This year marks a major shift in advertising towards digital media, online videos in particular. A number of media companies and brands are heavily investing in this arena vis-à-vis the consumer’s redefinition of the television experience. The growing popularity of internet TV going into the living rooms and getting ready for prime time has tickled the big names in the industry, and also attracted a few new players. Taking all of this into account, it’s easy to see why these trends are already being embraced by several organizations.

Vimeo

One of the leading online video brands, Vimeo has revealed a slew of changes that would pave the way for the rollout of the new site. The redesign aims to attract more users by means of an enhanced streaming experience. Some of the improvements include a double-sized, full-width player, allowing users to play videos from their personal homepage, better navigation, tighter account security options and a host of new sharing and discovery features. Vimeo CEO Dae Mellencamp says this is spruce up is original, and that they would like to start a new trend within the online video space.

Mellencamp also shares how their commitment to their avid users drove them to reinvent their site:

“Vimeo’s growth [approx. 65M Monthly uniques in Dec. 2011] and dedication to maximizing the user experience was the catalyst for this redesign. The result protects the essence of Vimeo while allowing for future growth of audience and features in a simple, intuitive environment.”

Youtube

Following a much discussed Obama hangout, Google’s other video prodigy has proudly announced the milestone of 4 billion daily video views.  YouTube has achieved a 25% increase in video streaming in the past eight months. The leap was attributed to the viral videos in its shelf, the mobility boom, the social networking craze and jumping outside personal computers to internet TV and smartphones.  Moreover, around 60 hours worth of video is being downloaded every minute on Youtube.com. In December, we reported 1 trillion playbacks for the site, noting their biggest videos of the year.

Although Hulu is surpassing them in the online video advertising race, YouTube remains a staple go-to for video streaming, according to a recent comScore study. VEVO is hailed as the site’s strongest partner. It has also undergone some massive website revamps before 2011 ended. Just a week ago, the video streaming hub has announced a new film competition in partnership with no less than the Venice Film Festival and Ridley Scott. This online film fest hopes to epitomize YouTube as the low-cost entertainment center.

With all these developments, Google is still lucky to have acquired YouTube in 2006—a good catch, a good buy, indeed.

Boxee

Following the launch of Netflix in the United Kingdom, Boxee has promised to bring forth its services to customers via the online streaming giant.  And following the “reinvention” trend, the company is no longer just a plain and simple media streamer, with the release of Boxee Live TV. The app, which they introduced during the recently-concluded CES event, is the option for users to share what they are watching on Facebook and Twitter. Aside from this, they have also brought the SOPA protest to living rooms, joining an internet movement against the proposed legislation.

Online Video Ads

Internet TV and streaming are greatly influencing the rise of online video ads.  A recent report notes how consumers rely on digital content, especially online video marketing campaigns, before purchasing a product.

Providing more solutions to publishers, Tremor Video acquires InPlay, video analytics solutions. With this, videohub publishers will be given better picture and real-time data on user engagement, viewership and performance ratings.

User engagement and management is going to play a crucial role in the mounting online video competition. With several options budding from every direction and strong growth on European soil, loyalty and innovation will keep the business alive. It will be quite interesting to see who will win the battle for the broadcast of the future.