A new report says small- and medium-sized businesses will
continue to shift marketing dollars away from traditional
outlets to more
measured and emerging media. By 2015, the group will be
spending 30% of their budgets in the so-called traditional realm
-- down
from 52% last year, according to BIA/Kelsey.
The bulk of their dollars will be spent in the digital arena
-- stretching from mobile platforms to social media to online
directories, as
well as performance-based commerce such as couponing and
customer-retention marketing such as email.
The report focuses on local-market spending, where BIA/Kelsey
projects overall "media, marketing and business solutions"
investment to grow from $22.4 billion in 2010 to $40.2
billion in 2015, a 12% compound annual growth rate.
Traditional ad spending over the period should be largely
flat -- from $11.8 billion to $12.1 billion, a compound annual
growth rate
(CAGR) of 0.6%.
========================
by Erik Sass
Newspapers aren't seeing any economic rebound, judging by
the latest figures from the Newspaper Association of
America. They show total newspaper advertising revenues
(including print and online) decreasing 6.9% to nearly $6B.
======================
Add comScore
and Nielsen tracking at the producer level.
This, my friends, is the nuclear option that will change
everything. YouTube has already opened up its platform to
content partners. It can go one step further and outline
individual producer metrics on comScore or Nielsen. This is not
fundamentally different from how: an ad rep firm
like Gorilla Nation or Glam Media can get a website it
represents to assign them their traffic, or you see sub-domain
traffic on large portals.
In other words, if comScore and Nielsen could display what a
content producer's reach is on YouTube, then it would open up a
whole new stream of RFPs from the larger ad agencies and
marketers. This, we believe, is a holy grail for both producers
and YouTube.
Last week, YouTube and comScore announced a
beta program with a few dozen content owners which did just
that. Sure, I was a bit disappointed that my company wasn't
included in the initial beta test, but as a content producer,
video entrepreneur and digital media executive, it was easy to
get excited about the big picture (our data will appear as of
next month).
Understanding How Audiences
are Measured Online
=============================
China is now the fastest
growing film market in
the world, Mr. Murdoch noted, with box office takings
expanding from $150m in 2005 to $1.5bn in 2010.
==================================
As Reuters reports and Apple
has confirmed, Apple
CEO Steve Jobs is stepping down from his leadership position.
Apple's Board of Directors has named Tim Cook the company's new
CEO. Jobs has been elected Chairman of the Board.
"I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I
thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside
you," Jobs wrote in his resignation letter.
=================================
Motorola Doesn't Just Do Android - It Can Also Make Google TV
Excerpted from
Business Insider Report by Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry
The main story in Google
buying Motorola is Android.
Another big one is patents--Motorola actually
invented the cellphone 30 years ago, as our
friend Dan Frommer points out at SplatF.
But there's another titillating thing Google notes
in the blog
post explaining
the move: "Motorola is also a market leader in the home devices
and video solutions business."
That sounds like something that could help Google
TV.
Google TV is Google's attempt to remake the TV
and turn TVs into Internet devices (that way it can get a piece
of the TV advertising market, which is still bigger than the
Internet ad market).
The problem with Google TV, which has also frustrated Apple,
is the go to market strategy. With a free, excellent OS, it's
relatively easy for Google to get carriers and OEMs to buy into
Android. And so consumers follow.
But where it comes to TV, most people have just
one box under their TV. And that box comes from their cable
company. And cable companies aren't going to buy into Google TV,
because its goal is to disrupt them and turn them into a dumb
pipe. So
Google TV has been a flop.
If Motorola already makes a bunch of TV boxes and
other home networking devices, that could be a way to get Google
TV
devices into people's homes.
yahoonews.com
===============================
NEW YORK (AP) --
The weak economy is hitting Americans where
they spend a lot of their free time: at the TV set.
They're canceling or forgoing cable and satellite TV
subscriptions in record numbers, according to an analysis by The
Associated Press of the companies' quarterly earnings reports.
The U.S. subscription-TV industry first showed a small net loss
of subscribers a year ago. This year, that trickle has turned
into a stream. The chief cause appears to be persistently high
unemployment and a housing market that has many people living
with their parents, reducing the need for a separate cable bill.
But it's also possible that people are canceling cable, or never
signing up in the first place, because they're watching cheap
Internet video. Such a threat has been hanging over the
industry. If that's the case, viewers can expect more
restrictions on online video, as TV companies and Hollywood
studios try to make sure that they get paid for what they
produce.
http://finance.yahoo.com
=================================
Twentieth Century Fox International says it will stop shipping
film prints to theaters in Hong Kong and Macau at the end of
2011. Starting next year, all Fox movies will be provided
exclusively in digital cinema versions.
By 2012, Fox expects more than 95 percent of theater screens in
Hong Kong and Macau will be digital. "The entire Asia-Pacific
region has been rapidly deploying digital cinema systems, and
over the next two years we expect to be announcing additional
markets where supply of 35mm will be phased out," said Fox
International executive Sunder Kimatrai in a prepared statement.
Obviously, the U.S. market is a long way from having 35mm film
prints pulled from circulation entirely, but there should be
little doubt that the day will eventually come when only certain
specialty venues — maybe including old-school IMAX theaters —
will still have the needed 35mm equipment up in the projection
booth.
foxnews.com
================================
Stations need to begin streaming their live signals, and to
offer streams of past programs, before the future passes
them by. The first steps are to fashion a business model and
secure the necessary rights from broadcast networks. It's in
the networks' interest to extend those rights to affiliates,
which are still the strongest distribution platform around.
Streaming video is a big part of today’s television
experience and it will only get bigger. It concerns me to see
the streaming phenomenon grow without the full participation of
TV stations. To be blunt, I worry that local stations could miss
out on the future of television.
The broadcast networks have jumped on the streaming bandwagon
with their own “.com” sites and through deals with Hulu,
Netflix, Amazon and others. That is great, but what about their
traditional station partners? Some networks, like ABC, allow
local stations to sell some of the ads in network streams to
viewers in the station’s local market. And some stations stream
their local news. Unfortunately, these laudable, but fragmented,
streaming initiatives are not the same as streaming the
station’s entire signal.
tvnewscheck.com
====================================
Facebook's Future: Apps, Video Will Generate Billions
Facebook's Skype deal exemplifies new apps and strategic
alliances aimed at using the social network to create a
marketing and entertainment video-sharing economy worth
billions.
Much of what Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is doing and
saying points to solving the expansive online video
monetization challenge by logical progression rather than a
leap of faith. Facebook's new visual calling and messaging
service, through the already broad-based Skype, has
implications beyond the obvious threat to wireless voice
carriers, especially as premium paid functionality is added.
The move is a quiet disruptor that Innovator's Dilemma
author Clayton Christensen says will contribute to the
gradual upending of legacy business and thinking -- and help
clear the way to new value creation.
The nascent use of video marketing, entertainment and
communications on Facebook and elsewhere in the social-media
universe is poised to explode.
mediapost.com July 11
===================================
Facebook's Skype deal exemplifies new apps
and strategic alliances aimed at using the social network to
create a marketing and entertainment video-sharing economy worth
billions.
Much of what Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is doing and
saying points to solving the expansive online video monetization
challenge by logical progression rather than a leap of faith.
Facebook's new visual calling and messaging service, through the
already broad-based Skype, has implications beyond the obvious
threat to wireless voice carriers, especially as premium paid
functionality is added.
The move is a quiet disruptor that Innovator's Dilemma author
Clayton Christensen says will contribute to the gradual upending
of legacy business and thinking -- and help clear the way to new
value creation.
The nascent use of video marketing, entertainment and
communications on Facebook and elsewhere in the social-media
universe is poised to explode.
In making the Skype announcement, Zuckerberg explained that
while the last five years have focused on connecting people, the
next five years will be about connecting apps -- more
specifically, social apps being used to connect consumers with
marketers' video pitches and companies' video content.
As two fertile areas for new revenues, Facebook could use its
super-powered distribution platform to create a new dynamic for
charging, discounting and providing credits for friends who are
sharing marketing and entertainment videos.
==================================
The age of the app is upon us, and it is creeping to the TV set.
