You are hereFeed aggregator / Sources / VideoNuze.com Analysis
VideoNuze.com Analysis
Apple's New 27-Inch Display: Is a TV Next?
Wed, 07/28/2010 - 07:58With Apple's unveiling yesterday of its super high-resolution 27-inch LED Cinema Display, the company is once again tantalizing the market with just how close it could be to introducing a high-end connected TV. The new 27-inch display is officially positioned to connect to Mac laptops and takes the place of existing 24-inch and 30-inch models. It comes with 2560x1440 resolution with a 16:9 glass display.
I haven't seen the product yet, but no doubt it's gorgeous. And that of course leads to the TV speculation. A few relatively simple enhancements and 
repositioning spin and voila, Apple is in the TV business, with another multi-billion dollar market opportunity. The connected TV market is poised for growth, with many new TV sporting Ethernet or WiFi connections. And the market for connected devices to bring existing TVs online is exploding with choices such as Blu-ray players, gaming consoles, standalone devices, etc. priming consumers' appetites for a product from Apple.
[ReadMore]
With such a swirl of activity it's interesting to speculate on what's holding Apple back. Certainly it's not fear of entering an unrelated market; the company has more than proven its mettle by going into unrelated digital music player and mobile phone areas and wildly succeeding. Rather I'm guessing the big concern is how to extract the "Apple premium" in a low-margin, super-competitive business. It's possible already to find sub-$400 27-inch LCD HDTVs, making Apple's new $999 display look very expensive by comparison.
However, Apple has a strong track record of finding ways to get its premium. When it comes to TVs, it could offer seamless integration with its "i" devices, access to apps and iTunes and other multi-platform goodies. A cutting-edge, distinct Apple design would be another benefit. All of this would be hard for Apple diehards to resist. Then of course there's the status factor of having an Apple television parked in the TV room.
Recently I wrote about why Apple still doesn't have a TV strategy. Yet there can be no question Steve Jobs is closely watching the evolution of connected devices and looking for an entry opportunity. With the new 27-inch display, Apple is once again showing just how close it may already be.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).
Categories: Video News
PHILO Raises First Institutional Round of Financing
Wed, 07/28/2010 - 07:14PHILO, a startup social television platform, is announcing this morning that it has closed its first round of institutional financing from North Bridge Venture Partners and DFJ Gotham Ventures. The size of the round wasn't disclosed.
PHILO has also updated its iPhone and iPod Touch app and launched its web app. I talked to David Levy, CEO and co-founder yesterday to learn more.
Whereas the first wave of social media was about connecting friends, David sees PHILO fitting into the second wave, which is focused on connecting people to places, things, and in PHILO's case, TV programs. Foursquare, Gowalla and others have popularized the idea of using a mobile device or web application to "check-in" to places and events, so that friends and others can see what you're doing. Higher degrees of engagement such as commenting then lead to various types of rewards, which confer status among the community of users.
[ReadMore]
PHILO is following this model, but applying it specifically to TV shows. In David's view, sharing what you're watching with friends and then commenting on the programs nothing new; traditionally it has been done at the water cooler at work or by watching together in small groups. What PHILO does is virtualize the experience online and in real-time. Users tap into their existing social networks at Facebook, Twitter, etc and can also make new contacts on PHILO itself. The social and mobile approach is similar to features Clicker announced last week except that Clicker also adds a robust interactive guide on the front end. Other similar apps Miso and GetGlue plus Comcast also recently launched Tunerfish.
PHILO is still pre-revenue and David wouldn't disclose any details on what their business model is or when they'll roll it out. But with a sizable audience, no doubt ads will come, primarily for other TV shows. If the ads are personalized to align with what you're already watching and engaged with, environments like PHILO would be really valuable. And getting a show into the viral promotional stream would be a home run for a new show hungry for exposure.
It's hard to handicap the winners in this space, but in general I like the concept here a lot. Facebook, Twitter and others have created a huge and growing culture of people who are both connected and actively engaged with one another. Watching TV is an immensely popular activity and people love to discuss their favorite shows. Giving them an online, real-time mechanism for doing so and getting rewarded for it is a natural.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).
Categories: Video News
Starz Pursues Digital Sampling for "Pillars" Series
Tue, 07/27/2010 - 08:16You may have noticed a lot of recent promotion for Starz's current mini-series, "The Pillars of the Earth," based on the book by Ken Follett. A key part of Starz's promotional efforts for this $40 million production is "digital sampling."
