VideoNuze Posts

Akamai is announcing this morning that it has partnered with Turk Telekom to build and manage an operator content delivery network (OCDN) in Turkey.  Turk Telekom will be deploying Akamai's Aura Spectra, a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution whereby Akamai dedicates servers for the company's use, which are then maintained by Akamai along with its CDN software.

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Late last week online video platform provider Kaltura announced MediaGo, a new offering that allows content providers and smaller pay-TV operators to quickly stand up their own subscription VOD services. Kaltura is positioning MediaGo as a "Netflix-like" video portal which wraps new merchant/billing services and subscription management with core CMS, multi-device player and content preparation features.

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Today is the last day to buy early bird discounted tickets for the next VideoSchmooze: Online Video Leadership Forum, on Tues. morning, Dec. 3rd in NYC. That means it's time to take one last peek at your calendar, see that you're free that morning and take 2 minutes to register and save! Reminder, individual tickets are $95. Bring your colleagues and save more with a 5-pack for $430 and a 10-pack for $760.

If you need more incentive not to delay, remember, ONLY early bird ticket holders will be eligible to win the drawings for an iPad, the complete "Breaking Bad" series on Blu-ray/UltraViolet and several Chromecasts, all generously provided by Unicorn Media.  

This will be the 10th VideoSchmooze and we have an awesome lineup of speakers and sessions. We also have tons of great executives from companies around the industry including Adobe, AMC Networks, Bleacher Report, blinkx, Dailymotion, Disney, Google, Intel, MLB, Nielsen, NBC, Orange, Scripps and tons of others. I'm confident it will be a fantastic morning of learning and networking!

The lead sponsors for this VideoSchmooze are FreeWheel, Synacor, thePlatform and Undertone, with branding sponsors Clearleap, Unicorn Media and VideoHub. I look forward to seeing you at VideoSchmooze on Dec. 3rd!

REGISTER NOW AND SAVE!

I'm pleased to present the 203rd edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia. This week, Colin and I were in Hollywood at BroadbandTV Con, which brought together a large crowd of digital media executives. In the podcast we discuss some of our key observations including AOL's success in online video, the role of online video advertising in funding long-form high-quality originals, whether sports will leak out of the traditional pay-TV ecosystem and how one studio executive thinks there's no going back to appointment TV viewing.

At the beginning of the podcast we also touch on this week's new IHS forecast that global TV shipments will decline for the second straight year, the first time this has ever happened.

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Research firm IHS has updated its forecast for 2013 global TV shipments, now predicting a decline of 5% for the full year. This would be the second consecutive down year, following a 7% falloff in 2012 (I'm confirming whether this is the first time IHS has ever seen consecutive year declines. UPDATE: IHS has confirmed this is the first-ever 2 year consecutive decline). Shipments for 2013 are now estimated at 226.7 million units. IHS believes 2014 shipments will increase by just 1% in 2014 to 229 million units.

IHS analyst Jusy Hong noted that there are a number of reasons for the 2013 decline, but the main ones are global economic weakness and maturity of the TV market in advanced regions. Just last week, IHS released a survey on Smart TVs, showing relatively high awareness, but low purchase intent in the U.S. as price emerged as the top decision-making driver, eclipsing screen size.

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The Web Video Marketing Council (WVMC) has released its 3rd annual report on online video marketing showing that 93% of respondents are using online video for marketing, up from 84% in 2012. Also, 71% said they are increasing their budgets in 2013. The report surveyed over 600 marketing professionals about their use of online video in mostly B2B and some B2C organizations.

One of the more interesting findings was that 60% of marketers are using online video on e-mails, an increase of 8% from 2012. About 82% said that integrating video with email marketing was either “effective” or “very effective” and has had a positive impact on sales and marketing.

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Early bird discounted registration for the next VideoSchmooze: Online Video Leadership Forum, on Tues. morning, Dec. 3rd in NYC ends this Friday. If you've been on the fence about whether to attend, now is the time to act! Individual tickets are $95. Bring your colleagues and save more with a 5-pack for $430 and a 10-pack for $760.

Remember, ONLY early bird ticket holders will be eligible to win the drawings for an iPad, the complete "Breaking Bad" series on Blu-ray/UltraViolet and several Chromecasts, all generously provided by Unicorn Media.  

This will be the 10th VideoSchmooze and as usual it's shaping up to be a high impact morning of learning and networking. The VideoSchmooze program is a 360 degree view into all of the video industry's most important topics.

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!

Amazon's PR machine is gearing up to support the company's imminent push into original programming, with a high-profile piece on Saturday in the Wall Street Journal and today in the NY Times. In both, Amazon video executives are quoted explaining the process by which Amazon selected its first crop of originals, with a particular focus on Garry Trudeau's "Alpha House," the first series that will launch on November 15. No doubt we'll see lots more PR around Amazon's subsequent originals' release.

The PR emphasis is a departure for famously reticent Amazon, but its presence is a sign of how strategic original video has become for the company, and how high the stakes are for it to succeed. Over the past 2 years Amazon has become much more competitive with Netflix in licensing hit TV programs from networks and studios to be included for its Prime members. Now the battleground is shifting to originals.

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