A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM VIDEOLOGY

Cynopsis: DIGITAL
03.12.13

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, March 12, 2013, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.

Rovio Entertainment is launching a multiscreen video “channel” and animated series across all of its Angry Birds gaming apps on smartphones and tablets, as well as on select VOD providers, smart TVs, and connected devices. To access the channel, users only need to download the latest update to any Angry Birds game. The dedicated channel launches alongside Angry Birds Toons, a series that features the playable characters from the gaming franchise. Consisting of 52 episodes, a new episode will roll out every Sunday on all Angry Birds apps and VOD platforms, beginning March 17. “With over 1.7 billion downloads, we can reach a far wider and more engaged global audience than traditional distribution would allow,” said Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio, in a statement. External distribution partners include Comcast’s Xfinity services in the US, Samsung Smart TVs across the globe, and soon, Roku devices.

Digital Broadcasting Group (DBG) has announced production of Dropping the Soap, an upcoming comedy series executive produced by Jane Lynch (Glee), Lisa Kudrow (Friends) and her Web Therapy co-creator Dan Bucatinsky, and screenwriter Don Roos (Marley & Me), as well as Damon Bethel and Joseph Gomes of DBG. The series goes “behind-the-scenes” of a daytime soap opera that’s struggling to survive within the shifting television landscape. It follows a “Head of the Network,” played by Lynch, as she tries every trick imaginable to save the show. This conceit also creates ripe opportunity for brands, according to DBG CEO Chris Young: “The soap-within-a-soap storyline allows so many opportunities for cast members to interact with and talk about brands in a very natural way.”  Starring Lynch, Paul Witten (Desperate Housewives), Mandy Fabian (30 Rock), and Kate Mines (Grey’s Anatomy), the series takes place over 10 episodes, which will be released “across the web” later this year.

Yahoo and Vuguru are planning to release a new “puppet crime” comedy series this summer. Aptly titled The Fuzz, the show will follow a rookie puppet cop and his human partner as they try to clean up the streets of Puppet Town, which are over-run by the jellybean drug trade led by a criminal mastermind, who is also a puppet (that was really fun to write). Rolling out with 15 episodes on Yahoo Screen this coming summer, The Fuzz is the first production out of an exclusive multi-project licensing deal between Yahoo and Vuguru. The series is executive produced by 3 Arts Entertainment, Larry Tanz (CEO of Vuguru), and Kristin Jones (CCO of Vuguru).

Break Media’s action YouTube Channel Hard Coded is launching a new series today called Armed Response. The four-episode action drama tells the story of a Homeland Security Team that uncovers a Mexican drug outfit at the Port of Long Beach. The story is told entirely through helmet-cam POV angles, much like what’s found in popular first-person shooter video games today. Written by Matt Michnovetz (24, Star Wars: The Clone Wars), Armed Responses was created by Tom Bannister and Justin Lutsky in collaboration with Break Media’s SVP/Entertainment Development, Greg Siegel. Show cast includes James Kyson (Heroes), Camille Guaty (The Vampire Diaries), and Wes Chatham (The Unit). All four episodes are immediately available, sponsored by Film District’s upcoming action movie Olympus Has Fallen. 

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Social curation technology provider Mass Relevance has launched Dynamic Mosaic, a new product designed to pull in social content from Facebook, Twitter, Vine, Instagram, and Google+, and deliver it via branded, on-site digital displays, all in real time. The company says the product allows brands to determine placement of sponsored and named accounts. Aiming to mimic the real-time flow of social conversations, a steady stream moving right to left will bring forth the latest social content. It will slow down when necessary to play Vine videos and highlight photos, before moving to the next piece of content. Unveiled at SXSW, IMAX has already signed on to be one of the first Mass Relevance clients to use Dymanic Mosaic.

Multiplatform video services provider Avail-TVN and its subsidiary, On Demand Group, are rebranding as Vubiquity. Vubiquity manages more than 28,000 hours of content each month, helping more than 340 content owners and 270 service providers monetize video across devices. Its services include a VOD product that enables encoding, metadata creation and management, file management and delivery, and marketing, as well as support services for TV Everywhere and SVOD offerings for connected devices, including authentication, ABR encoding, and profile management.

Japanese telco KDDI is making its Video Pass service, which allows subscribers to watch film and TV content – including material from the US – available on iPhones and iPads via a new iOS app as well as on smart TVs via a new USB-sized Android-powered streaming stick. The expanded multiscreen capabilities will be powered by British-based video solutions provider Saffron Digital, which has overseen Video Pass since the service’s inception in May 2012. Features of Video Pass include Pause and Resume, which allows users to stop watching on one screen and then continue from where they left off on another.

Nielsen’s Q4 2012 Cross-Platform Report indicates that there are more than five million “zero-TV” households in the US in 2013, up from 3 million in 2007. This group, which accounts for less than 5% of US households, still uses their TV’s, though, to watch DVDs, play games, or surf the web. When it comes to watching video, most of these zero-TV consumers (67%) opt to use other devices: 37% use computers to watch video, 16% watch video via the web, 8% via smartphones, and 6% via tablets.

Videology has released an infographic detailing the habits of the “Do-It-Yourself Consumer.”Among the data published:

• 32% of online consumers are likely (“definitely” or “probably”) to do home improvement projects this year.
• When asked if they find home improvement advertising more effective if it appears within related content, 28% of respondents said yes, while 31% said it didn’t matter.
• While 44% of online consumers said they watched DIY content on TV, 17% said they watched that type of content online.

February was USA Network’s third-ever Characters Unite month, with TV programming and digital/social initiatives oriented around the “I Won’t Stand For” theme, which was designed to promote inclusiveness and combat discrimination. Via its Facebook app and the #IWontStandFor Twitter hashtag, fans shared content about tolerance. In addition, USA stars like Matt Bomer (White Collar), Dule Hill (Psych), and Gina Torres (Suits), posted videos promoting inclusivity on CharactersUnite.com, the Characters Unite YouTube channel, and other social media channels. The network credits the campaign in successfully driving TV viewership: When USA Network aired Schindler’s List, it grabbed 3.2 million viewers, making it the most-watched film in the Characters Unite quarterly film series as well as the top movie of the day in cable. Overall, USA reached more than 19 million viewers across eight hours of programming.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

NBC News’ coverage of the upcoming election of the new pope includes a dedicated section on NBCNews.com, which will serve as the hub for all reporting and content, including videos, articles, and photos from the organization. The section will also feature a special “smoke cam,” which will offer up a live video stream of the Sistine Chapel chimney for as long as the conclave is in session.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Later – Sahil
Sahil Patel, Associate Editor for Cynopsis Digital
03.12.13

Roberta Caploe: Editorial Director
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