Kris Magel of Initiative U.S.: Video has changed more in the past single year than in the past 30 years

The changes taking place in the habits of video consumption and advertising were debated during Nielsen’s U.S. Consumer 360 this week in Las Vegas, having always consumers as priority. “I’ve been a proponent of a holistic view of content for consumers my whole career” said Kris Magel, president of Initiative U.S. during a content monetization panel. “And that puts the focus on new technology, new programming and new revenue opportunities. While some have said video has changed more in the past five years than in the past 30, I would argue it’s changed more in the past single year than in the past 30 years.” Panelists from Hulu, CBS, Turner, Google (YouTube) and Facebook each outlined individual strategies that approach content, distribution and advertising. Peter Naylor, senior vice president of ad sales at Hulu said: “Very simply, we’re television. We are SVOD and OTT, and we’re TV for the whole family. In fact, today, we’re 70% in the living room. That’s a large shift from where we were when we started. Over time, however, original content will be a differentiator.”“We have a deep relationship with our creators, that’s the point of difference for us” explained Lucas Watson, vice president of global brand solutions and innovations at Google. “We want to deliver high-definition, high-quality video across every screen, and we want to do that for any video.”