Hulu’s board of directors has hired investment banks to begin exploring a sale of the online video startup. But will any buyer get what it’s bargained for? Questions about future content deals and the ability to hold the attention of viewers could spoil Hulu’s future. Read more »
At this week’s TV upfronts, NBC and Fox showed two very different approaches towards digital advertising and its importance in the broadcast TV business. While NBC told advertisers to ignore the web, Fox offered up the opportunity to buy its shows on any platform. Read more »
Hulu might be close to signing new rights agreements with its content partners, according to AllThingsD. But things have changed since its launch. How will that affect what Hulu’s business looks like after the next set of deals are done? Here are our predictions. Read more »
Netflix has made a business of “re-run TV” online, and recently jumped into striking a deal for some original programming. But there could also be an opportunity for it to work with broadcast companies to keep low-rated shows with big Netflix fan bases on the air. Read more »
NBC tracked more than 200,000 downloads of its Royal Wedding iPad app last week, and it also was able to get more than half a million impressions on Facebook. Check out this neat infographic for more details about the network’s numbers on multiple platforms. Read more »
For Silicon Valley startups, good timing can be just as crucial as good technology. Just ask Bunchball, the six-year-old, San Jose, Calif.-based, social gaming, software startup. In 2005, when the company debuted its software platform, the current industry buzzword “gamification” hadn’t even been coined yet. Read more »
Comcast has expanded the amount of TV content available through its VOD service, with all four broadcasters on board. But more important than the addition of new content is the technology behind it, which will improve tracking and monetization of VOD TV episodes. Read more »
Syncbak hopes to enable broadcast stations to take control of their destinies and create new streaming services, by offering a way for them to verify local viewers are in their broadcast area and ensure that devices accessing content belong in households that can receive their signals. Read more »
News Corp COO Chase Carey and Disney CEO Bob Iger might leave Hulu’s board of directors soon, according to a Wall Street Journal report. But more independence might not be a good thing as it seeks to renegotiate deals with its media partners and stakeholders. Read more »
Cord cutters who’ve left cable and satellite behind will be happy to learn that Comcast has agreed to continue licensing NBC content to digital distribution rivals like iTunes in order to convince the government to approve its acquisition of the TV network. Read more »
Hulu viewers watch twice as much online TV on its site as on the next five network sites combined. But with content partners threatening to pull content or add windows online, Hulu could see its audience go elsewhere to get their online TV fix. Read more »
Today on the Net: NBC explains why it fired the leaker of an old Today Show clip, TiVo wants to help brands measure the effectiveness of their ads for free, and execs are all huffy over Viacom’s deal this week with Hulu. Read more »
More exciting than examining the previous quarter is looking forward into the next 12 months and using the trends of 2010 to predict the realities that will surface in 2011. Throughout this past December, GigaOM Pro’s curators did just that, making trend predictions, pointing out companies to watch and even telling us what not to expect. Connected Consumer curator Michael Wolf’s thoughts, analyses and predictions are compiled here in a single report. Companies mentioned in this report include Netflix, Hulu, Facebook, Apple and Boxee. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation premieres its third season tonight, and a series of viral videos highlighting the show’s return have been released this week, showcasing the talents of cast members such as Rob Lowe and Aziz Anzari, as well as some skillful web strategy. Read more »
The entertainment world just got a little bit more conglomerated: The FCC has settled on the conditions needed for it to approve the long-debated joint venture between NBC Universal and Comcast today. Those conditions signal that the FCC fully recognizes the importance of online video. Read more »
It’s important to dispel potential myths and market misunderstandings when it comes to consumer electronic devices and trends. For 2011, that includes paid video chat, Apple dominating the living room and the misinformed belief that Google will rule the e-book space. ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Mobile video accounts for a very small fraction of the overall U.S. mobile data market, despite on-the-go video and mobile TV receiving as much hype as any other area in the space. This report — the first in a two-part series on mobile video — examines what we can learn from the failures of mobile video to find a sizable audience so far, which challenges will continue to hinder the market in the coming years and the opportunities that will increasingly exist. The iPhone, Android devices and other multimedia-friendly handsets offer more screen real estate and higher resolution than previously possible, while the move toward 4G will help carriers deliver higher quality video more consistently. Even so, the challenges in this market are many, and mobile devices will likely always be inferior to set-top boxes, desktop computers and laptops when it comes to delivering a quality viewing experience. And because video consumes so much bandwidth on mobile networks, uptake will surely be impacted as carriers move away from all-you-can-eat data plans. The industry must, then, find other ways to monetize video in mobile, and without clogging already taxed cellular networks. Most importantly, it must develop viable business models for implementing video in ways that make sense for the consumer, the content owner and the network operator. Companies mentioned in this report include AT&T, Sprint, Apple, Google, Research in Motion, Qualcomm and Samsung. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Today on the Net: Jeff Zucker reveals what’s been keeping the Comcast-NBC deal from going through, TVGuide.com has measured over 10,000 daily check-ins from fans watching TV shows, and if you’ve ever wanted to spend seven minutes listening to Arnold Schwarzenegger scream, you’re in luck. Read more »
