COMPANY NEWS

Back to basics—the only way to succeed right now

We’ve all heard the news and most of us are living it—the gloomy economy affects everyone. And although the topic has been covered ad nauseam, the most common angle has simply been reporting the bad news with an occasional projection of when the light will peek through the dark clouds.

This feature is different. Below, industry thought leader Steve Robinson, President of Panache, offers advice on how to not only survive these challenging times but actually make the light shine brighter once it shows up again. Here are highlights from The Panache Minute interview with Steve Robinson.

PM: Times are tough for businesses, large and small, across sectors. In your daily dealings with major networks and other media/entertainment companies, what is the concern you hear most often?

SR:I cannot tell you how many times I’ve sat with the president of a major entertainment network and heard that departments are overwhelmed. ‘Player engineering is beyond buckling and ad ops is besieged,’ is one quote that came to mind. Ad Sales doesn’t know how to get started with ad products for digital video and when they do get a buyer, a ‘dev cycle turnaround war’ occurs and the engineering group is frustrated because they can’t get the 10 things done that they’re already two months behind on.

PM: Why does all this happen?

SR: These problems aren’t really economy-related—they just showed up on the radar because hiring budgets are frozen. The struggles are actually caused by the fact that digital video is a nascent industry.

PM: Please explain.

SR: Well, do you know how ad insertion in television works? I doubt it and that’s exactly the point. Engineering isn’t required in television ad sales. On the contrary, the typical in-stream digital video solution for advertising involves player re-engineering every time sales walks in with a buy. Ever-changing ad insertion requirements and ad products require constant re-engineering and workflow changes. This manner of operation is time-consuming, resource-costly, and not the right way to operate no matter the economy; yet many large video publishers find themselves in this exact cycle.

PM: Do you have any advice for how big networks can fix some of these inefficiencies and infrastructure problems?

SR: ctually, fixing these very problems is the key to successfully making it through the downturn and coming out ahead when the climate turns sunny again. Remember, autonomous division of labor is key to scale. The trick is to turn the video business into a turnkey operation.

PM: Seems like a big undertaking. How does that actually happen?

SR: You’d surprised at how simple it is. All that’s required is focus and the right approach: streamlining operations is a must, as is productizing the sales efforts. But the most important piece is separating ad sales from player engineering and workflow. If you don’t do that, you’ll fail to ‘operationalize’ your business and you won’t make money. Today is the best time to put the right structure in place and establish these practices since you have no choice. The right operational structure and efficiencies set up your business for success now and really, really big success in the future. However, this doesn’t mean I’m advocating changing major partners that have been effective for years, because swapping out what works may not be the right advice. For example, if you’re using DoubleClick or another ad server with success, now may not be a good time to experiment or take risks. Perhaps sticking with the ad server you have or a bridging solution that works today and tomorrow would be more appropriate.

PM: Have you seen these kinds of practices actually work for companies?

SR: I’ve not only seen them work in a downturn economy but in fact have built successful businesses on these very same ‘back to basics’ principles. For example, this is how we ran the very successful Panther Software, how we’re running Panache, and the direction we’re helping our big network customers go.

For a more in-depth perspective on the topics covered here, read Robinson’s recent article that appeared in MediaPost, Making Digital Video a Profitable Business.

Panache partners with MTV Networks

The Panache/MTVN relationship will significantly enhance MTVN’s ability to create innovative, engaging and measurable online video ads across sites including MTV.com, VH1.com, Nick.com and CMT.com.
Read entire announcement here.

Yahoo! and Panache strengthen relationship

Yahoo!, Inc., who originally signed on with Panache’s ad-insertion platform in 2007, has renewed its terms to include a multi-year licensing agreement.
Read entire announcement here.

http://twitter.com/PanacheTech

All you need to “productize”

Big word; simple process. We now give you 8 different in-stream products out of the box—complete with XML for your Ad Ops workflow group—and the sales team is ready to go. All products are IAB-compliant, so you can use existing assets. And a couple of the products offer options you may not have considered before but will like. Even better, your advertisers will think you’re a hero.

Request a full spec list here or simply ask your existing Panache contact.

The upgrade is even free

The new Builder 2.0 is here. We know you love the current version, but here’s why you can’t live without the new one:
1. Support your live streams on the Internet with cue-point advertising
2. Speed up workflow with automated trafficking and reporting set-up (cuts human error way down too)
3. Automatic report key generation tied to ad units
4. Even easier (read, faster) integration with Panache.

To learn more about any of
the news items here, e-mail info@panachetech.com,
or call 818-986-3302.
www.PanacheTech.com

About Panache

Founded in 2006, Panache is a privately held company headquartered in Los Angeles. The Panache technology enables Internet video sites and networks to dynamically deliver any ad format directly into video content from a third-party ad server or ad network. Ad formats can be generated and delivered to viewers based on profiling and behavioral targeting, resulting in a highly customized experience for the user and a highly scalable model for the video publisher. With Panache, ad formats are completely detached from the video player, allowing publishers to create and deploy new advertising formats in minutes without engineering resources. Panache’s patent-pending solution makes it easy to deliver advanced interactive advertising to all video-distribution channels, including broadband, television, IPTV and other emerging technologies.

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