Cynopsis: DIGITAL
10/23/12

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, October 23, 2012, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.

Add Hulu to the companies launching video apps optimized to the new Windows 8 operating system. Coming out on Friday, October 26, the same day the operating system is rolled out to the general public, the Hulu Plus app for Windows 8 will be available for download through the Windows Store. Those with early access to Windows 8 can check out the app right now. In addition, it will be pre-loaded on select Acer and Windows 8 tablets. Optimized to the tile-based Windows 8 UI, other features of the app include “Snap View,” which will allow users to watch Hulu Plus in a small screen while using another app in a larger screen, and the ability to “pin” shows to their Windows device’s Start screen. The app will also allow users to select shows or clips in order to share them.

Meredith is expanding its digital video footprint via a new content deal with CelebTV, an award-winning digital entertainment network focusing on celebrity and entertainment news. Per the agreement, original videos from CelebTV (in HD) will be available on Meredith’s Divine Caroline website every day, beginning this week. The daily videos will cover “everything Hollywood,” including breaking news; celebrity style, body, and diet; couples; babies; movie news; and television news. Divine Caroline currently reaches 1.7 million monthly unique visitors and is a part of the Meredith Women’s Network, which has a reach of approximately 40 million monthly uniques. CelebTV is currently available on a number of platforms, including Hulu, Synacor, The CW’s Digital Studio, YouTube, and Comcast’s Xfinity. While initially available on Divine Caroline, Meredith will consider expanding CelebTV content to the company’s other digital sites in the future, says Meredith’s VP/Chief Video Officer J.R. McCabe.

Pac-12 Digital has launched a new TV Everywhere app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Joining its existing counterpart for the iPad, the Pac-12 Now app allows users to access sports programming from the Pac-12 Networks wherever they are, as long as they’ve first authenticated their TV provider username. Pac-12 Networks is currently available to customers of Time Warner Cable, Cox, DISH, FiOS by Frontier, Bright House, and more. Users can watch any of the seven channels within the Pac-12 Networks, as well as access a range of on-demand programming produced by the Pac-12 Networks and its member universities, including highlights, feature stories, game recaps, and other content exclusive to Pac-12 Now. Other features include a custom programming guide and a live scoreboard. Pac-12 Now is also available on the web for Macs and PCs. Pac-12 Digital worked with video tech start-up Ooyala to develop Pac-12 Now.

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Jun Group, an opt-in video ad platform that helps sites monetize by giving users free access to their content or services (casual games, streaming music, etc.) in exchange for watching an ad, has unveiled a new multicultural targeting feature to help advertisers reach the Hispanic audience. Using some proprietary screening technology, Jun Group claims it’s capable of precisely identifying and providing access to 10 million Hispanic or Spanish-speaking users across social networks, entertainment sites, and mobile devices. The company says it has directly integrated its technology on sites that over-index against Hispanics and can segment audiences by mobile device and carrier. While this feature was created to target Hispanics, Jun Group says it’s also available for a variety of multicultural campaigns, including those targeting African Americans.

During its quarterly earnings call yesterday morning, Nielsen CEO David Calhoun said the measurement company’s Online Campaigns Ratings (OCR) product is well on its way to becoming the industry currency for buying online ads, per MediaPost. In addition, Calhoun said that the company is hopeful that its Cross-Platform Ratings product, which combines both TV and online audience data into one rating, becomes the same for cross-platform ad buys. According to Calhoun, WPP’s GroupM is leading the way in helping move the industry toward adopting Cross-Platform Ratings as the standard currency, but there still remains a lot of work to be done before Madison Avenue comes on-board in a significant way.

Dish Network and AMC have inked a multiyear deal to bring the cable network’s channels back to the satellite service. While this is great news for Dish subscribers who are fans of The Walking Dead, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and other programming from AMC, as well as shows on the Sundance Channel, IFC, and WE tv, this deal most likely puts an end to AMC’s practice of streaming the first episode of a new season of a popular show for free online to Dish customers.

Web analytics firm Compete has settled with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on charges that it lied to consumers by collecting personal data without first telling them the extent to which it was collecting information about them, as well as failing “to honor promises it made to protect the personal data it collected.” Compete’s software tracks users’ browsing behavior and then uses it to generate reports, which are then sold to clients who want to improve web traffic and sales, according to the FTC. Under the terms of the settlement, Compete from now on has to obtain consumers’ “express consent” before collecting any data from software downloaded on to their computers. It also has to delete or “anonymize” the data it has already collected as well as provide directions to consumers for uninstalling the company’s software. Compete will also submit to independent auditing every two years for the next two decades. Compete does not have to admit that it violated any laws.

