The growth in online video shows means more alternatives to TV than ever before — but advertising dollars are stubbornly sticking with the older medium. Read more at paidContent »
It’s now common practice for canceled shows to find their way to fans via digital means, but there’s a big difference between uploading unaired episodes and truly coming back to life. Read more at paidContent »
NBC may be ready to rethink its stance towards Google TV, and make its content available for free on the platform through a native app. Read more »
For online media companies, social platforms like Facebook and Twitter bring many opportunities as well as risks. An intelligent and proactive social media strategy can expand a brand’s reach. But the more heavily a media company relies upon a social media platform the more it relinquishes control over the customer experience. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
File sharing is exploding, and the studios are barely keeping up fighting the pirates: That’s the gist of a WSJ story detailing NBC’s anti-piracy work. But is it really that simple? Read more at paidContent »
Comcast’s purchase of the 49 percent of NBCUniversal that it didn’t already own was expected to take several years, but the cable provider said Tuesday it has bought the rest of the company for $16.7 billion. Read more at paidContent »
To the frustration of consumers now used to digital distribution, the TV industry stubbornly refuses to unbundle its expensive channel packages. The CEO of upstart Aereo explains why he is taking them on. Read more »
Hyperlocal used to be a popular buzzword in media circles, but NBC says it has shut down one of the pioneers of the genre — data-driven startup EveryBlock — because it wasn’t a good fit with its core strengths. Read more at paidContent »
Upstart Aereo is taking on the TV industry from a single floor in Brooklyn where it has stuffed thousands of tiny antennas and top notch transcoders and servers. Here’s a primer on how it works — plus some pictures from the inside. Read more »
Twitter is said to be looking at acquiring Bluefin Labs, which would fit the trajectory that the real-time information network has been on for some time. But is cozying up to traditional TV the only future for Twitter? Read more »
CNN, struggling to find an identity and rebuild its audience, has turned to an old-time TV stalwart. Jeffrey Zucker, the former CEO of NBC, is expected to be formally named CNN President shortly. Read more at paidContent »
Services like Instagram provide a huge trove of photos for traditional news outlets to enrich their coverage of major events like the election or Hurricane Sandy. A novel approach by NBC shows the opportunities and challenges of user photos. Read more »
Brand advertising’s focus on cross-platform media measurement has grown dramatically in the past five years. Within the next 36 months cross-platform digital video advertising will standardize, driven by the shift in media dollars to online viewing and the adoption of the Making Measurement Make Sense (3MS) initiative. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The third quarter saw many parts of the traditional media business in flux. Other developments included the rollout of new device-based content ecosystems, red flags and red ink for traditional consumer electronics makers, and a resurgence of consumer purchases of movies. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo says the most powerful feature of Twitter is the way it can show us what others watching the same event are thinking, and that the best use of this feature is as a companion to a televised event like the Olympics. Read more »
As Twitter continues to expand its control over the content that runs through its network, even as it forms partnerships with large TV networks like NBC, media entities of all kinds are going to have to ask whether their reliance on the service is wise. Read more »
As Twitter shuts off the access that services like Instagram and Tumblr used to have to its valuable “follower graph,” it is also promoting the new relationships it has with media players like NBC. Between them, those two moves speak volumes about the company’s future. Read more »
Twitter is in the midst of a strategic transformation, from being an open information network or real-time data utility to being an ad-driven media entity, and that evolution raises a host of questions about the future of the service and its impact on users. Read more »
NBC’s Olympics coverage online, streamed through YouTube, features some quality technology, a deep catalog, a strong user experience — but the ad load on archived and broadcast coverage is massive. Which feels excessive, especially given that it’s limited to cable subscribers. Read more »
Twitter’s decision to suspend the account of a British journalist raises a host of questions about the company’s behavior, but one of the important ones is to what extent Twitter’s filtering and curation features could make it legally liable for the content flowing through the network. Read more »
