A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM EVOLVE MEDIA

Cynopsis: DIGITAL
12.12.12

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, December 12, 2012, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.

It’s well known that Microsoft wants to turn Xbox Live into the home entertainment platform of choice among consumers worldwide. To that end, the company has been pretty steadfast in securing deals with a wide array of media companies to make all sorts of content available for Xbox Live subscribers. Yesterday brought over a few more content providers, as Microsoft announced deals with 43 new global entertainment partners to launch apps on Xbox Live between now and spring 2013. While some of these partners, and the apps that they’ll release, are region-specific, many will be available in multiple countries. Among the ones coming to Xbox Live subscribers in the US, there will be apps from the likes of Flixster, IndieFlix, Machinima, Maxim, MTV, PBS, PopcornFlix, The CW, and Vimeo. Some providers have already started to roll out apps to various regions across the globe, including, in the US, CNET and Maxim. As a note to those interested in the ongoing Netflix vs. HBO conversation, HBO Nordic will arrive on Xbox Live in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden at some point during the aforementioned timeframe.

In advance of Portlandia’s return to IFC in January, IFC has debuted a new web show that will explore Portland and locals within the city that inspire the comedy series. Kumail Tours Portlandia stars comedian and frequent Portlandia guest star Kumail Nanjiani (Franklin & Bash) as the tour guide to some real-life Portland locations and residents that serve as the show’s biggest influences. Directed by Portlandia co-creator and director Jonathan Krisel, the first webisode is already available on IFC.com. Additional webisodes will be posted to IFC.com on a weekly basis through December and January. The third season of Portlandia premieres on January 4 at 10p ET/PT. IFC also plans to air a “pre-premiere” episode on December 14 at 10:30p ET/PT. The next day, the network will make this episode available on IFC.com, Portlandia’s Facebook page, and iTunes.

Broadway Video has launched Sugarboy on the Above Average Network, the production company’s original comedy channel on YouTube. Showing the world through the eyes of a boy who is hopped on too much sugar, each episode of the series will feature the titular character narrating a different fantastical story. For example, the story in the first episode is about a renegade crime doctor who administers face-punches and drop-kicks on his arch-nemesis; the story in the second episode follows a roller-girl on a mission across NYC to find her Rollie Fingers baseball card, all shot in a Grindhouse style. Sugarboy comes from the mind of Dan Opsal, a sketch writer and director on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. A co-production with the late night host’s production company, Holiday Road, the show is executive produced by Fallon, Opsal, and Amy Ozols. Slated for six episodes, the first one is already available with the second episode to come next Tuesday. The remaining four will be released following the holidays.

Nickelodeon selected Starlight Runner Entertainment, a NY-based production studio specializing in “transmedia narratives”, to help the network prep its new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) series for multiple platforms. In the past, Starlight Runner has done transmedia work for a number of blockbuster film franchises, including Avatar, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Transformers. For TMNT, Starlight Runner analyzed all versions of the long-running children’s entertainment property, including all older TV shows, films, and games, to create a franchise “mythology” bible. The document features profiles for all characters, locations, vehicles, and weapons, in addition to compiled secret histories of characters such as Shredder and Master Splinter. Nickelodeon will use this resource as it looks to expand the animated series, which debuted on September 29, across new media platforms. 

Tribeca Film and Focus World, the alternative distribution arm of Focus Features, have acquired the US rights to Greetings from Tim Buckley, an indie film that explores the lives of musicians, and father and son, Tim and Jeff Buckley. Directed by Dan Algrant (People I Know), and co-written by Emma Sheanshang, David Brendel, and Algrant, the film stars Penn Badgely (Gossip Girl), Imogen Poots (A Late Quartet), and newcomer Ben Rosenfield. Tribeca Film and Focus World will release the film in 2013 in a variety of formats, including theatrically and on-demand, as well as on digital services such as iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, and Xbox Live.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Mobile video ad company Rhythm NewMedia has launched Flow, a new ad platform to help premium mobile and tablet publishers sell brand advertising directly. Rhythm says Flow provides publishers’ direct sales teams with the same immersive ad units and brand effectiveness engine available to its own direct sales team. Flow Interactive In-Stream placements offer fully customizable video overlays with over 20 interactivity options. Flow Embedded Full Page placements allow publishers to offer swipe-able, magazine-like experiences with MRAID and ORMMA rich media support. The Flow In-Banner Video unit has patent-pending bit-rate support along with completion rate measurement. And the Flow Interstitial Video unit allows publishers to insert videos in-between articles, photos, game levels, or at the start of an app, while also featuring the same interactivity options available via Flow’s In-Stream unit. Since Rhythm only works with what it calls premium publishers, the company has already partnered with the likes of NBCUniversa’s Eonline, PrePlay, and CBS Interactive’s TV.com app to integrate Flow within those properties.

