VideoNuze Posts

Amazon announced this morning that it has added content from NBC, NBC Sports, Watch HGTV, Watch Food Network, Watch Travel Channel, Fox Now, NPR One, GoPro and others to Fire TV. Amazon said there are now over 4,000 channels, apps and games available in Fire TV, which it believes is the largest of any connected TV device. Amazon also said Amazon is the top-selling connected TV device “across all retailers” from July-October, though it’s not clear what retailers are included.

All of this additional content strengthens Fire TV, especially in the all-important holiday season. Conversely, I’ve been spending a lot of time with my Fire TV over the past week, and I’ve been surprised, and quite disappointed, with Fire TV’s implementation (or lack thereof) of the 20 content partners Amazon announced on Dec. 8th as part of its new “Streaming Partners Program” (SPP).

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Akamai has released its Q3 2015 State of the Internet report and, as always, it is chock full of details about global Internet connections. One of the more interesting data points Akamai found related to online video is that 15% of the world’s Internet connections now average 15 mbps or higher, the speed Akamai has designated to be “4K ready.” That’s up from 12% in Q3 ’14.

South Korea once again had the highest percentage of connections above 15 mbps, at 45%, which was actually down from 66% in Q3 ’14. In second place was Sweden at 38%, up from 29% a year ago, followed by Norway at 37%, up from 21% a year ago. Switzerland and Hong Kong  (both at 36%) rounded out the top 5 countries that are 4K ready.

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Moat has extended its measurement and reporting capabilities to include Watchwith’s in-program advertising within TV shows, under a new partnership announced by the companies today. Moat will use its MRC-accredited platform to measure and report in-program ads’  aggregate audience time spent and user engagement with in-program ads. The reporting will be enabled on both desktop and in mobile video apps.

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Demand-side platform DataXu has published a new white paper on programmatic TV which provides great insights on opportunities and challenges going into 2016. The paper notes there’s still a lot of confusion around how to define programmatic TV and what the unique benefits are. The paper does a nice job of breaking down different types of programmatic TV opportunities and use cases. To make things more tangible, it also includes an auto manufacturer case study.

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As VideoNuze readers know, the site is 100% focused on the online video and related industries. I respect that you are busy and read VideoNuze for business reasons, so I don't want to distract you with personal details. However, today I'm making an exception.

I’m excited to share news that is special to me: my 15 1/2 year-old daughter Abby has written her 4th book of fiction, “The Bell Sisters’ Discovery.” As with the prior 3 books, my wife Sarah and I have self-published it using Amazon's CreateSpace. Abby is selling the book for $10 and ALL of the proceeds are being donated to She’s the First, a non-profit that provides scholarships to girls in low-income countries.

Abby’s passion for writing dates back to her elementary school years, when she loved to create short stories. In 4th grade, one of them became her first self-published book, “Very Berry,” (all proceeds donated to Reading is Fundamental). Next came “Starring Eliza” in 6th grade (all proceeds donated to The Nature Conservancy). That was followed by “Beatrice’s Fortune” in 7th grade (all proceeds donated to Music & Youth Initiative). To date, Abby has raised nearly $6,000 for all of these wonderful organizations which Abby has found and identified with.

Each book is approximately 100-125 pages. They have become increasingly sophisticated as Abby’s writing has developed. “The Bell Sisters’ Discovery” is a compelling story of how 4 sisters, age 7 to 14, are inspired to overcome their respective personal challenges after discovering and reading the personal diary entries of a famous twentieth-century author.

Writing (and selling) the books has been an amazing growth experience for Abby, who more recently has also been publishing non-fiction online posts. Of course I’m a proud papa; her ability to do all this at a such a young age is terrific. This is her “thing,” just as other kids distinguish themselves in sports, art, music or other areas.

This holiday season, as you think about stocking stuffers, belated Hanukkah gifts and other inexpensive, but meaningful items for girls (and boys) ages 5-14, please consider “The Bell Sisters’ Discovery” and Abby’s other books. They are uplifting, original stories of girls learning to navigate life's ups and downs, while understanding the value of interpersonal relationships and how to make a difference in the world. Over the years we’ve have been told countless times that Abby’s books have helped spark young kids' interest in reading and writing plus initiated a variety of other personal “giving-back” projects.

If you have a daughter, granddaughter, niece, friend's child, or another girl (or boy!) who's special to you, I'm confident that any of Abby's books would be a cherished gift. And, in the spirit of the holiday season, your purchase(s) will help make the world a better place for all of us.

Click here to buy “The Bell Sisters’ Discovery” on Amazon, or visit Abby’s web site for more information.

Thank you, and wishing you all the best this holiday season.

I'm pleased to present the 302nd edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

Earlier this week I wrote bullishly about Amazon’s new “Streaming Partners Program,” (SPP), which could disrupt the SVOD industry. I emphasized the word “could” because, as with everything in life, execution is everything.

In that post, I noted that SPP on Amazon’s web site was already implemented well, but that the iPhone app experience didn’t work. In today’s podcast, Colin shares his experiences on both Android and Fire TV, which are shockingly incomplete.

It’s very surprising to see Amazon, which is typically an execution machine, come up so short here, and it suggests they rushed SPP to market before being 100% ready.

Implementation issues aside, we discuss the overall merits of SPP and Colin’s view that Netflix is actually better positioned for an SPP-like role in SVOD. I still like Amazon’s SPP strategy a lot and will keep an eye on how things unfold.

Listen now to learn more!

Click here to listen to the podcast (22 minutes, 33  seconds)

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