YouTube Buys Company That Processes Music Royalties
In an effort to streamline its often complex relations with music
publishers, YouTube has acquired RightsFlow, an upstart company in
New York that processes royalties for the music industry.
YouTube, which is owned by Google, announced
the deal on a company
blog on Friday afternoon. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.
Through the deal, YouTube will gain a system for processing royalty
payments to tens of thousands of publishers — the companies that
represent songwriters — whenever music is included in a video that
is played on the site. That procedure is often highly complicated
because the music industry has no central database for finding
publishers and songwriters; the Harry Fox Agency, the largest
clearinghouse for this process, issues licenses on behalf of 46,000
publishers, but it does not represent thousands of others.
The revenue a songwriter or record company might earn from any one
video is minuscule, but if that video becomes a big hit, the pennies
of royalties through YouTube can add up to significant amounts of
money. YouTube’s sheer size — it has more than 150 million videos —
also means that a popular song could turn up in thousands of videos.
---------------------------------------------
Forget
3D, here comes the QD TV
Television
screens that can be rolled up and
carried in a
pocket are to become a reality using technology developed by
British
scientists.
Researchers
have developed a new form of light-emitting crystals, known as
quantum dots, which can be used to produce ultra-thin televisions.
The tiny
crystals, which are 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human
hair, can be printed onto flexible plastic sheets to produce a
paper-thin display that can be easily carried around, or even onto
wallpaper to create giant room-size screens.
The scientists
hope the first quantum dot televisions – like current flat-screen
TVs, but with improved colour and thinner displays – will be
available in shops by the end of next year.
-------------------------------------------
Who the heck knows what the future may bring, right? Well, with New
Year 2012 coming up fast, I’m not going to let that stop me. I’m going
to give you some predictions, all expanding upon trends and developments
several other writers and I have been noting in this column throughout
the past year. It will be fun in December
of 2012 to take a look
back at this piece to see to what extent these prognostications prove to
be accurate.
Without further ado, here are some predictions for the New Year in
online video:
Online video growth exceeds
projections. While
some people have dismissed the robust growth predictions for online
video as being too Pollyannaish or bullish, I would actually be shocked
if the projected spend in online video not only hits the widely
discussed eMarketer metric of a 43% increase for 2012, but exceeds this
by another 20% of that percentage once everything is all said and done,
showing roughly 50% growth.
by Daisy Whitney
Video advertising is finally catching up to consumer viewing habits.
That's the finding of the latest quarterly report from video
technology company FreeWheel, assessing both online video ads and
video views. Video ad views are rising at a faster rate than video
views in the third quarter, marking the first time that ad views
outpaced video views in growth rates, a promising sign for the
online video ad economy. Freewheel said the volume of videos views
in its data set that reaches across clients including Turner, ESPN,
FOX, Univision, Discovery Communications, VEVO and others increased
from 6 billion a year ago to 11.8 billion, while video ad views grew
from 3.1 billion to 7.2 billion during the same period. That's a
growth rate of 128% for video ad views, and 97% for video views,
respectively.
-------------------------------------
Movie audiences shrink below post-Sept. 11 level
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Hollywood's holidays are off to a dreadful start:
Fewer people went to the movies the last two weekends than during the
box-office hush that followed the Sept. 11 attacks 10 years ago.
Domestic revenues tumbled to a 2011 low of about $77 million this
weekend, when the star-filled, holiday-themed romance "New Year's Eve"
debuted at No. 1 with a weak $13.7 million, according to studio
estimates Sunday.
It's the worst weekend in more than three years, since the weekend after
Labor Day in 2008, when revenues amounted to $67.6 million, according to
box-office tracker Hollywood.com. And it comes after an $81 million
total a week earlier that had been this year's previous low.
-------------------------------------------
Lee Enterprises Declares Bankruptcy
The end of the year isn’t bringing any relief for newspaper publishers
as they continue to confront declining ad revenues, and in at least a
few cases, bankruptcy. The list of newspaper publishers that have sought
legal protection from debtors now includes Lee Enterprises, which
publishes 48 daily newspapers around the country, including the St.
Louis Post-Dispatch. It disclosed Monday that it is filing for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Lee, which was founded in Iowa in 1890 and has around 6,200 employees,
currently carries $994.5 million in debt, compared to total assets
valued at about $1.15 billion. The company hopes to use its
bankruptcy reorganization to defer debt payments currently scheduled for
April 2012 to 2015 and 2017. The bankruptcy is “prepackaged,” as it
already has the support of the company’s creditors, which should allow
Lee to leave bankruptcy within a few months.
Like other big newspaper publishers, Lee has seen a dramatic drop in
revenues in recent years because of a combination of secular declines
attributed to changing technology and broader economic factors. In the
company’s fiscal year 2011, which ended in September, total revenues
came to $756 million -- down 3.1% from $780.6 million in 2010 and 32.5%
from $1.12 billion in 2007.
mediapost.com/publications/article/164106/lee-enterprises-declares-bankruptcy.html?edition=41196#ixzz1gUlmP0SV
------------------------------------
Nielsen, Tremor Bring TV Metrics To Online Video
In another nod to video’s increasing currency, Nielsen and ad network
Tremor Video are teaming up to expand their respective footprints. Per
the partnership, Tremor’s VideoHub customers will be granted access to
Nielsen Online Campaign Ratings’ gross rating points via VideoHub for
Advertisers. According to Nielsen, the deal marks the first time
it has integrated its gross rating point (GRP) data with a video ad
platform. By marrying the standard GRP metric used in TV advertising to
online video performance, the goal is to bring TV dollars online.
“Marketers want to cleanly compare the reach of online video media to
other media -- principally TV,” said Steve Hasker, president of Media
Products and Advertiser Solutions at Nielsen. With
Nielsen’s online GRPs, advertisers using VideoHub can now see what
demographic audiences their campaigns reach online. Then, via the
VideoHub ad platform, they can understand how those audiences responded
to their campaigns.
mediapost.com/publications/article/163735/nielsen-tremor-bring-tv-metrics-to-online-video.html?edition=41081#ixzz1g11Mlk9y
----------------------------------------------
When it comes to online video, music is the single biggest lost
opportunity for brands.
