Cynopsis: DIGITAL
10/11/12

Good morning. It’s Thursday, October 11, 2012, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.

A Reuters report sheds some light on how Amazon might look to structure its licensing deals with studios for Prime Instant Video going forward, and how that might affect Netflix and other SVOD providers. Amazon’s recent deal with EPIX — which many observed as a signal that Amazon’s ready to compete with Netflix — included not only a fixed upfront fee, but also a way for the studios behind EPIX to earn more over time if Prime Instant Video witnesses subscriber growth past certain levels, according to Reuters. This could lead to a big shift in how such deals are structured in the future. Up until now, SVOD deals generally stuck to the fixed-amount/fixed-length model. For example, Netflix paid $200 million/year for exclusive access to EPIX’s catalog.

A source also suggested to Reuters that Prime Instant Video has somewhere between 3 and 4 million subscribers using the service. Netflix, in comparison, has 25 million subscribers. Aside from having a lot of ground to make up on this front, this disparity in subscriber totals also means Amazon is paying more per subscriber than Netflix is, even though Netflix pays a larger sum overall.

For the second year in a row, Food Network plans to air Thanksgiving Live, an interactive two-hour special that brings in a number of the network’s stars to offer holiday meal tips and recipes. Hosted by Alton Brown and featuring the likes of Bobby Flay, Giada De Laurentiis, and Sunny Anderson, the special will air live on November 18 at 12pm ET/PT (the west coast airing will be taped). With it being an interactive special, the host and the guests will take viewers’ questions from Facebook and Twitter. The team will also answer the “Top 10 Thanksgiving questions” from exclusive Skype submissions. To complement the on-air broadcast, Food Network also plans to stream a three-hour Thanksgiving Live webcast online, beginning at 11:30 am ET the same day. The stream will include a pre-show featuring celebrity chef interviews and behind-the-scenes footage; a social stream that mixes videos, photos, and Facebook and Twitter posts into the live stream; and post-show coverage.

Announced a week ago, Toys “R” Us has launched its online movie/TV rental and streaming service, offering more than 4,000 family-friendly titles from the likes of Disney, FOX, and NBCUniversal, among others. Powered by Rovi Corporation, Toys “R” Us Movies does not require a subscription; instead it offers movies at $2.99 for a 24-hour rental period and at $5.99 for a licensed digital download or stream. TV episodes are available starting at $0.99, with a majority priced at $1.99. The retailer says new movie releases will be available the same day they hit store shelves, while TV episodes will arrive the day after they air. In some cases, such as with DreamWorks Animation’s Madagascar 3, the service will offer new movie releases before they go on sale in stores. Right now, Toys “R” Us Movies is accessible on PCs, Macs, and Flash-enabled devices. The company plans to expand its availability to other connected devices in the coming months; apps for iOS and Android devices will arrive later this fall.

Spreecast is teaming up with Viacom’s VH1 and Logo to let viewers interact with the networks’ on-air talent via the social video platform. The partnership has already begun as the companies recently produced “spreecasts” (video chats) for VH1’s reality series Love & Hip Hop Atlanta and Logo’s website NewNowNext. Going forward, Logo will enlist Spreecast to do an “Elimination Lunch” special every Tuesday at 12pm ET during the coming season of RuPaul’s All Stars Drag Race, which premieres on Monday, October 22. Users will be able to chat with eliminated contestants (through video and/or text) the day after their final episode. If users can’t participate in the live chats, Spreecast also makes each video broadcast available for playback and social sharing.

Online health-related video provider HealthGuru has launched Primetime Fitness, a video-inclusive slideshow that’s essentially meant to be a second-screen exercise regimen for viewers while they watch their favorite TV shows. The slideshow offers videos of fitness experts demonstrating a variety of moves as well as quotes from TV stars such as Zooey Deschanel and Sofia Vergara on their own private workouts. The slideshow also provides show-based exercise activities, such as doing 10 standing calf raises whenever Phil on Modern Family makes a pun. HealthGuru has a reach of 8 million unique viewers per month across its own site, syndication partnerships, and YouTube.

