Cynopsis: DIGITAL
05.31.13

Good morning. It’s Friday, May 31, 2013, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.

Video discovery start-up Fanhattan has unveiled Fan TV, an all-in-one OTT set-top box that will allow users to watch live TV and VOD content, as well as access a cloud-based DVR and streaming services like Netflix and Hulu Plus. Doing away with the outdated TV grid, users will also be able to search for and discover TV shows and movies based on things like genre and social recommendations, regardless of whether the content is on live TV, VOD, or a streaming service. Fanhattan, which unveiled the device at AllThingsD’s D11 conference, said it plans to partner with pay TV companies to sell the box.

Earlier this week, Alloy Digital’s Smosh became the first YouTube channel to reach 10 million subscribers, and now it is looking to take the big leap to television. Per Variety, Alloy Digital is talking to “multiple cable networks” to develop programming featuring the Smosh brand, which is led by Barry Blumberg, President of Smosh and EVP at Alloy Digital, and channel creators Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox. Alloy has already hired writers to begin work on potential scripted and/or unscripted TV programs. The team overseeing this TV effort is no stranger to TV: Blumberg was the longtime chief of TV animation at Disney; Jordan Levin (President, Alloy Digital and CEO of Alloy subsidiary Generate) was a former CEO of the WB and Pete Aronson (President, Generate) was the former President at Regency Television. Commenting on the plans, Blumberg said: “There are millions of ardent Smosh fans who will tune in to this and we want to make sure we deliver against their expectations. We’re confident that the shows in development and the outlets we are talking to are the right ones for the brand.”

Net2TV’s video service, Portico, which packages short-form video content from publishers like CBS Interactive and Revision3 into television-length “shows,” is coming to Roku devices. These 30-, 60-, or 90-minute shows will be available via interest-based, ad-supported channels when Portico launches on Roku in late June. The Net2TV UI is powered by ActiveVideo’s CloudTV platform, which is now also available to other Roku channel providers.

As a result of Time Warner Cable and Starz’s carriage renewal agreement, TWC subscribers will have access to Starz’s TV Everywhere services: Starz Play, Encore Play, and MoviePlex Play within the next month. Terms of the deal, which also includes expanded VOD access to TWC customers and Starz subscribers, were not disclosed. Like other TV Everywhere offerings, Starz’s services feature TV shows and films from Starz and its lineup of premium channels, and are available across a number of devices.

You still have time to submit to Cynopsis Digital’s Model D Awards, taking place this November, to honor the excellent creators and companies powering the online video content and advertising industries. If you did something cool in the past year, you should submit.

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BlackArrow has launched BlackArrow Linear, a product that gives pay-TV providers the ability to dynamically insert ads and alternate programming within live and on-demand video streams on connected devices. The company also announced that it’s working with IPTV “ecosystem vendors” such as Elemental Technologies, Envivio, RGB Networks, and SeaWell Networks to solve workflow issues common to dynamic ad insertion.
— In other words: It had to happen. This product is designed for TV Everywhere services, which recently have been shifting their attention to offering live-TV streaming and not just episodes on demand.

RTB video ad provider TubeMogul has raised $10 million to expand its presence in Asia. This round, which is the second tranche of the start-up’s Series C funding, was led by SingTel Innov8, the cventure capital arm of SingTel Group. Other investors contributing to the round include Cross Creek Capital, Digital Advertising Consortium, Foundation Capital, and Trinity Ventures. In February, TubeMogul opened offices in Japan. Coinciding with the funding announcement, TubeMogul opened an office in Beijing yesterday, with Director/Business Development Sven Rossbach tabbed to oversee it. Recently, TubeMogul developed and was part of a group of video ad tech providers that introduced an open-source solution for measuring the viewability of video ads.

FremantleMedia Kids & Family Entertainment and Magic Ruby have launched a second-screen iPad app tied to Fremantle’s kids series Wizards vs. Aliens, which debuts in the US on the Hub Network tomorrow at 7pm ET. The app will allow viewers to sync with each TV episode in order to access additional content relevant to each episode and its storyline. Users will also be able to check out interactive polls, quizzes, and show collectibles. An e-commerce option, dubbed “Wish List,” will let kids tell their parents which show-inspired merchandise they want. Wizards vs. Aliens, created by the dudes behind Doctor Who and Torchwood, follows the adventures of a kid wizard and his super-smart friend as they fight off aliens.

McCann Worldgroup has named Bill Kolb to the newly created position of Chairman & CEO on the agency’s worldwide General Motors account. Kolb is the current CEO of MRM, McCann Worldgroup’s global digital marketing and relationship management agency. He will continue to support MRM as Chairman of the agency. In his new role, Kolb will lead the Chevrolet account, one of McCann’s largest and oldest, and oversee the team at Commonwealth, the agency that handles the global Chevrolet account, as well as McCann’s Detroit operations. Michael Mclaren, President of MRM, and Hank Summy, President/Commerce, will now handle day-to-day operations at MRM Worldwide.

Mobile ad platform provider Medialets has picked Alan F. Nugent to be its new Chief Technology Officer. Previously a CTO at companies including Xerox and Novell, Nugent will now be responsible for the development of Medialets’ third-party ad serving and rich media platform for mobile and tablet devices. He will be based in the company’s global headquarters in NY.

Shelby Huston Haro, a former sales executive at Flixster, Fandango, and Penske Media Corporation, has joined social TV company GetGlue as its new EVP/Sales. She is tasked with building and managing GetGlue’s sales organization.

Women-centric blogging network BlogHer has promoted Mary Beth Gonzalez to the position of Chief Marketing Officer.  Gonzalez was SVP/Sales Marketing at BlogHer since joining the company in February 2012. As CMO, she will lead marketing strategy and partner relationship management for BlogHer’s entire digital and event sales force. She will report to BlogHer Co-Founder and CEO Lisa Stone.

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I don’t think I’ve ever actually spotlighted The Philip DeFranco Show, which is a pretty cool almost-daily dose of news and pop culture commentary. DeFranco was once referred to by the LA Times as the “Walter Cronkite for the YouTube generation,” and I feel compelled to agree with that assessment. The man easily draws you with his rapid-fire riffs on the stories that matter to him (and by extension his audience). Just watch his videos from Tuesday and Wednesday of this week that approach the complex and frustrating topic of student loan debt in a way that makes sense to his audience, which is probably comprised of a lot of people currently in or about to go into debt. New episodes are available online every Monday through Thursday.

Oh, and by the way, Revision3 has acquired DeFranco Creative, DeFranco’s entire portfolio of online video channels and business ventures. DeFranco already has a working relationship with Revision3 and Discovery: The Philip DeFranco Show has been available on Revision3 for quite some time and he was also the on-air host for Discovery’s Shark Week Chompdown event last year. This deal brings all of DeFranco’s channels and ventures, including a merchandising business that taps into DeFranco’s fan network collectively known as “The Nation,” under the growing Discovery/Revision3 umbrella, which just recently launched a new science-focused video network called TestTube. DeFranco is also behind SourceFed, one of the top-performing YouTube original channels, and The Vloggity, a personal lifestyle channel with more than 700,000 subscribers. Per the deal, DeFranco will also join Discovery and the Revision3 programming leadership team as SVP/Philip DeFranco Networks and Merchandise.

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Later – Sahil
Sahil Patel, Editor for Cynopsis Digital
05.31.13

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