In a pair of deals that expand its slate of data providers, online video ad technology firm Videology has partnered with database marketing service I-Behavior and WPP's shopping data firm Kantar Shopcom for additional online audience insight. We spoke with Brad Herman, Chief Supply Officer at Videology, and he shared more details on Videology's approach to the online video market.

These new deals help Videology tap into in-store behavior and demographic data. Videology draws on partnerships with about 20 third-party data providers to help marketers target audiences online, Herman said. "If advertisers want to reach men 18 to 34 who are sedan buyers, they can go into the platform and identify them in a granular manner and price and execute," Herman explained. Videology works with a range of companies including ad exchanges, ad networks, syndicators, content aggregators, premium publishers and others.

The company just rolled out a new product in its publisher audience and analysis platform that  is designed to "bring the supply side and the demand side" closer together for media planners, he said. Videology recently released a study on effectiveness of cross-platform media buys.

CBS is kicking off a robust slate of pre-Grammys programming online starting on Friday February 10 for the three days leading up to the music industry awards night on Sunday February 12, said Marc DeBevoise, Senior VP and General Manager, Entertainment, at CBS Interactive in this interview with Beet.TV

CBS has signed on Target and GM as the lead sponsors for the extended online coverage prior to the event.

CBS is also offering a Grammys mobile app for iPhones, iPads and Android devices. DeBevoise explained that the expanded online video and new media efforts serve two purposes -- they help promote the on-air telecast and also give CBS a chance to connect with viewers in a new way. The three-day online coverage includes live streaming of pre-Grammy events such as pre-show concerts.

He expects usage to peak during the three hours of live red carpet coverage before the award show itself. But once the awards show starts, viewers will need to tune into the broadcast channel.

Daisy Whitney

Premium sports video provider SEASON is upping its custom content for online publishers in 2012, as part of a push for more original and exclusive programming, said Marc Mallett VP East Coast Sales, SEASON, during a recent interview with Beet.TV.

SEASON is part of sports media company Silver Chalice and focuses on premium sports. SEASON's video highlights draw from MLB, NBA, NHL and many college sports. SEASON has also begun packaging sports content exclusively, such as its Pro Football Weekly video package, Mallett said. He expects to expand on that work in 2012 with more custom content for distribution partners. He added that SEASON sells standard video units including pre-rolls, mid-rolls and post-rolls as well as overlays and banners. CPMs are in the $20-plus range, he said.

The company is also working on a mobile sports programming package that it will roll out soon.

Yahoo!, which has gained a substantial foothold in the Middle East with its acquistion of the Arab language portal Maktoob, has agreeement with the Qatar to create a significant content portal, the Gulf state and Yahoo! announced today.

In November, we spoke with Rich Riley, SVP/MD of EMEA for Yahoo! about the fast-growing opportunities for online media in the Middle East.  We have republished the video today.

Yahoo! says that Maktoob has 56 million monthly unique visitors, making it the region's "leading online destination."

Below is a photo of Riley (l) and Ali Al-Khulaifi, ICT Market Development Manager, ictQatar

 For an indepth story on Yahoo! under its new CEO, see today's Wall Street Journal story.

Mobile phones generate a much higher interaction rate - 4.5 times - than online video does, according to a new report from video vendor Videology.

But when mobile, connected TV and online video are coupled together in a campaign, brands can see a 9 times boost in brand recall. For more details on cross-platform campaign effectiveness, check out this week's New Media Minute.

-Daisy Whitney

Editor's Note:  Daisy's New Media Minute is produced and sponsored separately from Beet.TV.  We are pleased to feature it regularly on our network.

Boosted by its recent acquisition of talent rights management shop Spotlight Business Affairs, TV and Web video platform provider Extreme Reach plans to hire 140 additional employees this year, bumping its head count to 300 by year-end, the company's CEO John Roland told Beet.TV in this interview.

What's more, Extreme Reach has been growing revenues by 300% each year since its founding three years ago, and Roland expects more growth this year especially as talent rights become a more vital part of managing cross-platform ad buys. Extreme Reach is an infrastructure provider that manages the process of delivering commercials to TV stations, online video sites, and mobile and social outlets on behalf of its more than 2000 clients. Extreme Reach opened an office in Detroit last month to service auto clients.

Roland explained that talents rights and payment have become more vital as brands push out ads to multiple platforms. Marketers need to make sure they have the rights to air those spots in various mediums and they also need to pay the talent, Roland said. That's why those capabilities have been added to the Extreme Reach toolset, in addition to ad serving, distribution and management, he said.

Digital sports media property Perform has added new syndication partners for its video player including Los Angeles Times, Sporting News on AOL, New York Newsday, and others, and those additions will help keep the now-public company on pace for more growth in 2012, the company's Juan Delgado, Managing Director of Americas, told Beet.TV during a recent interview.

The U.K.-based Perform licenses sports programming and then syndicates it via an embeddable video player to more than 1000 sites worldwide, including TV stations, newspapers, radio stations and others. With more than 14 million unique viewers in the U.S. across its syndication sites, Perform ranked as the 3rd-largest property in the online sports category, behind ESPN and Cinesport, according to comScore's December 2011 Video Metrix ranking.

