As most San Franciscans are aware, the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival is a three-day “Coachella-esque” music festival and one of the biggest events in the city – if not the country. This year’s festival did not disappoint. Major headliners including The Roots, Foster the People, Phish, Arcade Fire and Muse dominated the main stage. In addition to the big names, bands like Group Love, Ellie Goulding, Major Lazer, Girl Talk and more created a festival not to be missed by music lovers – and anyone just looking to enjoy a good time outdoors in the sunshine. (Check out the full lineup on the Outside Lands website.) While the music is the main attraction to most, BrightRoll’s first-ever VIP Cabana earned its spot as a very close second.

We invited a few of our concert-going clients to partake in the music, food and festivity from the comfort and closeness of a VIP Cabana. Our guests were wined, dined and entertained from the best seat in the house. Right next to the main stage, our cabana guests had nothing short of an unforgettable experience. Nestled in between Citibank’s and Adobe’s cabanas, the BrightRoll crew outdid itself, sporting BrightRoll goodies and swag including blankets, chap sticks, USB sticks and koozies. Best of all, guests got to take home a seriously impressive, art-quality, custom-made BrightRoll Outside Lands VIP poster.

Even with all these perks, it was the company of our fantastic guests that made the BrightRoll VIP Cabana experience truly complete. There were die-hard music fans along with people just happy to be at the festival enjoying good music, weather and food. After the three-day event was over, everyone agreed BrightRoll’s VIP Cabana was a major success. We look forward to seeing you all at Outside Lands 2012!

Check out the full album of photos on our Facebook page!

International expansion is a big priority for us here at BrightRoll; after our London launch in May 2011, Canada was a natural next step. Why, you ask? In addition to the hockey, maple syrup and convenient border-sharing, IAB Canada’s ad revenue analysis indicates the country’s digital video advertising industry grew by 85 percent, reaching $37 million in 2010, with further gains expected this year. There are many publishers and brand advertisers in Canada eager to sink their teeth into the opportunities digital video offers – and we’re thrilled to be able to greet them with open arms.

The full the full press release about our Canadian expansion is available here, and don’t forget to come visit!

Tooting our own horn just a little bit, we call our inaugural V3 road show a success. Part of what made the event so successful was the amazing support from our partners. We were fortunate enough to have more than 40 speakers from 13 of our vendor partners participate. During our sessions on interactive pre-roll, we demoed new products from Innovid and PointRoll. Another crowd favorite was our “Measuring What Matters” panel, which gave everyone in the room a chance to ask executives from leading online research firms Nielsen and comScore specific questions about research and measurement.

Overall, more than 250 people attended the events. Each location saw an average of 30 to 40 guests, providing an intimate, yet relaxed atmosphere perfect for the type of conversations we wanted to have. Above all, we sought to provide a forum for discussion and an opportunity for people to learn something new about online video – and delivered in spades.

Looking back, we learned a lot and are thankful for the opportunity to host open and frank discussions with people who wanted to learn more about our industry. Thanks to everyone who joined us this year, and for those of you who missed out, check out our YouTube and Facebook pages for videos, photos and more! For a copy of Tod’s keynote, please email: Samantha@brightroll.com.

Fox Drops Sledgehammer on Hulu, Ad-Based Online TV Viewing

On July 26, Fox announced its decision to limit all streaming, on both Fox.com and Hulu, to paid subscribers on select cable and dish distributors – news that rocked the online video world. Fox has also decided to delay online availability of all shows by eight days. No longer will online TV viewers be able to fire up their preferred site the day after broadcast to catch up on Fox’s original content – a behavior to which millions of online viewers have become happily accustomed. Will Richmond of VideoNuze called it a “major ouch for Hulu,” which bears the brunt of this limitation while simultaneously trying to find a purchaser.

Taking to Twitter after hearing the news, GigaOm video writer Ryan Lawler had choice words for the media company upon hearing of their new content strategy, offering several commentaries on the networks’ refusal to cooperate with the online TV status quo. “Will viewers wait 8 days, or will they go back to piracy? That was the whole reason Hulu was created to begin with, right?” he asked via tweet.

Fabio Takes on the Old Spice Man

The brand that perfected viral video marketing,Old Spice, brought Isaiah Mustafa back to YouTube this week with a series of videos that created a maelstrom on social media channels. This time, Mustafa took to computer screens to defend his role as the “Old Spice Man” against a defiant, upstart Fabio – who created a new Twitter account just for this battle royale. The series, “Mano a Mano en el baño,” pitted Mustafa and Fabio in a duel to claim the illustrious spokesman’s title. Each created videos about why they should be the Old Spice Man, speaking directly to media personalities and users who sent them questions, commentaries or challenges via Twitter. Check out each contender’s punches on the Old Spice YouTube channel. We hope the folks at Old Spice will continue to delight us with their attractive, comedic stars – and continue to choose online video as their medium of choice.

YouTube Dominates Mobile

“You can do all sorts of amazing things with mobile phones these days. But many of you, it seems, are content to use your handset as a YouTube delivery device,” tweeted Peter Kafka in AllThingsD after seeing reports that 22% of all mobile bandwidth – accounting for all apps’ data usage on a smartphone – is consumed by YouTube. Within the mobile streaming realm, YouTube owns 52% of the pie – a definitive majority over other providers streaming mobile video. These figures are an uptick from last year, when YouTube’s global share was 17%. Facebook and Twitter have also seen their shares increase, but even the world’s most popular social media sites don’t hold a candle to online-video powerhouse YouTube’s stranglehold on mobile data usage. (If you like visuals, check out the seriously shocking pie graphs in the story link.)