Even as we wait for Google TV and Apple TV finally to activate
Android and iOS app on their respective devices, connected TV
sets are picking up momentum and may be capturing viewers'
hearts with their built-in apps. According to a new ethnographic
study by Strategy Analytics of a dozen owners of connected TVs
in the U.S. and UK, app love actually does creep up on you in
the living room. None of the people studied in this intensive,
in-home research had purchased their new TVs with app-capability
in mind. Price, picture quality, screen size and technology all
trumped apps as determining factors.
mediapost.com
===============================
Media buyers and planners are embracing digital out-of-home
video as a way to reach consumers who are increasingly on the go
and less accessible via other, traditional media channels,
according to a new study from eMarketer.
That translates into large projected increases in ad spending
for the burgeoning new medium over the next couple of years.
The proportion of media planners who said they include
digital out-of-home video in their marketing plans jumped from
65.3% in 2010 to 75.5% this year. That's on course to reach
86.3% in 2010, according to survey results from the Digital
Place-based Advertising Association cited in the eMarketer
study.
Most DO spending is still coming from the broader outdoor
category, with 54.2% of respondents saying they shifted money
from traditional out-of-home, but DO is making inroads on TV:
43.8% of the respondents said they are shifting spending from TV
budgets, compared to 22.9% who said they shifted money from
online budgets.
====================================
More On The Success Conundrum At Netflix
by Sam Vasisht ,
Friday, July 15, 2011
I wrote about the dilemma of being Netflix in an earlier
post; this is a sequel.
This week Netflix's announcement of pricing changes has created
a stir in the industry. Netflix issued a seemingly reasonable
explanation for the increase. That is what PR is for.
However, one has to look at this move in the context of a
simultaneously complicated playing field and dynamic industry
environment within which Netflix is trying to both survive and
shape the future. In that sense, this price increase should not
come as a surprise to anyone, other than those who think that
everything on the Internet should be either free or subsidized.
At the end of the day, when most media (if not everything) moves
to the Internet, expect more price parity between traditional
pay TV services and emerging Internet video services than was
typical before.
Netflix is clearly taking a portfolio approach to managing its
business. The (mature) DVD-by-mail is the cash cow funding the
(emerging) streaming business. It's not a stretch to see how a
profitable, unique service (DVD-by-mail) with a limited future
runway should be able to fund the nascent but promising
streaming future of Netflix. Within this pricing change is a
tacit testament that the DVD-by-mail service still holds value
for subscribers, and that they will not abandon the service en
masse. For one the streaming selection is dwarfed by what is
available on DVD as well as the timing of available titles on
DVD. Secondly, if these users were price-sensitive, they would
have switched to services like RedBox when the appeared (only
the most heaviest user of Netflix makes out better price-wise
than (s)he would with renting kiosk DVDs). As I wrote in the
earlier post, Netflix has no direct competitor for its
DVD-by-mail service. Not so for its streaming service, where
substitutes and direct competitors abound.
I surmise that Netflix has assessed that the DVD-by-mail users
are its least-price sensitive users, and are therefore going to
be subsidizing its streaming service. After all, increasing its
streaming pricing is going to throw a big monkey wrench in its
subscriber acquisition strategy as well as its competitive
position in the streaming market.
==================================
Keeping with TV networks' efforts to spread around its
content to different digital video distributors, CBS Corp. and
Amazon.com today announced a non-exclusive licensing agreement.
The deal will allow Amazon Prime customers to stream an
additional 2,000 episodes of CBS TV shows -- now totaling 8,000
TV episodes and movies. Terms of the CBS-Amazon deal were not
disclosed.
Some 18 shows from CBS' library are part of the Amazon
agreement. This includes: "The Tudors," which aired on Showtime;
CBS' "Numb3rs" and "Medium"; the complete Star Trek franchise;
and "Frasier" and "Cheers," both of which aired on NBC.
In February, CBS also made similar library deal with Netflix
under a two-year pact. Reports suggest that deal to be worth
$200 million.
------------------------------------------------------
Study: 30% Watch Videos On Emerging Devices
The preferred "can't-live-without" method to view videos and
watch and search for entertainment remains for 68% of males ages
18-34, according to a recent Frank N. Magid Associates study
sponsored by Metacafe.
Consumer behavior continues to integrate more video in
everyday life. It turns out that 23% of survey respondents watch
daily, up from 13% in 2010. Overall, 57% of Internet users watch
online videos weekly, up from 50% last year. Males ages 18
to 34 watch 7.8 hours of online video weekly, compared with 5.6
hours per week among all viewers ages 8 to 64. Many participants
in the survey expect to watch 10% more online video within the
next year.
Short-form video content gets the views. About 66% of online
video viewers regularly watch premium short-form content, such
as music videos, movies trailers and clips, TV previews and
clips, sports highlights, video game content, comedy sketches
and original Web series.
The percentage of online video viewers for each genre has
remained the same since 2008, except for a few exceptions during
the past few years. For example, consumer-generated videos
uploaded to sites such as YouTube rose from 33% to 46%.
Full-length TV rose from 25% to 30%. Full-length movies rose
from 10% to 22%.
mediapost.com
---------------------------------------------------
New York Times Co. posted a net loss of $120 million for the
second quarter due to a non-cash write-down stemming from
declining value of some of its smaller newspaper properties.
The digital business show momentum, with Times Co. reporting
higher Internet ad revenues and significant increases in the
number of people paying for access to the New York Times online.
Nevertheless, weakness in print advertising persisted.
Print ad revenue at the company's newspapers, which include the
New York Times and Boston Globe, declined 6.4% from the year-ago
period. Digital ad revenues at the papers increased 15.5%.
Executives said they ...
New York Times online report
-------------------------------------------------------
Cord-Cutting On Rise, 10% Of Homes By 2015
A new report estimates about 4.5 million, or 4%, of U.S.
homes will have only over-the-top delivery of video service by
the end of this year. That figure, according to SNL Kagan, is
projected to rise to 12.1 million over the ensuing four years,
which would be about 10% of homes. They would rely on
Netflix and Amazon for content.
Kagan says over-the-top consumers "impacted the subscriber
counts for multichannel service providers in 2010." They are
expected to "exert competitive pressure going forward."
Executives at cable providers say there is scant evidence of
cord-cutting, and reductions in subscriber rolls are due more to
factors such as the economy or slowed household formations.
In 2010, the second and third quarters marked the first
declines in subscribers with a multichannel subscription, but
the figure did increase for the full year.
===================================
Some 5.3 billion video ads were viewed in June
-- 15% more than in May which had 4.6 billion, per comScore
Video Metrix.
Video online commercials reached 49.2% of the U.S. population
in June, up from 45.4% in May. Total ad minutes climbed to 2.3
billion from 2.01 billion. Video ads per viewer rose to 38.8
from 33.7 a month before.
Looking at the video ad networks, Tremor Media Video Network
was first with 753 million ads (and in second place overall to
Hulu, which had 1 billion). Other video ad networks: BrightRoll
Video Network had 629 million. Specific Media was at 422
million, Undertone was at 322 million, and SpotXchange video ad
network was at 282 million.
Ad exchange Adap.tv bested all other exchanges at 678
million, according comScore. In terms of reach for the total
U.S. population, Tremor Media was 44.3%, BrightRoll Video
Network, 38.5% and Break Media, 37.6%.
Video ads surveyed include streaming-video advertising only
and other types of video monetization such as overlays, branded
players, matching banner ads, home page ads, etc.
===========================================
Google has finally unveiled Google+, the company’s top secret
social layer that turns all of the search engine into one giant
social network.
Google+, which begins rolling out a very limited field test on
Tuesday, is the culmination of a year-long project led by Vic
Gundotra, Google’s senior vice president of social. The project, which
has been delayed several times, constitutes Google’s
answer to Facebook.
The search giant’s new social project will be omnipresent on its
products, thanks to a complete redesign of the navigation bar.
The familiar gray strip at the top of every Google page will
turn black, and come with several new options for accessing your
Google+ profile, viewing notifications and instantly sharing
content. The notification system is similar to how Facebook
handles notifications, complete with a red number that increases
with each additional notice.
yahoo.com news
================================
More Than 500 Million Connected TVs Worldwide By 2015: Forecast
Category Unit Shipments to Exceed 138 Million Units in 2015,
According to DisplaySearch
Television manufacturers will ship 138 million
connected TV units worldwide in 2015 --
with more than half-billion connected TVs having shipped by then
-- up from about 60 million in 2011, according to an updated
forecast from research firm DisplaySearch.
