traditional TV.

Interesting data from Cable Company Time Warner (CNN, TNT, Cartoon Network, TBS) in the US for Q4 2014 just out, giving it a not too optimistic view for 2015.

They're really suffering from the decline in traditional TV viewing as viewers switch to other devices and how that's starting to affect advertising spends. 

Netflix, Amazon, Hulu are starting to make inroads both into audiences and therefore, into Ad dollars.

Time Warner Revenues were down in the last quarter meaning an uplift of only +3% for the year. But it's revenue is 27.4 Billion usd so that's still very strong. Operating profit was down nearly -6% on the year. 

21st Century Fox has also reduced advertising expectations because of the slow advertising TV market and Nielsen reported live TV viewing down nearly 13% and Ad spends are down reflecting that.

Time Warner are now focused on bundling more their digital assets with traditional TV buys and have recognised the shift. 

It's the first full and clear indication that TV audiences decline and as they do, so will advertising income. Nothing surer. 

Advertising money chases audiences as sure as night follows day. And when audiences shift, so too will advertising spends - just surprising that it has taken so long.

Brian Williams, Jon Stewart, The judge will see you now.

All the talk of Jon Stewart leaving The Daily Show after 17 years on Comedy Central with a focus on his salary of 25/30 million usd a year....nice piece on Business Insider about that salary too.

Jimmy Kimmel on ABC gets about 10 million. Shepard Smith on Fox gets about the same as does Jimmy Fallon. Conan O'Brien gets about 12 million on TBS and poor Brian Williams was getting about 13 million for NBC Nightly News.

Howard Stern gets 15 million and Bill O'Reilly who has the most watched cable show, 'The O'Reilly Factor' on Fox gets about 18 million.

Ellen De Generes and David Letterman get about 20 million but top of them all....with a pretty staggering 47 million Dollars....and the highest paid TV celeb....with the most watched syndicated show (10 million viewers)....bringing in circa 250 million in advertising is....Judge Judy.

Streamabout filmed her in Dublin 2013 and actually what you see, is what you get. Clever lady.

Can't buy a thrill.

The coffee is on, it's Friday in the 1970's. 

What we're listening to this week in case you're looking for a weekend cheer up. Or inspiration. 

Steely Dan debut from 1972. The title stolen from Bob Dylan.

Dronies. And the growth of user generated video. Wow!

The growth in online video is explosive but the growth in user generated content using video, is moving fast.

Using drone footage (auto helicopters with cams) has allowed filmmakers to do special things like this from Alex Chacon and it's pre-rolled by Guinness. So he can earn a few bob from his work.

Because they're a mixture of Selfies and Drone footage, they're called 'Dronies' and with access to free YouTube (only 10 years old!) gives an outlet for this type of work. Beautiful it is too.

But the growth in Go Pro cameras and combined on Drones, gives high definition, ultra sharp pictures in miniature size so they're fairly transportable. Streamabout uses them all the time and notably Go Pros are great for attaching to cars to get good, low driving shots. Great in the pool too for swimming shots - just great anywhere.

This is building a YouTube audience because one thing is for sure, this type of footage would never surface on traditional TV broadcasters. And when you look at it, you'll see it's long form (over 3 minutes) so that's more engaging than any 30 second TV commercial.

If you're a fan of 'House of Cards' you'll notice that the opening sequence is built around time lapse shots of buildings. The person that was commissioned to produce those was found on YouTube.

Lovin' it.

2015 Superbowl Ad Winner. Have a look!

Here you go, the winner of all the 2015 Superbowl Ads as registered on Social Media. Not just that, this link alone has over 25 million views on YouTube...so online it'll have been huge.

Did it deserve it?

Ah yeah.

Tell a story and tell it well.

Not macho enough you think? But it's the side of blokes that makes us attractive to women and a haunting version of 'And I would walk 500 miles' shows that there's nothing you wouldn't do for your girl. Because you're a tough man.

And this will appeal to women because it's sentimental and the actor is a hunk.

That was the thinking.

Yeah it works.

Twitter Video Ads coming with a clever Preview Idea. And If you need a video ad....

