VC FUNDING + INVESTORS
Cheddar is raking in the, well, cheddar. The digital media company, which delivers financial news to a millennial audience, just raised $19 million in Series C funding. Raine Ventures led the round, with contributions from AT&T, Amazon and others. A few existing investors, including Comcast Ventures, also contributed. Cheddar has now raised $32.1 million to date.
VIRTUAL MVPDS
YouTube TV, Google’s OTT TV service, just added seven new networks to its $35-per-month base package. Those include AMC Networks channels AMC, Sundance TV, WE tv, BBC America, and IFC. Rounding out the new additions are NBCUniversal’s Telemundo and Universo. YouTube TV’s base package now features 46 channels, plus access to YouTube Red original content.
PLATFORMS, APPS + DEVICES
At its I/O conference, Google announced that it’s soon adding a number of new features to the Google Home smart speaker. The Amazon Echo competitor will feature free phone calls, as well as added support for media services including HBO Go and Spotify. More specifically, users will have access to free music from Spotify, and will be able to ask Google Home to play HBO Go content on any TV that’s equipped with Google’s Chromecast streaming device.
In one other bit of I/O news, Google unveiled the newest version of Android TV, its smart TV OS. With the new update, Android TV’s user interface will change the way it recommends content. For the first time, the operating system will start recommending programming by service. In other words, Netflix, YouTube and others will get their own individual rows of recommended content. The update is slated to roll out later this year.
Epix has launched a new TV Everywhere app for Amazon’s Fire TV. The app offers Epix series and movies to authenticated pay-TV subscribers. Epix has previously launched apps for Apple TV, Google’s Chromecast, and other connected platforms.
SOCIAL MEDIA
TV networks are going all in branded Facebook content. Looking at the top 150 programmers in the U.S., social media analytics company ListenFirst Media found that the number of branded posts across all TV Facebook pages increased by an astounding 77% between October 2016 and March 2017. Still, ListenFirst found that in Q1 of 2017, branded posts accounted for less than 1% of all content published across TV show pages on Facebook. (Of course, that also means that TV networks have a ton of room to increase their branded content output.) One other notable tidbit: ListenFirst found that branded content from TV networks returned 105% higher engagement (i.e., shares, likes and comments) than non-branded posts. ListenFirst’s analysis was first reported by Variety.
Twitter is rolling out a new set of data and privacy controls designed to give users more control over how advertisers target them. For one, the site expanded the functionality of its “Your Twitter data” tab; users can now use the tab to view what Twitter deems to be their “interests,” based on past profile activity. More importantly, users can manually remove any of those interests, which will affect which ads are directed at them. It’s also possible to opt out of targeted advertising altogether. You can learn more here.
RESEARCH
SHAREABLEE SOCIAL TV RATINGS: Top 10 U.S. Streaming Shows for May 8 – May 15. Based on Shareablee’s Video Power Index (VPI), which combines viewing, consumer interactions and audience scale across all active platforms, and includes the video performance of streaming shows. (Categories from left to right: Video Power Index (VPI), Video Actions, Video Views, Total Actions)
1. Orange Is the New Black (Netflix): 2,209, 448K, 7.2M, 633K
2. Sense8 (Netflix): 297, 166K, 636K, 215K
3. 13 Reasons Why (Netflix): 275, 112K, 1.1M, 219K
4. Daredevil (Netflix): 173, 26K, 194K, 26K
5. Marvel’s Jessica Jones (Netflix): 100, 20K, 95L, 22K
6. The Defenders (Netflix): 98, 50K, 141K, 51K
7. All or Nothing (Amazon Video): 93, 5K, 323K, 5K
8. Marvel’s Luke Cage (Netflix): 88, 13K, 58K, 14K
9. Chelsea (Netflix): 64, 94K, 5.4M, 109K
10. Trailer Park Boys (Netflix): 57, 29K, 408K, 49K
Source: Shareablee Inc. The total actions metric includes the total volume of post-level likes, shares, favorites, retweets and comments across social platforms.
Tweet of the week: @caramoserowitz: I despise Corrine #thebachelor
After weeks of Upfront announcements about new shows, Canvs, the emotion analytics company, took a long-range view of the viewers’ Emotional Reactions (ERs) to existing hits. (Canvs analyzed tweets about TV and streaming programming from Jan. 1 through May 16 using Twitter data from Nielsen; for the purposes of this analysis we didn’t count one-off tentpole programs such as the Super Bowl and the Oscars.) What emotions keep fans tuning into some of TV’s most enduring favorites? Some insights:
– Saturday Night Live on NBC is tops in brilliance, with viewers tuning in each week for increasingly topical/political humor. Over and over, fans name-checked Melissa McCarthy in particular as a “genius” for her recurring portrayal of White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer.
– When it comes to hate-watching, ABC’s The Bachelor takes the cake, with fans expressing annoyance towards the bachelor, the women and a variety of awkward moments during the latest season – but that sure never stops them from tuning in each week.
– NBC’s The Voice draws the most excitement from viewers week after week, with viewers particularly thrilled during the “Instant Save” portions where they can tweet to save a contestant from elimination. In other words, The Voice has found a way to capitalize on viewer emotion and drive up social chatter at the same time.
– SNL aside, Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Atlanta has prompted the most laughter this year, with people in stitches over the antics of Phaedra and Kandi. Yep, sometimes the appeal of reality TV isn’t the “reality” (or all the drama), but the laughs.
– Canvs
EXECUTIVE MOVES
Along with its $19 million funding round, financial news network Cheddar also announced a new hire. Ross Cooperman will serve as Cheddar’s Chief Technology Officer. Cooperman formerly headed engineering at KnowMe Systems. The company also announced some promotions: COO Eric Harris will take on the additional title of President, while Melissa Rosenthal, the company’s SVP of Creative Development and Partnerships, will now be an EVP. Meanwhile, Chief Content Officer Peter Gorenstein has been elected to Cheddar’s Board of Directors.
TRIVIA
Our Last Trivia Question: When Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt returns to Netflix this week, this star will have appeared in four Broadway musicals. Answer: Jane Krakowski. Kudos to Louis Lewow-Lewow Media/GA, Matt Willence-ITN Networks/NY, and Lorrie Shilling/CA
Another question about an Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt actor – and this one’s a toughie: Titus Burgess was credited with a small voice role in a well-known video game. Which one? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and state.)
