06/28/17: Facebook hits 2 billion users

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM FREEWHEEL

The Quarterly Barometer of the Industry Has Arrived!

Download Now: FreeWheel Video Monetization Report: Q1 2017

In “The Unifying TV Landscape” the Q1 VMR highlights how the boundaries within premium video – traditional linear television and digital video – are dissolving, as the industry moves even closer to true unification.

FreeWheel’s position at the center of the New TV Ecosystem gives unique perspective into the themes that are top of mind for our industry, based on 59Bn video starts in Q1 2017.

CynopsisDigital

Good morning. It’s Wednesday June 28, 2017 and this is your your first early morning Digital briefing!

TODAY’S CODEBREAKER

Reach: In digital advertising, reach refers to how many different people visited a site and saw an ad. (Reach also determines the percentage of those people that were targeted by the advertising.) Reach is sometimes referred to as “unique visitors per month.” In other words, if 100 impressions are seen by the same individual, that nonetheless represents a reach of just one.

JUST IN…

That’s a mighty big number. The EU’s European Commission just hit Google with a $2.7 billion antitrust fine. The Commission accused the tech giant of promoting its own shopping service at the top of its search results, at the expense of competitors. By an enormous margin, it’s the largest fine that the regulatory body has ever imposed. The previous record, levied against Intel, stood at $1.2 billion. Intel has been fighting that fine in court ever since, and it’s highly likely that Google will follow a similar course.

AT&T is starting a new mentorship initiative. Launched by the AT&T Hello Lab, a digital studio that produces content for social platforms, the new program will provide guidance to up-and-coming filmmakers. Oscar-winners Octavia Spencer and Common are among the mentors on-board for the program. Five filmmakers will ultimately receive funding and exclusive distribution on DirecTV Now, AT&T’s online TV service. The AT&T Hello Lab was created in partnership with Fullscreen Media, a digital entertainment company that’s co-owned by AT&T.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Facebook announced that, 13 years since its launch, it now has 2 billion monthly active users. The company is, by far, the largest social media app in terms of logged-in users. YouTube comes in second at 1.5 billion, followed by WeChat (889 million) Twitter (328 million) and an estimated 255 million for Snapchat.

Snap Map, Snapchat’s new location-sharing feature, recently debuted, and it’s been a big hit with users. It’s safe to say that Snapchat has continued to innovate – but so has its competition: Instagram Stories is now at 250 million users. Cynopsis Digital’s latest webinar, Snapchat vs. Instagram Stories: A How & When Guide, is tomorrow, June 29. You’ll learn how to optimize programming and marketing content for both platforms – and when to use which. Experts from Scripps Networks, Giant Spoon, and Laundry Service + Cycle will be on-hand to answer all your questions. Register here.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Are you on the list?

NOW accepting nominations for Cynopsis Digital “It List “Awards

We’re looking for the most innovative executives in digital media who excel in digital content, marketing, advertising, social media, and online content to take their place on Cynopsis Digital’s “It List.”

In addition to receiving this esteemed award, finalists will be honored at our annual awards event, November 10 in NYC. Nominations received from now until August 1 qualify for our lowest rate, so don’t wait…

Nominate yourself or others today !

ADVERTISING

Facebook’s Dynamic Ads format is now available for video content. Marketers can use Dynamic Ads to target consumers who have visited their sites. A select number of marketers have also been able to use Dynamic Ads to target individuals who have shown interest in their products on Facebook, or elsewhere on the web. Previously, the ad format was available only for static images. Advertisers can now upload product videos to the Facebook Ads API, effective immediately.

Facebook also announced that overlays can now be used on its static Dynamic Ads. The new feature gives advertisers more options for marketing copy, such as listing an item’s price.

DIGITAL PROGRAMMING

Facebook is bringing more sports programming to its platform. In a partnership with Fox Sports, the social giant will live-stream matches from the UEFA Champions League, Europe’s most popular soccer tournament. The deal covers matches from the 2017-2018 season. Fox Sports will stream the games on its Facebook page starting in September. Facebook has already reached similar live-streaming deals for content such as Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer games.