By all reports, Twitter are considering video previews for their new Video Ads.

What it means is that when a video ad pops up in your feed, you'll get an automatic play (auto play) of 6 seconds like a trailer. Then, if that interests you, you click it, to play the video in full.

And advertisers will only be charged when the Ad is clicked so they'll benefit from the 6 second trailer, for free.

Facebook video ads are fully autoplay, whereas YouTube's are click-to-play and so Twitter is really doing the best of both. It's a really good, clever idea too.

It also means that advertisers will only be paying for those who really, really want to see the video because they'll have been interested by the preview trailer. 

It's a great way for Twitter to get into that growing, exploding digital video ad space. And if you need online video ads....it's what Streamabout do!

Superbowl shatters viewing record. The most watched TV Event in US history.

9 times in the last 10 years it's happened and it just happened again. The Superbowl last Sunday, shattered the viewing record.

Nielsen ratings show it to be the most watched TV Broadcast in US history with 114.4 million viewers live average. It peaked at over 120 million.

So the slow NBC Ad spot sales because of the 4.5 million price tag on a 30 second spot (up 500,000 dollars on the previous year) seems more justified as they did deliver the audience.

As it reached the end 4th quarter, 74% of US Televisions were tuned in. That was when the now infamous passing call inside the one yard line by Seattle, was intercepted, giving the Patriots the win.

What's not clear is whether Nielsen mean 'Televisions' or all broadcast devices (Ipads, Laptops, Mobiles etc) but that can only increase the viewing. 

Great game, good result and perhaps not won by Tom Brady but lost by Russell Wilson....

Because NFL is very USA led, viewership for The World Cup Final (350m+), Champions League, Olympic Games, all generate higher audiences simply because they've global appeal.

Apple. Result?

Biggest quarterly profit ever by a Public company...18 billion dollars....75 million iphones sold in the quarter....142 Billion Dollars in cash.....gross profit margin of 40%...10 times increase in revenue over the last decade....worth 635 billion dollars....34,000 iphone 6's sold every hour....number one smartphone in China...a company started in 1984.

April will be the Apple reinvention of the watch.

All they need sort out is their Tax reputational damage which was the story today rather than the numbers.

Superbowl 2015 hype falls.

Incredibly little buzz about the annual Superbowl advertising. Normally, under two weeks out (it's on Feb 1), you'd see far more activity.

Fewer advertisers are revealing their ads in advance and in fact, there seems to be fewer advertisers give the 4.5 million usd spot rate. It's not sold out yet and car advertising is down by 50% but that price is 500k greater than any previous record.

Those that have shown their ads in advance, are getting low views online with Victoria's Secret topping that list at a mere 800,000 views. That's not great.

Online searches for Superbowl ads are down too. 

Broadcast by NBC, it's likely that the live audience won't diminish and at 111 million viewers last year, that's healthy. It was the most watched TV broadcast in US history.

So the buzz that's lacking, has to be about the price and the fact that spots are still available, indicates that. So it's too expensive as what is, a gamble. The creative needs to be good and that costs too.

But on a single 30 second spot basis, advertisers are questioning the value. And it seems that the public are getting bored with the advertising hype. 

Netflix stock is soaring....and better still, they're showing The Interview.

Netflix stock is soaring tonight.

Up +13% in after hours trading on great last quarter numbers showing strong subscriber growth above expectations. Not bad, after a hard fall in October.

But better again, they've announced that they will screen 'The interview' on Jan 24. That's the movie that the North Koreans love and the movie that caused the consternation at Sony. And that's the movie that no one else was brave enough to air.

So good on Netflix.
And aren't we glad to have digital who'll show the things that no one would.

I hope the stock keeps going up - their credibility sure has.

Google Glasses come to an end.

Google are to suspend the manufacture of its Google Glasses headsets.

The first really "wearable" technology have been hammered both by poor sales (they're expensive at 1,500 euro+ a pair) and technology, notably in the privacy space. People wearing them have been referred to as 'Glassholes'.

However, a more consumer styled device is planned.

