VideoNuze Posts

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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I’m pleased to present the 357th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

First up, Colin shares his experiences streaming the Super Bowl on numerous services and devices. Overall the video quality was pretty strong, especially on Sling TV. Colin also used the Fox VR app with Google Cardboard and relays his reactions.

While Super Bowl LI was one of the best-viewed in history, NFL ratings this past season declined across the board and we discuss what’s likely happening. As I wrote earlier this week, the wide adoption of ad-free SVOD feels like a major culprit.

We then transition HBO Now, which Time Warner reported earlier this week now has over 2 million subscribers. Neither Colin nor I are super-impressed with HBO Now’s growth, especially by comparison with Netflix’s performance in the same time period. We both think HBO Now’s relatively high price of $15/month is the key issue.

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Here’s a great data point highlighting how TV and online video advertising are converging: new data from Videology revealed that in Q4 ’16, 23% of online video ad campaigns utilized TV viewing segments to help target audiences, more than double the 11% rate in Q1 ’16, though slightly down from 27% in Q3 ’16. Once again, the advertiser’s TV schedule was the top TV segment used.

As always, demo (used in 100% of campaigns), geo (85%) and behavioral (54%) were the most used data types for targeting video ads, but the increasing use of TV segments shows how advertisers are looking at video ads more holistically, converging them with TV ads to extend the value and ROI of their overall ad spending.

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Time Warner’s CEO Jeff Bewkes said on this morning’s earnings call that HBO Now has passed the 2 million subscriber mark. That would be an increase from the 800K HBO Now had at the end of 2015.

On the one hand, gaining 2 million subscribers since launching HBO Now in April, 2015 is a positive sign of market acceptance for the SVOD service, which entered the market relatively late. But on the other hand, the pace of HBO Now’s monthly subscriber additions seems static, suggesting the service has not been able to accelerate its momentum.

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Cisco has released the latest version of its Mobile Visual Networking Index, now forecasting that video will account for 78% of all mobile data traffic by 2021, increasing in volume by 9x since 2016 when it accounted for 60% of mobile traffic.

The new target updates Cisco’s previous mobile video bullishness; in 2015 Cisco forecast that mobile video would account for 72% of all mobile traffic by 2019. Overall, Cisco is forecasting that 38 out of the 49 exabytes per month that will cross mobile networks in 2021 will be video.

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Here in Boston, our blood pressure is still racing over the unbelievable result of last night’s Super Bowl. The odds of a 25-point comeback with just over a quarter to play are incalculably long. But Patriots fans aren’t the only ones rejoicing this morning; no doubt there’s also euphoria at the NFL’s offices as last night’s game proved once again how riveting professional football can be.

However, the exhilarating Super Bowl cannot fully mask the fact that from a TV audience perspective, this was a season the NFL would just as soon forget. Last Friday MoffettNathanson shared their tally of the final numbers: compared to 2015, overall regular season 2016 TV viewership was down 9% and first 3 weeks of post-season was down 6%. Monday night football was down 13%, Sunday night down 11% and Thursday night down 9%. Compared to 2014, overall regular season was down 7% and ESPN Monday night football was down 15%.

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