In its lineup, Perform has sports including Major League Baseball, NBA, NHL, NASCAR and most college sports. The company also launched a college sports highlight program last summer as part of its video syndication content.

Delgado said the company was on track for 50% revenue growth in 2011 and expects that pace to continue this year. "Before [these sites] weren't really monetizing sports video. We give them premium content monetized at premium CPMS," he said. Perform sells the ads in the video player and splits the revenue with distributors.

Brigthcove, the big Boston-based video services company, expects to offer shares from $10-12 a share next week, according to a filing on Monday, The New York Times reports.

Last year, the company expanded its core business of video services to creating Apps for publishers.  Last May in Boston, we spoke with Brightcove CTO and co-founder Bob Mason who about the company and its expansion into the applications area.

We have republished that interview today.

Note: Please excuse the issues with the thumbnail with this video -- hit play to watch.  Will be fixed later today.

Conviva, the San Mateo-based provider content delivery infrastrure solutions, has raised a $15 million round from Time Warner, the company announced today.

Conviva works with many leading video publishers to assure their content is delivered without buffering to consumers with different bandwidth and processing speeds.

Back in 2010, we interviewed CEO Darren Feher about the company and its solution. We have republished the interview today.

Conviva, the San Mateo-based provider content delivery infrastrure solutions, has raised a $15 million round from Time Warner, the company announced today.

Conviva works with many leading video publishers to assure their content is delivered without buffering to consumers with different bandwidth and processing speeds.

Back in 2010, we interviewed CEO Darren Feher about the company and its solution. We have republished the interview today.

At CES this year, with WPP's chief Sir Martin Sorrell flying in from London and Publicis' chairman Maurice Levy in from Paris, along with hundreds of advertising and brand executives, the annual electronics show was very much an advertiser expo this year.

From our vantage point, the technology getting the most attention from marketers was the new crop of Smart TV's along with  technologies which power Internet-enabled television including game consoles and platforms including Google TV

We spent a good good deal of time on the convention floor and in hotel suites reporting on this story where the advertising opportunities around the growing medium were explained by executives from LG Electronics, Samsung, Razorfish. Dailymotion and YuMe.  (Please watch our interviews linked here.)

Although a nascent medium, with perhaps as little of one-percet of digital media buy at this point, the medium is ready for growth, says Frank Barbieri, SVP for Emerging Platforms at YuMe, the online video advertising services company.

In this interview, Barbieri explains the opportunities around the new medium which he says combines the "power of the Internet advertising coupled with the impact of television."

YuMe, which counts Samsung as an investor, made several announcements at the show including this one to measure brand impact around ads served on connected TV's.

Disclosure:   The coverage of CES was sponsored by YuMe and this post has been created as part of that sponsorship arrangement.

At CES this year, with WPP's chief Sir Martin Sorrell flying in from London and Publicis' chairman Maurice Levy in from Paris, along with hundreds of advertising and brand executives, the annual electronics show was very much an advertiser expo this year.

From our vantage point, the technology getting the most attention from marketers was the new crop of Smart TV's along with  technologies which power Internet-enabled television including game consoles and platforms including Google TV

We spent a good good deal of time on the convention floor and in hotel suites reporting on this story where the advertising opportunities around the growing medium were explained by executives from LG Electronics, Samsung, Razorfish. Dailymotion and YuMe.  (Please watch our interviews linked here.)

Although a nascent medium, with perhaps as little of one-percet of digital media buy at this point, the medium is ready for growth, says Frank Barbieri, SVP for Emerging Platforms at YuMe, the online video advertising services company.

In this interview, Barbieri explains the opportunities around the new medium which he says combines the "power of the Internet advertising coupled with the impact of television."

YuMe, which counts Samsung as an investor, made several announcements at the show including this one to measure brand impact around ads served on connected TV's.

Disclosure:   The coverage of CES was sponsored by YuMe and this post has been created as part of that sponsorship arrangement.  You can find our 40 clips from CES right here.

Not competing with television news operations, without teleprompters or a slick set, the Wall Street Journal is leveraging the expertise and access of its reporters to create unique content, says Wendy Bounds, veteran Journal reporter and editor/host of the new daily lifestyle show titled "Off Duty."

Her show debuted this week on the WSJ.com and on YouTube as the first series on of the paper's new YouTube channel.

On Thursday, we visited the Journal to inteview Bounds about the new show and the opportunity for newspapers staffers to create unique video content.

In recent days, there has been several developments with newspapers commiting resources to original video.  This week, we reported on the debut of live programming at The New York Times and plans at the Huffington Post for a new, 12-hour linear online network.  Last month, we reported on plans at Reuters for new programming and a new YouTube channel.

Brian Stelter at The New York Times has a big round-up story on the topic in Monday's paper. 

Andy Plesser

They may be small, but new smart phones with super Amoled screens have displays equaling big-screen TV's for watching Sunday's Super Bowl, says Peter McCarron of Verizon Wireless.

For the first time, the Super Bowl will be streamed to mobile devices and to computers via the Web.   Verizon Wireless is the exclusive provider of the game which can be seen on Androids, iPhones and the Blackberry.  (It won't stream to tablets over the cellular network.)

