Beta of Adobe Primetime Pulls Together Video, Ads, Analytics

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Today, Adobe released beta versions of major components of Primetime, a platform to publish and monetize broadcast TV content in a world of mobility and device fragmentation.

With Primetime, Adobe aims to address the challenges of digitization for programmers and network operators, to wit, the consumption of TV content across an expanding array of devices; the laborious buffering that often accompanies the loading of an ad in the video; and the sheer difficulty of inserting ads.

In February, Adobe unveiled the Primetime concept, offering Highlights, a web-based video clip editor.

New Primetime components are MediaWeaver, a service that dynamically places ads into content, and Primetime Media Player, a technology that lets TV content owners and distributors use a single workflow for content preparation, rights management, and streaming format.

MediaWeaver can handle all ad insertions, ad delivery, and decision-making, as well as management service, so that ads can be effectively delivered across devices. "We've seen in the marketplace that in order to properly inset ads into video content, it takes more than what ad-serving solutions have offered to date," said Jeremy Helfand, vice president, video monetization for Adobe. "Most have been built for desktop and display, not for providing a robust advertising experience for video across devices."

Adobe also announced the availability of the beta version of the full Primetime solution that integrates its video publishing, advertising, and analytics offerings by providing optimized content and ad delivery across any web-connected device.

The player is tightly integrated with Adobe SiteCatalyst, Adobe AudienceManager, and Adobe Auditude, so that ad serving, targeting, and segmentation can be accomplished within the platform. For example, a broadcaster could centralize data acquired through SiteCatalyst, along with data acquired from a service like Experian, into AudienceManager, and make segments available to be targeted and sold.

Auditude delivers behaviorally targeted ads to video streams. Adobe acquired Auditude in November 2011, adding video ad management and monetization products to its existing analytics suite, data management platform, and content management system.

However, Primetime is delivered as a cloud-based service with a modular approach. Content owners can deploy individual components of Primetime or let the full solution handle the entire workflow. They also can use Primetime to manage data from a variety of sources and outside analytics applications. Primetime does need to be integrated with the content publisher's content management system. Many potential customers already use SiteCatalyst, Helfand said, and if they don't, the integration can be accomplished by Adobe relatively quickly.

Primetime could allow TV content owners to publish more content and make more money, according to Helfand. By combining ad serving, audience management, and analytics, "you can understand what content is really worth, now. Not just, are consumers engaged or how much revenue, but a holistic view. You can tie revenue to the content experience and provide a more relevant content and ad experience to consumers," he said.

New monetization options, he added, will encourage TV content delivery over more channels as well. "If publishers can increase the value of their media inventory, they can afford to deliver video to audiences the way they want it."