According to a new study from ABI Research: Nearly 20% of online consumers consider online video as a replacement for pay-TV. The research firm says that this indicates a significant risk to the traditional TV operator — as much as $16.8 billion in the US. This isn’t tied to the economy, either, as ABI says while the US pay-TV household penetration is on track to decline 0.5% every year through 2017, this “slow migration” will continue to do so even with an economic recovery. This is because consumers are increasingly being provided with additional entertainment choices via online and OTT video services. It’s not all bad news, however, as ABI points out an opportunity for pay-TV providers: 30% of online consumers have pay-TV and “a foundation in place” for OTT services, but have not yet seen the value proposition for online video. “This group is ripe for building and position services,” according to ABI Research.

Here’s some interesting data from mobile analytics company Flurry that analyzes app usage based on different categories, such as entertainment, gaming, music, and more. Breaking down different app categories into a matrix, Flurry says news, sports scores, reference, and weather apps are among the highest in terms of retention (50-55% each when tracked over the course of 90 days) but middle-of-the-road when it comes to frequency of use per week (ranging from 3.7 to 5.2 times per week). In addition, entertainment apps witness a 34% 90-day retention rate, and are used 3.2 times a week, putting them in the middle in terms of retention and frequency of use when compared to the other app categories. Which types of apps witness the highest level of weekly engagement? Streaming music (8.9 times per week) and social gaming (7.9 times per week) are among the top ones. Unfortunately, those two categories also suffer low 90-day retention rates, at 22% and 29% respectively. For this analysis, Flurry says it used a sample of apps that are in total used more than 1.7 billion times each week.

Join us on November 14, 2012 at the Cynopsis Digital Video Measurement Summit in NYC. We’ve got some great speakers lined up, including executives from AOL, Adap.tv, comScore, My Damn Channel, Nielsen, Vuguru, and YouTube. You won’t want to miss it. REGISTER NOW.

Game developer Spooky Cool Labs has acquired a license from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to develop and publish an online social game based on The Wizard of Oz. The deal grants Spooky Cool Labs access to the film’s characters, music, and likenesses. The company says a closed beta testing of the “adventure-driven, city-building” social game is already underway. For those interested in participating, they can “Like” the game’s new app page on Facebook, which will provide them with information on the game as well as how to join as a tester. This is the first social game from Spooky Cool Labs, which licensed the Unity cross-platform game engine to develop this game.

Online video news solutions company Streamworks International has named Merrill Brown to its Advisory Board. He is joining as Advisor to help the company’s business and strategic development efforts in the US and internationally. In the role, Brown will work with Bernard Gershon, who was recently named as an Advisor to the company, in helping Streamworks distribute its online video products to the US news market. He will also assist Streamworks’ CEO Ray Mia on the global rollout of business operations.

Adconion Direct has named Taylor West as its new Regional VP/Mid-Atlantic and South. It’s a newly created position at the digital ad solutions company as it looks to expand its national digital sales efforts as a result of new product releases and the continued growth of its technology. In the new role, West will be responsible for overseeing the company’s sales efforts and growing its sales team in the Mid-Atlantic and Southern regions. He will be based in Adconion’s NY offices.

Noah Klas has been promoted to Director/Member Services at the Digital Place-based Advertising Association (DPAA). “During Noah’s time at DPAA we have grown our membership significantly and implemented many major initiatives including our involvement with the ANA Thought Leadership program and our annual Digital Media Summit,” said Susan Danaher, President & CEO of DPAA, in a statement.
 

On a personal level, one of my favorite current trends (if you want to call it as such) is the adoption of responsive design when the decision is made to re-launch a particular website. We saw it earlier this year when Meredith rolled out a new version of Parents.com as well as when Showtime Sports launched a new website. The latest media company to incorporate responsive design technology into its new website is TIME, which debuted its redesigned website yesterday. As with any other site that incorporates such technology, TIME.com is now optimized to the device you’re using to access the site, whether it’s a desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. In re-launching the site, Catherine Sharick, the Managing Editor of TIME, says mobile users for the first time will be able to access all of the content that’s currently available to desktop users, including each complete new issue of the magazine.

Later – Sahil
Sahil Patel, Associate Editor for Cynopsis Digital
10.23.12

Denise O’Connor: Group Publisher, Media Entertainment
Diane K Schwartz: Senior Vice President, Media Communications Group

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