This year, more than 25% of all flat-panel TVs
shipped are expected to have some form of Internet connectivity,
growing to 47% of all flat-panel TVs shipped in 2015,
DisplaySearch said.
In 2015, 35% of 46-inch or larger TVs in North
America will be "smart TVs," according to the research firm.
DisplaySearch defines "smart TVs" as being able to: retrieve
content from the Internet independently of a portal; provide
intelligent search and recommendations; let users upgrade them;
and network seamlessly with other devices in the home.
An increasing number of connected TVs will include wireless
support to be able to deliver content to devices such as
smartphones and tablets in the home. According to
DisplaySearch's forecast, more than 98 million TV sets with
802.11 wireless networking built-in will ship in 2015.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Cisco: Video to Exceed 50 Percent of Consumer Internet Traffic
by 2012
06.02.2011
Video of all types will comprise more than half of all data sent
over the consumer Internet by the end of 2012, according to
Cisco, which made this and other predictions in its annual
Visual Networking Index forecast. Overall annual global Internet
traffic will reach the zettabyte threshold by the end of 2015 (a
zettabyte is a unit of information or computer storage equal to
one sextillion—1 followed by 21 zeros).
In 2010, Internet video surpassed P2P as the largest source of
Internet video traffic at 40 percent, and will reach 62 percent
by the end of 2012. The sum of all types of video, including TV,
VOD, streaming and P2P will continue to be approximately 90
percent of global consumer traffic by 2015. By then, it’s
expected that 1 million video minutes—the equivalent of 674
days—will traverse the Internet every second.
Internet video to TV (so called “over the top”) will increase
17-fold by 2015 and will comprise over 16 percent of consumer
Internet video traffic by 2015, according to the report. VOD
traffic by then will be equivalent to 3 billion DVDs per month.
Currently much of this comes from Netflix’ streaming service,
which, according
to a
recent report, represents nearly one third of all Internet
download traffic. HD video on demand will surpass standard
definition by the end of 2011 and by 2015, HD video will
comprise 77 percent of VOD.
------------------------------------------------------
Half of TVs to Have Internet Connectivity by 2015
About 47 percent of total flat-panel televisions shipped in four
years will have Internet connectivity, as manufacturers bet on
the expansion of Netflix and direct-to-consumer offerings from
content producers like Time
Warner’s HBO.
This figure, about 138 million units,
is up from 25 percent of flat panels with WiFi capability
shipped this year, according to a quarterly report by
DisplaySearch, a unit of research firm NPD group. By the end of
2015, more than 500 million connected TVs will be shipped,
according to DisplaySearch.
It may be no coincidence then that Netflix
jumped to an all-time high on Tuesday, the
same day as the release of this report. Investors also seemed to
cheer the announcement from the leader in Internet streaming
that it
would be expanding into Latin America. The
company had previous success with its first international move
into Canada.
“The adoption of connected TV is not
just taking place in developed regions,” said Paul Gray,
DisplaySearch director of TV electronics research, in the
report. “Emerging markets often have good broadband services,
and there is a thirst from consumers to get the best content
available.”
----------------------------------------------
Internet-Connect TV Soars, Clicks With Mainstream Audience
Internet-connected television sets have been growing fast,
and by the end of the year -- for the first time -- there will
be more connected TVs than video game consoles. By the
end of 2011, some 52 million connected TV sets will be sold
globally -- from Samsung, LG and Sony versus 37 game consoles in
the market from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony --Xbox, PlayStation
and Wii respectively. This is according to U.K.-base Informa
Telecoms & Media.
"Until now, many online video services were launched
primarily with the game console in mind, mainly because console
users innately understand how to connect these devices and
demand interactive video services from them," stated Andrew
Ladbrook, analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media. He said
this trend is changing as "connected TVs bring these services to
a mainstream audience."
Informa projects that in five years -- 2016 -- there will be
1.8 billion in-home video devices -- including tablets -- that
will be sold, an 800% increase. That means 70% of all in-home
video devices sold will be able to connect to the Internet. But
connected TVs might have to undergo a change by then. Informa
says new TV set makers will need to build and support platforms
that works across both the latest and legacy video devices.
mediapost.com
-----------------------------------------------------
Android users can now use Skype for video
chatting.
The latest version of the Skype for Android app
lets customers make two-way video calls to other Skype users on
the iPhone, Mac, Windows PCs, and other Android phones, as well
as TVs. The upgraded app also includes a redesigned interface to
streamline navigation and make it easier to see the balance on
your Skype Credit. It also adds something called a "mood message
box" at the top of the screen menu that "makes it easier than
ever to share how you are feeling, what you've seen or what
you're up to." Sounds like the new mood
ring. Handsets that allow video calling at launch include the
HTC Desire S, Sony Ericsson Xperia neo, Sony Ericsson Xperia pro
and the Google Nexus S, with more to come. The new Skype for
Android app is available in the Android Market or through a QR
code in this Skype
blog post. --Mark
Walsh
-----------------------------------------------
MySpace sold to Justin Timberlake-backed ad agency by News Corp
Music star and actor Justin Timberlake has teamed up with a US
advertising agency to buy MySpace for $35m – just 6pc of the
amount Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp paid for the business.
The deal will see Mr Timberlake take a stake in the social
networking site and shape its strategy alongside Specific
Media, a California-based digital advertising agency.
The price paid falls short of the $100m News Corp is
believed to have wanted and is a fraction of the $580m that
Mr Murdoch handed over for the then dominant site in 2005.
The sale also crystallises the dramatic decline in a company
that was founded in California in 2003 and just three years
ago was still the world’s biggest social networking site.
“There’s a need for a place where fans can go to interact
with their favourite entertainers,” Mr Timberlake said. “I’m
excited to help revitalise MySpace by using its social media
platform to bring artists and fans together.”
-------------------------------------------------------
Verizon Programs Interactive Music Network
Verizon's telco TV service has added an interactive Music
Choice channel to several service tiers. Tabbed SWRV, the
channel allows viewers an opportunity to have influence via
online voting or mobile messaging on what videos play.
Viewers can also upload pictures or personal videos that
would allow them to appear on-screen next to artists. There are
also opportunities for video dedications. Music is largely in
the pop genre.
SWRV, launched in February 2010, is available in all FiOS
markets to customers of Extreme HD and Ultimate HD packages.
Overall, FiOS had 3.7 million subscribers at the end of the
first quarter. Music Choice has 46 channels, plus
on-demand opportunities. Cable operators Comcast, Cox and Time
Warner Cable have a stake in the enterprise.
"There's no denying that interactivity is a big direction for
TV, and SWRV is up to the task of leading that charge," stated
Dave Del Becarro, CEO of of Music Choice. "It's clear that
today's generation of music fans are interested in having a say
and participating in their programs."
"There's no denying that interactivity is a big direction for
TV, and SWRV is up to the task of leading that charge," stated
Del Beccaro. "It's clear that today's generation of music fans
are interested in having a say and participating in their
programs." Del Beccaro called the new music video network one
that users "can control and be a part of, while also connecting
with their friends in their existing social networks.
-----------------------------------------------------
Survey: Sure, We'll Ditch Cable...Make an Offer!
The Internet TV habit has grabbed hold of Americans in just a
few short years of streaming prime time onto anytime access. And
while we still don't have a firm sense of whether the proverbial
"cable cutting" is occurring in any appreciable way, the video
natives are growing restless. This is some of what I take away
from the latest Harris Interactive poll taken with Adweek about
use and attitudes toward the Web's relationship to TV.
TV watching on the Web is not just for young digerati anymore.
Harris finds that 77% have watched shows online. There is a
youthful skew, but not overwhelmingly so. While 88% of the 18-34
segment has loaded an episode into their browser that only dips
down to 75% by the time we get to the 45-54 segment. Even 64% of
55+ demo has watched TV online now. That breadth itself is
impressive. In fact, while some worry about digital outlets
cannibalizing those high-margin, high-CPM prime time viewing
hours, the opportunity here for new show discovery and audience
development appears to be pronounced. More than half (51%) of
adults have watched a TV show online they never saw before on
the TV screen.
The survey suggests that audiences have in short order come
to know and expect that TV is also available online. That fast
and deep penetration, however, carries an obvious threat to
traditional MSOs - fear of decapitation. It is the threat of
cable cutting that the providers need to wonder about now. A
majority of TV viewers would actually consider not paying for it
and watch Internet-fed TV if some conditions were met.
mediapost.com June 2011
---------------------------------------
Prime Time is Web Video Time?
