• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, April 8, 2013

Video consumed across multiple devices continues to connect audiences, but puts a burden on publishers to analyze consumer behavior when targeting ads across screens.

YuMe will release services Monday for publishers that support video player targeting and reporting across all screens. It's also the precursor to sophisticated services the company will eventually roll out.

YuMe expanded its Connected Audience Network targeting capabilities to publishers using YFP Pro. The service allows publishers to better segment inventory based on features in video players. It matches the player size, location and visibility against sold campaigns. Advanced reporting capabilities help publishers better understand their inventory and options.

It brings elements of the YuMe Placement Quality Index (PQI) algorithm to publishers, enabling them to better segment their own inventory based on video player features. The technology allows publishers to place the player location anywhere on the Web page. Cross-screen features allow advertisers to upload the ad creative once for multiple devices. Encoding makes the process automated, enabling one ad to run on multiple devices and bandwidth in 26 formats.  

YuMe's acquisition of Crowd Science in January will help the company "change the game of how advertisers target video ads," said Vamshi Sriperumbudur, VP of platform product marketing at YuMe.

Improved video ad targeting supports changes to YuMe's product road map, but Sriperumbudur said the industry needs to improve the ability to track consumers between connected devices to serve more relevant ads regardless of the device. "It's something not done well," he said. "There are multiple challenges because it requires optimization as consumption increases between TV and tablet. OEMs are pushing for more smart TVs."

Companies continue to work on video ad targeting and easing the burdens associated with device fragmentation. Using a log-in IDs to connect devices, search engines Yahoo, Bing and Google attempt to connect screens, such as televisions and tablets, in an effort to target ads across multiple platforms.

YuMe supports nearly 1,700 video sites, up to 2 billion monthly video streams and 129 million unique viewers for advertisers like Cadillac, Hyatt, Nissan, Zappos, Walmart, McDonald's, and Taco Bell, among others on publisher sites Pandora, Slacker, and Gannett, as well as connected TV providers LG and Samsung.

Research from the Interactive Advertising Bureau released earlier this year suggests that running video ads online prior to TV boosts brand recall for that same ad playing on television by 33%. The same study also found that online digital video, whether in short-form or full episodes, scored higher than TV ads when it came to general recall, brand recall, message recall, and ad preference. Full episodes online are particularly effective with general recall of 39% higher for video ads during a full episode online than on TV.