What Glasses do deliver is hands-free purchasing and indeed Tesco were hoping to develop an App allowing shoppers to simply browse products and order via the glasses. The lack of popularity though, is key and will stop these types of applications simply because the glasses aren't in enough hands.

So Google Glasses are a worthy product and make perfect sense. However, they need to overcome the price point to become more easily available (the cheaper they are, the more people will have them) and fundamentally, the "look" of them. They just look too weird for people to wear so the design needs work.

There's no doubt, they'll be back and as watches have shown, wearable tech is here to stay.

It's a wonderful life. Most of the time.

And that's me, done for another year.

Thanks very much for reading and I do hope you have a Happy and Peaceful Christmas. Look after yourselves.

A new competitor to YouTube launches.

Vessel is coming to take on YouTube and Vimeo.

Although ad-supported, they will also charge 2.99 us dollars a month to be able to watch your "favourite" YouTube stars first. In other words, they'll have video before anyone else (by at least 3 days).

What makes it a serious contender is that it is being founded by Jason Kilar, the former Hulu CEO. 

Video creators will get a cut of the ad and subscription revenue by holding off on posting their content until it has been shown on Vessel. They currently get 55% from Google's YouTube although it's generally poor and they will be encouraged by Vessel's promised revenue.

Although one wonders will subscribers be prepared to pay for content they'll probably see free some days later?

Not sure. But having said that it's a new model that very much highlights online video as now being 'programming' and having value.

So in every sense, it's to be encouraged.

And anyway, do like the logo.....

Best of the Web 2014

Really nice cut of some of the best of the Web 2014.

But how much go-pro cameras have helped with online video! wow, everywhere.
Super editing by Luc Bergeron. Super

180 million + views. Now that's what you call a viral video

Whilst this link shows 162m views, I've seen the video reposted on YouTube so many times with one repost receiving over 20 million alone.

It just shows too, the style of video people want, to be entertained and that applies equally, to brands. Tell them a story and brighten the day.

It also shows what can be achieved. There's no media budget that can achieve 200 million views. None.

Except online digital video.

Personal Flying. The future is not far off.

I've dealt with this before - personal flying - and how some countries such as New Zealand are allowing testing. Latest testing from Dubai you'll see for yourself in the video.

It's nothing to do with online per se (except it's a lovely video) but to do with the future and innovation.

As we develop electric cars, tesla cars, google driverless cars.....I believe quickly they'll become old technologies.

The future of getting to work and to school, is personal jet packs. I'm convinced our children will do it as standard. Especially with the developments already taken place, this is only 10 years away.

The idea of getting from A to Z on congested roads, eating up carbon fuel and taking hours doesn't make sense. What takes an hour by car now, will take 10 minutes by air. Car manufacturers should get on board now.

So which do you think, will consumers demand?
I have no doubts.

"Yet more evidence that Advertisers are pulling money out of TV" - says Business Insider.

Business Insider UK, reports that there is now "quantifiable evidence" of advertisers switching away from TV.

It's based on the US Standard Media Index which pulls about 80% of US Ad Agency spend including the 5/6 Global Networks. In October, it showed a further drop of 9%.

Mightn't sound like a lot, but it is considerable especially in a high sales month like October. 

TV viewing declined too, by -4%.

And given that it was October, it's normally the pre-booking period for Christmas which traditionally kept TV prices high. So advertisers are now switching to more flexible media such as online digital video. Digital Advertising grew +11%. Newspapers grew +5%. 

So it looks like digital video is now starting to take advertising dollars away from TV. A shift that has been well predicted and in fact, was slow in coming.

Omnicom recommended to clients earlier this year, to switch 10-25% of budgets away from TV onto online video.

The audience has shifted.
Now it looks like Advertisers and Agencies are shifting too.

Facebook's biggest shares in October 2014

Newswhip have published the top Facebook shares for October (which they developed via Spike).

The Huff Post leads the way with 67 Million interactions in the month. PlayBuzz and BuzzFeed come in ahead of the likes of Fox News and NBC - never mind The New York Times.

