A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM CRACKLE

Cynopsis: DIGITAL
03.25.13

Good morning. It’s Monday, March 25, 2013, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.

If you were on Hulu at any point during this weekend, you might have noticed that the site is making every episode of every Star Trek series available online, for free, until the end of the month. It’s in honor of William Shatner’s 82nd birthday, which was this past Friday. Trekkies of every stripe can check out the Original Series, Voyager, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and/or Enterprise, even without a Hulu Plus account. Viewers have until Sunday the 31st, after which the series orbits back behind the gates of Hulu Plus (We’re sure the Hulu folks are hoping this results in a whole lot of new Hulu Plus subscribers. Live long and prosper, indeed).

Nissan is launching Nismo.TV, a new branded motorsports content channel on YouTube. The channel will feature year-round coverage of racing events and stories that feature the Nissan Motorsports team. The channel will also shine a spotlight on Nissan projects like the electric car prototype it’s working on for the 24-hour Le Mans competition next year, as well as the company’s GT Academy program, which follows (video) gamers as they compete to become actual racecar drivers. The partnership with YouTube goes both ways. Per the deal, YouTube will receive significant branding on the Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 racing cars. These YouTube-branded cars will compete in races across Europe.

Intel is testing out its online pay TV service with employees in three West Coast markets, according to CNET, who spoke with Eric Free, Intel Media’s VP and GM/Content and Services. Free did not disclose crucial details such as pricing, availability, and which channels the service – which arrives later this year – will offer at launch.

HBO may be teaming up with broadband service providers to offer HBO Go as an add-on for customers who don’t have a TV subscription. This is based on what HBO CEO Richard Plepler told Reuters during the Season Three premiere of Game of Thrones. In such a situation, Plepler said HBO could offer HBO Go for an additional $10-15 dollars on top of what the customer would already be paying the broadband provider for Internet service. Though he was also careful to add: “We would have to make the math work,” and “right now we have the right model.”

Crackle is now directly accessible from within the PlayStation Store. A Crackle app has already been available for PS3 users, but this update now allows access the streaming service via the Movies and TV Shows sections in the PlayStation Store.

The BBC is planning to produce six original short films that will be available exclusively on its iPlayer streaming service. The shorts, which will come from some of the “best up-and-coming writing and directing talent” in the UK, will roll out on iPlayer over the next two years. All six will be aimed at BBC Three’s younger demographic.

— In other words: BBC says this BBC Three drama strand is part of a strategy to “showcase more exclusive content” on iPlayer this year. It does make you wonder, though, how much of this agenda is the result of Netflix and Amazon’s presence in the UK, since both of those companies have been commissioning original projects. The other thing to note is that these projects are meant for BBC Three. Makes sense, as younger audiences are increasingly becoming more screen-agnostic.

Netflix’s trouble with the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) is finally, officially over. A California judge has approved a $9 million settlement between Netflix and a group of consumers who claimed that the SVOD provided violated consumer privacy rights by holding on to users’ viewing history, even after they canceled their subscriptions. The VPPA, which has been a thorn in the side of Hulu as well, prohibits a video rental company from storing or disclosing a person’s viewing history. An amendment to the law was signed earlier this year, allowing video companies to share viewing history as long as they first get consent from the consumer (which is why you now see Netflix asking if you want to integrate with your Facebook account).

The top 10 entertainment web brands in the US in January 2013, ranked by Nielsen in terms of unique visitors, are: YouTube (124.07 million unique visitors); iTunes (44.97 million); Comcast Digital Entertainment sites (33.83 million); Yahoo Sports sites (32.58 million); IMDb (29.78 million); Netflix (28.08 million); ESPN Digital Network (27.37 million); omg! sites (25.3 million); VEVO (25.2 million); and FoxSports.com on MSN (24.39 million). Average user time-spent was strong among the most prominent video and video-related entertainment web entities. Nielsen reports that the average YouTube user was on the site for more than 1 hour and 57 minutes during January first among the top 10 entertainment web brands). iTunes users averaged nearly 1 hour and 12 minutes (#2 here as well); and Netflix users, over 46 minutes (#5).

As smartphone ownership continues to rise, so does overall consumer satisfaction with the devices, according to J.D. Power and Associates. On a 1,000-point scale, smartphone satisfaction sits at 796 right now, which is an increase of 22 points over last year. And in news that is sure to be unsurprising, Apple ranked highest among smartphone manufacturers for the ninth consecutive study in terms of customer satisfaction. Apple scored 855, and particularly well in the areas of physical design and ease of operation. It was followed by Nokia (795), Samsung (793), Motorola (792), HTC (790), LG (744), and RIM/BlackBerry (732).