It baffles me how a brand can spend $30,000 to $300,000 on product
marketing and consumer outreach videos, then not spend another 5% for
professional music from either established or unknown artists. After
all, in 1928, Warner Bros. saw 5000% profit margins from its first
“talkies” -- films that were primarily musical in nature. More recently,
Apple turned the tech industry on its ear through music.
DOT ONE While
it is difficult to assign an exact number, it’s consensus that several
million (that’s million)
artists and bands are on MySpace.
DOT TWO Even
Michelangelo was paid for the Sistine
Chapel.
Patronage of the arts is a time-honored tradition -- a tradition brands
have the opportunity to carry forward. Michelangelo took money from the
Pope to paint the ceiling of his world’s most important religious real
estate. There surely are bands on MySpace that wouldn’t mind moving
from “starving” to “slightly well-fed” artists by having their music in
a branded product video.
Finding credible artists without high costs isn’t as daunting as it
might seem:
- Check out the lesser-known artists
at music festivals like Outside
Lands and Coachella.
- Roam the sidewalks of 6th
Street in Austin at
SXSW.
- Or simply watch for who’s coming
through town at your smaller music venues.
Here’s the best part: pick the right music, and brands have the
opportunity to be labeled as “cool” and “relevant” when the artists make
it big. Your brand might even get credit for breaking the band to a
wider audience.
Maybe you should pay a little more attention to that band busking on the
street corner or in the farmer’s market.
They could be your ticket to video success.
----------------------------------------
Too Many Devices for Video? Let Social TV Save the Day!
Social TV is the cat’s meow these days. (Maybe even the cat’s pajamas.
Speaking of, which one is better?)
In any case — social TV is purring and networks from HBO to Discovery
are regularly rolling out new social TV applications for synched
viewing, while social TV startups like GetGlue and Miso are quickly
amassing more venture funding and more clients.
With all this social TV activity, I started wondering — what’s the
online video play in social TV? I posed that question to Colin Donald,
director of research firm Futurescape, who recently penned a white
paper on the market opportunities in social TV. His take is that
as TV and online video blur, social TV matters even more. This is
especially the case as connected TVs become more popular because most
connected TVs have social apps built into them. “As Internet-connected
screens proliferate, viewers will be flipping between TV and online
video almost without noticing,” he said in an email interview.
What’s more, consumers are also using Smartphones and tablets to watch
video, and those devices make social TV a breeze as well, with apps just
a thumb tap away. “By 2015, an estimated 65% of the US population will
own a smartphone and/or tablet. Even now, almost 50% of American 18- 24
year-old smartphone or tablet owners frequently discuss TV shows on
social networks while viewing,” the Futurescape report said, citing
research from In-Stat.
The upshot is that with device proliferation comes social TV
proliferation. But, social TV has even greater potential to guide
consumers through the confusing mass of videos.
yahoonews.com december 2011
---------------------------------------
Power in Numbers: China Aims for High-Tech Primacy
BEIJING — In an otherwise nondescript conference room, Wu Jianping
stands before a giant wall of frosted glass. He toggles a switch and
the glass becomes transparent, looking down on an imposing network
operations center full of large computer displays. They show maps of
China and the world, pinpointing China’s IPv6 links, the next
generation of the Internet.
China already has almost twice the number of Internet users as in
the United States, and Dr. Wu, a computer scientist and director of
the Chinese Educational and Research Network, points out that his
nation is moving more quickly than any other in the world to deploy
the new protocol.
IPv6 — Internet
Protocol version 6 —
offers advanced security and privacy options, but more important,
many more I.P. addresses, whose supply on the present Internet
(IPv4) is almost exhausted.
“China must move to IPv6,” Dr. Wu said. “In the U.S., some people
don’t believe it’s urgent, but we believe it’s urgent.”
If the future of the Internet is already in China, is the future of
computing there as well?
NewYork'Times.com
--------------------------------------
While our national unemployment rate hovers at around 9%, the rate in
our industry is much lower. In fact, some people I speak with now
believe that the unemployment rate in media and technology is
effectively zero. They may be right. Recruiters inNew
York tell
me that they are having challenges finding talent across the board,
whether it is for sales, analytics or programming positions.
--------------------------------------
Most people go online with no specific destination in
mind.
The latest study from the Pew Research Center's Internet and American
Life Project is in, and it's called "The
internet as a diversion and destination." The study was meant to
determine what attracts users to the Internet. The answer is: nothing,
really.
That's not meant to say that there isn't anything on the Internet that
attracts end users to it. Instead, that means that many times, when end
users head for the Web, it's not with any specific destination in mind.
The younger the survey participant, the more likely that was the answer.
When asked if they ever go online for no particular reason, 81 percent
of adults 18 to 29 answered "yes." Overall, 53 percent of all
respondents (ranging in age from 18 all the way to 65 and older)
answered "yes."
-----------------------------------------------
Microsoft XBox Gives Voice To TV Choice
Remote controls for TVs? Who need it when you have a voice.
A new Microsoft Xbox 360 allows users to speak -- using its Kinect
controller integrated with Bing search -- to find TV and entertainment
choices. This voice-directed update for the gaming system launches Dec.
6. in time for the holiday season.
Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at
Microsoft, stated the addition makes "your TV and entertainment
experiences more social and personal than ever." James McQuivey of
Forrester Research, added it was "the benchmark against which all other
living room initiatives should be compared."
The company will also add more TV and video content to Xbox Live via new
apps from new entertainment partners, including HBO Go, Epix, UFC and
YouTube. Xbox 360 consoles are set to a bigger array deliver live and
on-demand TV shows, movies, videos, sports, music and news.
Xbox360 has various global TV service partners, including AT&T U-verse,
Telus in Canada, BSkyB in the U.K., Canal+ in France, Vodafone Portugal,
VimpelCom in Russia and Foxtel in Australia, Analysts believe this is a
continuing step for Microsoft to use its Xbox as a replacement set-top
TV device in U.S. TV homes.
mediapost.com Dec 2011
----------------------------------------------
(Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc plans to launch a standalone
service allowing customers to stream movies and television shows over
the Web, in a fresh challenge to Netflix Inc and the traditional cable
TV business, according to several people briefed on the plan.