These days, the amount of content available for the average TV junkie is astronomical, and it’s the rare series that doesn’t bundle its episodes with an online presence. And though most television executives at this stage are relatively blunt about the fact that the web elements ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The live-stream video market is entering an upturn in the typical hockey stick growth chart. Tens of millions of desktop viewers use browser-based players to find live-streaming content on an ever-increasing number of web sites and mobile devices. Raw viewership will grow fastest in the consumer segment, where sites like Justin.tv and Qik are focused. Those like Kyte, Livestream, Ustream and BitGravity, meanwhile, primarily offer platforms to commercial content providers seeking a mass audience. And as the market grows, both in terms of viewers and of the number and type of content providers, it will support both those with a diverse, one-stop-shop approach and those who specialize in particular content and audiences. Additional companies mentioned in this report include YouTube/Google, Sony, HTC, Vivu, Facebook and Apple. To see a full list of companies and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
The television business is on the cusp of the biggest technological upheaval since the introduction of cable TV. The addition of Internet connectivity to living room devices will enable new functionality around programming services, program discovery, social networking, ad targeting and measurement — aspects of the TV viewing experience that have remained largely unchanged for decades. These trends have the potential to become the foundation for new economic models around how viewers pay for video service and how program creation is financed. In this report, we examine the leading contenders’ strategic positioning, relative strengths and weaknesses, and provide the early line on their odds of success. Companies mentioned include Google, Apple, Boxee, Roku, Vudu, Samsung, Microsoft and Sony. To see a full list of companies and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
It was no big surprise that broadcasters would block Google TV devices from accessing their content online. What’s at stake, of course, is the $80 billion TV advertising business fueling primetime TV. But broadcasters need a strategy that includes Google TV, not blocks it. Read more »
Many pay-TV subscribers, as well as policymakers, have complained for decades over what they view as a rip-off: being forced to order bundled tiers of TV channels instead of being able to select and pay for only the ones they want.
“Why should I have to pay ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Today on the Net: an analyst estimates that NBC Universal is worth negative $600 million while USA Network is worth $11.7 billion, broadcasters like NBC are holding back the available ad inventory for sale on Hulu and Imax’s CEO says not every 3-D movie will work. Read more »
Netflix announced an expanded license agreement with NBC Universal that expands the conglomerate’s presence on Netflix Instant to include other NBC U programming from Syfy and USA, just one day after Jeff Zucker said NBC wouldn’t be participating in Apple’s 99 cent rental program. Read more »
So far, only ABC and Fox have signed on with Apple’s plan to rent individual TV show for 99 cents apiece. Other networks have yet to join in, and yesterday, NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker made clear that his company probably won’t be anytime soon. Read more »
Whether you liked or loathed the premiere of NBC’s The Event last night, the transmedia elements accompanying the series are super-disappointing. While there are a few sites and Twitter accounts, their level of success ranges from mildly entertaining to flat-out disjointed. Read more »
There’s a very good chance that most people in America will soon have just one choice for truly high-speed Internet access suitable for watching video — their local cable monopoly. With cable’s DOCSIS 3.0 as an intermediate step, we’re reaching the era of true convergence. Read more »
We first reported that Apple was in discussions with TV networks to make episodes available for rental at a new 99-cent price point six weeks ago, but a new report provides more detail on how those discussions are going and when the service will launch. Read more »
For web video old-timers, the premise and cast of the series FCU: Fact Checkers Unit may seem familiar — and that’s because there’s a strong chance they’ve seen it before. But the celeb-featuring show is still clever fun, even three years later, sans Bill Murray. Read more »
Will NBC push Hulu to go pay only? The broadcaster’s chief executive alluded to this option today in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, saying that keeping TV shows free online is not “a foregone conclusion.” Zucker also expressed optimism about the Comcast merger review. Read more »
Several significant events set the tone for the digital media ecosystem during in the second quarter. First among these was the release of the iPad, the impact of which went far beyond device uptake; among other things it does not support Adobe Flash, which has impacted the entire chain of web-based video production from content sites re-encoding video to new tools being developed for HTML5-based advertising.
