Cynopsis: DIGITAL
11/07/12

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, November 7, 2012, and this is your first early morning digital briefing.

In a move that is sure to intensify what many believe will be a competition between Netflix and Amazon for the online SVOD consumer, Amazon is testing out a new monthly payment option for Amazon Prime. Priced at $7.99, the same number consumers pay Netflix every month to stream movies and TV shows, this will allow consumers to have access to Prime’s video catalog and streaming service, as well as the other features such as free two-day shipping and the ability to rent Kindle eBooks. This new monthly option is actually more expensive than the $79 subscribers currently pay for Prime. Not sure how much that will matter to consumers when they look at Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Prime, and notice that all three have the same price tag.

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It also looks like the whole notion of a battle brewing between Netflix and Amazon won’t be restricted to the digital distribution of licensed film and television content. According to a report from Variety, Amazon is “close to green-lighting” a musical comedy series called Browsers. Written by David Javerbaum, the series would follow four interns working for a website like The Huffington Post. Variety indicates that the show was originally written for CBS, but never got past the script stage. The report is also unsure of whether Amazon is first opting for a pilot or agreeing to a full season from the get-go.

Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome will premiere on Machinima Prime beginning this Friday, November 9. As first reported by Entertainment Weekly’s Insider TV blog, the movie, which is a prequel to the critically acclaimed sci-fi series, will be broken down into ten short segments (7-12 minutes), which will be released over the course of the next four weeks. The plan is to then air the full two-hour movie version on Syfy in early 2013. Blood and Chrome is written by Executive Producer Michael Taylor and directed by Jonas Pate, who did several episodes of an earlier Battlestar spin-off called Caprica. The prequel follows a young William Adama, played by Luke Pasqualino (Skins), during the first Cylon War.

Alloy Digital has signed a deal with Kurt Hugo Schneider, a songwriter, music producer, and the star of a YouTube channel that currently boasts more than 1.5 million subscribers and is inching toward 500 million total views. Per the partnership, Schneider will tap into Alloy Digital’s capabilities in digital video distribution and marketing to grow his audience, as well as work with Alloy’s national sales force on “sponsor-driven opportunities” to help advertisers reach his fans on YouTube. Alloy also plans to help Schneider promote his upcoming live-stream concert, which is currently scheduled to broadcast on his YouTube channel on November 17 at 5pm ET. Alloy Digital owns and operates some of the top YouTube channels, both inside and outside the video giant’s original content initiative — this deal seems to fall in line with the company’s YouTube growth strategy.

BermanBraun has launched CineFix, a new YouTube channel devoted to those who obsess over films as well as those who make them. As first reported by The Hollywood Reporter, the channel launched this week with four shows, with plans to expand the lineup to 10 within the next six months. The shows at launch are as follows: I Heard, movie reviews from actor J.B. Smoove; Hollywood & Hyland, interviews between comedian Andre Hyland and movie stars promoting their latest release; The Best Movie Lists, which is exactly what you think it is but hosted by Rotten Tomatoes Senior Editor Grae Drake; and Badass Digest, in which blogger Devin Faraci explores film culture. Two other shows are also slated to appear in the immediate future: Trailer Hitch, an animated series focusing on reviews of trailers; and Screen Addict, movie news with Ben Lyons. This is the third YouTube channel from BermanBraun, also serving as the company’s third entry into the video site’s original content initiative.

Dick Clark Productions plans to stream the Coca-Cola Red Carpet Live @ The 2012 American Music Awards online. The stream will pick up at 5pm ET on November 18 and will be available via Ustream. This means other publishers and outlets can also host and feature the show by embedding it on their website (the embed code is available on AMA’s Ustream page). Dick Clark Productions’ pre- and post-event coverage will also be available on demand. It’s the fourth consecutive year the company is hosting the AMA pre-show.

CBS Interactive has made Taylor Swift Live from New York City available on-demand on CBS.com and all VEVO platforms. The performance was filmed in front of a live, but private studio audience at the Ed Sullivan Theater in Manhattan, following the six-time Grammy-winner’s appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman. Swift’s performance includes songs off her new album, Red, along with other fan favorites.

