-
Come to the Multi-Screen Mixer Tuesday Night in NYC
If you're in NYC Tuesday night Sept. 20th, please join me at the Multi-Screen Mix-Up NY at Copia, 307 East 53rd Street from 6:30pm-8:30pm. The mixer is being presented by Tubefilter and Four Screen Media, and is supported by AdoTube, Kantar Video, VideoNuze, PGA, OMMA Global and MWW Group. In addition to great industry networking, My Damn Channel Founder and CEO Rob Barnett will be making some brief remarks. It's sure to be a fun evening (and it's free to attend), so I hope you can come!Categories: Events
Topics: Four Screen Media, Tubefilter
-
Netflix's DVD Split Is Yet Another Self-Inflicted Wound
How many self-inflicted wounds can a company take before its mortality is threatened? When it comes to Netflix, the question is taking on increasing
relevance. The company that could do no wrong for the past two years first shot itself by announcing an onerous price increase without any real attempt to explain itself or soften the blow. The initial consequences of that decision came last week in the form of a 1 million subscriber downward revision and a 50 point drop in its stock price. Now Netflix has followed up with another bewildering move, announcing a re-branding and separation of its DVD by mail business as "Qwikster" complete with an independent web site. In my view this is another self-inflicted wound with even more serious implications.
Categories: Aggregators
Topics: Netflix
-
VideoNuze Report Podcast #108: Deep Dive Into Branded Entertainment
More than ever brands are trying to break through the clutter of traditional advertising by leveraging online video and social media to create their own "branded entertainment" properties. On today's VideoNuze Report podcast, we take a deep dive into this burgeoning area with two experts, Russ Axelrod, Director, Branded Entertainment and Experiences at Microsoft and Mike Wiese, Director of Branded Entertainment at JWT, a large agency based in New York, who have worked with clients such as Toyota, Macy's, J&J, Rolex and others on branded entertainment projects.
Russ and Mike explain more about why branded entertainment projects are being pursued, how these efforts fit with the traditional marketing mix, specific projects they've worked on and the metrics used to measure their success and what the future holds for branded entertainment.
If you're interested in learning more, Russ and Mike will be part of the full-day program at the NATPE Brand Innovation Summit, next Thursday, September 22, in NYC. Discounted registration of $195 is available using the code "INNOVATE" when prompted.
Click here to listen to the podcast (25 minutes, 32 seconds)
Click here for previous podcasts
The VideoNuze Report is available in iTunes...subscribe today!Categories: Branded Entertainment, Podcasts
Topics: JWT, Microsoft, NATPE, Podcast
-
Netflix's Q3 Subscriber Loss Could be Churn AND Acquisition Related
With Netflix today lowering its Q3 U.S. forecast by 1 million subscribers to 24 million, many observers are focused on the culprit being higher churn induced by the company's recent pricing change. Churn could well be the big driverhere, but the cause could also be the other side of the equation: a slowdown in new subscriber acquisitions, particularly for those just wanting the DVD-only plan. Until we get the actual breakdown with the Q3 results, we won't know for sure, but if it's both factors, then Netflix might be finding itself at the beginning of a very different chapter in its evolution.
Categories: Aggregators
Topics: Netflix
-
Netflix To Lose U.S. Subscribers in Q3, First Loss In Over 4 Years
Netflix revised its guidance for Q3 this morning, now forecasting that it will end the quarter with 24 million U.S. subscribers. That's 1 million less than the 25 million it previously forecast as the mid-point for Q3 subscribers (despite the loss, Netflix is maintaining its financial guidance for the quarter). Since Netflix ended Q2 with 24.59 million U.S. subscribers, it is now expecting to lose 590K subscribers in Q3, the first time the company has contracted since Q2 '07 when it lost 55K subscribers.
The expected Q3 loss brings to a screeching halt the torrid growth Netflix experienced over the 6 most recent quarters, when it doubled in size, adding over 12 million subscribers in the U.S. The Q3 reversal can be traced to the controversial decision Netflix ham-handedly announced in July to split its DVD and streaming businesses, therefore resulting in steep monthly price increases for a large number of its existing subscribers. As seen in the chart below that Netflix released this morning, the primary driver of the 1 million downward revision from July 25th is on the DVD-only side, which is now forecast at 2.2 million subscribers vs. the 3 million expected. The 200K balance is from streaming-only subscribers. This split is a good news-bad news story for Netflix.
Categories: Aggregators
Topics: Netflix
-
Tubifi Aims to Crack the High Cost of Video Advertising
Startup Tubifi has an ambitious agenda to dramatically reduce the cost of
video advertising, without sacrificing quality. Founded by a group of CLIO and Emmy-winning executives and technology veterans, Tubifi envisions next-generation video advertising capitalizing on the abundance of stock video footage that eliminates the need to do custom video production that drives up cost. Co-founders John Belchers and Ian Brower explained the company's approach.
As John and Ian see it, video advertising is becoming table stakes for all reasonably sophisticated marketers. The problem is that traditional production models for TV spots are only suited to big companies with big budgets. For small-to-medium sized businesses in the $10-150 million revenue range looking to reach online/mobile audiences primarily, spending $300K-$400K on a single spot is prohibitive.
Categories: Advertising, Startups
Topics: Tubifi
-
WSJ Live App Makes An Impressive Debut
The Wall Street Journal has unveiled "WSJ Live," a free app for the iPad and various connected devices. I downloaded it and spent some time with it on my iPad, and can report that it's quite impressive and a welcome addition to the small group of high-quality video-centric iPad apps (e.g. HBO GO, Netflix, ABC, TV.com, etc.).
One thing in particular that's very clever about the app is how it mixes live streams with on-demand choices. In its press release, the WSJ said that WSJ Live provides up to four hours of live programming each business day, which includes seven half-hour shows. These shows are augmented with tons of on-demand videos, each of which has a thumbnail image along with a time and date-stamp and its run time. The result is that it feels like there's a lot of choice at WSJ Live, which is easy to navigate by scrolling the thumbnails, using a text strip at the bottom with category headings or popping up a daily program guide. Users can also easily jump to most popular and most recently viewed categories.
Categories: Devices, Newspapers
Topics: Wall Street Journal, WSJ Live
-
So Far Fox is Alone Among Networks With Authenticated Pay-TV Window
With the fall TV season upon us, Fox is alone among broadcast networks in deciding to create an 8-day authentication window for pay-TV subscribers. In fact, NBC appears to be taking the opposite posture, announcing last Friday
that its iPad app would now include all the same episodes that it makes available online (and I've confirmed they'll all be available in the iPad next day as well). CBS hasn't announced any plans to change its distribution through its web site or TV.com. And despite some vague signals to the contrary by Disney CEO Bob Iger, ABC, which has been the leader among broadcast networks in embracing online/mobile distribution, hasn't announced any changes either.
Categories: Broadcasters
Topics: ABC, CBS, Comcast, FOX, NBC
VideoNuze Posts
Connect with VideoNuze
Exclusive News Roundup
- YouTube Poaches Disney Official, Triggering Lawsuit Against Video Service Bloomberg
- Roku is doing more than ever, but focus is still its secret ingredient Fast Company
- Disney+ to enter women’s football market with Champions League rights Guardian
- Video is making podcasts a premium buy for advertisers Digiday
- What if Making Cartoons Becomes 90% Cheaper? NY Times
- AI videos from Google’s Veo 3 are here, and they’re both impressive and terrifying 9to5 Google