The phone company is talking with prospective programming partners about
the service, which would be introduced outside of markets where it
currently offers its broadband and TV package, known as FiOS, these
people said. That would make it available to some 85 million U.S.
households. The new service
could be rolled out in 2012, according to one of the people.
---------------------------------------
Digital Reshapes China, Aids Booming Ad Economy
The digital media revolution is reshaping Chinese society to help make
it one of the fastest-growing advertising economies in the world,
according to a new trend report from WPP’s MEC China.
According to MEC parent company GroupM, measured media expenditures in
China will grow 15.2% in 2011 to approximately $54 billion. Larger
growth is expected in 2012 when expenditures will reach $63 billion, up
nearly 17%. Most of the major advertising holding companies are vying
for a greater share of those growing expenditures.
Driving that growth in part is China’s new Me Generation, according to
the MEC report. Unlike the past, the report states, “The Chinese of
today have come to see individualism as something to be pursued and
developed. They no longer live by the principle of ‘the bird that shows
its head gets shot.’”
Contributing to this new outlook is the rise of personal media, such as
blogs and social media like Weibo, a Chinese service akin to Twitter.
Blog writers have increased 12% in the last four years, and Weibo users
have doubled in the last quarter, per the report. More generally, the
social media conversation is expanding. The report indicates that people
who participated in discussion on the Internet in China rose from 2.8%
in 2009 to 9.4% in 2011.
Just as technology has altered consumer behavior elsewhere, it is doing
so in China, and on a huge scale.
Mediapost.com Nov 2011
-------------------------------------------------------------------
According to a study by the
Association of National Advertisers, nearly two-thirds of client-side
advertisers (63%) are planning branded entertainment strategies for
2012. The most popular channels for branded entertainment include
commercial television, the Internet and sporting events, although
Internet strategies are growing at the fastest clip by far, and
television is trending downward.
The objectives marketers are trying to achieve with these are what you
might expect: making a stronger connection with consumers; aligning
the brand with relevant content; and building brand affinity with a
desired audience.
They’re searching for information. Through our research for a large
electronics company, we learned that consumers weren’t searching for
information about how to choose a camera, but were searching for
information on how to use one to take pictures of babies, weddings,
kids, etc. That insight was invaluable in crafting our branded online
video strategy for the company, which focused on providing consumers
with information on how to take the best pictures -- using their brand
of cameras, of course -- rather than a commercial about which of their
cameras consumers can buy.
The funny thing about branded entertainment -- and by funny, I don’t
mean “Roller Babies” -- is that it’s not being searched for online.
Consumers aren’t looking to brands for entertainment; they download
movies or TV shows for that. What some major brands have realized is
that information is much more valuable to consumers than entertainment,
and brands have a huge opportunity to own branded information. Hopefully
marketers for other brands are starting to realize that while branded
information may not make it to “Tosh.O,” it can do wonders for
engagement.
----------------------------
DreamWorks sees an Internet future dominated by audio, video
Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks, the animation studio, thinks the
Internet is too text-centric. At the recent Techonomy conference in
Tucson, AZ, Katzenberg predicted the dominant communications vehicle on
the net would begin changing next year to audio and video clips.
"Text is a learned process, but what we do [at DreamWorks] is intuitive
and instinctual, and you do it from the moment you are born," Katzenberg
told the conference. "We're trying to see if we can move many of these
things we can do today in text but moving up to video and audio … do it
with sight and sound."
That push will begin next year, in 2012, when DreamWorks will start to
spin out its latest 3-D animation technology into the world of the Web.
Dreamworks has been working with Intel for almost four years to create
12-core chips and specialized software able to create photorealistic
animation in real time.
Katzenberg pointed to Apple's talkative virtual assistant, Siri, as
evidence that "whether we do it or somebody else does it, we will move
from a text world into an audiovisual one."
broadcastengineering.com Nov 2011
= ===============================================
Video is Evolving -- Don't Get Left Behind
Consumer usage of video is increasing at an astonishing rate. Cisco has
estimated that video will increase from 30% of Internet traffic in 2010
to 90% by 2013. Online retailers are already using video, and service
companies, manufacturing, and many others are also hopping on board. The
scope of businesses that employ video and the different uses for video
are expanding.
The message is clear: Consumers expect online video as a central element
of a company’s communications strategy. No matter what sector of
business you are in, incorporating video is an essential step in
preparing yourself for the future of marketing.
73% of online retailers use video on product pages, which means that if
you’re a retailer and you don’t have video on your site, you are
officially in the minority, according to eMarketer. Other sectors of
business are beginning to follow suit. A recent survey by Industrial
Marketing Today found that 50% of B2B manufacturers use YouTube as a
channel to connect with their customers. Even service companies such as
Charles Schwab are starting to include videos on their websites.
yahoo.news.com nov 2011
------------------------------------------------------------
Fox Negotiating Streaming Pact With Warner Bros.
Fox network is close to a deal that would allow the network to stream
current Warner Bros. programs on Web sites and mobile devices, reports
Bloomberg, citing sources. Warner Bros, which produces Fox show
'Fringe," would be permitted to sell reruns to cable and other broadcast
outlets sooner. The terms Fox reached are similar to the terms of the
deal secured by Warner and ABC. The ABC deal allows Disney to distribute
any WB series produced for the network in the current TV season and next
online and on Hulu's ad-supported platforms.
mediapost.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
by Joe Mandese
Nielsen has begun informing clients of yet another significant data
processing glitch -- one that has been overstating estimates since
2007, the longest misstatement of Nielsen data disclosed to date.
Nielsen executives say the data that was impacted -- the sum of
so-called "non-HUT" viewing sources -- is rarely used by clients,
but the fact that it took Nielsen so long to uncover the problem,
and coming on the heels of other recent high-profile data glitches,
raises serious questions about the researcher's quality controls.
"Personally I think
that Nielsen is a fraud...they over report for TV just to make the
advertisers think anybody of any rating at all is even watching the crap
that is on television. The program stinks and there is no doubt
that tens of millions of people are not even watching TV anymore.