Comcast posted Q2 2012 revenues of $15.21 billion, $3.08 billion in operating income and 50 cents in earnings per share. While Comcast continued to rack up new broadband subscribers, it is still losing basic video subscribers quite fast — both to cord cutters and satellite/phone company rivals. Read more »
Twitter set off its first major public relations crisis this week when it suspended the account of a journalist who had been criticizing the social media site’s corporate partner, NBC, over its Olympic coverage. It is finally trying to fix things. Read more »
As Twitter tries to evolve from being a real-time information network into a multibillion-dollar commercial media entity, it is having to face the inherent conflict between those two goals, and many critics see the suspension of journalist Gary Adams’ account as a symptom of that conflict. Read more »
Frustration with a lack of access, editing and the overall confusion about who can see what of the Olympics shows how frustrated consumers are about our outdated TV, but NBC has paid $1.18 billion to broadcast the games. Who is the consumer here? Read more »
YouTube is in charge of the streaming for NBC’s ambitious online coverage of the 2012 London Olympics, delivering some 3,500 hours of live coverage from the event on the web and through native apps. Here’s an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at this cooperation. Read more »
With each passing elections season, we’re seeing more how social media is changing the political news coverage business. It’s not just sped up the news cycle, but it’s helped kill it, said Josh Marshall, editor and publisher of TalkingPointsMemo.com, at paidContent2012. Read more at paidContent »
Think reality TV is saturated with product placement? Meet Escape Routes, which uses large amounts of screen time to sell you on the Ford Escape. But there is some interesting digital innovation involved — in the structure of the show and in the casting. Read more »
“Content” is an industry that is going through a renaissance.Despite the current challenges and there are opportunities. All these threats and opportunities will be part of the discourse at paidContent 2012, which will be held on May 23, 2012, at the TimesCenter in New York City. Read more »
In the first quarter of 2012 all eyes were on the screen, both big and small. Apple’s new Retina display pushed video streaming, and broadcast-TV streaming service Aereo’s launch was quickly followed with litigation. These events and more are discussed in a new quarterly report. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
African American news site theGrio.com has helped drive NBC’s coverage of the Treyvon Martin tragedy. Since its first piece on March 8, theGrio has published more than 250 stories on Martin and many of its videos have landed on shows like the Today Show and NBC Nightly News. Read more at paidContent »
Here is a roundup of some of the latest executive-level hirings and exits in the world of digital media business…
– Univision Radio: Eva… Read more at paidContent »
Hulu has joined Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) Inc. and the nation’s five biggest cable service providers in a fight to stop Dish Network (NSDQ: DI… Read more at paidContent »
– NBCUniversal: Krishan Bhatia has been promoted to EVP, digital strategy & operations for the Entertainment & Digital Networks and Integra… Read more at paidContent »
NBCUniversal (NSDQ: CMCSA) will once again use its Olympics coverage to search for what it calls the “holy grail” of audience measurement. T… Read more at paidContent »
It’s not the record average of 111 million viewers who watched the game on television, but NBC (NSDQ: CMCSA) says it notched a digital miles… Read more at paidContent »
While Hulu was formed primarily as a way for content owners to distribute and monetize content online that would otherwise be pirated, CEO Jason Kilar said Tuesday that there’s more reason for the company to exist now than there was four-and-a-half years ago. Read more »
The ultimate “big game” will get its first live video presentation on personal computers, tablets and mobile phones when NBC (NSDQ: CMCSA) a… Read more at paidContent »
In a surprise move, The Weather Channel Companies is swapping out CEOs. David Kenny is replacing Mike Kelly as CEO effective immediately; th… Read more at paidContent »
From SOPA to Microsoft’s expanded Xbox live platform to cloud-based content storage from Apple and Google, the fourth quarter in consumer electronics and media was all about the continued battle for digital living room dominance. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
UK TV video news producer ITN is unifying its online ad sales platform as it expands into a burgeoning number of online destinations. Read more at paidContent »