Starz has made the first 2 episodes of the 8-part series available on multiple outlets including free on demand for digital subscribers of major cable 
operators like Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox and others, totaling 61 million subscribers. They are also available on DirecTV's in-house channel 101. And they are available online for Comcast's Fancast users and also on Netflix (where I happened to notice them).
[ReadMore]
A Starz spokesman told me that the goal of freely sharing the first 2 episodes is to entice viewers to subscribe to Starz for the first time or for those who may have previously dropped the network, to renew. Years ago premium networks like Starz, HBO and Showtime used to offer free preview nights/weekends (which they still do sometimes), but now, with subscriber behavior more focused than ever on on-demand and online usage, digital sampling has become the focus. Starz began aggressively pursuing this path 2 years ago and has used it for other original productions such as Crash, Party Down and Spartacus (which generated 1 million on-demand/online samples).
Starz's emphasis on digital sampling is no surprise as it has embraced online distribution. In October '08, it made a distribution deal for its "Starz Play" service with Netflix, which brings its full library of content (though not in HD) to Netflix subscribers. In the case of "Pillars" this actually means that Netflix subscribers can stream all 8 episodes not just the first 2. The same goes for Starz subscribers accessing via Fancast's authentication and for Verizon FiOS users (though Verizon has chosen to charge $5.99/mo for Starz Play) plus any other future distributor offering authenticated online access.
For "Pillars" Starz augmented its digital sampling by also offering an "amplified e-book" for iPad users in collaboration with Penguin Group, the book's publisher. In addition to the book's text, the iPad version, which sells for $12.99, includes 34 video excerpts from the mini-series, with appropriate cues to play them. There's also behind the scenes video and an outline of the character relationships. The amplified e-book approach mirrors what Vook has been doing.
In 2011, Starz will be pursuing more digital sampling with its Spartacus prequel in January and season 2 later in the year, along with "Camelot" which will debut mid-year. Add it all up and Starz is doing an impressive job of staying aligned with the consumers' shifting behaviors toward digital consumption.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).
Categories: Video News
Ooyala Supporting Monetization of HTML5 Video
Tue, 07/27/2010 - 07:05Online video platform Ooyala is announcing this morning that its HTML5 video player is now supporting dynamic ad insertion for IAB-standard ads. This 
means that content providers using Ooyala's Backlot platform will be able to monetize video consumed by iPads and iPhones.
[ReadMore]
The move aligns with the growing popularity of mobile video consumption, HTML5 and iPads/iPhones. Ooyala cites a recent Pew report that 40% of 18-29 year olds are watching video on their mobile devices. Elsewhere, HTML5 has gained recent support from multiple OVPs such as thePlatform, Kaltura, Kyte, Twistage and KickApps. In addition Brightcove and FreeWheel recently announced a partnership to launch an HTML5 ad solution and MeFeedia launched HTML5 analytics for its All Player.
A big part of the interest in HTML5 is the surging popularity of Apple's "i" devices, which of course don't support Flash. Just last week Apple reported selling a record 8.4 million iPhones, along with nearly 3.3 million iPads in its first quarter of availability. Across the video ecosystem, HTML5 support will continue to grow.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).
Categories: Video News
Verizon is Now Using Clearleap for FiOS Content Management
Sun, 07/25/2010 - 20:16Clearleap, a web-based TV technology provider, is announcing that Verizon has integrated its platform to manage content on its FiOS 1 local channel throughout all of its U.S. markets served. FiOS 1 offers local news, sports, 
traffic and weather. One particular use of Clearleap's technology will be to streamline the uploading and management of video by professional sports teams who offer extra coverage on FiOS VOD (one example of this is with my hometown New England Patriots).
For Clearleap, Verizon is the biggest telco launch to date, and it broadens the company's customer base beyond the cable operators it works with that cover 12M subscribers. I talked to Braxton Jarratt, Clearleap's CEO last week who said that it took Verizon just a few months to get up and running with the Clearleap technology. Unlike its cable deployments, in Verizon's case it didn't have to deploy any physical hardware in Verizon's data centers.
[ReadMore]
Back in March, 2009 I provided a nuts-and-bolts explanation of how Clearleap works, helping to bridge online and other video to VOD, so that pay-TV providers can broaden their content offerings cost-effectively with minimal new staff and create new monetization opportunities.
