VideoNuze Posts

TV Everywhere "auto-authentication," which quickly clears pay-TV subscribers to view cable programming on their devices without having to hunt around for their login credentials, is poised to gain further ground based on a new release announced by Synacor yesterday.

The company announced a white label auto-authentication solution for both in-home TVE usage and out of home with its social login using Facebook, Twitter and Google+ (social login was introduced last year, but the auto-authentication part is new). Both are under Synacor's Cloud ID offering and will be available in Q1 '14. The company believes this is the first such combined solution in the market.

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Binge-viewing is a bona fide phenomenon that's not only changing consumers' TV viewing behaviors, but also creating fissures in the TV industry. Recently, in "For U.S. Cable Operators, Netflix Partnerships Are Fraught With Risk," I outlined how binge-viewing is driving a competitive dynamic over content rights between Netflix and pay-TV operators' VOD and TV Everywhere plans. Adding further detail, this past Friday, Vulture published an excellent article with specific examples of how this battle is brewing.

According to Vulture, FX and Turner are telling studios from which they obtain TV shows that they need rights to stream the full current season of shows (known as "stacking" rights) not just the most recent 3-5 episodes. Part of the networks' rationale is they need to give late-coming viewers an easy path to watch from the beginning of a season, rather than just enabling existing viewers a way to catch up.

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I'm pleased to present the 201st edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia. This week we're joined by special guest Ramesh Sitaraman, professor at University of Massachusetts, Amherst and an Akamai fellow. Ramesh and Akamai's S.S. Krishnan released an academic research paper this week studying the effectiveness of online video advertising (I wrote about it here and Colin here).

In the podcast, Ramesh adds color to his findings. Among other things, he discusses mid-rolls' high completion rates, time-of-day's low impact on completion, geographic viewership differences and abandonment of ads vs. slow-starting content.

Listen in the learn more!

Click here to listen to the podcast (17 minutes, 55 seconds)

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TV4 Entertainment is a well-pedigreed LA-based startup positioning itself as a creator and super-distributor of multiple online niche channels. Today the company is announcing a deal with Cinebx, whose library contains 10,000+ titles will power a minimum of 6 co-owned online channels, beginning with one focused on classic sports.

Recently I caught up Jon Cody, founder and CEO of TV4, to learn more about the company's strategy. Jon was previously SVP, Digital for Fox Digital Media and launch GM of Hulu, so he knows his way around programming and digital distribution very well, as does the rest of the founding team.

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Score another win for the importance of authenticity in video: newly released data from EXPO shows that in a test program when consumer generated video product reviews were placed on the relevant product pages in a major e-commerce site, they drove a 30% increase in site revenue for those products.

The test covered 8 different household and beauty products from Reckitt Benckiser Group such as Lysol, Airwick, Clearasil which were being sold on an undisposed retailer's commerce site. Sales for the products during the test period of June, 2013 were compared to June, 2012, adjusting for any that were discontinued or newly launched. The product review videos were supplied by consumer's using EXPO's platform.

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Don't wait any longer - early bird discounted tickets for the next VideoSchmooze: Online Video Leadership Forum on Dec. 3rd, in NYC are available for $95 apiece. This is a fabulous value including the full morning program, networking, continental breakfast, and perhaps most importantly - a chance to win the drawing for an iPad, the complete "Breaking Bad" series on Blu-ray/UltraViolet and several Chromecasts, all generously provided by Unicorn Media.  Bring your colleagues and save even more with 5-pack tickets for $430 and 10-packs for $760.

I'm fired up for this VideoSchmooze because we'll be diving deeply into so many of the hottest industry topics that VideoNuze covers each day such as the rise of OTT video, the threat of cord-cutting, TV Everywhere, mobile video's explosion, changing viewership behaviors, online video advertising, devices and much more. Keeping things grounded, for the first time we'll have 2 short research presentations, from FreeWheel and Videology, with each premiering brand-new market data.  

The lead sponsors for this 10th VideoSchmooze are FreeWheel, Synacor, thePlatform and Undertone, with branding sponsors Clearleap, Unicorn Media and VideoHub. If you need to be up-to-date on what's really going on in video, and want a premier networking opportunity, make sure VideoSchmooze is on your calendar for  Dec. 3rd!

LEARN MORE AND REGISTER NOW!

When your flagship product's name becomes far better known than your company's name, it's likely time for a corporate identity makeover. That's the logic behind LongTail Video's official name change today to "JW Player" as company CEO Dave Otten told me last week. JW Player is the company's hugely successful video player, now used by over 2 million sites. The company has also changed the name of its online video platform, Bits on the Run, to "JW Platform."

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When we last left Aereo in its battles with the broadcast TV networks, our trusty (or not so trusty - it's complicated) over-the-top service was in the midst of a maelstrom of litigation and new market rollouts.  The dynamic has only gotten more heated, highlighted by the broadcasters' petition for relief from the U.S. Supreme Court filed just over a week ago.

For all of the attention of the broadcasters petition to the Court, the finish line here is far from in sight. The Court is not obligated to take this case, and in fact grants less than 2% of all 'cert' petitions.  The broadcasters are seeking resolution of what they say is a 'split' among Circuit Courts, which is certainly a well-established basis for the Court to step in. Yet to date no other appellate court has ruled in opposition to the 2d Circuit - only other lower district courts.  So while I would fully expect the Court to eventually take this case, the timing may not be ripe in their eyes. So we may well be back to sorting through the continuing morass for some time.  So what is happening in the hinterlands?

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