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The Wall Street Journal Digital Network has launched an invite-only ad exchange called WSJ Audex, allowing marketers to bid on inventory across WSJ.com, MarketWatch.com, Barrons.com, and SmartMoney.com in real time. The WSJ says it’s working with The Rubicon Project and three buying platforms — Cadreon, Proclivity, and Vivaki’s Audience on Demand — to support WSJ Audex, which will offer first-party audience data, such as the WSJ’s subscriber and registered user information, to help target different segments.

Cross-channel marketing analytics provider Convertro has launched a new solution that encompasses paid, owned, and earned media, with a focus on assessing the influence of each in driving sales. Convertro has already offered attribution capabilities for paid media, which encompasses display advertising, paid search, and other types of online ad buys. Now it’s bringing earned media and owned media, such as brand-owned third-party assets like Facebook pages and YouTube channels, into the fold. Since these third-party sites do not support first-party analytics, Convertro says it had to build a tracking mechanism that follows any clicks from one third-party site to another, and give those clicks conversion credit. For earned media, Convertro says a URL generation feature allows it to track the share action as well as future revenue attributed to users who have clicked through via a shared link.

Hillcrest Labs is pairing its MotionEngine Smart TV software with Ozmo Device‘s ultra-low power, WiFi Direct technologies to offer an integrated solution for CE device manufacturers. With the joint solution, manufacturers will be able to implement motion-sensing capabilities and ultra-low power WiFi into remote controls, connected TVs, set-top boxes, and streaming media players. Hillcrest’s Freespace MotionEngine software is the same one that’s embedded in Roku 2 players and LG’s Smart TVs. Hillcrest and Ozmo say that multiple companies plan to unveil new products employing the joint solution in early 2013.

According to the IAB’s Digital Hispanic Consumer report, based on data from BIGinsight, Hispanic consumers are more active than the average consumer when it comes to e-commerce and digital video/media consumption. In fact, the top five online activities for Hispanics include: Shopping (46% of Hispanics vs. 43% of the general population); reading and posting movie reviews (31% vs. 28%); downloading music and videos (31% vs. 25%); socializing online (29% — equal to general population); and watching TV shows online (28% vs. 24%). It’s on the digital video consumption front that Hispanic consumers seem to really set themselves apart. The report finds that 55% of Hispanics subscribe to paid online video services, compared to 43% of the general population, and 46% watch videos on mobile devices, versus 35% of the general population.Among the other findings relevant to marketers:

• 58% of Hispanics pay attention to pre-roll videos, compared to 54% of average consumers.
• 75% of Hispanic respondents speak English more than half of the time at home; however, 54% of respondents said they consistently engage with Spanish-language media.
• 54% of Hispanic consumers surveyed are confident about the US economy, citing a strong trust in the stability of the national economy. Only 34% of the general population indicated the same.

eMarketer and Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) have released the annual Global Media Intelligence report, shining a light on media trends in major markets worldwide. Per the report, China is set to become the second-largest digital advertising market in 2014, contributing to eMarketer’s and SMG’s forecast that Asia-Pacific will surpass North America in total ad spending in two years. Much of the growth in global ad spending will come from the Asia-Pacific region, which will be home to more than 1 billion monthly web users and some 2.15 billion mobile phone users this year. However, when it comes to mobile, it’s North America that will shine above the rest. While Asia-Pacific is the current global leader in mobile advertising, with projected ad spending of $2.56 billion in 2012, North America is expanding twice as fast. Overall, eMarketer and SMG see global spending on mobile ads to spike from $6.6 billion to $25.3 billion.

Here’s some social TV data from Trendrr concerning this week’s BET Hip Hop Awards:

• The event generated 2.6 million total Twitter posts throughout Tuesday, 2.3 million of which occurred during the telecast.
• 54% of tweets came from men, 46% came from women.
• 70% of viewers who tweeted about the ceremony did so from their mobile devices, while 30% used the web.
• The top 5 social TV markets were NYC, Atlanta, LA, Philly, and Chicago.