For the Web video phobics who expect streaming media to
cannibalize TV viewing and undermine age-old business models,
warm up your paranoia. The share of Web video viewers who are
watching online media between 6 pm and 9 pm has gone up more
than 30 points in the last two years. The Yahoo!/Interpret study
of over 4,000 online viewers compared survey results compiled
this year with those from 2009. Back then, video viewing
plummeted during the 6 to 9 day part, down to about 10% of
users. But in 2009 that number has skyrocketed to about 45% of
respondents saying they have watched Web video during that time
frame in the last 24-hours. Clearly, Netflix and Hulu, whose use
more than doubled among respondents in the last two years, is
drawing off eyeballs from prime time. The study also found that
the consumption of full-length TV shows among video users went
from 11% to 18% since 2009, while the consumption of small clips
declined from 84% to 74%.
The move towards longer, more polished forms of video is only
good news for advertisers. Almost all of the right metrics, from
ad and brand recall to relevance were stronger for ads seen next
to professionally produced content. Interestingly, ad
receptivity is enhanced when the video is not standing alone but
part of a multi-media context. Fifty-seven percent of people say
they like watching a video when it is next to an article. These
viewers may also be more engaged with both content and ads,
since 24% said they watched the video to get more information
(vs. 12% for standalone video), 61% thought of the video as more
professional (vs 54%) and 42% recalled seeing advertising (vs.
39%).
Yahoo! characterizes the rise of primetime web video viewing
as "meteoric" and suggests the tighter integration of TV and
online advertising.
-------------------------------------------
Google Notches One Billion Unique Visitors Per Month
Google’s websites had more than a billion unique visitors in
May, the first time an Internet company has hit that benchmark,
according to comScore data released Tuesday.
Over the past year, Google’s unique visitors per month have
increased 8.4% to just over one billion. During the same period,
Microsoft maintained the No. 2 position with 905 million unique
visitors in May, up around 15%, while Facebook’s count surged by
30% to about 714 million visitors. In May, Yahoo saw 689 million
visitors, up 10.8% over the past year, though it wassurpassed
by Facebook in
October.
-----------------------------------
Don't look now, but Facebook is rapidly emerging as a force
in online video, according to comScore. In May, Facebook.com
ranked fourth among all online sites with 48.2 million video
viewers.
While the top social network does host user-uploaded videos,
it mostly aggregates the YouTube clips that users publish on
their walls. That still helped it beat out Viacom Digital, which
ranked fifth in May with 46.5 million online video viewers.
Google Sites, driven primarily by YouTube, ranked as the top
online video content property in May with 147.2 million unique
viewers, followed by Vevo with 60.4 million viewers and Yahoo
Sites with 55.5 million viewers.
Overall, 176 million U.S. Internet users watched online video
content in May -- an average of 15.9 hours per viewer. What's
more, the total U.S. Internet audience engaged in more than 5.6
billion viewing sessions during the course of the month.
----------------------------------
Executives from
Disney, Turner, and Comcast were in unanimous agreement that
we
are only two years away from 75 percent of TV content being
available online and on mobile devices. At the Elevate Video
Advertising Summit in New York this afternoon, Matt Strauss from
Comcast Interactive Media, Jeremy Legg from Turner, and David Preshlack of Disney and ESPN predicted that TV "everywhere" was
imminent, and that in the same time frame the networks will be
almost completely agnostic about where and when their video
content is being viewed.
"It's interesting to think of what the definition of a TV
is," said Comcast's Strauss. "My kids think an iPad is a TV.
People don’t think of TV anymore, they just think of video. For
us, in the broader context of what we’re doing, we’re beginning
to migrate everything to Internet video." Executives tell
it, universal TV is an inevitability. As the line between
traditional TV and Web video blur, it will no longer make sense
for networks to distinguish between TV and every other
video-capable device. This means migrating not only single
programs to the Web—along the lines of what Hulu, Apple, and
others do now—but also letting viewers access traditional linear
television from mobile phones, iPads, and computers.
"I feel like were in the first inning of what TV everywhere
can become," said Strauss. "But consumers want to be able
to watch what they want to watch."
adweek.com June 9th
----------------------------------------------
Did the cloud just kill the set-top box?
At the NCTA Cable Show, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts showed off the
next generation of the company’s TV user interface. Built
under the code name Xcalibur, Comcast’s new user interface
is already being tested by subscribers in Augusta, Ga., with
plans to possibly roll it out to more geographies soon.
More important than the UI update, however, is how it has been
built and delivered. Behind Xcalibur is a cloud-based platform
that moves the intelligence out of the set-top box and into the
network. For consumers, the move to a cloud-based system will
largely be seamless. But for Comcast, moving to the cloud means
it will be able to build new features, improve the user
interface and iterate on its product more quickly and easily
than if was building for individual set-top boxes.
“What the cloud allows you to do is to have faster innovation,”
Roberts said. “Boxes have different generations, they become
outdated…. That doesn’t happen in the cloud.”
Not just that, but it allows Comcast to deliver TV and on-demand
feeds to multiple devices with little extra work put into it.
Comcast’s plan, essentially, is to make the same user interface
available across multiple screens and devices within and outside
of the homes. Already it has an iPad app, which lets users
navigate their channel listings, on-demand video assets and
Xfinity online streaming videos. And it announced a partnership
with Samsung at CES to build an app for connected TVs that will
be available later this year.
-----------------------------------------
The
online video addiction is every bit as real for this generation
as the TV jones was for mine. Nielsen reports that in
May we hit a new streaming high of 15 billion
videos viewed, up 2% from last month's record. The overall
online
video reach is now at 145 million in the U.S.,
also up 2.5% in a month. Interestingly the number of streams per
month
(+2.2%)is not growing quite as quickly as the
audience, so the number of videos per user is off incrementally
by .3%
and time spent on video each month is down 3.8%
month-to-month.
The usual suspects are gathering the largest
audience for video: YouTube (112M), VEVO (36.4M), Facebook
(29.2M)
Yahoo (26.2M) and Microsoft properties
(17.9M). The middle of the pack is jockeying for position and
seeing
acceleration. Microsoft, Hulu, AOL and Fox
Interactive Media experienced double-digit audience growth in
the month.
Both Microsoft and AOL in particular saw the
number of their streams jump 26.9% and 25.2% respectively.
Nielsen
says it excluded Netflix from its rankings this
month because of data collection problems connected to changes
made to
the URLs serving the movie streamer's content.
Well, most people were tuning in online for
fresher TV episodes than Netflix offers anyway. As the prime
time season
ended time spent at many of the networks'
properties spiked. CW, ABC Family and Lifetime all saw their
average
viewing time per user rise by double digits even
as time with YouTube and Hulu declined.
The real comers to watch in video metrics are
the self-broadcasting engines UStream and Justin.TV, second and
third
only to Hulu in time spent and up 61.4% and
55.3% month to month.
-------------------------------------
Online Video Spikes, Tremor Media Tops Ad Nets
Don't look now, but Facebook is rapidly emerging as a force
in online video, according to comScore. In May,
Facebook.com ranked fourth among all online sites with 48.2
million video viewers.
While the top social network does host user-uploaded videos,
it mostly aggregates the YouTube clips that users publish
on their walls. That still helped it beat out Viacom Digital,
which ranked fifth in May with 46.5 million online video
viewers.
Google Sites, driven primarily by YouTube, ranked as the top
online video content property in May with 147.2 million
unique viewers, followed by Vevo with 60.4 million viewers
and Yahoo Sites with 55.5 million viewers.
Overall, 176 million U.S. Internet users watched online video
content in May -- an average of 15.9 hours per viewer.
What's more, the total U.S. Internet audience engaged in more
than 5.6 billion viewing sessions during the course of
the month.
Google sites had the highest number of viewing sessions with
more than 2.1 billion and the highest time spent per
viewer at 311 minutes, crossing the five-hour mark for the
first time, comScore found. mediapost.com
-------------------------------------
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT...
One aspect of the Egyptian uprising (among the others, most
ongoing) that was overpowered by the wild acclamation of social
media is something that has been quietly but powerfully changing
societal norms over the last decade. It is simply the inclusion,
on almost every mobile phone sold, of a digital camera. When 90%
of the active population can, at any time, record an event they
are witness to, and transmit it to the rest of the world
instantly, many rules begin to change.
