Chill.com has all but abandoned its Turntable.fm-like group chat rooms and is now focusing squarely on social video discovery. The startup’s founder Brian Norgard likened the new approach to the way people interact with content in media-focused social networks like Instagram and Path. Read more »
China’s online video service PPTV struck a strategic partnership deal with local cable TV provider WASU last week that could hold the key to finally bring online video to the living room in China. Android TVs and set-top boxes could also play a big role. Read more »
Affine Systems, which makes software to scan and sort the content in online video, has raised nearly $5 million in a new funding round, according to a regulatory filing. Affine’s software gives advertisers the tools to analyze online video in a way that’s similar to television. Read more »
While cable operators and networks continue to downplay the effect of cord cutting, in Deloitte’s State of the Media Democracy survey, the firm reports that 9 percent of respondents have already canceled their cable subscriptions, with another 11 percent saying they are considering doing so. Read more »
Call it the year of lessons learned, if not quite bubbles burst. In 2011, several trends in the connected consumer space that appeared inexorable at the start of the year seemed disorganized by the end. What does that mean for the next 12 months? From cloud-based media storage to daily deals to the fight for the digital living room, 2012 will be a year of consolidation and integration. Both entrepreneurs and investors will figure out that many once-promising standalone business models need to be grounded on more solid, integrated platforms to create real value. Companies mentioned in this report include Hulu, LivingSocial, Netflix and Zynga. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
TV viewership is still on the rise, with the typical American watching five hours a day now, according to research by Nielsen. That hasn’t slowed the growth of online video: In fact, the amount of content streamed is accelerating, too. While it hasn’t yet made a ... Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Vevo clocked more than 3.6 billion global video views in October, with the average viewer spending 66 minutes per month on the site. That’s a huge success for the music video platform, but one that didn’t come cheap: Vevo paid more than $100 million in royalties. Read more »
How about this for localization: Hulu announced a number of new deals for Spanish-language content Tuesday morning, but it’s not about to embark on any Latin American expansion like Netflix. Instead, the site is now targeting Latinos in the U.S. with a dedicated site section. Read more »
Berlin’s transit authority didn’t like a documentary that shows dozens of its subway trains being repurposed as moving canvases by graffiti artists. The movie’s filmmakers responded to a cease-and-desist letter by publishing the entire movie online, freely available to anyone. Read more »
On Tuesday, Microsoft is launching a new app for Windows Phone handsets to help Xbox 360 owners navigate their game console. The timing is in conjunction with the company’s living room push to bring more music and video content to the Xbox 360 console. Read more »
YouTube is rolling out a complete overhaul of its site Thursday that includes a new emphasis on channels as well as a completely redesigned homepage. The changes tie into the site’s attempts to establish its millions of channels as the Internet’s answer to cable TV. Read more »
TED talks are coming to the iPhone and iPod touch, thanks to a dedicated app from TED.com that features audio feeds for listening on the go. The release comes a year after the launch of the iPad app, which has been downloaded 1.9 million times. Read more »
Hulu is getting ready to dust off its Lederhosen as the company is reportedly working on plans to launch in Germany. The launch would consist of an offering that would be different from what’s available in the U.S., which suggests Hulu might ask Germans to pay. Read more »
Winnie the Pooh, Cars, Alice in Wonderland and other Disney and Pixar movies are coming to YouTube, thanks to a new partnership between the mouse-eared Hollywood heavyweight and Google’s video site. Movies will be available for rent through YouTube’s premium content section. Read more »
YouTube continues to grow the number of videos its viewers watch, with now more than 3.5 billion served up every day. That number wasn’t part of any formal release, but was part of a presentation given by YouTube VP of global sales Lucas Watson this month. Read more »
Kids can now browse Netflix movies and TV shows without accidentally stumbling across NC-17-rated content, thanks to a new children-friendly interface launched today. The roll-out of Netflix for kids marks the beginning of a wider expansion of a children-friendly interface across connected devices. Read more »
Nielsen reports that the amount of time spent viewing video online is growing faster than the number of viewers tuning in. In other words, those viewers have begun checking in to online streams and sticking around for ever-longer periods of time over the last few years. Read more »
Chill users can now watch the latest TV shows on the social video platform, thanks to an integration of Hulu’s content. However, get ready to set your alarms if you want to chill on Chill.com while watching House: Hulu’s shows will run synchronized and scheduled. Read more »
Tired of those interruptions with spinning wheels and progress bars while you’re watching online video? You aren’t alone: Videos without buffering are watched twice as long as videos with unwelcome breaks, and viewers are 54 percent less likely to return if they experience video buffering. Read more »
