Posts for 'NATPE'

Here's more evidence of how watching TV programs is changing: according to part two of a TV viewer survey fielded by NATPE and CEA, 71% of respondents said they have streamed full-length TV programs in the past 6 months. No surprise, Netflix was the go-to source, with 40% having watched there, followed by 26% for YouTube and 25% for network web sites.

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At last night's Golden Globe awards, Amazon's series "Transparent" won Best Comedy, with its star Jeffrey Tambor winning best actor - TV Comedy, while Netflix's "House of Cards" star Kevin Spacey won for best actor - TV drama. Granted, it's just one awards show, and just two programs, but the Amazon and Netflix wins further legitimize OTT as a bona fide alternative source of high-quality programming to broadcast and cable TV.

The operative word here is "alternative." Note that for years, Netflix in particular has characterized itself as "supplemental" to broadcast and cable TV. And to be sure, with around 37 million Netflix subscribers in the U.S. and cord-cutting still relatively muted, the reality is that today Netflix still is mostly a "supplemental" service.

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At NATPE recently, I interviewed Scott Donaton, Global Chief Content Officer for UM (Universal McCann) and head of UM Studios. The agency has clients including L'Oreal, BMW, Johnson & Johnson and many others. In the interview, Scott articulates very well the value of branded entertainment and why so many brands are now getting involved.

Scott explains how brands are seeking to move from traditional interruptive advertising experiences to ones where they can add value to conversations that audiences are already having. A great example Scott describes is UM's work with BMW to develop branded content in support of the new bobsled it designed for Team USA in the Sochi Olympics. Importantly, Scott also details how brands measure the success of their branded entertainment initiatives.

The interview runs approximately 7 minutes and is well worth watching for anyone interested in how branded entertainment is evolving.

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While at NATPE, I did a video interview with Ezra Cooperstein, COO of Fullscreen, one of the biggest multichannel networks (MCNs), with 27 million unique viewers and 358 million videos viewed in December, per comScore. Ezra explains exactly how MCNs' currently add value to YouTube creators, how the business is changing to more of a studio model, what the company is doing internationally and key trends for 2014, among other topics.

The edited interview is below and runs approximately 7 minutes.

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While at NATPE last week I did a short video interview with Mike Wiese, director of branded entertainment for JWT New York. In the interview Mike talks about how clients are approaching branded entertainment projects, how these align with traditional paid advertising, how one of his clients, Macy's, is succeeding and where branded entertainment is heading in 2014.

The edited interview is below and runs 5 minutes, 47 seconds.

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I'm excited to be hosting a one-on-one interview with Roku's CEO and founder Anthony Wood at NATPE in Miami next Monday, Jan. 28th. Anthony is one of the true visionaries in the online video / connected TV device world.

Among the topics on my list to discuss with him are Roku TV (launched with Hisense and TCL at CES last week), how Roku owners actually use the device since there are now over 1,200 channels to choose from, the status of Roku's work with pay-TV operators and whether transactional VOD will play a bigger part in Roku's future. I'm sure we'll also discuss larger industry trends like cord-cutting, the connected TV device landscape, Smart TVs, TV Everywhere and the role of mobile devices.

That's a long list, but what do YOU think I should ask him? Send me suggestions via email or leave a comment!

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A new study from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) released yesterday at CES, revealed that it is still very early days for second screen usage in conjunction with TV programs. The study estimates that 44% of the general population has ever accessed TV program related content on a second screen. This is the group that was surveyed.

Of this group, 42% (or about 18% of the general population) accessed "synchronous" content, which is meant to be consumed with the TV program, such as polls, contests, Twitter feeds, chats, etc.), and 91% (or about 40% of the general population) accessed "asynchronous" content which is meant to be consumed before or after the TV program such as actor or behind-the-scenes info, trivia, webisode viewing and Twitter/Facebook activity.

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Last week at NATPE, I had the pleasure of interviewing Frank Cooper, PepsiCo's Chief Marketing Officer, Global Consumer Engagement. Frank provides great insights into how PepsiCo's brands are evolving from a traditional approach to marketing to the consumer, to one that is more focused on engaging them with the brands. Part of doing this involves adopting a "beta culture" throughout the company, where campaigns are iterative and not necessarily fully polished at the outset.

Frank sees content as a key element in engaging consumers and believes there's a huge opportunity in episodic content online, where PepsiCo brands themselves will become more active. That said, he's very pragmatic about branded entertainment, explaining that these days everyone is vying for the consumer's precious attention. Brands can't do sub-par work if they expect to be competitive in their entertainment offerings.

Among the other topics Frank discusses:

- The increasingly important role of data in informing content choices, channels and other decisions.

- How expectations of those under age 25 differ from those older than 25.

- Success metrics of two recent campaigns, Mountain Dew's "DEWmocracy" and Pepsi Refresh and what the company learned from each of these.

- The organizational challenges consumer packaged goods companies face in adapting their marketing practices.

And more.

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At the NATPE conference in Miami Beach last week I did a series of short one-on-one video interviews, which I'll be posting to VideoNuze over the next couple of weeks.

First up is Rob Barnett, CEO of My Damn Channel, which announced its new "My Damn Channel Comedy Network" at NATPE. In the interview, Rob talks about My Damn Channel's positioning and how the new comedy network differentiates itself. He delves into how he sees bigger online video properties emerging in the same way as happened in cable TV.  Other topics Rob discusses:

- More than 30% of the company's videos are now viewed on mobile devices and durations are being mainly kept to 2-3 minutes max as a result.

- Why My Damn Channel continues to focus on the series format, rather than one-off comedic clips.

- The important role of the "human element" in curating how creative work gets noticed and promoted.

- Brand extensions and the importance of entrepreneurs doing one thing right before moving on to others.

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I'm pleased to present the 165th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia. This week I first share some reflections from spending 2 days at the NATPE conference earlier this week, focusing on content creators' attitudes toward online video.

That's a segue into discussing "binge-viewing," which will get a lot more visibility starting today, as Netflix releases all 13 episodes of its high-profile original series "House of Cards" (I watched the first 5 minutes of Chapter 1 this morning, and I'm hooked already). We discuss how binge-viewing is changing viewers' expectations and influencing content creators. For more about the pros and cons of Netflix's binge-viewing  strategy, see my prior analysis here.

Next we talk about eyeIO, and its THX certification announced yesterday. Colin provides a layman's explanation, that augments his post yesterday, of why this is so important along with the context of H.264 and the new H.265 standard just approved by the ITU. We also review the benefits to content providers and viewers.  

Click here to listen to the podcast (19 minutes, 36 seconds)

Click here for previous podcasts

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