Luke Durham, CTO & Founder

Global Ad Industry Urged To Adapt TVCs For Streaming Or Lose Millions

Luke Durham, CTO of Switch Media shares his insights on TVC adaption for online streaming. READ PRESS RELEASE BELOW.

Source: Global Ad Industry Urged To Adapt TVCs For Streaming Or Lose Millions, B&T, 29 JUNE, 2017

Advertising creatives must produce TVCs specifically for the burgeoning content streaming audiences around the world to deliver maximum return on investment, according to the chief technology officer (CTO) of an Aussie-based over-the-top (OTT) content company.

Luke Durham, CTO of Switch Media, has warned that to achieve this will require all stakeholders, from platform and content owners to advertisers and their agencies, to collaborate.

“To be blunt, conventional TVCs aren’t high quality or smart enough to engage streaming audiences in an increasingly demanding and competitive content and entertainment market,” he said.

“It’s clear there needs to be a greater understanding and cooperation between industry sectors to ensure uniformities and efficiencies are improved on both the creative/production side and the technical delivery side.

Luke Durham, CTO Switch Media

“There has been too much focus on keeping costs low to support the bottom line rather than producing the right type of creative for the appropriate channel and audience to grow the top line.

“But standard 30-second ads produced for broadcast television do not cut it. In fact, the use of TVCs online is one of the key drivers behind the growth of ad-blocking technologies.”

Switch Media has delivered millions of hours of OTT content over the past decade for Australian clients including Foxtel, SBS, Seven, Network Ten and Freeview.

Durham said that from Switch Media’s experience, content and ads need to be tailored specifically for digital devices.

“There are two sides to the problems that we all need to solve,” he said.

“Firstly, the advertising creatives and producers must consistently produce clever, engaging, original ads with shorter timeframes.

“Studies have shown that six to seven seconds is the optimal length of video for the average user attention span, with 10 seconds being the maximum to not only maintain viewer attention but to engage them.”

Durham said the second major problem is the speed and accuracy of the back-end technology responding to millions of constant content searches literally every second of the day.

“The ongoing challenge for agencies and OTT companies is managing the rapidly escalating volume of content that’s becoming available – literally tens of thousands of programs being accessed by millions of end users simultaneously from multiple sources,” he said.

“The accuracy of metadata provided by the content owners and ad agencies is imperative for each OTT transmission source to identify the content being sought by the viewer, and delivering them simultaneously to millions of devices across the country.”

Switch Media at TVOT San Francisco 28-29 June 2017

As a key sponsor for the event, Switch Media is excited to exhibit and present at TVOT in San Francisco on 28-29 June 2017.

At the event, Switch Media CTO, Luke Durham will share his in-depth experience and knowledge around OTT during a discussion around OTT TV Infrastructure.

We will also showcase our world class online video solutions for OTT including our server-side ad insertion solution AdEase. With advanced anti-ad-blocking and audience targeting capabilities, AdEase enables world-class multi-screen server side ad insertion for both Live and VOD content for a continuous TV-like experience and maximum revenue.

 

As the Coffee Break Sponsor for the event, attendees can grab a coffee on us before popping over to the Switch Media stand to find more or get a demo on our services from content management, app development and live streaming, through to on-the-fly ad insertion and delivery to viewers across multiple devices.

 

 

If you plan to attend TVOT in San Francisco and would like to set up a time to chat, please email Bruce Hume at sales@switch.tv


The annual TVOT in San Francisco is the global gathering for executives, technologists and creatives working in the Interactive and Multiplatform Television industry/community. The two day conference is also the venue for the presentation of the highly regarded Awards for Leadership in Interactive and Multiplatform Television, presented by itvt since 2004. More on TVOT.

Proud service provider for Foxtel’s new streaming service Foxtel Now

Switch Media is thrilled to have assisted Foxtel to deliver its new streaming service Foxtel Now which will give viewers low-priced and flexible subscriptions to their favourite programs.

An evolution of Foxtel Play, the key additions to the service are High Definition streaming and Chromecast access. Foxtel Now is available on PC & Mac via Google Chrome browser, Telstra TV, iOS and Android devices while a range of other devices like PlayStation and Xbox and Smart TVs will be updated to include HD over the coming months.

 

READ PRESS RELEASE BELOW (source: Foxtel unveils its new streaming service Foxtel Now from $10 a month, Holly Byrnes, news.com.au, 07 June 2017).

Foxtel unveils its new streaming service Foxtel Now from $10 a month

FOXTEL will take the fight for online audiences up to its TV rivals, announcing bold new plans for a budget streaming service.

At an all-star gala party in Sydney, the pioneering pay-TV company unveiled a new look logo and on-demand platform, Foxtel Now, which will give viewers low-priced and flexible subscriptions to their favourite lifestyle, drama, sport and movie programming.

An evolution of the existing Foxtel Play package, Foxtel Now will ensure subscribers have greater freedom and access to Foxtel’s content, from as little as $10 a month.

Foxtel CEO Peter Tonagh said: “Foxtel Now represents our most flexible and affordable entertainment service and brings with it HD streaming, a great new look and feel and the freedom to jump in and out based on your viewing preferences.”

Foxtel Now will feature five entry level packs to match viewers’ interests, including drama and pop packs ($15 each or $25 for both); or lifestyle, documentaries or kids packs for just $10 each.

The drama and pop packs are expected to be the most popular, allowing access to Foxel’s award-winning HBO  slate including WestworldVEEPBig Little Lies and the upcoming season seven of Game Of Thrones for only $15 a month; as well as the stunning local dramas including A Place To Call Home (starring Abby Earl), Wentworth and new productions including Picnic At Hanging Rock.

Foxtel Now’s movies pack is available for $20 per month in addition to an entry level pack; while the sports pack is available for an extra $29 per month, meaning sports fans can now get access to Foxtel’s extensive sports programming from $39 per month.

Mr Tonagh said: “We believe everyone deserves to experience the world’s best entertainment.

“Foxtel is already famous for offering award-winning homegrown drama, plus unrivalled live sport, new movies, new shows and more complete seasons than anyone else in Australia.

Unfortunately, not enough Australians are able to enjoy this incredible programming. “We think it’s time to change that, so we’ve taken some big steps to diversify our service to offer the biggest, most affordable, range of options for everyone.

“From tomorrow, all Australians can watch what they want, when they want and where they want at a price that suits them best, from low-price, no-commitment, HD streaming up to a state-of the art viewing experience via our cable and satellite iQ3 set top box.”

Australia’s premier pay-TV service has invested more than $100m each year on local programming (outside of news and sport), with its Foxtel Original productions garnering numerous industry awards in recent years.

Foxtel Now, which launches tomorrow, will be available on PC/Mac via the Google Chrome browser, Telstra TV, iOS and Android mobiles and tablets, and Chromecast.

Additional devices will be updated in the coming months, until then, other devices, including PlayStation 3 and 4, Xbox One and select Smart TVs are able to stream Foxtel content in SD via the Foxtel Play app.

Broadening its Foxtel On Demand library, Foxtel will now offer a selection of more than 16,000 titles of on demand TV and movie programming with over 1,200 of the hottest movies available, including 98 of the top 100 box office movies of 2016.

Foxtel’s 20th Century Fox recent-release titles arrive 12 months before Netflix and Stan, including blockbuster movies Eddie The Eagle, X-Men: Apocalypse, Independence Day: Resurgence and Ice Age: Collision Course.

News Corp, publisher of this website, owns 50 per cent of Foxtel.

For more information, or to try out a free two-week trial, see Foxtel Now’s website.