APPS + DEVICES
YouTube is testing live view counts. Android Police reports that the Google-owned video giant is piloting a feature that will display how many viewers are watching any video at any given time. A small number of users reported seeing a “watching now” section directly below video titles. It’s the first time that YouTube has provided concurrent viewership data on any prerecorded videos. There’s still no telling whether YouTube will take the feature beyond the test phase and roll it out to more users.
Why does Apple allow Google – one of its top competitors – to remain the default search engine for iPhones and iPads? Simple: Google pays Apple boatloads of cash to do so. We know from court documents that the price was $1 billion in 2014. And while there are no hard-and-fast numbers for subsequent years, a new assessment from Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi suggests that Google may now be paying more than $3 billion a year to maintain its spot as Apple’s top search engine for mobile devices. If true, that would mean Google accounted for 5% of Apple’s total operating profit this year.
OTT + SVOD
OTT TV service fuboTV recently announced that it has added TV Everywhere support for NBC Sports. Subscribers can now use their fuboTV credentials to watch sports programming from NBC, NBCSN, the Olympic Channel, Golf Channel, and Comcast/NBC Sports regional networks.
VIRTUAL + AUGMENTED REALITY
Fishbowl, a consultancy and testing firm focused on virtual reality, has expanded its repertoire. The company told UploadVR that it has now added augmented reality testing to its list of services. The company produced its first AR usability test for Inkhunter, an app that lets users see how a tattoo might look on their skin.
PROGRAMMING
Defy Media’s Smosh is rebranding one of its YouTube channels as The Smosh Pit, Tubefilter was first to report. As part of that move, the comedy brand has launched a new slate of seven shows, each of which will be hosted by members of the Smosh team. The rebranded channel started out as a spot for vlog posts from Smosh co-founders Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla. Earlier this year, Padilla announced plans to leave Smosh and pursue other projects. But Hecox is still on-board, along with a large and growing cast.
MEASURING UP
SHAREABLEE SOCIAL TV RATINGS: Top U.S. Streaming Shows Overall by Engagement for the week of August7-August 13, 2017
Program, Total Actions (000), Total Content, Actions per Post (000), Fans/Followers (000)
Source: Shareablee Inc. The total actions metric includes the total volume of post-level likes, shares, favorites, retweets and comments. Total content includes all posts, tweets and media posted by each TV property across all platforms. Actions per post metric notes the average e number of actions garnered by each property. Total fans/followers includes Facebook and Twitter and Instagram followers.
All Series (8/7/27 – 8/13/17)
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.
OpenSlate Engagement Data for the Education vertical, based on the engagement metric for the week ending August 13.
Channel (Engagement) / Monthly Views / Total Subs / SlateScore
ExpCaseros (8.8) / 61,589,942 / 6,992,556 / 679
The King of Random (8.8) / 31,560,567 / 8,352,199 / 680
NewHeaven NewEarth (8.5) / 19,080 / 5,188 / 389
Planet Dolan (8.5) / 38,673,234 / 5,483,509 / 675
Colors Kids (8.5) / 16,127,724 / 285,735 / 502
Ruhi Çenet Videoları (8.5) / 12,057,754 / 2,429,571 / 643
S A Bokhari (8.5) / 15,783 / 7,018 / 347
CGP Grey (8.5) / 5,391,442 / 3,045,546 / 594
Alt Shift X (8.5) / 9,693,825 / 711,145 / 555
Alexandre Venancio Martins (8.5) / 25,061 / 6,114 / 360
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.
EXECUTIVE MOVES
Pandora has named a new top exec. Roger Lynch will join the music service as CEO and President, and will take a seat on the company’s board of directors. He takes over for Naveen Chopra, who had served as the company’s interim CEO since June. Lynch officially starts on September 18. He joins the company from the Dish Network-owned OTT TV provider Sling TV, where he served as CEO. Pandora also announced that it has named Michael Lynton, the current Chairman of Snap Inc. and former CEO of Sony Entertainment, to its board of directors.
Roger Lynch’s move to Pandora means that Dish Network’s Sling TV needs a new chief exec. The company says that Erik Carlson, Dish’s President and COO, will start overseeing the OTT TV service. He’ll officially take over on August 31. Carlson has been with Dish Network for more than two decades.
Hearst Magzines’ Digital Media unit has a new CTO. The role, which is newly created, goes to Michael Dugan. Dugan previously spent 16 years at Forbes Media, most recently serving as the company’s CTO. At Hearst Magazines, Dugan will oversee the Digital Media division’s tech organization. He’ll report to Troy Yong, HMDM’s Global President.
Rogers & Cowan’s has named Craig Greiwe to head up its Digital Group. (In a new release, the PR giant describes its digital division as an “end-to-end digital marketing division that complements Rogers & Cowan’s traditional PR work.”) On top of that, the company announced the launch of R&C Studios, an in-house creative unit that execute digital content for the company. Lauren Jones, a VP at the company, will oversee the R&C Studios in collaboration with Holly Beverly, R&C’s VP of Marketing.
Female-oriented digital media company Bustle Digital Group has made a new hire. Daniela Quint has joined the company as VP of Midwest Sales. In the new role, Quint will oversee the Detroit and Chicago markets. She joins the company from Mashable, where she served as a regional Sales Director.
TRIVIA
Jason Bateman stars in two Netflix shows, and they’re very, very different. What are they? (Email trivia@cynopsis.com with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and state.)
Our Last Trivia Question: Betas co-star Karan Soni appeared on a different web series in 2015, this one a sci-fi comedy for Yahoo Screen. What was it called? Answer: Other Space. Kudos to Andy Pittman-TAMU/TX, Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/CA, and David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/CA