More recently, last month I reported on a new partnership that Clearleap and Roku announced which allows pay-TV providers the ability to deploy VOD/online content to 2nd and 3rd room TVs in subscribers' homes and/or in areas where they don't currently offer VOD by leveraging Roku's inexpensive set-top boxes. That deal was something of a paradigm-buster in that it blurred the traditional demarcation between pay-TV providers and those, like Roku, who are considered "over-the-top" disruptors.
These days there are all kinds of insurgents swirling around the pay-TV operators. While I continue to believe we're a long way from mass-scale cord-cutting, new entrants like Netflix, which last week announced that it added another 1M+ subscribers in Q2 '10, continue picking up momentum. With the Verizon deal, Clearleap is gaining credibility as a lever for pay-TV providers to stay ahead of the curve.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).
Note: Clearleap is a VideoNuze associate sponsor.
Categories: Video News
FreeWheel Lands Univision and Scales Up for Live Events
Fri, 07/23/2010 - 04:44FreeWheel, the video ad management and monetization provider, is announcing this morning that it has landed Spanish-language broadcaster Univision as its latest customer. In the past year, Univision has become one of the most active broadcasters involved with online video, signing a deal to move a large amount of its content to YouTube for distribution, offering full episodes of its telenovelas at a recently-created web site, "Novela y Series," launching a video app for BlackBerry users, and of course most recently, streaming 10 million+ hours of live World Cup games on UnivisionFutbol.com
For FreeWheel, Univision follows Turner, Warner Bros., VEVO, Discovery, CBS and others on FreeWheel's customer roster. Note that Univision had not yet deployed FreeWheel for its UnivisionFutbol.com site but that FreeWheel was
inserting ads in ESPN3.com's World Cup online streaming which generated 7.4 million unique viewers and 15.7 million hours viewed. I talked to co-CEO and co-founder Doug Knopper earlier this week, who shared some recent statistics from the World Cup action and discussed how FreeWheel is scaling up to better serve ads in live, as well as on-demand, online video.
[ReadMore]
During the World Cup, FreeWheel dynamically served up to 64,000 simultaneous ad requests for ESPN3.com, which Doug said is 50 times higher than FreeWheel typically serves across its entire network. He further believes that this is the largest live event that has had dynamic ad insertion. The benefit of dynamically inserting is that ads can be optimized for certain audiences and also can more specifically follow advertiser policies such as product exclusivity in a pod.
Freewheel is seeing more interest in live online events among its customers (for example VEVO broadcast a live pre-World Cup concert) and as a result is enhancing its capabilities in this area. Of course World Cup is one of the biggest sporting events, but FreeWheel is also inserting ads in other sports like NASCAR races for Turner and in baseball games for MLB. As I wrote recently, sports continues to be the shining star of online video. While there will periodically be the random huge online live events like President Obama's inauguration, sports and music will drive peak live viewership.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).
Categories: Video News
VideoNuze Report Podcast #69 - July 23, 2010
Fri, 07/23/2010 - 04:18Daisy Whitney and I are pleased to present the 69th edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for July 23, 2010.
In this podcast I lead off by discussing some further details of Qlipso integrating with Veoh. Daisy weighs in on whether linking virtual economies to online video through social viewing experiences makes sense. I continue to think of Qlipso-Veoh as a fresh approach worth watching.
On an unrelated topic, Daisy then discusses the Old Spice man ad campaign which has taken the online world by storm over the past few weeks, generating 40 million views, 40,000 comments and 100,000 tweets. Daisy is among those impressed with how well Old Spice harnessed social media, but notes that the campaign has been active for months, dating back to the last Super Bowl. Daisy has some additional insight based on an article she's preparing for AdAge next week for which she interviewed the campaign's creative masterminds at the Wieden+Kennedy ad agency. Daisy's conclusion: social media campaigns succeed after lots of preparation and often with the tailwind that traditional media creates. Listen in to learn more.
Click here to listen to the podcast (16 minutes, 12 seconds)
Click here for previous podcasts
The VideoNuze Report is available in iTunes...subscribe today!
Categories: Video News
5 Key Takeaways from Netflix's Q2 '10 Results
Thu, 07/22/2010 - 07:32Netflix reported its Q2 '10 results late yesterday and once again the company turned in an impressive performance. Netflix added 1,034,000 subscribers, by far its best Q2 ever, to end the quarter at just over 15 million subs. Netflix 
CEO Reed Hastings said right up front in the management discussion that streaming is the key catalyst in the company's accelerating growth, with 61% of current subs now streaming at least 15 minutes in Q2, up from 55% in Q1 '10 and 48% in Q4 '09. After reviewing the company's Q2 results and listening to the earnings call, following are my 5 key takeaways:
1. Netflix really is becoming more about streaming with each passing quarter
It's hard to underestimate the pervasive role streaming now has on the company, in its value proposition, subscriber acquisition model, content acquisition approach, DVD and postage expenses, competitive situation, technology infrastructure and R&D agenda, partnerships, etc.