Myspace, the social network from yesteryear, is attempting a comeback. You’ve probably already heard about how pop superstar Justin Timberlake has signed on as its Creative Director. Today, the company is announcing two new hires to continue its push back into social relevance. Christian Parkes, Myspace’s new VP/Global Marketing, was recently named by Fast Company as one of the Top 100 Most Creative People in Business. Previously, he’s worked for Levi’s as well as with Nike for its Sportswear brand/category. Joseph Patel (no relation), Myspace’s new VP/Content & Creative, was most recently a Senior Producer for Vice Media, where he worked on projects with the likes of Heineken, Red Bull, and Intel. He also served as Supervising Producer for Vice’s TV properties on MTV and HBO. So both men know a thing or two about marketing and content. I spoke with both of them about why they decided to join Myspace, as well as how they’re going to make it matter again.

Most people have left Myspace for dead. What drew you to the company?

Joseph: I started hearing about Myspace from Kenna [Zemedkun, alt-R&B artist who is part of Justin Timberlake’s internal creative team at Myspace]. The first couple of meetings I took out of courtesy, but the more he kept showing me, the more I could not poke holes in what I was seeing. The biggest draw for me was that, since Myspace was in the public consciousness, no one has been able to replace what it did so well, which is to provide a central place for artists to connect with fans in a meaningful way, as well as conduct all of their business. People have had almost seven years to fill that void, and no one has. And then I saw the design, and then I met what is easily the most creative team I’ve ever worked with. It seemed like it was worth a shot, because Myspace had both a great user experience and a great artist experience in mind.

Christian: Myspace wasn’t on my agenda. Then somebody told me that Joseph had joined, and that to me said two things: The people running the new Myspace were serious, and something must be up. Then it was pretty much a trajectory similar to what Joseph experienced.

From a marketing perspective, what does Myspace need to do in order to make this a truly successful comeback?

Christian: We want to shift perception. Pull people away from the old Myspace and refocus them around the capabilities of the new platform. We have three core constituencies that we need to get on board: Artists, the first wedge into a broader creative community; the fans of those artists, who are the biggest demo; and of course brands. We have to educate them about the new platform and get them to use it multiple times a day.

Joseph: For artists we have an Insights tool. It categorizes followers based on affinity and influence. Think of them like this: those under affinity listen to you 25 times; influencers share your content with 25 other people. With this tool, we’d be able to help artists figure out things such as which fans they should reach out to when touring and which ones to reward online and offline. That helps artists build stronger, more beneficial relationships with their fans.

It feels like this would work for brands, as well.

Christian: That’s exactly the thinking behind it. When you look at the background of the people who have built the new Myspace, they’re very brand-focused. If you look at other platforms, in many cases, brands didn’t get attention until at a later date.

What’s the online/offline “experiential” advertising approach you’re currently offering for brands?

Christian: At SXSW, we re-launched Secret Shows with Chevy as the sponsor. We produced everything, from the branding assets to getting artists to agree to do a show.

Joseph: We had 10 artists perform shows over three nights. Each artist only played one show, which was ours. It allowed us to stand out, and Chevy benefited from that exposure. What’s more, all the video we produced related to the shows is going to live on Myspace forever. So if you’re a fan of Hit-Boy, when you go to Myspace, not only can you access his catalog of music videos, but you can also see the videos of his performance, all sponsored by Chevy. This way, we’re putting sponsored content in the path of what users are already looking for. This is a very big thing for us. We’re providing experiences that connect digital with real life.

Hopskoch, a new transmedia marketing platform, has selected Craig Singer to be its new Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Singer, a now former Disney exec, will be based in the company’s NY office. With Singer taking over the CEO role, Hopskoch’s former CEO, and co-founder, Sunil Madhu, will become Chairman. The other co-founder, Marty Monaco, will continue to serve as the company’s COO and Head of Business Development. In addition to the CEO announcement, Hopskoch has inked its first three deals, with MYTUPELO Entertainment and its online production studio Pitch-Me; Ollie Mongo, a comic co-created by Arlene Klasky (Rugrats); and The Creative Coalition.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Volio is a new interactive video company from Nuance* founder Ron Croen and backed by Andreessen Horowitz and 500 Startups, among other angel investors. The SF-based start-up produces personalized, “one-to-one” video experiences that employ voice-recognition technology to deliver different videos to users based on the words they’re using. The services are aimed at helping media companies, marketers, and entertainers drive audience engagement.

With the launch of Volio and its video services also comes the launch of its first product. The new Talk to Esquire iOS app, which serves as a companion to the April issue of the magazine, offers users the chance to have a virtual conversation on select topics with Esquire Fashion Director Nick Sullivan, Drinks Correspondent David Wondrich, and/or Grooming Expert Rodney Cutler. Check it out – it’s pretty cool.

* Nuance is the voice-recognition tech company behind Siri.

Later – Sahil
Sahil Patel, Associate Editor for Cynopsis Digital
03.25.13

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