HIRO Media VP Oded Napchi on Major Players Vying for Online Video Ad Revenue

Hiro Media Oded Napchi

In the last couple of years, major companies have turned their sight towards online video advertising as they have started realizing the significance of casual viewership. In Casual Viewership, a term coined by HIRO Media in 2010, of the earliest online video distribution networks to come in to existence, the viewer would choose an online video streaming site according to their areas of interest after browsing through a number of video sites. According to Oded Napchi, Products Vice President at HIRO Media, many well-known supply side platforms have been venturing into establishing their own distribution networks. This trend is expected to grow in the coming years.

Big companies such as AOL, Facebook and Yahoo have acquired smaller online video advertising companies in the last three years. In December 2014 AOL acquired Vidible, one of the leading providers of online video advertising services. AOL began venturing into online video advertising space earlier when they acquired 5 Min Media for $65 million. These acquisitions have been made with the sole objective of capturing a significant market share in online video advertising space.

Oded Napchi adds that in addition to AOL, Facebook and Yahoo are also trying to strengthen their presence in online video advertising space by engaging in acquisitions. Through these acquisitions, they are trying to grab market share from YouTube, the reigning market leader.

Oded Napchi also predicts that the online advertising network space will undergo a sea change after these acquisitions. This space is expected to see a consolidation of the smaller networks in to a larger mega network in the near future. This could result in some interesting competition as the big players all battle it out for the top spot.

Supply side platform providers such as HIRO Media are also working to create an intelligent video advertising distribution network, which in turn brings increased traffic volume towards casual viewership. Electric Sheep, one of the multi-channel online video networks, are trying to leverage the benefits offered by the casual viewership model to enhance the reach of their video network.

As bandwidth and technology finally catches up with users’ demand for online video content, the rewards for the biggest market shares in this area are huge. It is an exciting time to be in video distribution, and in 2015 we will see further evidence of the online video content delivery revolution.