VideoNuze Posts

TiVo's 2013 Millennial Video Entertainment survey reveals that 72% of millennials use free video streaming sources like Hulu, YouTube and network TV sites, making these the most-used source for their video viewing. In second place, cited by 60%, were SVOD services like Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus and HBO Go. Just behind SVOD is physical media, cited by 59%, followed by pay-TV in fourth place with 46%.

Millennials' viewing sources differ dramatically vs. all other generations, where pay-TV was the most-used source (with 58%), followed by physical media (56%) and free streaming/SVOD tied for third place with 40%. For both millennials and all other generations, individual purchases, free downloads, antenna and other lagged much further back in usage.

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Online video platform provider thePlatform announced today that it is powering all of the on-demand video for NBC Olympics across desktops, tablets and smartphones. NBC Olympics uses thePlatform's mpx to upload video, manage metadata, create viewing and ad policies, publish video to its main NBCOlympics.com site, "Live Extra" mobile app and syndication to 3rd parties. NBC Olympics' teams are also using mpx's web-based console to manage their video library.

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Here's one measure of how popular live streaming is becoming: according to Akamai, yesterday's concurrent men's quarter-final hockey games from Sochi drove 2.5 terabits per second of peak usage on its network, almost 3 times the peak usage of 873 gigabits per second that Akamai saw during the men's 100 meter final, which Usain Bolt won, during the London 2012 games. It's also 56% higher than the 1.6 Tbps peak Akamai delivered during the USA-Russia hockey game last Saturday (which NBC separately said attracted 600K online viewers via its "Live Extra" app). Update - NBC says yesterday's USA-Czech Republic game alone delivered almost 800K online viewers, a new record for "Live Extra."

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VEVO released its U.S. Music Video Viewership Report for 2013 this morning, revealing that the site generated 55 billion video views last year, up 33% vs. 2012. In the second half of 2013, VEVO had 165 million videos viewed daily worldwide, up 40% vs. 2H 2012. In December, 2013 alone, VEVO had 243 million unique viewers and 5.5 billion video views, up 45% vs. the 3.8 billion in December, 2012 and up 140% vs. the 2.3 billion views in December, 2010.

Behind all of the growth is the dramatic surge in mobile usage. As the chart below shows, global mobile/tablet and connected TV views grew 176% to 17 billion streams in 2013 vs. 2012. In the U.S. alone, views on mobile/tablet and connected TVs grew 118% and in December, 2013 accounting for a whopping 60% of all views. That's among the highest rates of mobile usage I've heard about; by comparison, YouTube says it gets about 40% on mobile, while PBS Kids says it gets almost three-quarters.

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Since Comcast announced its plan to acquire Time Warner Cable, there have been a number of articles about how broadband is really the main driver of the deal. No doubt broadband is very important, but Comcast still believes there's a lot of life left in its video service. To that end, the company has invested heavily in its X1 set-top box platform.

X1 is a hybrid box, delivering video via traditional "QAM" technology, while including a guide and other interactivity/content via web-based IP technology. Comcast said that X1 played a significant role in Comcast adding subscribers in Q4 '13, for the first time in 6+ years.

I've had an X1 since July, 2012, and to give a sense of its potential, I've shot an 11-minute demo of how X1 handles the NBC Olympics "Live Extra" authenticated app which is tightly integrated with its Xfinity on Demand service for highlights. First, for a little context, I show how "Live Extra" and the NBC Olympics apps work on an iPad.

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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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I'm pleased to present the 214th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia. Note the interesting coincidence that we're publishing our 214th podcast on 2-14-14; hopefully it's some sort of good omen :-)

In today's podcast Colin and I parse the $45 billion Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger, announced yesterday. As I wrote, I see the deal as all about helping Comcast achieve further scale that is required in order to succeed in today's video environment. Colin notes that after TWC's bruising battle with CBS, during which it lost hundreds of thousands of subscribers, the merger will shift some power away from broadcast and cable networks.

We also discuss regulatory issues, net neutrality, the companies' bet that cord-cutting won't accelerate any time soon and lots more. There are many angles to the merger, which we'll continue discussing as the merger review unfolds.

Listen in to learn more!

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It looks like Apple will be the first casualty of the Comcast-TWC deal. Just yesterday Bloomberg reported that Apple was negotiating with TWC for it to become the first pay-TV operator to make its programming accessible in a new, upgraded Apple TV device. Assuming the report is accurate (and who knows, given the spin game TWC was playing to rebuff Charter's bid), it's pretty fair to say that Comcast will have no interest in Apple getting its nose under the TWC tent.

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