It’s not new, of course: “citizen journalism” has a long history
before mobiles were prevalent, and the growing trend of “you
report”-style news and things like Twitter streams in live
reporting are as plain as the lens on your phone. And while I
regularly deride the quality of camera phones, the truth is that
improvements have been made that are now promoting phone-cams
from joke cameras to true documentary devices.
yahoonews.com
- -------------------------------
Internet Usage, Video Streams Soar
From home and work
computers, Google remained the most-visited site in the U.S. in
April, with 150 million unique visitors. While 194.8 million
Americans went online in April, overall Internet use was down
2.4% from March.
Still, YouTube increased U.S. visitors month-over-month, with
average visitors spending 2.9% more time on the video hub in
April. The site hit an all-time high that month, as their U.S.
viewers consumed 8.7 billion streams: up 7% month-over-month.
Yet despite the slight monthly decline in time spent, Nielsen
estimates that Internet access at home and work grew to 244
million individuals in the U.S. in April. Wikipedia managed to
leapfrog over Apple to become the eighth-most-visited site in
April -- even with questions about the dedication of its
contributors.
In addition, Americans streamed 14.7 billion videos in April
-- the most streams ever in a month, according to Nielsen. While
the number of videos streamed increased, however, total viewing
time actually decreased during the period. There were 141.4
million unique U.S. video viewers who spent an average of 4
hours, 31 minutes viewing video over the course of the month,
per Nielsen.
------------------------------------------
Cable companies castrate their TiVos. A
number of cable companies now offer their customers TiVo-branded
DVRs that offer access to all kinds of additional online
content. But TiVo users who buy their devices at retail will be
able to watch videos from Netflix and Hulu Plus with these
machines, while customers who rent the same DVR from their cable
company won’t have
access to these two services. The logic? Netflix could get
people to ditch their premium channels and ignore cable VOD.
Netflix is dominating every screen. Network
operators are trying to bring TV everywhere, but they often must
feel like the hare
racing the porcupine: Wherever they look, Netflix is already
there. The company’s service is now available on more than 250
devices, and Netflix is getting more aggressive about dominating
every single screen. The latest ploy is a
dedicated Netflix button on
your remote control, which puts it in direct competition with
your cable guide. That raises the question: Do you want to
browse through thousands of channels, or simply access Netflix?
Gigaom.com June 2011
------------------------------------
The Nielsen Company now says streaming of Internet video may
come at the expense of some traditional TV viewing, especially
among young TV/video users.
According to Nielsen's new "State of the Media: Cross Platform
Report" obtained by Media
Daily News, the
media research company says: "The new trend among TV and
Internet homes shows the lightest traditional television users
streaming significantly more Internet video via their computers,
and the heaviest streamers under-indexing for traditional TV
viewership. This behavior is led by those ages 18-34."
--------------------------------------------
Networks find that Netflix can be good for business
Once considered an outsider in the TV business, Netflix is
becoming a go-to distribution avenue for media companies that
want to draw additional revenue from old and/or off-the-air
shows, according to this report. CBS, for one, licenses shows
such as "Cheers," "Family Ties," "Twin Peaks," "The Twilight
Zone" and "Medium" to Netflix without disturbing any of its
other distribution business models.
------------------------------------------
As Video Distribution Becomes Ubiquitous, Advertising Differences Become
Blurry
by Ashkan Karbasfrooshan
At the Elevate Video Advertising Summit in New
York last
week, executives from Disney, Turner, and Comcast nearly
sent the audience into cardiac arrest by demonstrating that
their heads weren't actually fully stuck in the sand: before
long, the majority of TV content will be available online and on
mobile devices. In fact, Comcast Interactive Media's Matt
Strauss, Turner Broadcasting's Jeremy Legg and Disney/ESPN's
David Preschlack were more specific than that: 75% of TV content
will be on platforms other than TV within two years. Indeed, TV
"everywhere" was imminent and sure to make distribution
agnostic.
At face value, that is surely to make viewers ecstatic. But upon
reflection, you have to wonder: Will that make Big Media more or
less controlling of its content?
We've all read the tea leaves, and apparently those who run Big
Media have too: "It's interesting to think of what the
definition of a TV is," said Comcast's Strauss. "My kids think
an iPad is
a TV. People don't think of TV anymore, they just think of
video. For us, in the broader context of what we're doing, we're
beginning to migrate everything to Internet
video."
--------------------------------------
Cisco: Video to Exceed 50 Percent of Consumer Internet Traffic
by 2012
Video of all types will comprise more than half of all data sent
over the consumer Internet by the end of 2012, according to Cisco,
which made this and other predictions in its annual Visual
Networking Index forecast. Overall annual global
Internet traffic will
reach the zettabyte threshold by the end of 2015 (a zettabyte is
a unit of information or computer storage equal to one
sextillion—1 followed by 21 zeros).
Global IP traffic has increased eightfold since 2006 and will
increase fourfold over the next five years, Cisco said. The
company—one of the world’s largest providers of Internet routing
technology— has, in the past, touted video as the “killer app”
of the Internet and its latest report continues to bear that
out. In 2010, Internet
video surpassed
P2P as the largest source of Internet video traffic at 40
percent, and will reach 62 percent by the end of 2012. The sum
of all types of video, including TV, VOD, streaming and P2P will
continue to be approximately 90 percent of global consumer
traffic by 2015. By then, it’s expected that 1 million video
minutes—the equivalent of 674 days—will traverse the Internet
every second.
Internet video to
TV (so called “over the top”) will increase 17-fold by 2015 and
will comprise over 16 percent of consumer Internet video traffic
by 2015, according to the report. VOD traffic by then will be
equivalent to 3 billion DVDs per month. Currently much of this
comes from Netflix’
streaming service, which, according
to a
recent report, represents nearly one third of all Internet
download traffic. HD video on demand will surpass standard
definition by the end of 2011 and by 2015, HD video will
comprise 77 percent of VOD.
Much of the growth in Internet video is being driven by faster broadband
speeds, increased broadband deployment worldwide and more
and varied connected devices, including tablets, smartphones and
connected TVs. In 2010 PCs generated 97 percent of consumer
Internet traffic and this will fall to 87 percent by 2015. Mobile
broadband traffic will
increase 26 times from 2010 to 2015, to 6.3 exabytes per month.
By 2015, more than 40 percent of the world’s population—3
billion—will be connected to the Internet. The global online
video community will increase by approximately 500 million users
by 2015, up from more than 1
billion Internet
video users in 2010. By 2015, the Asia-Pacific region will
generate the most IP traffic, surpassing North
America for
the top spot. The
Middle East and
Africa will be the fastest growing IP traffic regions over the
next four years.
The average fixed broadband speed will increase four-fold, from
7 Mbps in 2010 to 28 Mbps in 2015.
Cisco said it validates the data in its annual report with
actual traffic data provided voluntarily by global
service providers and
consumers alike. A white paper on the report is available here.
------------------------------------------
New phase change
memory-based system points to the future of computer storage
A Univ. of California, San Diego faculty-student team is about
to demonstrate a first-of-its kind, phase-change memorysolid
state storage device that
provides performance thousands of times faster than a
conventional hard drive and up to seven times faster than
current state-of-the-art solid-state drives (SSDs).
The device was developed in the Computer
Science and Engineering department at
the UC
San Diego Jacobs School of
Engineering, and will be on exhibit at DAC 2011, with the
support of several industry partners, includingMicron
Technology, BEEcube, and Xilinx. The storage system,
called “Moneta,” uses phase-change memory (PCM). PCM is faster
and simpler to use than flash
memory.
Moneta marks the latest advancement in solid state drives (SSDs).
Unlike conventional hard disk drives, solid
state storage drives have
no moving parts. Today’s SSDs useflash
memory and can
be found in a wide range of consumer electronics such as iPads
and laptops. Although faster than hard disk, flash memory is
still too slow to meet modern data
storage and
analysis demands, particularly in the area of high performance
computing where the ability to sift through enormous volumes of
data quickly is critical. Examples include storing and analyzing
scientific data collected through environmental sensors, or even
web searches throughGoogle.
