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5 Items of Interest for the Week of Dec. 12th
Happy Friday. Once again I'm pleased to offer VideoNuze's end-of-week feature analyzing 5-6 interesting online/mobile video industry news items from the week that we didn't have a chance to cover previously. This week I'm changing the format a little bit, creating an individual post for each item. I'm doing this in response to reader interest in being able to share individual items (not the whole group) more easily. Let me know what you think of the new format. Here they are:
1. Potential YouTube-Next New Networks deal is a bit of a head-scratcher
2. Here's a great example of why TV Everywhere matters so much to the pay-TV industry
3. Hulu's Kilar: "Hulu Plus now a material portion" of revenues
4. Google not ready to announce fiber winning communities
5. Tiffany shows online video works for luxury retailers
Read them now or check them out this weekend!Categories: Aggregators, Broadband ISPs, Cable Networks, Cable TV Operators, Commerce, Deals & Financings, Indie Video, Satellite, Telcos
Topics: Google, Hulu Plus, Netflix, Next New Networks, Tiffany, YouTube
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Potential YouTube-Next New Networks Deal is a Bit of a Head-Scratcher
I'm still scratching my head a little over this week's report that YouTube may be looking to acquire independent video network/developer Next New Networks. An acquisition of Next New Networks would mean that YouTube would no longer be solely a platform for indie video, but a producer as well. So the first question is why, after so many assertions by Google executives that it is "not a media company" has it decided that in fact it now wants to be a media company? Does Google feel that indie content is underfunded and developing too slowly, hence the need to bring its massive resources to bear? Maybe so.
But data just this week from the company, disclosing its 2010 top videos viewed seems to suggest that indie creativity is bubbling along just fine. The top two videos were actually Next New productions, and the company blogged a must-read post about how it achieved this success. Maybe YouTube feels it can turbo-charge indie content, and this is strategic to help support its Google TV efforts since it's getting stiff-armed by major broadcasters. If the deal is done (and doesn't end up as another Groupon non-deal) it will be interesting to learn how Google/YouTube explains it.Categories: Aggregators, Deals & Financings, Indie Video
Topics: Google, Next New Networks, YouTube
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Here's A Great Example of Why TV Everywhere Matters So Much To the Pay-TV Industry
Want a really tangible example of why TV Everywhere is so critical to the pay-TV industry? Then have a look at this post from industry banker Ken Sonenclar, who recounts his personal experience of trying to find an online version of the season finale of Showtime's "Dexter" on an evening when bad weather knocked out his satellite dish. Frustrated that he couldn't find the episode available anywhere, he ultimately stumbled upon a pirate site and happily watched the episode, albeit at somewhat lower quality.
Experiences like these no doubt play out daily as pay-TV subscribers seek convenient, on-demand access to their favorite programs. The TV Everywhere model works because it still requires a valid paid subscription, so the current monetization model is unharmed. But the incremental value to viewers is substantial. With services like Netflix and Hulu Plus increasingly available on every conceivable online and mobile device, consumers' expectations are being raised. If the pay-TV industry (both operators and networks) can't meet or exceed the experiences that a sub $10/mo service can deliver, then they shouldn't be surprised when subscribers begin dropping their expensive pay-TV services.Categories: Cable Networks, Cable TV Operators, Satellite, Telcos
Topics: TV Everywhere
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Hulu's Kilar: "Hulu Plus now a material portion" of Revenues
I was surprised to hear Hulu CEO Jason Kilar say in this short CNBC interview that while advertising accounts for the bulk of its revenues, Hulu Plus is "already accounting for a material portion" of its revenues. In the interview, Kilar had previously mentioned that in 2010 Hulu would generate $260 million in revenues, compared to $108 million in 2009, an impressive jump that beat its internal target of $190 million.