Yet the conspiracy between television and Hollywood executives and the
Nielsen are putting out the lie so that to keep their advertising
dollars coming in..." Benford Standley
---------------------------------------------------
Local Social Media Ad Spending To Hit 2.3 Billion In 2015
Locally focused advertising in social media is expected to grow at
annual rate of 33% from $400 million in 2010 to $2.3 billion by 2015,
according to a new forecast from BIA/Kelsey. That would make local
advertising roughly a third of the total of $8.1 billion in U.S. social
media ad revenue that the research firm projects in four years.
Social media ad sales this year will reach $3.7 billion, of which $700
million will be local ad dollars.
BIA/Kelsey released the local social advertising forecast as part of the
fall update to its U.S. local media forecast released in April. The firm
defines local advertising broadly as spending by national, regional and
small and medium-sized businesses on any form of targeted messaging
specific to a geographic market.
Within social media, it defines local advertising as money spent on
geotargeted ad formats across social networks, but excluding virtual
goods and rewards, social gaming, social commerce or social marketing.
Think paid media, not earned or owned media.
----------------------------------------------------------------------Nov
2011
Disney Movies To Run On YouTube
With all the talk about Netflix being a cable killer, some have
forgotten about what is still the biggest digital video platform:
YouTube.
In a somewhat quiet move, Walt Disney joins other studios in announcing
that hundreds of its movies will soon be available in the YouTube Movies
digital area. Disney brings a total of four major studios -- Sony
Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. -- and one
minor studio, Lionsgate -- which have made deals where consumers can
rent their movies.
For YouTube, this brings its major studio a total of 3,000 big movies
available for rent, costing viewers between $1 and $4 with a general
time frame of those movies that have to be watched within 24 or 48
hours.
The Disney and Pixar deal will include "Cars 2" and "Alice in
Wonderland," among others. Just like other deals, the most recent movies
that have been theatrically released will go for a higher price tag. For
example, customers would be charged from $3.99 for newer releases, such
as "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides."
Recently, YouTube announced plans for original video content from a
number of partners, including performers/producers Jay-Z and Ashton
Kutcher.
yahoo.news.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Sen. Jay Rockefeller said today he intended to summon Facebook to a
hearing to answer questions about its ability to track users as they
surf the Web.
“No company should track customers without their knowledge or consent,
especially a company with 800 million users and a trove of unique
personal data on its users,” the Senate Commerce Committee said in a
statement. “If Facebook or any other company is falsely leading people
to believe that they can log out of the site and not be tracked, that is
alarming,” the Democrat from West
Virginia continued.
He added that he intends to hold a hearing and invite Facebook and other
tech companies to testify about how they use people's “personal
information.”
Rockefeller's statement was prompted by a front-page article in USA
Today that
examined Facebook's ability to track people even after they had logged
out. The paper summarized recent concerns about Facebook's ability to
track people when they visit sites with the “like” button or other
social plug-ins.
----------------------------------------------------------Nov
2011
Sony to launch Internet-based TV network
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
With sales margins down on traditional television sets, Sony is
considering launching its own television network over the Internet. It's
a subscription-based model that many consumer electronics companies are
trying — some with success like Apple — as consumer electronics
companies try to navigate a challenging economic environment. In Sony's
case, it owns a number of popular TV shows and TV and movie production
studios and is negotiating to acquire the rights to others, so, the new
strategy just might be what the struggling technology giant needs to
stay profitable.
Executives at the company say they are experimenting with a new OTT
television service that would bring content from providers like NBC,
News Corp. and various cable channels directly to viewers. Sony CEO
Howard Stringer told the "Wall Street Journal" that the new IPTV network
that will compete with traditional pay television platforms.
"I spent the last five years building a platform so I can compete
against Steve Jobs," Stringer told the newspaper. "It's finished, and
it's launching now."
broadcastengineering.com
==============================================
by Daisy Whitney
Just as work expands to fill the time available, so does video. In
its annual survey of cross-platform video consumption, Frank N.
Magid found that while half of online consumers are watching TV
shows and movies via the Internet, they are also upping what they
spend on traditional subscriptions. The study found that consumers
who watch video programming on alternate devices aren't changing the
amount of time they spend watching traditional TV. In fact, the more
we watch, the more we watch - there is still plenty of growth in VOD,
DVR and DVD usage even among those consumers who watch online
content, Magid said.
==============================Nov
2011
Setting up its broader digital TV strategy,
Microsoft just announced the acquisition of video
discovery technology provider VideoSurf.
Per the deal, Microsoft plans to integrate the technology into its
entertainment platform, including its Xbox 360 ecosystem, while evolving
search and discovery of entertainment content on Xbox LIVE.
“VideoSurf’s content analytics technology will enhance the search and
discovery of entertainment content across our platform,” said Alex
Garden, director of Xbox LIVE for the Interactive Entertainment Business
at Microsoft.
In the coming months, Microsoft plans to bring about 40 TV and
entertainment providers to Xbox LIVE, including Bravo, Comcast, HBO GO,
Verizon FiOS and Syfy in the United States.
------------------------------------------------
YouTube
YouTube’s sheer dominance presents an interesting challenge to content
owners -- but net-net, it gives producers an ability to target the most
captive video audience with relatively zero technology costs. Yes, with
over 48 hours of content uploaded each minute and 3 billions daily
streams, it’s hard to cut through the clutter, but the fact remains that
YouTube has done a lot to bring video to the mainstream. Last but not
least, by forking over $250 million to content producers for original
programming, YouTube is also ushering in a new era of video online
(disclosure: YouTube is one of our largest distribution partners).
------------------------------------------
Sundance Channel Debuts TV Show on Twitter, Hulu... and Then TV.
When Sundance Channel premieres the first episode of the second season
of Girls Who Like Boys Who
Like Boys on PerezHilton.com
today, it’ll be a full 24 hours before the on-air debut of the show on
Nov. 18. What’s more, the blogger’s unveiling of the show follows a
Twitter premiere earlier in the week, as well as a Hulu debut of the
episode. The Twitter debut marked one of the first time a network has
leveraged the social platform to bow a show, and while the Twitter-cast
only generated 2,000 views, it’s a start to using social video to drive
early buzz in a TV show.