"As a society, we can gather all this data very, very
quickly—much faster than we can analyze it with conventional,
disk-based storage systems," said Steven
Swanson, professor of Computer
Science and Engineering and
director of the Non-Volatile Systems Lab (NVSL). "Phase-change
memory-based solid
state storage devices will
allow us to sift through all of this data, make sense of it, and
extract useful information much faster. It has the potential to
be revolutionary."
-----------------------------------------
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)-
Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) Chief Executive Glenn Britt said
Wednesday his company has an opportunity to win more
broadband-only customers as broadband replaces TV as the cable
industry's anchor product.
At
an investor conference in New York City hosted by Sanford C.
Bernstein, Britt said Time Warner Cable has been largely focused
on selling its "triple-play" bundle, which includes broadband,
TV and phone service.
Now, he intends to shift focus to better exploit
an opportunity to sell more "single-play" broadband to people
who may get video service from a satellite operator or another
alternative.
"Broadband is becoming more and more central to
people's lives," said Britt. "It has become our primary product.
People are telling us that if they were down to their last
dollar, they'd drop broadband last."
The comments came as the cable industry continues
to grow its broadband subscriber base and gain share in the
Internet-access market, while it loses video subscribers to
satellite and telecommunications rivals. Economic weakness is
also leading lower-income consumers to drop pay-TV service as
the price climbs, and the rise of web video has also led to
concerns that consumers will drop traditional pay-TV
subscriptions in favor of online alternatives.
"We've become less of a TV company than we were
previously," said Britt, adding that the company's focus has
shifted more toward its role as a provider of infrastructure for
the delivery of media. June 2011 mediapost.com
------------------------------------------
Study: Online Video Ads Beat TV Ads In Viewer Recall
Viewers pay more attention to online video ads than to
traditional TV commercials and also recall them better,
according to new research that utilized Affectiva's
facial tracking algorithms
and second-by-second biometric modeling of cognition, excitement
and stress levels.
The research measured the reactions of 48 viewers watching
one hour of programming in Interpublic Group's West Coast IPG
Media Lab. Conducted by the Media Lab during March in
conjunction with video ad network YuMe, the study determined
that on average, online viewers pay more attention to the screen
than do traditional TV viewers -- and the greater attention
levels carry over to advertising.
Online video ads received 18.3% more viewer attention in the
study than TV commercials -- a much higher disparity than the
8.5% greater viewer attention garnered by online video content
over TV content.
---------------------------------------
The Evolution Of Distribution
by Chris
Young ,
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Once upon a time, television studio executives negotiated with
one network to air the first run of their programming. If the
show was a success, then the studios would eventually sit down
with other distributors for syndication deals. Rinse, repeat,
and everyone lived happily ever after.
Oh, how times have changed.
Today, content production houses must take into account
streaming deals, VOD deals and other marketing and logistical
considerations when looking to launch any form of original
programming. And it is just the beginning. All signs point to
the explosive growth of the online video world reaching even
greater heights. Research released by Singapore-based ABI
Research suggests that
by 2016 worldwide online viewership will reach over 1.3 billion
people.
In a post over
at his Forbes blog, Energy Intelligence, Mark P. Mills argues
that we're at a point where content and the means by which it is
distributed will change forever. "We've just started the biggest
physical expansion of the
content delivery system in
the history of the human race," he says. But how will it change?
Say goodbye to an old friend - the couch potato.
Content creators today sit on the verge of an era in which the
couch potato no longer just sits on his or her La-Z-Boy and
takes in an episode of their favorite program - they'll start
watching at home and continue viewing while in transit, while
waiting at the doctor's office or during one of the hundreds of
other scenarios in which your eyeballs may turn to a tablet or
mobile device. You need to be able to provide your users with
content that they consume in a manner that appeals to them the
most and sometimes that means letting them start and finish
viewing content in two different places.
Going forward, viewers will need to be provided compelling
content wherever their eyeballs may take them. By having a
delivery system in place that satiates a viewer's appetite,
you're taking significant steps towards guaranteeing that
they'll receive far more value from the original programming. In
doing so, you create what we like to refer to as the satellite
effect: your ancillary content hubs will drive traffic back to
your main venue for distribution. This serves two purposes: it
drives traffic to and from your primary viewing hub; and from a
monetization standpoint, provides potential advertisers with
additional opportunities to attach themselves to your brand.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. In today's emerging
content production and distribution market, it's critical to
be everywhere your
consumers find themselves -remaining top of mind with potential
viewers is more important than ever before.
videoinsider.com
--------------------------------------
Black, White and Red All Over: Newspaper Ads Dive
The first quarter of 2011 brought no relief for the newspaper
industry, which suffered another round of declines in print
advertising revenues. The first-quarter results from the
Newspaper Association of America stand out against a general
recovery in ad spending for other media, and suggest that
newspaper print ad revenues are locked into a permanent,
long-term decline.
Total print advertising revenues fell 9.5% from $5.25 billion
in the first quarter of 2010 to $4.75 billion in the first
quarter of 2011, according to the NAA -- the lowest
first-quarter revenue figure since 1983. Those stats are
down 55% from 2006, when total first-quarter print revenues came
to $10.5 billion. This marks the 20th straight quarter of
year-over-year print revenue declines.
-----------------------------------------
Connected TVs seen as change agent for CE makers
With the number of Web-connected TVs expected to grow
significantly in the next few years, experts in the field
already are looking at how the devices will alter the TV
industry. One development, according to this report, is that
smart TVs will change the playing field for CE manufacturers,
which will be able to strike content deals with cable TV
companies and over-the-top providers.
-----------------------------------------
Net Broadband Subscribers Continue to Grow
In a new release from the Leichtman
Research Group, the nineteen largest cable and
telephone providers in the US, representing about 93% of the
market, acquired nearly 1.3 million net additional
high-speed Internet subscribers in the first quarter of
2011. These top broadband providers now account for 76.6
million subscribers, with cable companies having 42.6
million broadband subscribers, and telephone
companies having
almost 34 million subscribers.
Other broadband findings for the quarter include:
- Overall, broadband
additions in 1Q 2011 amounted to 90% of those in 1Q
2010, with cable having 91% as many additions as a year
ago, and Telcos 87% as many additions as a year ago
-
The top cable companies added over 850,000 subscribers,
representing 67% of the net broadband additions for the
quarter versus the top telephone companies
-
Comcast added
418,000 broadband subscribers in 1Q 2011, the most in
any quarter since 1Q 2008
- The top cable broadband
providers have a 56% share of the overall market, with
over 8.6 million more subscribers than the top telephone
companies, compared to 7.4 million a year ago
---------------------------------------
Viewers pay more attention to online video ads than to
traditional TV commercials and also recall them better,
according to new research that utilized Affectiva's
facial tracking algorithms
and second-by-second biometric modeling of cognition, excitement
and stress levels. The research measured the reactions of
48 viewers watching one hour of programming in Interpublic
Group's West Coast IPG Media Lab.
Conducted by the Media Lab during March in conjunction with
video ad network YuMe, the study determined that on average,
online viewers pay more attention to the screen than do
traditional TV viewers -- and the greater attention levels carry
over to advertising.Online video ads received 18.3% more viewer
attention in the study than TV commercials -- a much higher
disparity than the 8.5% greater viewer attention garnered by
online video content over TV content.
This was largely due to the finding that when transitioning
from program content to ads, the attention of TV viewers dropped
off three times faster than that of online viewers.
mediapost.com
----------------------------------------
For
Microsoft, Skype Opens Vast New Market in Telecom
By buying Skype, Microsoft would immediately become a leader in
online voice and video calls.
In agreeing Tuesday to pay $8.5 billion to buy Skype, the pioneer in
Internet phone calls, Microsoft is embracing a technology that is
transforming the way people communicate at home and at work. And by
stitching Skype technology into Microsoft products, used by hundreds
of millions of people, the software giant could hasten the
mainstream adoption of video communications, especially in
businesses.
The Microsoft-Skype deal, analysts suggest, also points to a rising wave
of digital disruption in the telecommunications industry, as low-cost
Internet-based communications put pressure on traditional carriers,
especially their landline phone service. Says Mark R. Anderson, chief
executive of the Strategic News Service, a technology newsletter, “The
computer guys are going to teach the telecom carriers about the future
of communications.”