However, it's hard to see how, just a month after its formal launch, Hulu Plus could already be material to Hulu's performance. Even if it had 500,000 subscribers (which feels optimistic), that would be $4 million/mo (at its $8/mo rate) in subscription revenue, whereas Hulu may well be generating $25-30 million/mo in ad revenue to get to the $260M figure. Maybe it's just a definition of what's "material." As I've said before though, the bigger question is how Hulu Plus competes on the content acquisition front. With the recent Disney-ABC and NBCU content deals, Netflix is undermining Hulu Plus' core broadcast TV value proposition and people who subscribe to both Netflix and Hulu Plus will quickly see this.Categories: Aggregators
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Google Not Ready To Announce Fiber Winning Communities
Google broke months of radio silence on its 1 gbps fiber to the home experiment this week just to mention that it's still not ready to announce where the next generation network will be deployed. No surprise, Google has been inundated with interest, from almost 1,100 communities around the U.S.
This week's update was penned by Milo Medin, who was a key architect of the @Home broadband network (remember them?). That's an encouraging sign that Google is adding the expertise to help make this fiber project a success. In my original reactions to the project, one of my chief concerns was that Google had bitten off more than it could chew on the network and in-home installation/customer service fronts. Google will need to add further experienced people in these areas to improve the odds of success in achieving its goals (though it's still not exactly clear what its goals are with this project).Categories: Broadband ISPs
Topics: Google
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Tiffany Demonstrates Online Video Works For Luxury Retailers Too
This week I somehow found my way to an interesting article in "Luxury Daily" about how high-end retailer Tiffany & Co. has developed a multi-platform video campaign this holiday season. Tiffany has created a series of video vignettes that the article says it has "weaved into its web site branding, social media offerings and a rich media expandable banner ad campaign on the homepage of the New York Times web site." I didn't see it there, but was able to catch it on YouTube. The minute and a half video does a terrific job of evoking the holiday spirit through the Tiffany brand.
What's important about the video to me is that it's further proof of how all kinds of brands can use video to break out of the box of traditional TV advertising. Tiffany likely would have had a hard time finding exactly the upscale audience it is targeting with a TV campaign, and of course running a minute and a half ad on TV would be completely uneconomical. With the Internet those constrictions are thrown out, and instead Tiffany can execute exactly the creative it wants and then find multiple ways to distribute it and target particular audiences.
Categories: Commerce
Topics: NYTimes.com, Tiffany
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VideoNuze Report Podcast #82 - Dec. 17, 2010
Daisy Whitney and I are back this week for the 82nd edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for December 17, 2010. This will be the final podcast of 2010 and we both want to wish our listeners happy holidays. Daisy and I have have had lots of fun cranking out 32 podcasts this year on all the most important industry topics. We're looking forward to continuing on in 2011.
And speaking of 2011, in this final podcast of the year we turn our sights ahead and discuss the 6 key online/mobile video trends that The Diffusion Group's Colin Dixon and I outlined during Wednesday's webinar (replay and slides available here). Daisy and I focus the bulk of the podcast on two of these predictions: how Netflix will strain under its spectacular growth, and how pay-TV subscriber losses will mount and cord-cutting perceptions could become reality.
Click here to listen to the podcast (13 minutes, 16 seconds)
Click here for previous podcasts
The VideoNuze Report is available in iTunes...subscribe today!Categories: Aggregators, Podcasts, Predictions
Topics: Netflix, Podcast, Predictions
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Fanhattan Targets Content Discovery On Connected Devices
Combine all those new connected devices being deployed with the byzantine world of movies' and TV shows' rights windows and you get a pretty confusing landscape. That's where a new service called Fanhattan, being announced today, comes in. Fanhattan is a cloud-based app for connected devices that is dynamically updated according to the ever-changing rights windows. CEO Gilles BianRosa, who has run sister company Vuze, gave me a rundown yesterday.
Fanhattan has acquired The Open Movie Database (TMDb) to power the listings and is augmenting them with related assets and information from around the web to create what Gilles calls an "entertainment graph" connecting content, metadata, sources and device availability in one database. For the user, the experience could be compelling; say you want to watch "Inception." Is it on Amazon, Vudu, Netflix, iTunes, Hulu or elsewhere? And what is the best price? Fanhattan would expose the various choices that your connected device is eligible for and offer 1-click purchase or rental access. That improves upon today's connected device user's experience of having to check across multiple options or maybe just defaulting to what's easiest, say what's on Netflix.
Categories: Startups, Video Search
Topics: Fanhattan
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