Networks and brands alike are eagerly hunting for ways to pivot off of
social chatter and online word-of-mouth, and actual sneak peeks on
social venues are a new strategy. Sundance is also offering the new
episode on Facebook this week, potentially reaching the show's 237,000
Facebook fans. The PerezHilton.com online
premiere kicks off a series of PSAs with Hilton exploring issues like
tolerance and bullying.
mediapost.com
-----------------------------------------------
Content Remains King
by Sam Vasisht , Friday,
Nov. 25, 2011
If the recent gyrations of Netflix and Hulu demonstrate anything, it
is that content still rules. We can talk about the new forms of
services, devices and formats, but at the end of the day content
dictates the business.
Hulu’s rapid growth was primarily the result of its access to
content from its owners who were major broadcasters. It was an
attractive acquisition target for some because of these content
rights. It posed inherent risks to its potential acquirers because
of the content rights. Finally, it was taken off the block by its
owners in no small part because of where their content could end
up.
Simply stated, Hulu's attractiveness to consumers and potential
acquirers is and has been the availability of content.
Technological forces and shifting consumer demands are stretching the
seams of everyone’s business models. I see UltraViolet and TVEverywhere
first and foremost as business models to maintain status quo to access
of content by established players while opening themselves to new forms
of distribution and mediums at the same time. The amazing new
technologies and systems being developed for these are to ensure that
the king does not leave the castle walls without sufficient safeguards.
As a technology marketer it is not that hard pill to swallow as it may
seem that good old fashioned content still rules. After all what it is
leading to is amazing technology innovation in video that we have not
seen in more than half a century, no matter what part of the industry
you’re in.
--------------------------------------------------
Video Ad Revs Up 20%, TV Services Drive Growth
Four major countries will see a collective 20% rise in online video
revenues this year -- much of this coming from advertising-supported
platforms. U.K.-based Futuresource Consulting says revenues from
the USA, UK, France and Germany will hit a total of $3 billion this
year. Another study says revenues in the U.S. alone were on track to
secure around $1.5 billion. In Europe, in particular, catch-up TV
services have been the key driver of free online TV and movie growth.
Free online TV views are forecast to grow by 36% in 2011 across the four
key countries combined.
Advertising-funded video is a major contributor, says the study, growing
50% this year. In four years, the entire online video revenues in these
four countries could more than double to $6.8 billion by 2015.
meidapost.com Nov 2011
------------------------------------------
Video is Evolving -- Don't Get Left Behind
Consumer usage of video is increasing at an astonishing rate. Cisco has
estimated that video will increase from 30% of Internet traffic in 2010
to 90% by 2013. Online retailers are already using video, and service
companies, manufacturing, and many others are also hopping on board. The
scope of businesses that employ video and the different uses for video
are expanding.
The message is clear: Consumers expect online video as a central element
of a company’s communications strategy. No matter what sector of
business you are in, incorporating video is an essential step in
preparing yourself for the future of marketing.
73% of online retailers use video on product pages, which means that if
you’re a retailer and you don’t have video on your site, you are
officially in the minority, according to eMarketer. Other sectors of
business are beginning to follow suit. A recent survey by Industrial
Marketing Today found that 50% of B2B manufacturers use YouTube as a
channel to connect with their customers. Even service companies such as
Charles Schwab are starting to include videos on their websites.
-------------------------------------
Samsung Electronics, the world's top TV maker, is in last-stage talks
with Google to roll out its Google TVs, the head of Samsung's TV
division told reporters on Tuesday.
Google TV -- which currently comes built-in on certain Sony Corp
television models and on Logitech International set-top boxes -- allows
consumers to access online videos and websites on their TVs, as well as
specialized apps such as video games.
Samsung in January displayed a new Google TV-enabled Blu-ray player and
companion box at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), but did not
commercialize the offerings.
Yoon Boo-keun, president of Samsung's TV division, said the company
planned to unveil its Google TV at an event next year without
elaborating on the schedule, saying only the firm was working with
Google on the rollout.
--------------------------------
ABC is continuing its emphasis on free music as a promotional platform.
Starting Sunday, a gratis download of the “episodic score” in drama
“Once Upon a Time” became available on ABC.com for 24 hours.
That followed a free download opportunity for the tune “Hold On” by
Alabama Shakes used Wednesday in “Revenge.” Both became available on
ABC.com’s “music lounge,” which has a 24/7 streaming radio station with
songs from ABC hits from “Dancing with the Stars” to “Desperate
Housewives.”
The music lounge also is offering an interview with Mark Isham, who
composed the “Once Upon A Time” score, speaking about the show’s music
inspiration.
The “music lounge” microsite was launched in May 2009, offering frequent
music downloads, artist information about ABC prime-time series, music
videos and the radio network.
--------------------------------------
Local Social Media Ad Spending To Hit 2.3 Billion In 2015
Locally focused advertising in social media is expected to grow at
annual rate of 33% from $400 million in 2010 to $2.3 billion by 2015,
according to a new forecast from BIA/Kelsey. That would make local
advertising roughly a third of the total of $8.1 billion in U.S. social
media ad revenue that the research firm projects in four years.
Social media ad sales this year will reach $3.7 billion, of which $700
million will be local ad dollars.
BIA/Kelsey released the local social advertising forecast as part of the
fall update to its U.S. local media forecast released in April. The firm
defines local advertising broadly as spending by national, regional and
small and medium-sized businesses on any form of targeted messaging
specific to a geographic market. Within social media, it defines local
advertising as money spent on geotargeted ad formats across social
networks, but excluding virtual goods and rewards, social gaming, social
commerce or social marketing. Think paid media, not earned or owned
media.
==========================
Akamai Report: U.S. Still Slowpoke Compared To 11 Other
Countries
Residents of the U.S. now surf the Web at an average speed of 5.8 Mbps,
up from last year's 4.6 Mbps, according to Akamai's latest State of the
Internet report.