----------------------------------------------
Time Warner Boosts VOD, Banks On BlackArrow
Time Warner Cable, which is interested in boosting ad revenues for its
video-on-demand offerings, has made an investment in BlackArrow, a firm
that powers dynamic ad insertion in VOD. With the investment, Joan
Gillman, Time Warner Cable president, media sales, will join
BlackArrow's board of directors.Other investors include Comcast
Interactive Capital, Intel Capital and Motorola Mobility. The Time
Warner Cable investment completes a funding round that has raised up to
$27 million. mediaone.com
-------------------------------------------
Given a choice, the largest marketers want to spend a lot more money
online and around video than they currently do, Still, all factors being
equal, they would choose to advertise alongside content from Traditional
Media Companies (TMCs) -- not just networks (NBC, FOX, ABC and CBS) --
but cable companies too (ESPN, VH1, etc) -- content creators that I've
long categorized as "super premium" content providers. These companies
happen to fear the cannibalization of offline revenues, the proverbial
trading of analog dollars for online change, be it pennies, nickels,
dimes or quarters (in every sense of the word, there is a wide chasm
between a quarter and a dollar, I guess)
----------------------------------------
DirecTV
started up its controversial "premium VOD" film service on April 21 with
a marketing campaign for Sony Pictures Entertainment's "Just Go With
It."
The plan, with the backing of four studios -- Sony, Warner, Fox and
Universal -- is to release movies 60 days after their theatrical debut.
It would cost consumers $29.99, significantly more than the current
price tag for DVD rentals or video on demand, which start up 120 days
after theatrical release, with a price tag of around $4.
Under its "Home Premiere" service, the new campaign theme line: "From
the Big Screen to Your Screen. First." Messaging is airing on DirecTV's
site.
The new plan has received a massive outcry from the National
Association of Theater Owners, given that it would overlap the
distribution of movies to theaters where typical distribution deals are
for 120 days. Some theater owners have threatened to potentially cut
back on in-theater trailers from some films and studios.
Analysts feel the revolutionary move could dramatically upset
studio-theater owner business relations.
-----------------------------
Given a choice, the largest marketers want to spend a lot more money
online and around video than they currently do, Still, all factors being
equal, they would choose to advertise alongside content from Traditional
Media Companies (TMCs) -- not just networks (NBC, FOX, ABC and CBS) --
but cable companies too (ESPN, VH1, etc) -- content creators that I've
long categorized as "super premium" content providers. These companies
happen to fear the cannibalization of offline revenues, the proverbial
trading of analog dollars for online change, be it pennies, nickels,
dimes or quarters (in every sense of the word, there is a wide chasm
between a quarter and a dollar, I guess).
Balancing Reach with Quality
But of course, marketers don't only want quality, they also seek reach.
To reach scale, marketers have stratified ad buying since the advent of
the World Wide Web. yahoonews.com
------------------------------
Fast forward: the DVR is still a threat to marketers, but cord-cutting
and Netflix subscriptions seem to have eclipsed it. Yet, even with the
boom in social media, TV is apparently roaring, at least according to
one analyst’s report Tuesday forecasting a healthy upfront market.
One reason: a certain synergy has developed, where
TV brand-building is driving Internet deep-diving. The dynamic has an
element of direct response to it, with advertisers eager to drive people
to the Web to make a purchase, get more information about a product,
watch an added video, or become a Facebook friend and, if exceedingly
lucky, become a brand evangelist.
Chris Geraci, a managing director at OMD, noted
Wednesday how the link is propelling TV spending -- which was hard to
forecast during the second Bush administration.
“I don think back then any of us really envisioned this
reciprocal relationship that’s going on right now, where television is
actually better because of the Internet," he said. "Not just online
viewing -- that ability to get more information and get more involved in
what you’re seeing.”
the tech news April 2011
---------------------------
Yahoo has acquired the fledgling IntoNow, a company with a mobile
platform that functions much like interactive TV. IntoNow, which went
live in January, recently inked its first advertising deal with Pepsi.
IntoNow has built a database that allows users to point an Apple
mobile device -- an iPhone, iTouch or iPad -- at a TV screen and use the
app to relay information about what they are watching to a Facebook page
or Twitter feed. The system recognizes five years' worth of episodes
across 130 networks.
The system -- based on audio signals -- also can be set up to
recognize particular ads, which is powering the Pepsi deal. There, users
that point when watching a particular Major League Baseball-themed spot
can have a barcode beamed back to their devices. They can take it to a
retailer and get a free Pepsi Max bottle.
--------------------------------
“I don
think back then any of us really envisioned this
reciprocal relationship that’s going on right now, where television is
actually better because of the Internet," he said. "Not just online
viewing -- that ability to get more information and get more involved in
what you’re seeing.”
------------------------------------
Advertising-dependent television may have dodged one bullet this year
only to be crippled later by an intensifying barrage of economic and
tech threats that will alter its fragile status quo. Just this
week, the Internet
Advertising Bureau confirmed
that $26.4 billion in Internet media spending in 2010 handily beat $22.8
billion in newspapers. It's just a matter of time before it matches TV's
dominant $28.6 billion in revenues last year, $16 billion of which is
from broadcast and the remainder from cable.
After all, the online ad market grew 15% during the heart of the
recession from 2009 to 2010. Why wouldn't it pick up more steam with
increased consumer and enterprise digital adoption? Nascent mobile
advertising has nowhere to go but up.
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- Mike Shields
Rather than killing traditional media, the preponderance of digital
media and Web-connected devices has only spurred America’s media
addiction, as the average person now squeezes media into seemingly
every free moment of their lives.
At least that’s according to a recent study conducted by Arbitron
and Edison Research, which found that Americans are spending close
to 20 percent more time consuming both the Internet as well as
not-quite-dead-yet broadcast media like radio and TV, than they were
10 years ago. Amazingly, per the report—The Infinite Dial 2011:
Navigating Digital Platforms—Americans are spending an hour and 21
minutes more time per day with media than in 2001.
Obviously the rise of the Internet and the fact that 51 percent of
households now have two computers (versus just 24 percent in 2002)
has a lot to do with that increase. But The New York Times notes that
the explosion in smartphones over the past few years, buoyed by
Apple’s iPhone, is expanding the average person’s
engaged-with-some-sort-of-screen time, as every moment spent waiting
in line, riding on a plane, or taking the train to work can be
better endured nowadays with media.
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Supplanting search engines and other traffic drivers, social networks
are sending an increasing share of readers to Web publishers.
During the first quarter of the year, Facebook and smaller social
players drove 11% of all external referrals -- compared to the 41% sent
by search engines -- according to new research by recommendation engine
Outbrain.
Not too shabby, considering that "most of the traffic sources we
identify as 'social' have existed in a meaningful way for less than five
years," says David Sasson, Outbrain COO.
Of the six content verticals examined, stories in the news,
entertainment and lifestyle categories were the most likely to receive
traffic from social sources.
"We assume that since these categories are heavily influenced by
breaking news or what is happening in the zeitgeist, they are more
likely to be shared among people's social circle," Sasson said.
-----------------------
Major growth of U.S. online television has pushed the
business to $1.6 billion in all revenue in 2010.
The online revenue rise -- a strong 34.2% gain over 2009 -- came from
both advertising and consumer fee revenues, according to IHS Screen
Digest. One highlight of this growth was in advertising sales, which
climbed 64.7% to reach $719 million in 2010, up from $436.8 million in
2009. Other surveys note that all U.S. digital video advertising was
over the $1 billion mark for 2010.
Still, the analyst says the big TV networks are moving slowly.
IHS Screen Digest notes that Hulu -- a partnership that includes
three of the four big TV networks, Comcast's NBC, News Corp's Fox, and
Walt Disney's ABC -- doubled its advertising revenue growth in 2010 to
$200 million.
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OMG: ABC Kills 'All My Children' and 'One Life to Live.' Check Out What
the Replacements Will BeTVWeek
ABC has announced that it is killing two of the most famous,
longest-running shows on TV--the daytime soap operas "All My Children"
and "One Life to Live." The shows will have their final episodes in
September and next January, respectively.
In their place ABC will launch two new shows.
One is "The Chew," which will "focus on food from every angle--as a
source of joy, health, family ritual, friendship, breaking news, dating,
fitness, weight loss, travel adventures and life's moments," the network
said in a statement. "The Chew" will premiere in September.
