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Cable Flexes Its Muscles (Again) With ESPN's Wimbledon Win
Score another sports programming victory for cable, as ESPN announced today that it has acquired all of the U.S. TV rights to Wimbledon tennis in a
12-year deal beginning in 2012. ESPN's win was NBC's loss, as the broadcast network's 43-year association with the tournament comes to an end.
For ESPN, and for cable TV networks in general, it is another step in a steady progression of using their economic supremacy over broadcasters to obtain television rights to marquee sporting events. While ESPN is the undisputed leader, numerous other cable networks like TNT, USA, Versus, Golf and of course the regional sports networks (RSNs) such as Comcast SportsNet and Fox Sports Net have staked their claim to early round or full coverage of high-profile sports events.
Categories: Broadcasters, Cable Networks, Cable TV Operators
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Netflix Expands to 43 Latin American Countries But Faces New Broadband Challenges
A major piece of news from Netflix during this typically slow July 4th holiday week: the company posted on its blog this morning that it intends to expand its service to 43 countries in Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean later this year.
The 43 countries weren't specified nor was an exact timetable for rollout. And no mention was made of DVDs, so it appears that this will be a
streaming-only offering. In another first, the service will be available in Spanish, Portuguese and English, the first time to my knowledge that Netflix will offer additional language options.
Netflix observers have been eagerly awaiting news from the company on international expansion plans beyond Canada, which launched last September. By the end of Q1, Netflix said it had approximately 800K subscribers in Canada, but the service has been hindered a bit by extremely low data caps by broadband ISPs. The Canadian experience, along with other broadband-related factors, makes the choice of Latin America a bit surprising as Netflix's next move and introduces new challenges.
Categories: Aggregators, International
Topics: Netflix
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No Surprise, Google is Kicking Hulu's Tires
The LA Times is reporting that Google has met with Hulu and its representatives about possibly acquiring the site. Others reported to have met include Microsoft and Yahoo. The news isn't surprising given Google's well-known appetite for adding premium Hollywood to its offering and its general acquisitiveness. Despite my skepticism about whether a Hulu deal can get done with anyone given the complexity around long-term distribution rights from its network owners, I suggested that Google, along with Apple and Netflix, would be the most likely prospective acquirers. Still, it's very early in the process, so lots will still happen.
Meanwhile, Hulu acquisition activity doesn't seem to have slowed down product innovation. Today Hulu announced a clever new integration with Facebook that allows Hulu viewers to share comments on a specific scene in Hulu programs with their Facebook friends along with a link to that scene. Hulu is also enabling login using Facebook credentials, something that has become popular at many sites (update: it looks like there was an implementation issue, so Hulu has pulled back this feature for now). The push to socialize Hulu is part of a broader trend to bring social media behavior to TV viewing.
Categories: Aggregators, Deals & Financings
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New Data Indicates Almost Half of Online Viewers Watch Pre-Roll Ads Even When They Can Choose Not To
Two recent data points share a common, though somewhat surprising, conclusion: almost half of online viewers watch pre-roll ads to the end even when presented with the choice to opt out and skip the ad entirely. Clearly two data points aren't enough to form a real trend, but they do provide insight into how online video advertising may ultimately differ from traditional TV advertising.
The first data point came from YouTube and Scripps, via this article in Online Media Daily. Scripps ran ads for 3 different programs on YouTube using its "True View" format that allows users to easily skip past the ad. It turned out that 44% of viewers actually watched the ad through to the end (a key benefit of the TrueView model is that advertisers only pay for ad views, not for skips).
Then separately this week, video ad manager AdoTube released its Q1 2011 In-Stream Ad Format Index, which provides data on the 4.25 billion ad impressions generated across AdoTube's network (slides here). Among the key findings: 45% of viewers of its "Polite Pre-Roll" which allows skipping, watched through to the end. That was a 7% increase from the prior quarter and on par with conventional pre-roll ads. Another interesting finding was that when the Polite Pre-Roll is used, the abandonment rate for the content itself is 18% lower than when conventional pre-rolls are used, suggesting that ad choice enhances the content experience.