So it again points to the rise in online sites developing "news" over traditional sites. And frankly, the sites doing well are more "entertainment" driven rather than hard news reflecting too, the desires of a Facebook audience.

But still, the numbers are pretty stunning....

John Lewis does it again. And again and again.

And whilst we're talking about Christmas Retail TV Ads...there's always John Lewis.

Wow.

Christmas Retail Ads. Don't you just get tired on them....and then one comes along and you go, Yes! Wow.

Lady Gaga and Tony Bennet for H&M.
Both ends of the demographic spectrum.

The bar just got raised.....

The most shocking reliable data I've seen on the switch away from TV to online. Terrifying reading for TV Stations.

I got this BusinessInsider/Comscore story about BuzzFeed today from a friend, by email. When I opened it, I fell off my chair.

Which is why he sent it.

The most stunning thing I've read yet, that just symbolises the online revolution that has and is, taking place. It's proof positive now, of the takeover and the switchover from TV to online.

Just look at the monthly reach of BuzzFeed in this graph for 18-34's.

Shocking stuff for TV Stations....

BuzzFeed now reaches 50% of US millennials (18-34's) a month according to Comscore/BusinessInsider and this is terrifying reading for TV. 

BuzzFeeds monthly reach outstrips CBS, Fox and NBC.

In fact it's winning in all ages and spelling the end of TV in terms of audience decline, audience attention but notably in terms of advertising money. And be assured, exactly this same model is being replicated in every country including Ireland. The same thing is happening everywhere. 

Put simply, advertising money chases audience and as BuzzFeed climbs it will take those big brand lucrative TV dollars with it. Whilst the TV stations will go into financial decline through that same lost advertising. They simply cannot hold their audiences no longer.

Look too above, at the BuzzFeed video views and Subscriber growth!!! Pretty impressive!!!

50% of the views are from mobile. And those video views are peaking for BuzzFeed in the evening. That's right, smack dab in the middle of prime time TV. The expensive advertising bit.

And that signals a strong probability that the younger 18-34's are having a look at BuzzFeed....during the evening ad breaks! Not what an advertiser wants to hear.

And as The BusinessInsider story says, advertisers want to reach consumers with messages that have sight, sound and motion. Those advantages don't just apply to TV anymore.

I've never seen reliable data like this, that clearly shows the media pulling power of digital and all of this happening in the lucrative TV space - once regarded as the bastion of all things advertising. 

And then we've only spoken here about the impact BuzzFeed has had - nevermind the others!

This ladies and gentlemen, is the end..... Or the start...... It depends on where you're sitting. 

But one thing it sure is, the world has just changed. Totally.

Different, interesting use of video on suzuki.ie that you won't have seen before.

Great use of video on Suzuki Ireland website.

Sorry too, that you'll have to cut and paste this link but I think you'll be interested to do it. Here it is;

www.suzuki.ie

What it does is allows a Presenter to pop up automatically every time you visit and explain what's on the site.

Equally, that presenter could be on every page of the website perhaps explaining each page's content.

It is of course, specially recorded video on a greensceen by streamabout and then applied. In fact it's a great use of video online!

Mobile overtakes TV in The USA for the first time.

There's always a reason why people pay to produce Reports. Normally, to further their business and rarely do you see companies producing reports that show they got it wrong!

However, whilst they should be taken with a pinch of salt, they are helpful in identifying trends and probably re-enforce what we thought anyway. And thank you to John Fleming, him a 'Tripp Crystal' App developer, for pointing it out to me.

So this one by 'Flurry' shows that mobile has bumped US TV Screens for the first time. Nearly 3 hours a day usage versus 2.48 hours and remaining static.

So the growth in mobile marches on and particularly because of functionality. You can do more on your mobile (email, apps, calendar, etc) than you can do on your TV and it has the key advantage of being in your pocket all the time.

Equally to, the development of the mobile into basically a 'pocket pc', means it can do more and more. Like watching TV or online video. It also shows, as Flurry would like you to see, that Apps have greater and greater potential.

Seems to me anyway, to make perfect sense.
Mobile is and will continue to march on.

Advertisers be aware.