VideoNuze Posts

Online video, music and sports experiences are poised to become even richer and more personalized as metadata provider Gracenote announced today a suite of new data products for each market. The data are meant to support entertainment providers’ and device makers’ voice and text search, user experiences and personalized recommendations.

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VidMob, whose platform provides clients access to thousands of video post-production professionals, is expanding its scope, announcing this morning that it is launching a self-service ad platform for Snapchat. This means that small-to-medium sized businesses will be able to buy, create and manage video ad campaigns through one interface. To date only larger brands and agencies have been able to buy Snap Ads.

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Mobile video is white hot, and here’s yet another data point illustrating it: 67% of U.S. consumers say they watch mobile video daily, which is almost equal to the 70% of U.S. consumers who say they watch video on their desktop or laptops daily. And 62% of consumers say they plan to watch more online videos in the next 6 months, on whichever device is handiest.

The data comes from AOL’s new 2017 State of the Video Industry Global Research Study, which covered 7 different markets.

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I’m pleased to present the 358th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

Apple and Facebook have contrasting ambitions in video, with the former pursuing a very modest approach while the latter appears to be embarking on an all-out company pivot to being video-first.

Earlier this week I wrote about Apple’s new TV series,  “Planet of the Apps” and “Carpool Karaoke” spinoff. They each have their own appeal, but are far from the expensive undertakings we’ve seen from Netflix and Amazon, for example. That means that far from re-inventing TV as Apple was one predicted to do, it will in fact continue to play a very small role, which Colin and I see as a real missed opportunity.

Meanwhile, Facebook has confirmed it will launch connected TV apps as the company aims to have users expand how they engage with the social media giant. Colin and discuss some of the pros and cons of the CTV approach and also Facebook’s motivation, which is to attract TV ad dollars.

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Synacor is a company that has flown a bit below the radar, but is playing a pivotal, behind-the-scenes role in enabling TV Everywhere and single sign-on across multiple devices, including Apple TV. Synacor’s CEO Himesh Bhise caught me up on the company’s activities and his thoughts on where the TV industry is heading. Following is an edited transcript.

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Yesterday Facebook shed more light on its plans to get users to consume a lot more video, by announcing that it will launch a connected TV app soon for Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Samsung Smart TV, with others to follow. In addition to the blog post, Facebook’s VP of Partnerships Dan Rose was interviewed at Code Media and provided more details on Facebook’s overall video strategy (see video below).

The connected TV app will allow users to watch videos shared by friends or Pages that they follow, live videos and recommended videos. Perhaps the most interesting use case is watching videos that you saved while scrolling your news feed.

Of course the whole idea of a connected TV app being relevant to Facebook users is predicated on the company’s aggressive push into video. In yesterday’s interview, Rose talked at length about the role of the new “video tab” in the Facebook UI which acts as a central repository for live and on-demand videos, augmenting what is seen when scrolling the News Feed.

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Last night at the Code Media conference,  Eddy Cue, Apple’s SVP of Internet Software and Services, shared thoughts about the company’s original video plans, which have been the subject of intense industry interest for years. Cue was joined on stage by Ben Silverman, Chairman and Co-CEO of Propagate, which is Apple’s co-production partner in “Planet of the Apps,” premiering on Apple Music this Spring.

Recode’s Peter Kafka interviewed Cue and Silverman about the show and broader plans Apple might have for investing more heavily in original TV shows.

“Planet of the Apps” is a “Shark Tank” takeoff for app developers that features Jessica Alba, Will.i.Am, Gwyneth Paltrow and Gary Vaynerchuk judging various app ideas for investment and cultivation. While Silverman highlighted a number of creative twists the show will include such as contestants pitching their app idea on an escalator, with judges swiping left or right if interested, at its core, “Planet of the Apps” is another in a long line of reality competition shows.

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Another day, another move by a major wireless carrier that further boosts mobile video. Yesterday, Verizon announced that it is offering unlimited data plans, for $80/month for the first line and $45/month for subsequent lines. It’s the first time Verizon has offered an unlimited data option since 2011 and is yet another sign of how aggressively wireless carriers are embracing mobile video as a key value proposition, in turn pressuring their business model of incremental payments for data usage.

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