Categories: Advertising
Topics: AdoTube, Scripps, YouTube
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VideoNuze Report Podcast #102 - HBO GO's Opportunities - July 1, 2011
Daisy Whitney and I are pleased to present the 102nd edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for July 1, 2011.
In this week's podcast, Daisy and I discuss HBO GO, the online/mobile service from HBO. As I said in my review yesterday, I'm very impressed with HBO GO, and believe it is a strong new asset for the company. The big question is what exactly will HBO do with it - maintain it as a primarily defensive value-add to subscribers, or pivot to broader online distribution partnerships and possibly even direct-to-consumer initiatives? Daisy and I contemplate the options and risks.
Click here to listen to the podcast (11 minutes, 13 seconds)
Click here for previous podcasts
The VideoNuze Report is available in iTunes...subscribe today!
Categories: Cable Networks, Devices, Podcasts
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Conviva is Now Optimizing 1 Billion Streams Per Month
Conviva is now optimizing 1 billion video streams per month, as major media companies continue to realize that quality matters both to the user's
experience and also to their ability to monetize. For those not familiar with Conviva, its software integrates with video players and allows content providers to gain unprecedented insight into the quality of the video being delivered on a per user basis. Using its algorithms to determine the cause of delivery problems, Conviva's software gives content providers real-time performance visibility and preemptively remedies the issues based on a pre-configured set of policies.
Conviva CEO Darren Feher brought me up to speed on the company's progress in a call earlier this week (related, Darren presented at the ELEVATE conference a few weeks ago, a video is available after the jump). Over 60 major media companies (e.g. Disney, Fox, MLB, HBO, NFL, etc.) are now using Conviva, and Darren reports that viewers of optimized streams watch an average of 40% longer than do those viewing non-optimized streams. More time viewed obviously translates into more ad inventory, and Darren said a few large customers are now seeing an incremental 7-figure ad revenue lift.
Categories: Technology
Topics: Conviva
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HBO GO Is Terrific; The Question is How Aggressively Will It Be Deployed Longer-Term?
I've been testing HBO GO for the last couple of weeks and my reaction is overwhelmingly positive. The service is easy to navigate and incredibly responsive. Importantly, the video quality (particularly in the iPad app) is top-notch - you'll quickly forget the video is actually being delivered over the Internet and a WiFi network). And with over 1,600 pieces of content, there's no shortage of what to watch. Though I'm not an HBO subscriber, I've watched a number of HBO programs on DVD over the years (e.g. Entourage, The Wire, The Sopranos) and so the ability to get both past seasons, as well as current season episodes, in one space is highly convenient.
Obviously I'm not alone in my reactions as there have been over 3 million downloads of HBO GO just since its May 2 official release. Considering HBO has 28 million US subscribers, that's an impressive penetration level (even more so because HBO doesn't yet have agreements for HBO GO with all pay-TV providers, so some HBO subscribers can't yet access the service).
For now HBO has positioned HBO GO as a value add for existing subscribers. That's a fine place to start, but as the video landscape becomes ever more competitive, it's hard to see how HBO will be content to deploy such as strong asset mainly in a defensive manner, and not be tempted to start using it more aggressively. If and when that happens, that would be a major change in the pay-TV model. Though I questioned HBO's future in "Could HBO Be the Next BLOCKBUSTER?" HBO GO creates scenarios for how the company thrive in the online video era.
Categories: Cable Networks, Devices
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PlayLater Brings DVR Capability to the Online Video World
Ever find yourself in a situation where you want to watch online video, but you can't actually get online or can only get a sub-par connection? In these cases, it would have been convenient to pre-record the videos you want and watch them at your convenience, as is the norm with DVRs. This is the simple, but highly compelling use case that PlayLater, a new product being released in closed beta today, addresses.
With PlayLater, you first download the client software (PC-only for now) and are then presented with an interface where you can search and select your desired programs from a variety of the most-popular free and paid online video sources (e.g. Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, etc.). I gave PlayLater a try and was able to easily find and record the latest episode of "Glee" on Hulu. Because PlayLater is recording, not downloading, the program, it requires as much time as the duration of the program and episode - just like using a DVR with TV, and of course the PC must be on while recording.
Categories: DVR, Technology
Topics: MediaMall Technologies, PlayLater, PlayOn
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