That's the good news. But the bad news is that the average U.S. Web
connection is slower than average speeds in 11 other countries,
includingSouth Korea (13.8
Mbps), Japan (8.9
Mbps) and Denmark (6.4
Mbps).
The fastest U.S. city was Silicon Valley's San
Jose, Calif., which boasted average connections of 13.7 Mbps and
also was ranked 9th for speed worldwide. But San Jose was the only U.S.
city to appear among the 50 cities in the world with the fastest Web
connections. The next speediest U.S. city was Fredericksburg, Va., with
average connections of 8.5 Mbps.
Despite the relatively speedy connections available in Silicon
Valley, manyCalifornia residents
surf the Web at slower speeds. Statewide, the average connection was 6.7
Mbps -- faster than New York's 6.4 Mbps but slower than Rhode Island's
8.2 Mbps.
- ---------------------------------------
The World’s Movie Camera Makers Have All Quietly Stopped
Production Of Film Cameras
Most people reading this website will not be surprised to hear that the
era of film is coming to an end. Even those of you who, like me, spent
days in darkrooms perfecting your dodge technique, are likely unruffled
at the notion. But in Hollywood film has been clinging tenaciously to
life, if only out of a sort of traditionalist inertia. But this last
year was marked by a sort of quiet final surrender by the film cadre:
Arri, Panavision, and Aaton have all ceased production of film cameras.
These companies have been driving the film industry for decades, and for
them all to throw in the towel at once suggests that the end truly is
approaching.
Practically speaking, there has been pressure for years on these film
camera companies to switch entirely to digital, and a few things finally
put them past the point of no return. While they have been doing good
business in a way, the number of productions using film has been
steadily declining, and the need for new film cameras hasn’t been strong
in years.
techcrunch.com
=========================
Retail Digital Search Spending Healthy
According to a recent release from IgnitionOne, online advertising
saw strong spend growth globally in the third quarter, in spite of
global economic challenges worldwide, with spend up 10% YOY,
excluding Asia.
In Q3, total search spend was up 7.2% YOY driven in part by more
consumer search activity (impressions up 22%). Europesaw
20% spend growth YOY compared with 7% for the US. Growth in retail,
finance and auto was partially offset by modestly lower YOY spends
in travel. Retailer spend was particularly strong, growing 22%
year-over-year.
US paid search advertising spend grew 7% year-over-year in Q3 2011
and 4% quarter-over-quarter. This compares with 6% year-over-year
growth and 3.5% quarter-over-quarter growth in the same quarter last
year. .
=======================
by Melanie Shreffler
It's no secret that Millennials are watching streaming video online,
whether via YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, Facebook, or any number of other
sites (legal and illegal). And some are streaming online video via a
box connected to their TV, like Roku, Boxee, and even some video
game consoles. This generation is tech-savvy and poised to
revolutionize the TV industry, particularly cable, just as it did
the music industry.
=====================
Big business awaits as TV content owners worldwide increasingly move
online during the next five years.
Global online TV and video revenues will grow five times their current
size to reach $21.52 billion in 2016 from $3.48 billion in 2010,
according to London-based media research company Digital TV Research.
One big mover will be so-called "Over-The-Top" (OTT) alternative
TV/video providers that use the Internet to act like terrestrial cable
operators and/or satellite programming services.
The report says: “The OTT television and video sector is on the brink of
a huge take-off as the key players expand internationally, companies
consolidat[ing] (with Hulu about to be sold to one of existing major
players) and as new partnerships are announced on a daily basis.”
Skyrocketing growth will also result as more global homes watch TV and
video via the internet. By 2016, 415 million homes in 40 countries will
watch online television and video, up from 177 million in 2010.
The report says the U.S. will continue to have the dominant share of the
market -- now 54%, but dropping to 36%. But online TV/video revenues
will grow four times their current size to $7.7 billion in five years,
from $1.9 billion in 2010. China will have even more rapid growth --
leaping to $1.4 billion in 2016 from $50 million in 2010.
mediapost.com
=====================
Chinese Digital Revolution Impacts Media Choice, Brand Engagement
A new study by Starcom MediaVest Group, the Publicis media agency
network, reveals that Chinese consumers spend significantly more time
online each day than they do watching TV.
According to the study, the average Chinese consumer spends 3.25
hours a day online compared to 2.21 hours watching TV. And the heaviest
online activity was seen in so-called “tier three” zones in the country,
or medium-sized cities, where online consumption averaged close to 3.6
hours a day. “What we are witnessing now is the biggest digital
evolution on Earth taking place right here in China, stated Jeffrey Tan,
SMG China's national research and insights director.
Video content viewing accounts for more than half of the online
activity, the study found, with consumers watching about 1.76 hours of
video a day on their computers. The study concluded that it is highly
possible that online will become the most-used vehicle for accessing
video content for consumers living in all but the most rural sections of
China.
==============================
(Reuters) - Facebook executive and eBay Inc board member Katie Mitic
unveiled a partnership between the two companies designed to create a
new crop of e-commerce applications with
social networking features.
Mitic said on Wednesday that Facebook's so-called Open Graph -- the map
of connections that Facebook users create with friends and online
content -- will be integrated "seamlessly" into applications developed
with certain eBay services and technologies.
EBay is trying to encourage outside developers to create applications
for its e-commerce platforms and is making a particularly strong push in
mobile commerce.
The company launched X.commerce, its new division aimed at software
developers, at a conference in San Francisco on Wednesday.
Weaving Facebook features into e-commerce products has the potential to
make online shopping a more personalized experience, by displaying
people's thoughts about products on the virtual store shelves.
Speaking at the conference, Mitic said Facebook's Open Graph would be
integrated into applications developed with eBay services such as
Magento, a service for building online storefronts, and GSI, which
handles order fulfillment.
------------------------------------------
HELP THE KIDS
ABC News, Yahoo! News Announce Online Alliance
New Venture Will Reach more than 100 Million Monthly, Includes Original
Online Video Series
Yahoo!, the premier digital media company, and ABC
News today announced they
will join forces to launch a strategic online news alliance that will
deliver content to more than 100 million U.S. users each month.