Youku Tudou, one of China’s largest online video providers, has entered into an agreement with Sony Pictures Television (SPT) to bring more than 300 new and classic Sony film titles to the Youku Premium platform. Following this deal, Youku Tudou now has agreements in place with every major Hollywood studio. The 300 Sony titles, including the likes of Groundhog Day, The Amazing Spider-Man, and 21 Jump Street, will be available on Youku Premium for paid on-demand. Youku Premium, which debuted in beta in late 2010, offers ad-free film and TV content via a monthly subscription and/or paid on-demand rentals, as well as ad-supported content that’s viewable for free. It currently boasts approximately 2 million paid users, and features programming from both Chinese and international rights-holders. The other seven major Hollywood studios to have agreements in place with Youku Tudou include Warner Bros., DreamWorks, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Disney, NBCUniversal, and Lionsgate.

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Google, Shaw Media, and Corus Entertainment are pledging to support ideaBOOST, a new accelerator program from the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) Media Lab that focuses on providing financial support, mentorship, and other forms of guidance to help make digital content projects commercially viable. As CFC’s Chief Digital Officer Ana Serrano describes it, the program is “designed to propel both new and established production companies to achieve commercial success in the rapidly expanding world of digital entertainment.” It’s a four-month program, for which eight content creators have already been selected via a crowd-sourced voting process. Google, Shaw Media, and Corus Entertainment will now provide these finalists with “critical advice” and resources in the areas of product development, business strategy, and audience engagement so that these projects can find commercial success, says the CFC. The eight finalists will also receive $15,000 in seed capital for their project.

Yahoo and Samsung have reached a multiyear deal to integrate Yahoo’s Broadcast Interactivity platform into Samsung’s line of 2012 Smart TVs. Broadcast Interactivity, which is powered by Yahoo’s automatic content recognition (ACR) technology SoundPrint, will be deployed in Samsung’s SyncPlus platform. This will allow for the creation and delivery of second-screen, content discovery, interactive advertising, and other consumer engagement experiences on Samsung Smart TVs. Yahoo and Samsung say Showtime and National Geographic have already signed on to be two of the first TV programmers to use this new integrated connected TV platform. The combination of Broadcast Interactivity and SyncPlus will be delivered via the latest firmware update for Samsung’s 2012 Smart TVs in the US. In addition, Broadcast Interactivity will be integrated into future models going forward.

thePlatform, a Seattle-based independent subsidiary of Comcast, will offer Conviva‘s patented video analytics capabilities to its customers via a new service called Conviva Viewer Insights. The service will be available as part of thePlatform’s mpx video publishing system at no additional charge. Publishers will be able to access cross-platform audience data, as well as the impact of high-quality video on viewer engagement within players and across devices, according to two companies. Streaming quality, content trending, and video player performance are among the reports that will be available to customers employing this new service. Per the deal, the two companies are also agreeing to identify and collaborate on joint sales opportunities for their mutual customers.

A+E Networks Digital is reporting another record-setting month, amassing 24.5 million unique visitors and 34.8 million visits in October 2012. In terms of page views, the company says last month was its second-best ever, generating 134.6 million page views in total. A+E Networks Digital encompasses AETV.com, myLifetime.com, History.com, and Bio.com.

The Cynopsis Digital Video Measurement Summit is next week. We’ve got some great speakers lined up, including executives from AOL, Adap.tv, comScore, ESPN, Horizon Media, My Damn Channel, Nielsen, Starcom MediaVest, VideoHub, Vuguru, and YouTube. REGISTER NOW.

Verizon plans on shutting down Verizon Apps beginning in January 2013. The company expects the process of removing its digital app storefront from all Android and Research In Motion devices to be finished by March 27, 2013. Verizon says business apps submitted to its “Private Applications Store” will remain available for purchase and download to enterprise customers. As to why it’s doing this, Verizon said in its announcement that the company is evolving its “strategy to further simplify today’s experience and meet the needs of tomorrow.” Plus, most apps that are available on Verizon Apps are also available on the other storefronts such as Apple’s App Store and Google Play.

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On the Table with Eric Ripert is a show on The Reserve Channel on YouTube (one of the “chosen” 100+). Hosted by Eric Ripert, the chef invites celebrity friends into his home kitchen where they cook that guest’s “signature dish,” all the while discussing a variety of topics, from food to creativity, life, and their passions. I’ve covered this show before, and when I’ve had the opportunity to check it out, I’ve enjoyed some of the past episodes, which have featured the likes of Mario Batali and Stanley Tucci. I bring it up to you again for two reasons: 1) Ripert’s latest guest is Roger Waters, of Pink Floyd, also known as The Greatest Band of All Time; and 2) they talk about something that’s on everyone’s mind this morning — POLITICS. Give it a look.

Later – Sahil
Sahil Patel, Associate Editor for Cynopsis Digital
11.07.12

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