The other new show will be "The Revolution," which ABC says is a working
title. This program will be "about health and lifestyle
transformations," the statement said, adding that the program will be
"hosted by a team of experts and rotating guest contributors who help
viewers transform all areas of their lives."
tvweek.com April
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Theater owners fuming over studios' VOD plan
LAS VEGAS (Hollywood Reporter) – Feeling blindsided, theater owners were
furious Thursday that four Hollywood studios didn't brief them on plans
to launch a new premium video-on-demand (VOD) service on DirecTV late
next month, followed swiftly by Comcast and VUDU.
Exhibitors could respond by changing how they book films and play
trailers.
Adding to their ire, word of the service broke just as exhibitors and
studios were together in Las Vegas for CinemaCon, the annual convention
of theater owners. Throughout Caesars Palace, home of the show, meetings
between distributors and exhibitors ended abruptly as theater owners
scrambled to make sense of the news.
Warner Bros., Fox, Sony and Universal are all on board, according to
insiders. The movies will be available 60 days after their release in
theaters for $29.99. Fox Searchlight titles will be offered 60 days from
the date that they go wide.
Theater owners say the shortening of the theatrical window could damage
their business. Today, the average window is 120 days, although
exhibitors have been amenable to a 90-day window in some cases.
YAHOO NEWS March 2011
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Longer-form digital entertainment content destinations
continue to gain popularity among U.S. TV viewers.
In March, Netflix remained the biggest digital platform when it comes
to the most time spent per viewer, coming in at just under 10 hours a
month. Netflix was up 6.6% in March over February, to 9 hours and 53
minutes -- much of this coming from its longer movie content.
Tudou.com, a big China-based video site that is similar to YouTube
but offers far more full-length movie and TV content, picked up 4.5%
month to month to 8 hours and 30 minutes. U.S.-based premium TV content
site, Hulu, which runs full-length TV episodes, now averages 5 hours and
13 minutes a month, a 3.3% improvement.
Broadcast TV network The CW witnessed its CWTV digital area drop
16.4% to 2 hours and 58 minutes. The CW typically gains or loses because
it can be in heavy rerun mode, versus the big four broadcast networks,
which tend to run more original TV episodes.
YouTube, still the biggest video destination by far in terms of
uniques and total video streams, sits in sixth place when it comes to
time per viewer, now at 2 hours and 17 minutes -- a 5.2% hike. Shorter
user-generated videos are being complemented with longer videos,
including some full-length TV episodes.
mediapost.com
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VideoNuze has learned that Netflix has
struck a deal to acquire HBO
from Time
Warner and intends to
dissolve HBO's linear cable channels, with its programs to be
incorporated into Netflix's streaming library, available solely on the iPad.
Terms of the deal are not yet known, but it is expected to be for stock
only, with Time Warner becoming the biggest shareholder in Netflix.
VideoNuze interviewed all the key participants late last night.
From Netflix's standpoint, gaining access to HBO's massive library of
popular original shows is an enormous coup, and is sure to accelerate
its subscriber growth. The dissolution of HBO's popular cable channels
however seems to fly in the face of conventional wisdom, given the
billions of dollars the channels generate in annual fees.
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The cellphone has been more than a cellphone for years, but soon it
could take on an entirely new role — standing in for all of the credit
and debit cards crammed into wallets. Instead of swiping a plastic
card at the checkout counter, consumers would merely wave their phones.
There’s just one hitch: While the technology is already being installed
in millions of phones — and is used overseas — wide adoption of the
so-called mobile wallets is being slowed by a major behind-the-scenes
battle among corporate giants.
Mobile phone carriers, banks,
credit card issuers, payment networks and technology companies are all
vying to control these wallets. But first, they need to sort out what
role each will play and how each will get paid.
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Web Shows Get Ambitious
Tech, Media Companies Race to Create Video Hits That Look, Feel
More Like TV
Technology and media companies are racing to create
Internet-video hits closer to the scale of traditional
TV, as consumers start to watch more video on
Internet-connected televisions and tablet computers.
Netflix Inc. on Friday made the most expensive entry in
the gold rush, saying it had cut a deal to produce a new
drama starring Oscar winner Kevin Spacey on its Internet
service. But companies like Yahoo Inc., AOL Inc. and
Hulu LLC are also ramping up their efforts to secure
original Web productions, investing more dollars in Web
shows.
Hulu, an Internet venture focused on distributing
traditional TV shows, ...
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Mobile cloud-based music streaming services to become mainstream by
2016, says ABI Research
3/20/2011 9:51 AM EDT
Mass consumption of recorded music continues to evolve, as ownership
continues to diminish in importance. A new study from ABI Research
forecasts that by 2016 streaming (cloud-based) services will become
a more important form of access to music than owning albums, songs
or tracks. This shift will primarily be driven by the growing use of
mobile handsets, especially smartphones, as listening devices.
"The number of subscribers to mobile music streaming services is
expected to approach 5.9 million by the end of this year," says
industry analyst Aapo Markkanen. "ABI Research believes that number
will exceed 161 million subscribers in 2016, meaning a compound
annual growth rate of nearly 95%. Sometime in 2012 the Asia-Pacific
area will become the largest regional market for mobile music
streaming."
-------------------------
Digital advertising will push local media advertising to double in
five years' time to some $42.5 billion.
BIA/Kelsey says that means a 14.4% compounded growth rate every year
until 2015. At the end of 2010, the media research company said local
media was at $21.7 billion.
One major reason is digital advertising -- which will represent 23.6%
of all local advertising, or around $10 billion.
BIA/Kelsey says all this growth coincides with anticipated
improvement in the U.S. economy, which includes a continued rise in
overall local advertising. U.S. advertising will see a 2.1% compounded
growth through the next five years, reaching $153.5 billion in 2015 --
up from $136.3 billion at the end of last year.
Also, consumer marketing "deal-of-the-day" deals through social sites
-- Facebook and Twitter -- will contribute to a rapid digital
advertising rise, climbing to some $3.9 billion by 2015.
mediapost.com March 2011
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The comScore 2010 U.S. Digital Year in review finds that the average
number of people in our market who watched video online each day
skyrocketed 32% to 88.6 million between December 2009 and December
2010. All other key metrics grew as well: number of viewing sessions
per person (+13%), hours spent (+12% or 14 hours in December 2010),
and number of streams per person (+8%).
Time-shifted TV viewing
online continues to be a key driver of these metrics, with both Hulu
and individual on-air brands being the main beneficiaries. ComScore
finds that in the last quarter of 2010 Hulu accounted for 323
million hours of viewing (+17%, year-over-year) while the combined
viewing at the major network sites (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CW)
attracted about half of that (162 million hours). But it was the
rate of growth among the indivi dual networks that proves most
interesting. Direct viewing of TV from the TV brands' own sites had
increased at a much higher rate than Hulu, up 82%. In other words,
the networks are succeeding in pulling viewers over to their online
hubs.
mediapost.com
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Broadcast ratings erosion continues to tug at the big networks -- down
double-digit percentages, while cable networks are up slightly --
through roughly three-quarters of the 2010-2011 TV season.Fox is
again the leader among the big four broadcast networks in the key 18-49
audience -- making a rapid improvement from its disastrous start in the
fall, when it was down double-digit percentages versus a year ago.
This data comes from Turner Research via Nielsen, looking at the
broadest measure of TV viewing -- live program plus seven days of
time-shifted viewing -- from September 20, 2010 through March 20, 2011.
The top-rated original cable series in the first quarter: MTV's
"Jersey Shore," at 9.04 million viewers; followed by History's "Pawn
Stars," at 7.62 million; History's "American Pickers," at 6.52 million;
USA Network's "Royal Pains," with 5.47 million; BET's "The Game," at
5.31 million; and USA's "White Collar," with 4.88 million.
-----------------------------
Barry Diller Says Internet TV Will Transform TV Biz
Diller said the Internet still has enormous potential to
transform the distribution chain in the media and entertainment
business, including the TV business. He said emerging online video
services such as Google TV could bring about the end of the pay-TV
industry's ability to bundle channels together, allowing consumers
to access just the content they want.
"The Internet's ability to put you, without any filter, straight
to the consumer, is going to have a huge effect on video producers,"
said Diller. "The 'a la carting of life' becomes possible for the
first time once you have a screen of sufficient size that connects
you to this world of possibilities that is the Internet."
WallStreetJournal.com
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