Looks like it’s a big day for soccer streaming. NBC Sports announced plans to stream 130 Premiere League matches starting with the 2017-1018 season. The games will be available to paying subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold live-streaming product. The service’s new Premiere League Pass will cost $50. NBC Sports Group clarified that, despite the dramatic uptick in live-streamed Premiere League games, the league won’t see diminished TV coverage.

Yes, 60-second documentaries are a thing. Under a new partnership, Viacom will partner with digital media company Indigenous Media to produce and distribute episodes of IM’s 60 Second Docs series. The episodes, made in partnership with the Viacom Velocity branded content studio, will run across social media platforms including Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram. The content will mostly be tied to promoting shows on Paramount Network, which is in the midst of rebranding away from the male-oriented Spike.

VIRTUAL + AUGMENTED REALITY

The latest sign that Apple plans to accelerate its augmented and virtual reality development: It seems that the tech giant acquired SensoMotoric Instruments, a German firm specializing in eye-tracking technology. The news was first reported by MacRumors, which discovered documentation indicating that Apple had purchased SensoMotoric through a holding company. Apple hasn’t officially confirmed the acquisition.

MEASURING UP

OpenSlate Engagement Data for the Entertainment vertical, based on the engagement metric for the week ending June 25.
Channel (Engagement) / Monthly Views / Total Subs / SlateScore
Felipe Neto (9.8) / 158,212,257 / 11,900,538 / 805
Wassabi Productions (9.7) / 82,083,985 / 8,552,505 / 736
Collins Key (9.7) / 107,978,216 / 5,689,276 / 715
Infinite Lists (9.5) / 88,626,039 / 2,489,112 / 680
Lucas and Marcus (9.5) / 89,212,185 / 3,542,612 / 691
Philip DeFranco (9.4) / 34,021,051 / 5,487,308 / 758
EverythingApplePro (9.4) / 41,796,205 / 4,025,632 / 732
elrincondegiorgio (9.4) / 33,907,768 / 6,624,933 / 731
SuperMarioLogan (9.3) / 161,656,617 / 2,468,794 / 675
XpressTV (9.3) 63,327,926 / 5,762,940 / 687
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).

Streaming Series (6/19/17 – 6/25/17)

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

Pandora CEO Tim Westergren is officially stepping down. The music service confirmed the news, which was first reported by Recode. Westergren will also vacate his spot on the company’s board of directors. CFO Naveen Chopra will take over as interim CEO while the board looks for a full-time replacement. Westergren’s departure comes at a tough moment for Pandora, as the service attempts to compete with the increasingly popular music streamers Spotify and Apple Music.

Video analytics company Tubular Labs has named Larry Wai as its new Head of Data Science. Wai joins the company from the online learning platform Udemy, where he served as Chief Data Scientist. He’s also held positions at Groupon and Yahoo.

Centro, a provider of digital advertising and media management software, has promoted Tyler Kelly to President. Kelly has been with the company since 2005, most recently serving as SVP of Client Development. In his new role, he’ll oversee the company’s service specialists and sales professionals.

In other Centro news, the company announced that it’s promoting Scott Neslund to COO. In the new role, Neslund will oversee the company’s business operations. He previously served as EVP of Client Services, leading Centro’s managed services team.

TRIVIA

Netflix just canceled this one-season comedy series based on Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amoruso. Answer: Girlboss. Kudos to Kelli McCabe-Chicago Association of Realtors/IL, Mathew Tombers-Intermat/NY, Amanda Chaiet-Turner/NY, Rachel Perry-GA/Mediavest, Alejandro Sacasa-Albavision/FL, David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/CA, Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/CA, and Aaron Paquette-Screen Engine/ASI/TX

Follow-Up: Kay Cannon, who created Girlboss, also served as a co-executive producer and writer for a Fox series. Which one? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and state.)

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

CYNOPSIS MEASUREMENT & DATA CONFERENCE

Aug 3 | Dream Downtown, NYC | 11:30am – 4pm

Join us for a thoughtful and candid examination of cross-platform video measurement as we answer the most important task for media advertisers and marketers today: solving for video’s unduplicated reach across platforms, with a measurement standard that everyone can agree on – and trade on.

Hear from experts at NBCU, Dell, Hulu, Facebook, Discovery, Mashable and more !

Seating is limited – Register by Friday for best rates!