Evolve Media Corp. has launched INgage, a new native ad platform for its network of publishing properties. Advertisers can sponsor this ad unit, which compiles articles relevant to the brand. Once a visitor clicks on the link, they’re taken to the article, which also contains an interactive overlay and other brand ads. The unit can also serve up videos and promotions directly from the brand, all within an environment that looks and feels organic to the publisher’s site design.

If you’re a brand or agency and you want to run a marketing campaign or launch a page/app on Facebook, the social network would like you to use one of its approved vendors, otherwise known as Preferred Marketing Developers (PMDs). To make this process easier, Facebook has launched the PMD Center, a directory that lists the social giant’s preferred developers, which currently number over 260 spanning more than 35 countries.

Resonate has launched Illuminate, a new analytics and insights engine that incorporates traditional audience and segmentation data with consumer values to help advertisers understand the motivation behind a consumer’s purchase decision. With Illuminate, Resonate builds audience profiles, which aim to show the factors that are driving campaign performance, whether that’s measured by clicks, conversions, or brand lift. Resonate says Illuminate can also highlight inconsistencies between the profile of the targeted audience and the values and motivations of those actually responding to the campaign.

Adspace Digital Mall Network has inked a partnership with Conde Nast Traveler to distribute holiday themed content across its digital mall network nationwide. Among the content included in this partnership is a video of Conde Nast Traveler’s Word of Mouth Editor Eimear Lynch speaking about the most luxurious winter destinations covered in the December issue of the magazine. This is not the first partnership between Adspace and Conde Nast. Last year the two teamed up to distribute shopping and style content, including fashion tips and behind-the-scenes videos of cover shoots, from Lucky Magazine.

Food Network reports that CookingChannelTV.com, Food.com, and FoodNetwork.com collectively generated over 11.2 million video plays in November 2012. It’s an increase of 2% year-over-year. In addition, the programmer pulled in more than 435 million page-views across all three sites last month, an increase of 7% from the previous November.

YouTube has updated its Android tablet app and mobile website to reflect the video site’s new channel-centric user interface. This means the new Guide feature is now also available to those accessing the video giant on an Android tablet, regardless of the manner in which they do it.

NBC News has opened up its archives of videos, photos, and other memorabilia to release a new eBook celebrating the 65th anniversary of Meet the Press. The new Meet the Press: 65 Years of History in the Making, Volume One interactive eBook offers a retrospective on the history of the show as it covered the people and events that shaped the world from WWII to present day. Authored by Terry Golway, the eBook features a video introduction from current Meet the Press moderator David Gregory. It also offers content featuring some of the most influential personalities from the last 65 years, including Joe McCarthy, Eleanor Roosevelt, Fidel Castro, Richard Nixon, Martin Luther King, Jr., Michael Jordan, Bill Gosby, Indira Gandhi, Hillary Clinton, and more. The eBook is available for $6.99 exclusively in the iBookstore.

Glo.com has released a new iPad app, offering style, beauty, relationship, and home decor content in partnership with MSN and Hearst. The free app features daily content mirroring what’s available on the site. This includes an assortment of videos and the site’s Grab Bag tool. Exclusive to the app, however, is a new article series called My Secret Weapons, which will bring in well-known tastemakers to dish on their favorite things.

Hasbro has integrated all of its content initiatives, including television, film, commercial productions, and short-form content, under Stephen Davis, President of the LA-based Hasbro Studios. Davis, who has overseen global TV development, production, and distribution for Hasbro since launching the studio in 2009, will report to Hasbro’s CMO John Frascotti. In addition to television, Davis will now also lead Hasbro’s Film Group in LA and the company’s Rhode Island-based studio responsible for creating commercials and short-form content. Bennett Schneir, SVP/Motion Pictures, and Terry Scott, SVP/Cake Mix Studio, will report to him.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Tonight is a big night at Madison Square Garden as the 12-12-12 concert to benefit the victims of Hurricane Sandy begins at 7:30pm ET. It’s going to feature performances from some of the biggest names in music, including, Eric Clapton, Alicia Keys, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Rolling Stones, Roger Waters, Kanye West, and The Who.

Yesterday, I covered the expansive distribution strategy the event’s producers, which include Cablevision CEO James Dolan and super-producer Harvey Weinstein, have secured so the performances are not restricted to just those at the Garden. Whichever way you choose to watch it, whether it’s online through YouTube, Yahoo, AOL, or Hulu, or on television via AMC, definitely watch. And if possible, definitely donate.

Later – Sahil
Sahil Patel, Associate Editor for Cynopsis Digital
12.12.12

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

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