Though 61% of all subs are now using streaming, I would guess that practically all recently added subs are. The company is going through quite a transition. This quarter, CFO Barry McCarthy mentioned that early streaming adopter's behavior of reduced DVD usage has now reached Netflix's mainstream subscriber base. DVD shipments are still growing, but at a slower rate, due to streaming-for-disc substitution, which in turn improves margins (it costs Netflix around $.85-$.90 round-trip to deliver a disc and less than a nickel to deliver a full streaming movie). Anecdotally I continually hear about users now first surfing Netflix's streaming catalog before they surf the cable dial.
2. Exclusive content gains in importance, increasing competition for movies
I've long believed that Netflix's move into streaming would eventually compel it to license movies that would have traditionally gone to premium networks like HBO/Showtime/Epix. Netflix's growing financial strength, brand loyalty and large sub base all position it as a potent new outlet for movies.
When I interviewed CEO Reed Hastings in May, he maintained that Netflix wants to be an outlet for premium cable networks rather than a competitor. Now however, Netflix is saying "At this point we can start to afford some major TV shows and movies on an exclusive basis, and plan going forward on a mix of more-expensive exclusive content and lower-cost non-exclusive content." That means Netflix is essentially going to compete for content with traditional premium TV networks. This will begin modestly, as with its recent Relativity Media deal for exclusive rights to a smallish set of its movies. And Netflix will still be a great outlet for premium networks' stellar original programming. But it will clearly be another voice at the negotiating table for electronic distribution of movies.
3. Going forward, TV is as important as movies
While Netflix is traditionally associated with movies, with streaming moving to center stage, Netflix now sees licensing TV shows as equally important. To the extent that its licenses are exclusive and/or pre-empt traditional distribution paths, this could be quite significant. Recent acquisitions of full seasons of shows such as 24, Nip/Tuck, The Family Guy and others, from networks/producers such as Fox, MTV and Warner Bros is an indication of Netflix's push into TV, with an emphasis on catalog, not current seasons. As Netflix grows its roster of TV programs I see at least 2 key implications: first, that Hulu Plus's value proposition gets pinched (more on that below), and second, that the traditional role of TV syndication for re-runs gets narrowed.
4. Competition from Hulu Plus and multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs)
During Q2 Hulu Plus launched and there's been a lot of speculation about how competitive it is with Netflix streaming. Hastings acknowledged Hulu as a direct competitor and that "we're not going to underestimate them." Still, on the earnings call he also noted "they're too small to matter yet." I agree Hulu Plus should be on Netflix's radar, but with Netflix making an aggressive move into TV, Hulu Plus has steep challenges to compete and grow beyond its core broadcast network catalog. The issue comes down to resources. In this battle, Netflix is Goliath, able to write far bigger checks to Hollywood than can Hulu. The recent Nip/Tuck example is illustrative - a reasonably popular, tier 2 cable network show that Netflix won.
While Netflix acknowledges Hulu Plus, it's real competitive concern is how it fits into a landscape dominated by MVPDs (or pay-TV provider as I usually call them). Netflix believes it is a low cost supplement to pay-TV and not a replacement that causes cord-cutting. In the May interview Hastings called TV Everywhere efforts "frustratingly brilliant" and while their rollout has been underwhelming, if they start to ramp up that could put pressure on Netflix's growth. We'll see.
5. Netflix availability on 100 million devices is huge competitive barrier
Netflix also said yesterday that by end of year it expects its streaming to be available on 100 million devices (e.g. Blu-ray, gaming consoles, connected TVs, iPads, Roku, etc.). In a world that still lacks application integration standards, Netflix has done the heavy lifting to get onto all of these devices that nobody else has (by contrast for example, Hulu Plus is only available on iPad/iPhone/iPod and Samsung connected devices). While others scramble to catch up, Netflix is already moving on to improve its streaming experience, for example, planning a new UI for PS3 among other things. Until connected devices embrace an open, standardized, browser-based model (which will begin with Google TV's launch later this year), Netflix has erected a huge competitive barrier. Once again, having deep pockets has real benefits.
What do you think? Post a comment now (no sign-in required).
Categories: Video News