Sponsored by Nielsen and 605

DIGITAL SPOTLIGHT

IBM and Ubisoft teamed up to enhance the Star Trek: Bridge Crew VR game with speech recommendation features. It’s pretty trippy. From the Wall Street Journal, learn more here.

David Teich
Roberta Caploe Publisher @robertacaploe	Diane K Schwartz Senior Vice President Media Communications Group	Cynopsis Ad Sales Mike Farina \| 203-218-6480 VP, Sales	Cynopsis Job Listings Sales Trish Pihonak \| 203-899-8459 Director of Operations

CYNOPSISJOBS – For More jobs, please visit Cynopsis.com

JOB OPENING: AD SALES ASSISTANT/Crown Media Family Networks/NY: Provide support to Ad Sales by working W/Acct Execs to srvc clients. Including sales orders, move requests and media schedules. Detail oriented w/orgnzt’l skills to keep efficient work sched. BS or 2 yrs exp. req. Full info/apply HERE (7/13)

JOB OPENING: SR AD SALES PLANNER/SBGTV/NYC: Provide support for all aspects of the ad sales process. A team-player mentality & ability to work under pressure meeting deadlines for clients a must. BA deg & min 2-3yrs Sales exp related field or industry req’d. Media math skills a must. Full info/apply HERE (7/13)

JOB OPENING: SR DIRECTOR MARKETING/NBCU/NYC: Lead strategic development & mgmt. of division wide initiatives & tent pole events. Full info/apply HERE (7/13)

JOB OPENING: SUPERVISING PRODUCER/PRODUCERS/NYC: Exp producing live video in high-pressure environment, searching for trending topics in real time, scripting, booking, overseeing mult segments in hour-long show. News/current events focused role. Short-term in NYC kicking off early July. Email resumes HERE (7/13)

JOB OPENING: VP PRODUCTION/Bounce/ATL: Sprvse all operational aspects of orig prod; draft prod plans & scheds; oversee MMB budgets throughout prod. Oversee all audit req’s; provide notes on prod concepts Min 7 yrs TV prod req’d; advance knwlg of Movie Magic Budgeting & Scheduling. Email resume to [email protected] (7/13)

JOB OPENING: DEVELOPMENT REALITY TV EXEC: LA-based reality producer seeking dev exec. Must have 2-3 years reality development, casting or agency experience, strong written and verbal communication skills, and understanding of network brands. Send resume and references to [email protected] (7/13)

JOB OPENING: COOR., CONS MKTG & ADV/Showtime/NYC: Assist team in development and execution of mktg campaigns for SHO Series/Docs/Events. 1-2 yrs con mktg and/or ad agency exp req. Passion for TV & digital a must. Apply HERE (7/13)

JOB OPENING: MGR, PROGRAMMING RESEARCH/IFC TV/NY: 5+ yrs TV rsrch exp. Prod in-depth aud analyses to help IFC create the most compelling scheduling & promo strategy. Identify effective platforms/prgrms for promo placement (incl cross-ntwrk barter), leveraging ratings, demographic, etc. Full info/apply HERE (7/12)

JOB OPENING: ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE/MARATHON VENTURES: Opportunity to join fast-growing, team-oriented leader in national direct response TV ad sales. Must combine complex data analysis with strong sales skills and attention to detail. Resumes: [email protected] (7/12)

JOB OPENING: RESEARCH ANALYST/MUSIC CHOICE/NYC: Resp for day-to-day ad sales research support, generate and distribute audience usage data via Nielsen/ComScore as well as custom ad-hoc audience reports and ad effectiveness studies. BA degree, minimum 3 yrs applicable experience. Direct Job Post: HERE (7/12)

JOB OPENING: DIRECT RESPONSE AD SALES ASSISTANT/Crown Media Family Networks/NY: Provide sales support to the Director, Direct Response and Direct Response Team. Process media buys/revisions, sending pre and post logs, and updating account info. BS req. Apply HERE (7/12)

SUMMER INTERNSHIP CREDITS ONLY: MARKETING INTERNSHIP/Long Is City: For established fine art shipping co. to work on mktg initiative; mng mktg lists/ database contacts. Knowledge of e-mail blasts, MS off, CRM programs. Stipend for commuting + lunch. Skills must inc: Photo Shop & PP. Cvr/res: HERE (7/12)