A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM VIDEOLOGY

Cynopsis: DIGITAL
03.26.13

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, March 26, 2013, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.

Hulu might be for sale. Again. According to a report from Reuters, Hulu’s Board of Directors has “approached potential buyers” to determine if they’re interested in buying the video service. No formal offer has been made. Recently, news came out that News Corp. and Disney, two of the major owners of Hulu, were each considering buying the other one out. Comcast/NBCUniversal is the third major owner of Hulu, but has no control over the company. In 2011, there was a lot of hoopla about a big name, such as Google, Amazon, or Yahoo, buying Hulu. But nothing ever came from it. Which is to say, don’t be surprised if something similar happens here.

Amazon through its original production arm Amazon Studios has greenlit a pilot from Sony Pictures Television for an original comedy series based on Zombieland. This is the seventh show to join Amazon’s upcoming slate of comedy pilots for Prime Instant Video. The seven comedy pilots, along with six children’s pilots also in development, will eventually be made available for free on Amazon Instant Video and LoveFilm UK. Viewers will be able to watch any of the pilots and then review them for the site. Amazon says this will help determine which of the 13 shows get a full season order. The Zombieland series, based on the horror-comedy cult film starring Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Woody Harrelson, will feature none of those actors, but comes from the film’s creative team, including writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Eli Craig (Tucker Dale vs. Evil) will direct the pilot.

WatchESPN is now available to authenticated AT&T U-verse customers. The TV Everywhere service is accessible online, on numerous smartphone and tablet devices, and through Xbox Live (Gold members only). AT&T also announced that access to Disney/ABC’s other TV Everywhere services, including Watch Disney Channel, Watch Disney XD, and Watch Disney Junior, will be “coming soon” for U-verse customers.

Crackle has greenlit the second season of Chosen, an original series starring and executive produced by Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes). The six-episode first season premiered on Crackle on January 17, and will be available through the middle of May. Written and directed by series co-creator Ben Katai, the mystery-thriller follows a man who wakes up one morning to a mysterious box containing a gun and a photo of a stranger he is instructed to kill within three days. Why the quick turnaround to renew the show for a second season? Crackle reports that the first season generated 2.4 million streams in less than 10 weeks, with 48% of those occurring online, 36% via connected TV devices, and 16% via mobile/tablet devices. Additionally, Crackle says half of the viewers who watched the first episode ended up watching all six, and that it witnessed a 98.6% completion rate for pre-rolls attached to the show. The second season will begin production this summer.

Spotify might join the crowded streaming video business. According to a report from Business Insider, the streaming music service has plans to invest in original video programming to compete with the likes of Netflix, Amazon, and HBO, and is currently searching for partners to help finance and develop exclusive content. Or maybe it won’t, at least not right now. A separate report from CNET confirms that Spotify is “in the early stages of exploring” a Netflix-like video service, but according to the company’s CEO Daniel Ek, this won’t be happening anytime soon. In fact, Ek even asserts that Spotify-based music video service is a tough bet at the moment, since YouTube and VEVO pretty much have that market cornered.

Buzzmedia, a digital publisher that operates 45 entertainment and music sites, is rebranding as SpinMedia. The launch begins with visual and editorial updates to its Spin and Celebuzz properties, as well as the debut of a new, “mobile-first” site, Hearts & Foxes. Alongside the visual and editorial facelift, the company has promoted Steve Hansen to CEO and has named Tyler Goldman its new Executive Chair of the Board. In addition, SpinMedia has closed a new round of funding totaling $15 million.

Web-to-TV stuff, sort of: Chris Hardwick’s new comedy/variety show on BBC, The Nerdist, premieres this Saturday, March 30, at 10pm ET as part of Supernatural Saturday. The show has unveiled the guest line-up for the first season, which will include Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Matt Smith, Guillermo Del Toro, Gillian Jacobs, and Buzz Aldrin, among others.

Smartclip, Adconion’s multiscreen video ad platform, has launched a private programmatic video ad exchange called the SmartX Platform in the US, Europe, and Australia. “We are seeing increased demand from our clients for programmatic access to premium inventory,” said SmartClip COO and co-founder Roland Schaber. The customizable platform, which Smartclip has apparently been working on for the past 18 months, will offer video inventory from publishers across multiple devices, including online, mobile, and connected TVs. Smartclip says it currently has a network of 700 publishers and services more than 1 billion video streams every month.

HBO has renewed its deal with Clearleap, a provider of multiscreen video solutions. Per the deal, Clearleap will process and distribute HBO’s SVOD programming to the premium network’s domestic cable, satellite, and telco partners. Clearleap also handles authentication services for HBO Go.

Yahoo has bought mobile news reader Summly for an undisclosed price (though AllThingsD reports that it’s in the neighborhood of $30 million). The Summly app delivers summarized news content to users from top sources like The Wall Street Journal, NBC News, and ESPN. The app will be shutdown, as Yahoo is acquiring the technology behind the service to boost its own mobile offerings. Summly’s young founder, Nick D’Aloisio, as well as members of the Summly team, will also join Yahoo as part of the deal.

— In other words: Since Marissa Mayer has come on board as CEO of Yahoo, a central tenet of her vision for the company has been to focus on and improve Yahoo’s mobile and product offerings. In a blog post announcing the deal, D’Aloisio said, “Yahoo has an inspirational goal to make people’s daily routines entertaining and meaningful, and mobile will be a central part of that vision.” So this acquisition — as well as last week’s news that Yahoo is considering a majority stake in Dailymotion — certainly aligns with that strategy.

comScore has officially launched Media Metrix Multiplatform in the US, a new measurement system that aims to provide unduplicated audience reporting across devices as well as websites, video, and apps. comScore is also rolling out February 2013 multiplatform audience data in conjunction with the launch. Overall it, reports that the average digital property within the Top 100 increased its audience size by an average of 38%, and 19 of those properties saw their audiences increase by at least 50% thanks to their strength in mobile.
     The top 5 though looks exactly the same as comScore’s February Media Metrix rankings: Google (228.1 million unique visitors/viewers); Yahoo (210.6 million); Microsoft (175.9 million); Facebook (174.8 million), and Amazon (147 million). The big guys are the big guys for a reason.
As for video: When speaking with Andrew Lipsman, VP/Industry Analysis at comScore, about how this change affected the Top 100 properties distributing video content, he said: “The average incremental audience achieved via video is 4%, which may not sound big at first blush, but is actually fairly significant when you think about it. That represents meaningful additional audience reach that can also be monetized at a higher rate on average than display ads.”

Shazam has tabbed BBC’s Daniel Danker to be its Chief Product Officer, a newly created position at the company. Danker will be responsible for leading the product expansion of the Shazam for TV second-screen/social TV service. He will also be responsible for app development for phones, tablets, and other devices across all major platforms, as well as collaborating with social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. At BBC, Danker served as the broadcaster’s GM/Programmes and On Demand, where he oversaw the strategy and delivery of BBC iPlayer, among other digital products.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

This isn’t video-based, but I’m a sucker for Instagram (the only social network that should matter, in my opinion). So, if you are as devoted to doctored old-timey photos as I am, check out InstaThis. It was only a matter of time before someone came up with this idea, but the site lets you create and purchase wood or acrylic prints of your Instagram shots. That way, the next time you have people over, they can admire your beautiful amateur photography as much as your followers do. Enjoy.

Later – Sahil
Sahil Patel, Associate Editor for Cynopsis Digital
03.26.13

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