Cynopsis: DIGITAL
08.29.13

Good morning. It’s Thursday, August 29, 2013, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.

YouTube is signing on with Dreamworks Animation for its first traditional production stint for a daily web series titled YouTube Nation. VideoInk reports that up until this point, YouTube has only provided production support, versus production partnerships. YouTube is apparently pushing all resources at this project, giving Dreamworks access to its data and entry to its Space LA studios. The show is expected to launch later this year.

Twitter’s purchase of TV conversation tracker and analyzer company Trendrr was announced in a blog post by Trendrr founder Mark Ghuneim. The company analyzes conversations about TV shows from social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to use as a tool for television networks to better hone in on viewer’s interests. The deal comes a month after a Trendrr study reported that Facebook has five times more TV chatter than Twitter  a study that likely won’t be repeated. Twitter’s CRO Adam Bain tweeted “Excited to welcome @trendrr to Twitter to help us build great tools for TV ecosystem.”

The Onion, Digitas and PC Maker Lenovo have teamed up to unleash its inner NFL fanboy with a new web series revolving around Fantasy Football. The mockumentary, called Tough Season, is comprised of eight episodes that will roll out throughout the season, and features NFL players with a sense of humor, such as Chicago Bears’ Matt Forte. The project is all part of Lenovo’s “Fantasy Football Coach of the Year” contest.

The MLB Advanced Media, the digital media company of Major League Baseball Network, has bought the rights to live stream and distribute a concert in New York City’s Central Park in September – the goal being to expand MLB beyond baseball. The concert, called the Global Citizens Festival, will be produced by MLB Advanced Media and AEG and will feature Stevie Wonder and Alicia Keys, among others.

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TiVo hauled in record profits of $268.9 million in its second quarter thanks to a 58 percent boost in MSO partnership revenue and the $490 million settlement with Google and Cisco systems in June. The brand continues to expand with MSO partnerships and with the release of TiVo Roamio, which marries cable television and digital TV in just one DVR box.

ESPN Digital Media remains king among sports digital platforms, according to the July comScore Multiplatform data report. ESPN held 27.5 percent share of the sports audience through iESPN.com, WatchESPN and ScoreCenter as compared to Yahoo! Sports-NBC Sports Network, which had just 14.8 percent share. Each user within the sports audience category spent a whopping 90 minutes on an ESPN digital platform over the month, compared to Yahoo! Sports-NBC Sports Network user’s time of 43 minutes.

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Millennials ages 18-24 may or may not sign up for cable or satellite TV in their first post-college residence, according to a The Diffusion Group August research project. Fifty percent of the group signed up for a television service immediately, while 38 percent signed up at some point – and 11 percent did not sign up at all. Additionally, Diffusion reports that consumers younger than 18 say they’re opting for alternate TV platforms because – let’s face it – they’re free.

Mobile commerce is up 23 percent from a year ago, with sales hitting $4.9 billion in the second quarter according to a new report from comScore. Video game consoles, games, and accessories lead the m-commerce sales by 23 percent. Most of the sales were made through smartphones, but most larger purchases were made through tablets.

Mobile video viewership, second-screen experiences, and “place-shifted viewing” is the new television consumption trend, according to an August Ericsson ConsumerLab report. The findings that showed 72 percent watched videos on a mobile device at least weekly, and 75 percent used a mobile device while watching television. Another new trend is place-shifted viewing, where a person pauses and resumes a video over a period of time. And the use of the word “television” transcends the traditional sense, because half of the respondents in the study included computer and internet sources as television, too.

Yesterday, Clearasil launched its second custom mini game on PlayStation HOME. The “Ultra Fast Back to School Dash” challenges players to race for the chance to win skateboards, rocket boards and the ultimate gold rocketboard for their avatars. Products are integrated into the course – collecting Clearasil Ultra gives players a power boost – and PSHome also incorporates Clearasil’s hashtag (#UltraFast) into the game. FYI, the company’s first game, “Clearasil Karting,” garnered more than 635 hours of game play (earned media) during its four week run. Chris Kiriakatis, Senior Vice President, Digital, Advertiser Sales, Sony Pictures Television, tells Cynopsis: “Many advertisers that work with us in PlayStation Home find that by gamifying their brand they’re giving valuable experiences to users. From there, brand perception becomes very positive and radiates out into the social sphere… it also builds a sense of brand allegiance which can be much more effective than other forms of digital media.”

Time Warner Cable joined the pay TV universe to offer a live-streaming app for XBOX360 with intentions to offer the same service for the future XBOX One to be released in November. The app will offer 300 channels to those already subscribing to the TWC service and a subscription to XBOX Gold Live. TWC currently offers an app to Samsung Smart TVs, apple and android phones and Bloomberg reported it’s close to making an app deal with Apple TV.

Watch Entertainment named Sharon Feder the new Chief Digital Officer. She will lead the Rachael Ray digital branding for the online, mobile, social and e-commerce. Previously, Feder served as Mashable’s COO.

The International Academy of Web Television (IAWTV) elected five new board members: Dailymotion Vice President and Creative Director Nick Fortunato, Blip Director of Creator and Talent Relations Kent Nichols, Crackle Head of Digital Development John Orlando, NY-based Producer and Creator of “Super Knocked Up” Jeff Burns, and Yahoo Canada Head of Media Network Dan Unger. A new chairman has not been announced yet, but is expected to be in September.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

A French YouTube channel titled ParodiePub has gone viral, with more than a million views on videos that include “epic fails” and strategically placed “Street Fighter” characters to make it appear the falls were caused by the video game character’s martial arts moves. If these videos are getting so many views on YouTube, maybe it’s time to hit the small(er) screen with Vine? Check out www.cynopsis.com for a quick “not sure why but still hilarious” moment.

See you tomorrow,
Jessica Reese
08.29.13

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