Cynopsis: DIGITAL
12.10.12

Good morning. It’s Monday, December 10, 2012, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.

If you watched a video on YouTube over the weekend, you probably noticed that the site has undergone a noticeable facelift. The new design prioritizes what has been the central tenet of the YouTube video philosophy over the past year — channels and subscriptions. To that end, the new design lets users access their channel subscriptions, regardless of the device they’re using to visit and surf the site. The Channel Guide is also available on every page of the site, cataloging new videos available from each subscription so users know how many new videos are available for viewing. To boost video discovery and keep users around on the site longer, the Guide also offers recommendations and information on which content users’ friends are sharing across the web. In terms of viewing aesthetics, videos have been pushed up to the top of the page accompanied by the usual social buttons, including those to subscribe, share, and view more information. So have video playlists, which are available to the right of each video.

Speaking of YouTube: It has inked a deal with Virgin America to bring the original programming initiative 35,000 feet into the air. The site will offer shows from five of its original programming partners for free on all Virgin America planes in the US and Mexico. The five channels/shows covered under this agreement are H+ The Digital Series (from Warner Bros. and Bryan Singer), Blue (from the WIGS scripted drama channel), Written by a Kid (from Geek & Sundry), Crash Course (from John Green), and The Key of Awesome (from Barely Political). These shows will arrive on Virgin America flights through the company’s in-flight entertainment system, beginning on December 15. Going forward, YouTube says new series and shows will be available every two months.

“Charlie Bit My Finger,” which is one of the most popular viral videos of all-time on YouTube, has topped 500 million views. In making this announcement, Viral Spiral, a management and marketing company that looks to connect viral content with brands, agencies, and production companies, has teamed up with online video distributor Rightster to launch three new series featuring the kids from the original viral hit. The pilot episodes for each new show — Biting News, King of the Week, and Charlie Bites… Toys — are already available via their own YouTube channels, categorized under the “Charlie Bit Me” brand. Viral Spiral and Rightster have also elected to share some consumption/device data about the original viral hit. According to the companies, 73.5% of all views of the original video in 2012 came from smartphone or tablet devices. This is compared to 45.2% in 2011 and 22.4% in 2010. The original “Charlie Bit My Finger” video was recently selected by EE to star in one of six TV spots with Kevin Bacon as part of a multimillion pound 4G ad campaign.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM PEABODY

Question-and-answer service ChaCha is launching a new social engagement platform called Social Reactor, which aims to connect advertisers with consumers through influential people on sites such as Twitter and Tumblr. For these “social influencers” and celebrities, they can earn some additional revenue by aligning with brands to drive traffic to the brand’s website, video, mobile property, or anything else relevant to the campaign. For advertisers, ChaCha says Social Reactor offers access to 250 million followers across various social media platforms. During its beta phase, ChaCha reports that Social Reactor demonstrated up to 6x revenue increases for brands through its social ad campaigns. The platform is already delivering 2 million visits per day. It has also received the endorsement of Daymond John, star of ABC’s Shark Tank alongside Mark Cuban.

The television and the computer are the two most popular devices for watching video content, according to the results of the latest Verizon FiOS Innovation Index: Borderless Lifestyle Survey. Conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Verizon between November 16 and 20 of this year, the survey of 2,324 US adults, ages 18 and over, finds that 80% of consumers still prefer the television screen for watching video content. In comparison, 40% of respondents said they watch video content on a laptop computer and 33% said they do so via desktop computers. These devices are followed by smartphones (19%), connected gaming consoles (16%), and tablets (15%). When these numbers are broken down by “borderless consumers” versus “non-borderless consumers,” it shows that borderless consumers are more likely to consume video content across all different screen types (85% watch video via TVs; 53% via laptops; 39% via desktops; 36% via smartphones; 24% via connected consoles; and 31% via tablets).The survey defines a borderless consumer as one who owns a laptop or desktop; owns a smartphone or tablet; has an internet-enable device at all times; is motivated to make technology and connectivity upgrades; and is interested in the benefits of a connected home. Per Verizon, 39% of US adults are currently borderless consumers. Among the other findings:

• 40% of borderless consumers are interested in interacting with TV commercials via their phones or tablets.
• 74% of all consumers believe all the electronics in the house should be connected both to the internet and with each other (90% of borderless consumers want this).
• 60% of all consumers want to access their files and content on any device, at any time, and anywhere (82% of borderless consumers want this).

Sony Movie Channel (SMC) has launched a new digital campaign to offer viewers an enhanced second-screen/social viewing experience tied to the 2009 film Julie & Julia. At the center is a new Facebook app, which will be available through December. The app, which is available via a standalone tab on SMC’s Facebook page, features an array of content, from an interactive recipe guide to movie trivia. The recipe section is powered by BakeSpace.com, an online community and cookbook app publishing platform. Other aspects of the digital campaign include a new Julie & Julia sticker for those who check-in to the channel on GetGlue. The sticker will also be available until December 31. SMC plans to air the movie, which stars Amy Adams and Meryl Street in the titular roles, several times during this month.

Amazon is offering a new A/B testing capability for free to Kindle Fire developers. This will allow developers to simultaneously test different treatments of their apps, access data on what’s working best, and make necessary changes to improve the end-user experience. The A/B testing beta SDK can be downloaded here. In the same announcement, the company reported that app downloads in the Amazon Appstore have grown more than 500% over the previous year.

The iPhone is finally coming to T-Mobile, and it will do so next year, according to what the carrier’s CEO John Legere said at an investor conference in Germany late last week, per CNET. Legere cautioned that the iPhone experience with T-Mobile will be “dramatically different,” but declined to provide additional details on the partnership with Apple. According to the CNET report, it’s a possibility that T-Mobile offers the device at full-price, instead of subsidizing it with expensive two-year contracts, which is what the other carriers currently do. T-Mobile would make the device affordable by charging an upfront fee, followed by “affordable monthly installments” until the cost has been paid in full.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

The Paulilu Mixtape is one of my favorite running video series. Available on the Above Average comedy channel on YouTube, the series features a number of funny videos parodying different aspects of pop culture, from the differences between Christopher Nolan’s Batman franchise and characters as they were depicted in the 1960s to what’s currently popular on TV. Above Average comes from Broadway Video, Lorne Michaels’ production company.

Later – Sahil
Sahil Patel, Associate Editor for Cynopsis Digital
12.10.12

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