This new venture blends ABC News' global newsgathering operation and
unrivaled lineup of trusted anchors and reporters with Yahoo! News'
unmatched audience, depth and breadth of content. Beginning today, GoodMorningAmerica.com,
launches on Yahoo! along with three new online-first video series hosted
by the award-winning, trusted anchors of ABC News.
-----------------------------------------------
Google+ went public, Facebook announced Timeline, Amazon
debuted its tablet, Fire, and its cloud-based browser, Silk, and the IAB
reported ad spending on the Internet grew by 23% in the first half of
2011 compared to last year. The pace and scale of change in media we are
witnessing is difficult to fathom...
------------------------------------------------
Mobile Media -- A Game Changer for Marketers
Consumers are mobile. 58% of US smartphone users access the mobile web
from their phones, often a number of times a day, according to research
from Google#. The mobile device - whether smartphone or 'simple' feature
phone - has become one of the most used mass media channels available
today. But more than that, it has become the most powerful because it is
unique, combining a number of benefits that cannot be replicated by
others such as television, radio, print or even the Internet. Due to
mobile's personal, always-on nature through to the fact that mobile can
capture social context and make action at the point of inspiration
possible while providing the most accurate audience measurement tools of
any channel, mobile is changing the way in which consumers interact with
the world around them.
-----------------------------------------
The outlook for print advertising remains particularly gloomy, at
least in the U.S., with ZenithOptimedia predicting continuing declines
in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Newspapers will undoubtedly get the worst of it, with ZO forecasting
consecutive annual revenue declines of 8.5%, 8% and 8% in 2011, 2012 and
2013, respectively.
Combining these predictions with print advertising data from the
Newspaper Association of America, that implies that total print
newspaper ad revenues will fall from $22.8 billion in 2010 to $20.9
billion in 2011, $19.2 billion in 2012, and $17.7 billion in 2013. That
represents just 37% of the peak print ad revenue figure of $47.4 billion
in 2005, also per the NAA.
-------------------------------------
Hollywood downloads a post-DVD future
The movie studio business model is poised for its biggest shift in years
as Hollywood turns to Internet delivery as the only way to boost home
entertainment revenues.
Ben Fritz, Los Angeles
Times
September 25,
2011
Across Hollywood, a quiet revolution is brewing that's about to
transform living rooms around the world. After desperate
attempts to prop up the industry's once-thriving DVD business,
studio executives now believe the only hope of turning around a 40%
decline in home entertainment revenue lies in rapidly accelerating
the delivery of movies over the Internet.
In the next few years, the growing number of consumers with
Internet-connected televisions, tablets and smartphones will face a
dizzying array of options designed to make digital movie consumption
a lot more convenient and to entice users to spend more money.
With films that can be accessed on any digital device, downloaded as iPhone apps
or shared on Facebook as
easily as a photo, it may be the biggest shift in Hollywood's
business model since the explosion of the DVD in the late 1990s.
"The days of baby steps on the Internet are over," said David
Bishop, president of Sony
Pictures' home entertainment unit. "It's now critical that we
experiment as much as possible and determine how to build a vibrant
market for collecting digital movies." LA Times
--------------------------------------------------------
Future of Media - Consumer Choice
by Fran Maier
The future will be the era of consumer choice and consumer voice. Online
media is being transformed by consumer choice. As traditional
broad-based online media platforms struggle, niche media - including
blogs and vertical interest-based sites - are flourishing. Social media
platforms - such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn - are contributing to
this trend by further driving and enabling more personal content
creation and curation. Consumers are demanding what they want, and - if
it's not available - they're creating it themselves. Consumers choose
and that choice will continue to be increasingly broad, niche, varied,
instant, and personal. In exchange for this content, consumers will
continue to share their personal data, their interests, demographics,
device usage, location and more with advertisers and publishers. Media
companies will attempt to aid this personalization with finely-tuned
algorithms to serve up ever more desired content and relevant
advertising. At the same time, though, consumers will exercise - in fact
they will be required to exercise - choice.
-------------------------------------------------------
Around the Net In Media: DVDs Heading For Dinosaur
Status Faster Than Ever
Movie studios are beginning to make video digital delivery a serious
priority, meaning DVDs will become obsolete that much sooner,
according to an article by Ben Fritz that lays out what this trend
will mean for the consumer as well as the industry.
-------------------------------------------------
Publishers Take Note: The Future of Media is Content, Not Ads
The future of media will be content, not ads. That's because even with
the many innovations around traditional online advertising units such as
banner and pre-roll, consumers have developed a knack for ignoring
interruptive advertising experiences that deliver standard, unwanted
ads. And as I recently noted in this MediaPost article about online ad
spending, brands have recognized this dynamic and are now making major
investments in long-form and viral video content that has the potential
to engage and inspire audiences. Top agencies are now even hiring
directors of earned media to amplify the reach and impact of this
content. As brands continue to open their minds and wallets to new types
of entertaining video content, many social sites have responded by
creating innovative new ad experiences to accommodate this content. But
the vast majority of online publishers are still making money through
the web's earliest incarnations of advertising inventory: interruptive
video and display ads. mediapost.com
----------------------------------------------------
Web's Rise Forces Cable Unbundling
Long feared by programmers -- and dreamed of by consumers -- cable
unbundling is finally coming, reports Reuters. "U.S. cable operators are
privately working on a plan to force programmers to unbundle their
networks and allow customers to subscribe to channels on an individual
basis," the news service writes. "The plan represents a complete
reversal from cable operators' long-held opposition to what is known as
'a la carte' programming."
What sparked the shift? Executives now seem to believe that unbundling
is a necessary response to shifting market forces like higher carriage
costs, a weak economy, and, of course,
the Web's increasing prominence.
Representative of the industry's woes, Comcast and Time Warner Cable --
the two largest operators -- collectively lost 1.2 million video
customers over the past year (as of June, according to Reuters).
reuters news
----------------------------------
DVDs Heading For Dinosaur Status Faster Than Ever
Los Angeles Times
It's not just cable TV that's hurting from the likes of online streaming
(as in the item about Dreamworks and Netflix). Movie studios are
beginning to make video digital delivery a serious priority, meaning
DVDs will become obsolete that much sooner, according to an article by
Ben Fritz that lays out what this trend will mean for the consumer as
well as the industry.