Connectivity changes everything. That’s the credo driving just about every corner of our day-to-day lives. As human beings, we are now connected to one another through not just our social networks but also our cars, the books we read, the albums we download and even our own health and wellness habits (to name just a few areas). With that in mind, GigaOM Pro has singled out certain areas in the technology industry where we see this shift to constant connectivity taking place most drastically. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Wii owners, get ready for a dedicated kids’ UI on your Netflix app — provided that you’re one of the few hundred thousand people in Latin America who have subscribed to the local Netflix service. Support for Latin America’s PS3s will follow soon after. Read more »
Huge news for Boxee Box owners: Boxee will soon release a major update that will include the capability to watch live, free over-the-air HD TV on the device though a USB dongle. We were able to take a first peek at the unreleased feature. Read more »
Frontier Communications is trying to find new ways to provide value to subscribers and is rolling out one of the most comprehensive video portals online. With TumTiki, Frontier is bringing together more than 700,000 video assets from a combination of traditional broadcast TV and online sources. Read more »
When it comes to online video, YouTube, Netflix and Hulu dominate the headlines. Spare a minute for Vimeo, which according to Barry Diller, chairman of Vimeo owner IAC had about 150,000 paying subscribers at the end of September 2011. Read more »
Sixty percent of all video views on YouTube come from people whose primary language is not English. The site addresses this global and multilingual audience with a growing number of languages and localizations as well as an increased effort to monetize video views worldwide. Read more »
Close to three percent of online video viewers watch more than 24 hours of online video per week, according to a new survey. And 62 percent of users profess that they are watching more video online than just a year ago, according to a similar study. Read more »
Netflix will launch in the U.K. and Ireland early next year, but where is it going after that? A recent job offer revealed a number of candidates, including countries like Korea, Germany, Russia and France. Now all Netflix needs is profits to make those plans happen. Read more »
It’s no surprise that Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks doesn’t like Glenn Beck’s politics. However, Uygur also thinks that Beck doesn’t get online video. Uygur recently signed up with YouTube for its new content initiative instead of relying on a pay wall like Beck. Read more »
Porn stars are coming to Boxee, thanks to a new app from FyreTV. The X-rated VOD content provider is embracing Boxee and other over-the-top video platforms after previous efforts to rent a dedicated streaming device for adult videos to end users failed to take off. Read more »
All the reports about YouTube heavily investing into original content are true: The site will be launching a number of curated and scheduled channels with contributions from stars like Madonna, Rainn Wilson, Shaq, Tony Hawk and others. Some shows will be long-form, and some even live. Read more »
Google has updated its Google TV platform with a new UI, a bunch of interesting apps and access to the Android Market. The update is rolling out this Sunday, but we already have a first look at the next version of Google TV right here. Read more »
Hollywood’s UltraViolet cloud locker service is finding some new friends in unlikely places: A German blogger reported that he was able to access the site with a coupon code he bought on eBay. The big problem: Codes trade for far less than studios would like. Read more »
BitTorrent Inc. is starting to stream a live DJ set out of its office every Friday afternoon to stress-test its new live streaming platform. BitTorrent inventor Bram Cohen and his team have been developing the live streaming platform for close to three years. Read more »
Google’s new Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android will natively play WebM video streams and MKV files. However, don’t expect your Android handset to support all those files you downloaded from The Pirate Bay any time soon; the new codec support largely targets developers. Read more »
It will take more than a five-button remote control to efficiently navigate the new universe of video content now available. That means a new user interface for the video viewing experience is inevitable, and many companies are involved. Here are a few to watch. Read more »
First there was Rdio, now there is Vdio: The Skype founders have stealthily been working on a new video service that seems to be gunning straight for Netflix. Vdio hasn’t publicly launched yet, but we uncovered many details about the company and the people behind it. Read more »
In today’s new universe of video content, consumers need more than a five-button remote to effectively navigate the thousands of choices available. Fortunately, the same technology that has made it possible to create so many offerings can also provide the intelligence to help us find what we want to watch. Though it’s not clear which of the new approaches will win, services from Microsoft, Google, Apple, Roku and others are leading the way towards enormous rewards when it comes to the new era of TV interfaces. Additional companies mentioned in this report include Rovi, Technicolor and Hulu. For a full list of companies, and to read the full report, sign up for a free trial. Read more at GigaOM Pro »
Hulu’s owners and management have decided not to go forward with the sale of the company. Both said in a statement that Hulu will have more value to its owners when not being sold. In other words: The offers from Dish & Co. were just too low. Read more »
For all the talk, there’s little evidence that cord cutting, to whatever extent it is actually happening, has loosened the grip of the networks or cable operators on the TV business. If anything, they’ve tightened their hold, as evidence from this last quarter shows. Read more »
How’s that for a deal: Roku’s new entry-level set-top box is selling for just $49. That’s half the price of an Apple TV – but the company insists it’s still making money on every unit sold. Roku also announced the launch of an HBO Go app. Read more »
