VIRTUAL MVPDS
A big win for the soon-to-debut Hulu live TV service: Comcast’s NBCUniversal is now on-board. The company’s networks – including its flagship broadcast net – will be available to stream through the service. Considering that NBCU is one of Hulu’s co-owners, it’s a bit remarkable that a carriage deal took this long to materialize. Hulu’s other co-owners – Disney, 21st Century Fox, and Turner – had inked agreements before the service was even officially announced back in January. CBS, meanwhile, signed on shortly after the January announcement.
POLICY
If FCC Chair Ajit Pai wants to gut the agency’s 2015 net neutrality rules (spoiler: he does), it looks like he’ll have to do it without any help from the federal judiciary. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has declined to rehear a 2015 case, brought by America’s telecom giants, challenging the regulations. A three-judge panel initially ruled in the FCC’s favor; the group was seeking to argue its case in front of the full court. And why did the judges ultimately decline to hear the case? For one thing, they determined it was probably pointless. “The…court could find itself examining, and pronouncing on, the validity of a rule that the agency had already slated for replacement,” they wrote. Indeed.
PARTNERSHIPS + DEALS
The North American division of the production and distribution company Freemantle Media has partnered with Jukin Media, a company that specializes in licensing viral video clips. Under the pact, Freemantle Media North America will develop licensing programs surrounding several of Jukin’s top properties. Freemantle will work to expand Jukin’s content portfolio into fields such as apparel and accessories.
PLATFORMS, APPS + DEVICES
Philip DeFranco
is striking out on his own. The news vlogger is leaving Group Nine Media, the Discovery-backed digital media company that initially formed last year. DeFranco says he plans to start his own news network, which he’ll prop up through a combination of self-funding and Patreon support.
LIVE VIDEO
In the race to become the go-to live-streaming platform, a 60 million dollar cash infusion sure can’t hurt. That’s how much Live.me, a one-year-old live video startup, just raised in a new funding round. Not surprisingly, one of the investors was Cheetah Mobile, a Chinese app developer that happens to own 70% of the company. Other investors included, Evolution Media China, Matrix Partners China, Gobi Partners, Welight Capital, and IDG Capital. The nationalities of its owners and investors notwithstanding, the company says that over 80% of its user-base is located outside of China.
RESEARCH
OpenSlate Engagement Data for the
News & Politics
vertical, based on the engagement metric for the week ending April 30.
Channel (Engagement) / Monthly Views / Total Subs / SlateScore
The Young Turks
(9.4) / 65,863,285
/
3,326,564
/
755
The Alex Jones Channel
(9.3) /
38,090,954
/
2,032,074
/
719
The Next News Network
(9.0) /
50,685,785
/
528,937
/
618
Mark Dice
(8.8) /
10,887,936
/
982,696
/
685
DramaAlert
(8.7) /
10,492,538
/
1,860,908
/
669
Rebel Media
(8.6) /
17,269,036
/
698,536
/
623
JustKiddingNews
(8.6) /
27,754,460
/
1,653,754
/
682
CNN
(8.6) /
68,412,228
/
1,976,135
/
660
Lisa Haven
(8.5) /
1,904,727
/
219,962
/
534
Fox News
(8.5) /
33,980,370
/
576,422
/
640
Source: The Engagement metric is one of OpenSlate’s component scores, and is a measure of a producer’s ability to evoke meaningful interaction with their audience. It is calculated on a scale of 1-10 with higher being better. The OpenSlateEngagement score uses a subset of the data incorporated in the SlateScore to perform a set of unique calculations. It factors in views, comments, likes, and more.
The ListenFirst Television Interest (TVI) Rating (TM) is a standardized measurement of the most buzzed-about TV programs on linear TV and streaming services. A complement to ListenFirst’s other syndicated data products (such as the ListenFirstDigital Audience Rating – TV), the metrics included in the rating capture organic actions that are largely unaffected by paid media. Programs that surface on the TVI leaderboards are the most hashtagged on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Tumblr, as well as most searched for on Wikipedia (used as a proxy for organic search volume).
All Series (4/24/17 – 4/30/17)
Source: ListenFirst. The TVI Rating aggregates metrics that measure organically generated activity by fans of the TV show. The metric includes total volume of official hashtag mentions on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Tumblr, along with Wikipedia page views (as a proxy for organic search volume) for a show as a percentage of the total volume of the same activities for all shows.
EXECUTIVE MOVES
Video analytics firm OpenSlate announced $7 million in new funding from media investment firm North Base Media. OpenSlate says it will use the capital to fund international expansion and product development. In addition, the company has named two high-ranking new execs: Brian Quinn, formerly the CRO of Triad Retail Media, will serve as OpenSlate’s President. And JoAnna Foyle, formerly AOL’s SVP of Platform Sales, will serve as the company’s Chief Operating Officer.
TRIVIA
Our Last Trivia Question: What year did Amazon Video launch its first pilot season? Answer: 2013. Kudos to Louis Lewow-Lewow Media Group/GA, David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/CA, Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/CA, Tricia Wadsworth-Gracenote/NY, and Aaron Paquette-Screen Engine/ASI/TX
Follow-up: One of the pilots that Amazon greenlit in 2013 was a stop-motion animated series geared toward preschool-aged kids. What’s it called? (Email trivia@cynopsis.com with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, and state.)
