Ever since YouTube started experimenting with Ad Pods in 2018, we’ve had the feature in our sights as we recognized its potential. And now, we have some fantastic news for you — it’s finally here! As of our latest update, all our Brid.TV users can now try out a variety of different ads with our brand-new Ad Pod feature!

As a consumer, I grew up with the frustration of long, strung-together commercial breaks right in the middle of a climactic scene right in the middle of my favorite TV show.These same advertising methods have now even moved online with sudden ad “breaks” as we watch videos on YouTube.

With viewers flocking to a connected TV even faster now that they’re under quarantine, it’s probably a good time for a better way to buy and sell the growing amount of ad inventory that is being made available.

IAB Tech Lab, an industry consortium which develops technologies and standards for the digital advertising industry, has today released the latest version of its OpenRTB specification for public comment. The flagship feature of the latest version, OpenRTB 2.6, is the inclusion of ad pods for connected TV inventory.

This season, the battle for "best Roku value" has been seesawing between the Roku Express 4K Plus and the Roku Streaming Stick 4K, both of which typically hover around $30. Both are 2021 models that offer full 4K streaming, as well as remotes that can control the power and volume of the TVs to which they're connected. The feature lists are nearly identical, although the Stick handles Dolby Vision in addition to the other HDR standards. But if that's not important to you, the price on the Express 4K Plus continues to inch downward, and has now reached a new all-time low of $24 at Amazon and elsewhere.

Google's original Chromecast helped popularize streaming to TVs when it first came out in 2013. The $35 device allowed you to "cast" video from apps on your phone, like YouTube, Hulu and Netflix, to watch on a big TV. That's a common feature in TVs now, but subsequent iterations of the dongle have gained new capabilities like 4K streaming. On Wednesday Google gave the Chromecast its biggest upgrade yet. It's called Chromecast with Google TV, and I've had a few hours to play with it.

In the year 2021, over-the-air broadcasting fell to last place in terms of viewership. Cable TV is still king, but for the first time, streaming video moved in to second place. Its popularity is due to devices like Google's Chromecast, easy and affordable devices you can plug into your TV. With that, streaming moved from the computer and smartphone screens to the family room TV.

Roku, one of the most popular streaming platforms in US homes, is acquiring Nielsen’s video advertisement business as it tries to become a central hub for TV advertising.Specifically, Roku is acquiring Nielsen’s Advanced Video Advertising unit. The acquisition means that Roku will also acquire Nielsen’s automatic content recognition (ACR) and dynamic ad insertion (DAI) technology. DAI technology simply means that advertisers will be able to receive “better targeting and measurement” capabilities so they can hyper-target a specific audience instead of more broad demographics like age and gender

I'VE BEEN A Roku user for years, and for the longest time, I couldn't understand why I would ever need a Chromecast. Why would I want to use my phone to play videos on my TV? It's awkward. Also, my inexpensive Roku works great, streams from just about every service, and is easier to use. But then Google released its new Chromecast, which offers multiple ways to find and stream content. And after using it for a while, I'm questioning my loyalty to that Roku.

Minority-owned businesses are on the move. There are now more than four million minority-owned companies in the U.S., with annual sales totaling close to $700 billion. According to the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship minority businesses have created 4.7 million jobs in the U.S over the past 10 years.

Need to smarten up your TV's app offering? A Roku stick could be for you Roku sticks and streamers are an easy way to add missing apps and video streaming services to your TV, or add a smart platform to an otherwise non-internet-enabled television.

Roku has reached a multiyear agreement with Google to keep YouTube and YouTube TV on its streaming platform.Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.Google had previously threatened to pull YouTube and YouTube TV from Roku on Dec. 9.

The Roku Streaming Stick 4K is the company's latest media streamer, but it has a sibling. Or rather, it has a bundle: the Streaming Stick 4K+. This package contains a Streaming Stick 4K and a Voice Remote Pro, Roku’s most advanced remote control. At $69.99, it costs $10 less than if the products are purchased separately. We’ve reviewed each item separately, but let’s take a quick look at how they fare together as one package.

Anyone who purchases a Roku streaming device after December 9 will find that the YouTube app is missing. This is because Roku and Google have some significant disagreements that will see the YouTube app removed from Roku’s platform.

We've all had those frustrating moments -- when when we're expected to come up with a brilliant new idea, but no matter how much we squint at our computer screens, we just can't seem to think of anything good.

The Google Chromecast device is a popular Google product used to stream all types of media to your television from your laptop, PC, phone, or mobile device. To connect to it from your laptop or PC:

The new Chrome cast is a much different product than the original $35 streaming stick that proved to be an unexpected hardware hit for Google way back in 2013. Instead of a barebones interface that requires you to play and control content using your smartphone or PC, the 2020 Chrome cast has evolved to offer a richer, full-featured streaming experience much more akin to a Roku, Amazon Fire TV, or Apple TV.

Google’s Pixel 5 event is scheduled for this Wednesday, but some of the company’s other new gadgets are already appearing on store shelves. That includes its all-new Chromecast, which some savvy buyers have been able to purchase directly in-store from retailers like Walmart and The Home Depot over the course of the last week.

Cord-cutters will no doubt be laughing at the thought of going without a streaming stick such as the Chromecast, but with COVID-19 spreading and people locked at home, there has never been a better time to introduce one to your home.

Most people view the Google Chromecast as just another streaming device, but it’s much more than that. Unlike streaming boxes, the Chromecast doesn’t have a menu system or special apps you need to navigate to use it.Instead, the Chromecast transforms your TV into a “smart” TV. It lets you “cast” videos on Chromecast-compatible sites from any phone, laptop, or tablet.