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Photos leaked to The Verge indicate that Boxee is planning to release a new connected set-top device that will let users watch over-the-air live TV, record programming, and access web apps. Manufactured in collaboration with D-Link, the Boxee TV aims to compete with existing platforms like Roku and Apple TV. The box features a TV tuner with coax input to connect to live television. The Verge says that its DVR capabilities could include the ability watch recorded programming on other devices, most likely via Boxee’s smartphone apps.

Mass Relevance is collaborating with the Big Ten Network (BTN) on BTN Connect, a social/second-screen experience for fans of the Big Ten conference. Sponsored by Buick, BTN Connect allows fans to tap into the stats and social buzz surrounding their favorite Big Ten schools before, during, and after the game. The page features 13 tabs, one for each college in the conference, plus a composite landing page. Each tab contains several types of interactive social features, such as polls, trends, spotlight tweets, a mad-lib, a photo wall, and social rankings. BTN also incorporates real-time social conversations and statistics from Connect into its live broadcasts and studio coverage. Mass Relevance says that since the page launched on August 31, BTN Connect has curated and displayed nearly 500,000 tweets about the Big Ten, and that the page’s traffic doubled between September 8 and September 22. The plan is to extend this social tool beyond just the college football season, as BTN intends to produce more than 900 events throughout the 2012-2013 academic year.

Norton by Symantec has launched a new service aimed at protecting consumers when they connect to the web using a public WiFi network. Available in the US and UK for Mac and PCs, Norton Hotspot Privacy automatically creates a virtual private network for the user, giving them more control over what they share online when on a WiFi network. It makes the user “invisible” on public networks, ensuring that their online activities aren’t being tracked; protects the user’s entire WiFi session; and encrypts his or her usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, and other confidential information her or she might enter online. Norton Hotspot Privacy is available for $49.99/year, $19.99/month, and $2.99/day.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings plans to vacate his seat on Microsoft’s Board of Directors this November. In an announcement yesterday, Microsoft said Hastings has decided to not seek re-election when it comes up at the company’s 2012 annual meeting of shareholders. Hastings is the current lead independent director on Microsoft’s Board and will continue to do so through the annual meeting of shareholders. After he steps down, Microsoft will appoint his replacement. Hastings is also on the Board of Directors at Facebook.

Crown Media Family Networks has promoted George Zaralidis to the position of Director/Publicity & Social Media. He will continue to develop and execute traditional PR campaigns and strategies to drive tune-in, awareness, and ratings for the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel. With the promotion, his responsibilities also include strategy and execution of social media campaigns and other non-traditional PR campaigns. Based in LA, he will continue to report to Pam Slay, SVP/Network Program Publicity & Social Content.

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This is too amazing not to share. Google has published 42 online “historical exhibitions,” which tell the stories behind major 20th century events like Apartheid, D-Day, and the Holocaust through text, photos, and videos. Google enlisted 17 partners, including museums and cultural foundations from across the world, to dive into their archives to produce these digital exhibits. These collections are a part of the Google Cultural Institute, which works closely with museums, foundations, and other archives to offer important cultural and historical material online.

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Later – Sahil
Sahil Patel, Associate Editor for Cynopsis Digital
10.11.12

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JOB OPENING:  MANAGING EDITOR/BBCAMERICA.COM/NYC: 10yrs exp. w/5yrs as an entertainment journalist. Define & manage editorial vision. Know platforms incld. web, mobile & social media. Manage BBCA Digital budget. [email protected] (10/18)

JOB OPENING: ASSOC DIR SALES & MARKETING: Part time, small agcy/SalesRep Sell nat’l public TV shows + handle agency plan/traffic Strong sales Excellent org and admin skills Northern NJ Telecommute+1 day office [email protected] (10/18)

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SITUATION WANTED: EXEC ASST: Over 10 yrs exp in Film/TV Prod, from  pre to post, as well as subtitling & dubbing. Fluent in 5 languages & skilled inter-culturalist. Seeking Exec Asst position or similar. Contact:  [email protected] (10/12)

SITUATION WANTED: Experienced EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT looking to move forward. 4 years+ experience in Advertising, Marketing, Film Development. Solid resume, team player, loves to travel. [email protected] (10/12)

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