CYNOPSISDIGITAL
06.02.16
Good morning. It’s Thursday June 2, 2016, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.
Positional Tracking: In virtual reality, positional tracking refers to a headset’s ability to recognize its exact spatial position, registering forward, backward, upward, downward, rightward, and leftward movements. By contrast, headsets that are limited to “head tracking” can only register the rotations and movements of a user’s head. At the moment, mobile phone-based VR systems like the Samsung Gear VR and the Google Cardboard are not powerful enough for positional tracking (though some companies are trying to change that). A higher-end headset like the HTC Vive, which is powered by an advanced computer rather than a mobile phone, does have positional tracking capabilities.
Grantland has long since bitten the dust – but long live The Ringer. TheRinger.com, the new sports-, culture-, and politics-oriented platform from sportswriter and Grantland founder Bill Simmons, is now live. At launch, the site’s exclusive sponsor is Miller Lite. As the site rolls out, “some” of its content will come with branded sponsorships, according to a rep from The Ringer. Simmons has certainly bounced back nicely since last year’s acrimonious divorce from Grantland owner ESPN. In addition to creating The Ringer, Simmons will also begin hosting Any Given Wednesday, an HBO sports talk show making its series premiere June 22.
Digital creators are poised to get more mainstream love. The Television Academy has added several new short-form awards categories to the Primetime Emmy slate. Those include Outstanding Short Form Series (a category each for Reality/Nonfiction, Variety, and Comedy or Drama) and Outstanding Performer In a Short Form Series (one category each for Actor and Actress). The categories open the Emmy doors to a greater number of digital creators, many of whom put out episodic content in the 15-minutes-or-less range. In creating the categories, the TV Academy says that it is “embracing the proliferation of quality storytelling across both digital and traditional networks and platforms.”
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A few years back, most people associated Univision with Spanish-language linear TV (and little else). As a result, Univision Communications’ rapidly expanding multi-platform ambitions, which have been geared toward both English- and Spanish-speaking millennials, have taken some by surprise. In April, the company announced that it would form the Fusion Media Group, consisting of properties such as The Onion, Flama, The Root, El Rey, Univision Music, and Univision Digital. So why target a diverse group of millennials, and why combine millennial-oriented properties into one easily navigable media group? Simple: ad dollars. The company has announced the launch of Mosaico Trading, a data-driven programmatic advertising and analytics platform designed to offer marketers access to Univision and Fusion Media Group’s first- and second-party data. The company says that Mosaico Trading will grant Univision Communications’ business partners first party data and insights to help them reach young and multicultural audiences. “Now, via Mosaico Trading, marketers can find – on a direct or programmatic basis – the specific audiences they seek using our proprietary data, their own data and/or others’ data, to reach consumers through Univision’s viewable, brand-safe, premium quality content,” said Fernando Rodriguez, SVP of Sales, Operations and Development for Univision Digital.
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Digiday reports that Snapchat is preparing to launch a redesign of Discover, its platform for publisher-controlled channels. While Discover’s current layout features static media logos in circles, the redesign will use cover images that look more like magazines. Digiday’s sources compared the redesign to Instagram’s feed-based scroll of content. The goal, ultimately, is to attract more users. As Digiday writes, Discover actually accounts for a “small portion” of Snapchat’s viewership – despite hosting most of the app’s advertising.
Yum. Time Inc. is launching Extra Crispy, a new digital brand devoted to breakfast (and also its similarly tasty cousin, brunch). The site and its social channels were launched by The Foundry, Time Inc.’s creative lab. According to Time Inc., Extra Crispy will feature recipes, cultural trends, news, and other features. Former Bustle editor Meredith Turits, who serves as The Foundry’s senior strategist of brand development, will oversee the platform’s launch as Editorial Director. Ryan Grim, formerly a managing editor for Vice, will serve as Site Director. The site’s launch sponsor is Arla Foods, a dairy company based in Denmark.
CBS Interactive Advanced Media, CBS Interactive’s unit focused on the production and management of digital platforms, has launched TrainerPass, a new subscription fitness service. Available for iOS and Android devices, as well as at www.trainerpass.com, the service offers subscribers access to a variety of workouts and trainers. The service starts at $4.99 per month; a more expensive plan featuring a more extensive video library, as well as other features, starts at $6.99 per month.