Yesterday, we stopped by the Verizon Wireless store just off Bryant Park,  for a talk and demo with McCarron who is the assistant store manager.

To view the games, users need to download the free application and sign up for the mobile video offering which is about $10 per month.   The game will use from one to two gigbytes of data, which could cut into some lower end plans -- but many viewers will connect via WiFi.

Online viewers can find the game for free on NBC Sports.

For a review of how the mobile viewing for last week's Pro Bowl, find this story by the Associated Press.

More on where to watch is on Mashable.

Please see our inteview with NFL digital chief Hans Schroeder who addressed the digital strategy at the league.

Andy Plesser

#GoGiants

The Huffington Post, which has galvanized a massive community of millions of content creators who engage via comments, "likes," tweets and thousands of guest blog posts, will soon participate in an ambitious linear video network, says Arianna Huffington, editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media in this interview with Beet.TV

While produced in sophisticated studios in New York and Los Angeles with hosts and dedicated talent, a substantial part of the HuffPost Streaming Network will be integrating live, one-on-one and group dialogues and debates from the community, says Huffington.  

Lead stories will be open to participants joining the conversations via webcams, smart phones and tablets using Skype, Google+ Hangouts and other means.

At a news Manhattan press conference on Thursday, the company showed a demonstration of how multiple conversations are moderated by a host then coupled on a screen. 

The demo also showed a high degree of interactivity within the show screen - allowing viewers to click on social sharing tools and dynamic links to related content.  

Huffington says the show will launch with 12 hours of daily programming this summer, eventually going to 24 hours.   Surely creating compelling programming on this scale is not a small task.   if Huffington can galvanize participation around video as she has around text, this could be big.

Coming later today will be our interview with HuffPost co-founder and video chief Roy Sekoff.  For more on the launch, read this piece by David Kaplan of TVExchanger

Andy Plesser

Disclosure:  Beet.TV has a video syndication arrangement with AOL, the parent of Huffington Post Media.

Subscribers to Verizon Wireless will be able to watch Sunday's Super Bowl game live on their smartphones in what will be the first time the game is streamed live to mobile -- as well as to PCs and tablets via the Web.

Mobile consumption of NFL programming is enjoying "triple digit growth" year-over-year, says Hans Schroeder, SVP for Media Strategy, in this interview with Beet.TV at the league's Manhattan headquarters.

The NFL began streaming games in 2005 with Sprint and switched to Verizon for the 2010 season. 

Andy Plesser

The New York Times, which produces about 70 original videos per month, launched its first regularly scheduled live program this week.

The 6-minute Webcast, called Business Day Live, goes live on the paper's home page everyday at 10:30 a.m. ET and is then available on demand.  

It has a rotating  cast of hosts of Times staffers including David Gillen and Winnie O’Kelley, deputy business editors, and reporters Peter Lattman, Catherine Rampell and Louise Story.

Yesterday, the series debuted and we spoke with Larry Ingrassia, the paper's business editor.

Men's upscale clothier Hickey Freeman is the launch sponsor.

More LIve Programming from the WSJ and Huffington Post

Live streaming of original news programming has been getting a lot attention with the expansion of the of live programming of the Wall Street Journal to four hours of daily live programming and today's news about 12-hour daily live show from the Huffington Post which starts this summer.   (Please check back tomorrow for our stories on the plans at the Journal and HuffPo.)

Andy Plesser

As big news organizations including the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and and Reuters put an increasing effort around made-for-the-Web video news reporting, Yahoo's Daily Ticker has built a formidable audience over the past four years.

According to comScore Media Metrix, Daily Ticker had 2 million monthly unique visitors in December.  Yahoo says the show is consistantly among the top ten most watched weekly Web original series.  (The number of video streams is not available from comScore.)

At CES last month, I spoke with co-host Aaron Task about the show, its growth and for strategies creating successful business programming for the Web.

Daily Ticker is recorded.  Task says he hopes to do the show live later this year when Yahoo's new midtown televison studios are completed.

The co-host of the show is Henry Blodget, CEO and Editor in Chief of the Business Insider.

We met at the reception for the International Academy of Web Television Awards where the Daily Ticker was nominated in the category for best news program.

Below is a photo of Task, Yahoo! Studios Chief Anna Robertson and me at the IAWTV Awards.

Andy Plesser

With the dramatic growth of online video consumption in Europe, New York-based  online video ad management company Vindico has expanded its operations in France in Spain, having entered the UK in September.

For an overveiw on the opportunities in Europe, we spoke with Vindico president Matt Timothy.

Vindico is a unit of Specific Media.

Andy Plesser

London-based video ad services company Videoplaza has raised a new round of $12 million from Qualcomm Ventures and Innovacom, the company announced today.

Here's the report by Mike Butcher in TechCrunch.

In London in March of 2010, we interviewed CEO Sorosh Tavakoli.  We have republished that interview today.  We plan on interviewing him next week in New York.

Very pleased  that Sorosh will be participant in our upcoming Beet Retreat in Vieques in March.

Andy Plesser