Another principal event in the quarter was the announcement of Google TV, a software platform built on Android 2.1, Google Chrome and Flash 10.1 that will be incorporated into a variety of companion devices including TV sets, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes. The platform offers significant advancements in merging TV and the web experience (although TiVo says it has done just that for years). Sony and Logitech have both announced plans to launch Google TV products in fall 2010.
Also in the second quarter, both YouTube and Hulu refreshed their sites, reflecting the market’s growing maturity. But while YouTube spent the quarter on the defensive in its ongoing legal battle with Viacom over copyright infringement, Hulu was on the offensive, introducing new services and preparing a paid subscription service launch. A paid service would bring new revenue streams to the video site, and would put Hulu in more direction competion with Netflix, which is increasingly shifting toward its streaming video service, away from its former mainstay of DVDs by mail. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Broadcast Networks Set for 20% Gain in Upfront Market; ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox should net approximately $8.26 billion in prime-time advertising commitments, up 20% from the $6.88 billion in 2009, according to research from Barclays. (AdAge) Howcast Is Now Available on BlackBerry; the DIY video […] Read more »
It’s the most wonderful time of the year for television nerds — pilot season, the time of year when we scan casting notices and search out focus group reports on pilots for next fall’s Hulu chart-toppers. And this year for web junkies, there’s fun beyond the […] Read more »
A dozen broadcast TV firms, including Fox, NBC and others, have announced a joint venture to introduce mobile digital TV services in the US. The initiative, which is a continuation of work done by an industry group called the Open Mobile Video Coalition, aims to re-use […] Read more »
Recommending relevant content can be dramatically effective. After The Filter, a white-label content recommendation system, was implemented on the video site Dailymotion in March, the site experienced a 40 percent increase in time spent and a 25 percent increase in video streams per visit. Read more […] Read more »
Adobe is announcing a strategic partnership with Conviva today that aims to improve Flash video streaming through advanced analytics and CDN optimization. Conviva’s technology works by offering a real-time view into how certain video streams are performing and adjusts those streams as necessary, enabling media companies […] Read more »
Recommending relevant content can be dramatically effective. After The Filter, a white-label recommendation system, was implemented on the video site Dailymotion, the site experienced a 40 percent increase in time spent. Now The Filter has secured its biggest media partner to date, NBC. Read more »
We already know ABC and CBS are working to make their TV shows available on the iPad, so what about the other two big broadcasters — Fox and NBC? Well, Fox has yet to announce (or leak) its support for the device, and NBC has been […] Read more »
The worldwide online market for digital goods will grow amid a state of continuous disruption across all forms of content markets. Fueled by an ever-growing user base, migration from physical formats to digital distribution, and a proliferation of new connected devices, the overall market for digital goods will grow to $36 billion by 2014, up from $16.7 billion in 2009. This report examines the state of paid content and the various monetization and payment models across each of the various digital goods markets. The report examines key players and market dynamics in the film and video, newspaper, online game, music and social networks space relative to their paid content strategies, and includes a revenue forecast of each of these segments relative to the overall paid content market. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