The virtual and augmented reality industry may be young, but it’s already generated billions of dollars worth of investments. (Translation: People have high hopes.) uSens, a company that aims to improve mobile-based VR technology, is the latest company to pull in an impressive haul. The company’s Series A round fetched $20 million, bringing its total fundraising to $26.2 million to date. The round was led by Fosun Kinzon Capital, with participation from Maison Capital, Great Capital, and others. uSens’ goal is to make mobile-based VR (think Google Cardboard or Samsung Gear VR, as opposed to Oculus Rift or HTC Vive) more realistic and immersive, introducing advanced features such as positional tracking. One reason for uSens’ specific area of focus is that mobile-based VR hardware is significantly cheaper than high-end gear. Put it this way: Faced with a choice between top-shelf hardware and a cheaper, lower-quality alternative, you might shell out the extra bucks. But if both choices are equally high-quality? Safe to say consumers will pick the cheaper option.
Lucid VR is launching its own virtual reality production studio for the creation of 180-degree and -360-degree VR videos. Lucid is best known for developing the LucidCam 3D, a pocket-sized virtual reality camera. The studio, which will launch with about 10 staffers, will be based out of Santa Clara, California.
No one questions that Snapchat is an ever-growing juggernaut; according to TechCrunch, it recently received a valuation of about $20 billion. But folks are still testing the limits of just how exactly the app can be monetized. Here’s a novel approach: Vimeo is charging users $5.99 to stream Sickhouse, a horror movie filmed on Snapchat. Starring digital celeb Andrea Russett, the film edits 10-second snaps into a 68-minute feature. Indigenous Media produced the flick; it was based on footage shot on iPhones over a five-day period from April to May.
If you need a break from the insanity that is the 2016 presidential race, you can now turn to Hulu to relive previous, less bizarre elections. The service has acquired streaming rights to all six hour-long episodes of Race for the White House, CNN’s popular Kevin Spacey-narrated docu-series exploring past U.S. presidential campaigns. Race for the White House will be the first CNN series to stream exclusively on Hulu, but it will hardly be the first Turner series to do so: Hulu carries full seasons of shows from Adult Swim, TBS, TNT, and Cartoon Network.
The online video analytics company Tubular Labs announced that it has raised $10 million in a new funding round. The round was led by Marker LLC, a venture capital firm. (The company also raised $6.6 million in a Series B round last year.) “Today, with more than 55,000 publishers generating over 99 billion monthly video views, online video has reached critical scale,” said Tubular CEO Rob Gabel. “What’s missing is monetization of branded content.” The company also announced that the introduction of a new ranking for the world’s top media properties based on cross-platform video viewership. BuzzFeed tops the list, followed by Time Warner.
Conde Nast Entertainment, Condé Nast’s digital media arm, has made a new hire. Lauren Lumsden will serve as Digital Director of The Scene, CNE’s mobile-first social video platform. In the newly-created role, Lumsden will guide The Scene’s editorial voice and manage its product strategy and strategic content. Lumsden most recently served as Director of Video Programming for Cosmopolitan.com.
The cross-device marketing technology firm Tapad has named Pal Hoye as its new SVP of Engineering. Hoye, who had served as Goldman Sachs’ VP of Technology since 2010, will help lead Tapad’s engineering team, reporting to CTO and Co-Founder Dag Liodden.
Google recently announced an upcoming mobile-based virtual reality platform, releasing specs for a headset and a small remote control. What will the platform be called? You can find the answer in tomorrow’s newsletter.
Yesterday’s Trivia Question: Which Amazon show won this year’s Golden Globe for Best Comedy Series? Answer: Mozart in the Jungle
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At the Computex 2016 trade show in Taiwan, Microsoft rolled out some mighty ambitious plans for virtual and augmented reality. The company, which is currently charging developers $3,000 dollars for its HoloLens augmented reality headset, intends to take things up a notch: Up next is Windows Holographic, a new initiative designed to allow Microsoft partners to build virtual, augmented, and mixed reality headsets based on the Windows operating system. The company also aims to merge holographic images with real-world environs – and to enable virtual social interactions – in ways that almost beggar belief. Microsoft will give developers access to the Windows Holographic platform later in 2016. In the mean time, Microsoft put together a video simulating some of its wildest augmented reality ambitions. Check it out here.
See you tomorrow,
David Teich
06.02.16
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