Because digital delivery is far from standardized and studios are
experimenting with many different formats and price points, "people who
connect their TVs to the Internet or buy iPads will face a vastly
expanded but potentially confusing menu of options to access films from
different sources in various ways," writes Fritz.
But "one thing is certain: People who like inexpensive movie rentals are
going to have to get used to waiting longer than they do now. Studios
are beginning to use the Internet to slice up the market so that people
who are willing to buy a movie or pay more to rent it can get it
sooner."
-----------------------------------------------
Facebook plans
to roll out a major redesign of user profiles at its f8...
Details about the redesign are sparse, but two sources familiar with
Facebook’s plans (who have asked to remain anonymous) have told us that
the redesign is “major” and will make Facebook profiles nexuses for
consuming content.
The profile changes will be part of a wider launch, one that will
include launch of a music and
media platform.
Here’s what we know so far about the profile redesign:
-
The redesigned profiles will be more “sticky,” says one source. One
of the goals of the new profiles is to get users to stay on them for
longer.
-
We already knew Facebook
is launching a media platform at
f8. However, we’ve also learned that the platform — which will
include music and video from partner sites — will display the media
content a user is watching or listening to on their profiles.
Essentially, when you’re listening to Lady Gaga on Spotify, your
friends can see and access that on your Facebook profile. This
confirms a recent New
York Times report.
-
The redesigned profiles are part of a larger push into social
ecommerce. We don’t exactly know what that means, but we’ve heard
whispers that Facebook intends to give Facebook Credits more
prominence. We’ve also heard that a Facebook app store may emerge at
f8.
-
Facebook’s push into ecommerce may be related Project
Spartan, an HTML5-based mobile platform rumored to be launching
soon.
---------------------------------
VEVO Launches Upgraded Facebook Tools for Talent
Today we are likely to hear a lot about media integration with
Facebook as the highly anticipated f8 conference kicks off. Facebook's
main challenge has been incorporating more of people's media sharing and
media consumption on the social network itself. As we have been seeing
in recent weeks with pay-per-view video models on the site and WSJ's new
content-rich app, making that otherwise fugly Facebook screen into a
palatable platform for media use is the new direction for Zuckerberg's
crew.
But how will smaller and independent media leverage Facebook's
broader embrace of content? Music video service VEVO is trying to do its
part by upgrading its VEVO for Artists app on Facebook to accommodate a
host of new media experiences and back end management. Previous versions
let an artists add a tab to their fan page to contain a page of music
videos. The new version ups the ante and gives the artist a way to put
up music tracks, even live event streams. But they also get greater
control over the page banner, a store through which the band can sell
merchandise, a tour calendar, contest creation and administration, email
collection and CRM, and back end analytics to track performance on that
VEVO tab.
-------------------------
Future digital TV/video consumption will shift to tablets
from PCs.
Scottsdale, Ar.-based media researcher In-Stat says 65% of the U.S.
population will own a smartphone and/or tablet by 2015 -- that comes to
over 200 million people in total. The survey says this estimate will
have an impact on how video entertainment is acquired and consumed.
Other surveys suggest that laptops and PC business have already taken
a hit because of new portable tablets. The In-Stat survey says 86%
of smartphone/tablet users will view video on their mobile devices --
and that 60% of smartphone/tablet owners will also be viewing so-called
over-the-top (OTT) video services at home.
The survey also says there will be nearly two smartphone/tablet
owners per OTT household. The dominant brand in homes in this context:
Apple. The average Apple household will have four Apple devices, while
the average Google Android household will have over two Android devices.
wiredmagazine.com
=======================
Hulu had 1 mln paying subs at end of summer - CEO
* Will spend $375 million on content this year - CEO
* Hulu sale still being evaluated - News Corp COO Carey
NEW YORK, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Hulu, the popular online video service
which has been put up for sale by its joint owners, now has more than 1
million paying subscribers, Chief Executive Jason Kilar said on
Wednesday.
Earlier this year Kilar forecast that Hulu would have 1 million
subscribers by the end of the year. He confirmed that it reached that
milestone at the end of the summer and the site is now on its way to
easily exceed that number by year's end.
The site made its name as a free service for popular broadcast TV shows
like The Office and Modern Family soon after the shows had been aired.
The shows and movies it initially featured were supplied by its joint
equity owners News Corp, Walt Disney Co and Comcast Corp's NBC
Universal. Its fourth co-owner is private equity firm Providence Equity
Partners.
reuters.com
--------------------------------
Netflix Lures Dreamworks From HBO
Dreamworks Animation's films -- which include the likes of "Shrek" --
will be streaming on Netflix starting 2013, the company announced.
That means Dreamworks is leaving Time Warner's HBO a year early -- and
moving from cable TV to the Web.
-----------------------------
Netflix says it's sorry, then creates new uproar
Red envelopes and red faces: Netflix apologizes after price hike, then
causes another uproar
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- The CEO of Netflix said he was sorry for
mishandling a recent price increase that caused customers to cancel the
service in droves. But the apology was drowned out by a decision that
angered subscribers all over again.
The company will split into two services -- one with an odd new name
that offers the familiar discs in red envelopes and another for online
streaming of TV shows and movies.
The DVD service will be called Qwikster, a name that is supposed to
signify a commitment to fast service but quickly became an object of
ridicule Monday on the Internet. The streaming service will keep the
Netflix name.
Netflix, which had 24.6 million U.S. subscribers at the end of June and
is the nation's largest video subscription service, redefined home
entertainment over the past decade with its DVDs by mail. Now it's
trying to prepare for the day when watching movies on a disc goes the
way of driving to the video store to pick up a VHS tape.
But lately, it has bungled the transition. The company has lost half its
market value since July, when it announced that customers who wanted
DVDs and streaming had to pay for them separately -- and pay up to 60
percent more.
The decision to rebrand the best-known part of Netflix's business left
some experts wondering whether CEO Reed Hastings is losing the touch
that established him as an influential figure in technology and
entertainment.
finance.yahoo.com
=============================
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