Tag: tv

Hulu Teams Up With AT&T To Push For More Subscribers

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: TechCrunch

Right after inking a similar deal with Cablevision, Hulu is attempting to acquire more subscribers by teaming up with another telecom company: soon, AT&T customers will be able to access Hulu content through either the AT&T mobile app or through the AT&T website, and, if they like what they see, sign up for Hulu subscriptions through AT&T as well.

The reasoning behind such a strategy for Hulu here is about getting its subscription in front of as many potential customers as possible. For AT&T, it is about adding more content for viewers who are already paying for cable TV, while also adding the sheen of popular OTT services on its less-than-favorable reputation among customers.

In related news, Hulu announced that it has resurrected former Fox comedy The Mindy Project for 26 more episodes, which we anticipated and explained in detail here when we reported on the show’s cancellation last week.

Cablevision To Team Up With ESPN For Data-Sharing Deal

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: AdWeek

In a first-of-its-kind data deal between a cable TV provider and a cable network, ESPN is teaming up with Cablevision to combine audience data, taken straight from set-top boxes, with viewing habits and other behavioral data, the premium sports channel announced at its upfront presentation earlier today.

The new deal will help match ESPN impressions with sales data and other relevant information to accurately determine value, demonstrating ROI to advertisers, who will be able to see how long ESPN’s audience spends on a particular sport and the time of day they’re most engaged.

As both companies reportedly expressed interest in making similar deals in the near future, we expect to see more mutually beneficial data-sharing deals between content providers and service providers coming soon.

The Future Of TV, According To Netflix CEO Reed Hastings

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: Quartz

Reed Hastings, co-founder and CEO of Netflix, delivered a rousing speech at the 2015 Re:publica Media Convention in Berlin last week, boldly predicting that “Internet TV will replace linear TV in the next 20 years”. Below are some of the highlights from his speech, which you can watch in its entirety here.

Original Content As The Main Draw
As Netflix aims to launch in every country by the end of the 2016, the OTT service will amplify its current strategy of producing a diverse variety of original content, especially the ones with cross-culture appeal such as Marco Polo and Daredevil, in order to conquer the global markets.

Open To Experimenting With New Formats
Hastings also mentioned Netflix’s willingness to experiment with new video formats, including unconventional episode lengths, second-screen interactivity, and even integrating virtual reality, so as to differentiate itself from the conventional content providers.

Future TV Sets To Look Like Giant iPads
Fully invested in the potential of streaming-based TV, Hastings envisioned standard TV sets in the near future to be glass-panelled displays wirelessly connected to the Internet, just “like a large iPad,” with an array of apps.

Sports Will Be Watched By The League In 4K HD
While he acknowledged that sports would not be on Netflix’s radar for the foreseeable future, Hastings boldly predicted that future sports programs will be streamed with a league-based subscription model, instead of the network-based model that currently dominates the industry. He also believes that the recent rise of 4K ultra-high definition video will help push more sports programming to the OTT TV.

How The Shifting TV Landscape Caused Mindy’s Cancellation

Posted on by Richard Yao

The TV Upfronts are coming up next week, and reports on the fate of your favorite broadcast TV shows are popping up. The first big surprise cancellation came yesterday when Fox announced that The Mindy Project will not be coming back for a fourth season on the network, making it the first show in seven years to be axed with over 66 episodes under its belt.

Typically, when a network show reaches such numbers, the prospect of lucrative syndication deals would prompt the networks to grant shows with low ratings another season to produce sufficient episodes so as to bulk up its leverage in syndication negotiations. And that’s the way it’s always been done.

But with the recent rise of OTT streaming services disrupting the TV landscape, that rule seems to no longer apply. In this new circumstance, Universal Studios, which produces the show, could easily ship the show off to a streaming service where it can attract a niche audience and cumulate more episode counts, rather than negotiating with Fox to find the show a burn-off time slot for cheap.

And that’s exactly what they are doing – the Mindy Kaling comedy seems to be heading to Hulu, as sources report that the streaming service, partially owned by Fox and NBC Universal, is already in talks to acquire the show for multiple new seasons. If true, Mindy would join high-profile series in development at Hulu as the streaming service bulks up on original content to compete for audience attention.

The Lab has always been fascinated by the shifting landscape of the TV business, and we have been closely following the ongoing trend towards OTT streaming viewing. Come talk to us if you are a media owner or simply want to understand the changing audience behaviors and how to reach the fragmented viewers.

The NFL Draft Was Periscoped

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: Digiday

The tight race for live-streaming dominance continues between Meerkat and Twitter’s Periscope, as brands and publishers alike look for a new engagement tool to connect with the increasingly fragmented mobile audience.

For the NFL Draft on Thursday, sports publisher Scout used Periscope to create 15 niche topic-focused broadcasts that covered the draft from varying perspectives. One stream focused on how the draft would affect fantasy sports rankings, for instance, while other channels focused entirely on moves at specific schools.

But don’t expect sports leagues to start live streaming content just yet—the new over-the-top live streaming model undermines the lucrative deals they have with sports broadcasters.

YouTube To Back Its Biggest Stars For Original Series And Movies

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: Deadline

As we reported last week, an increasing number of its most popular video creators are leaving YouTube for competing platforms and traditional media. And now YouTube seems to have found a solution to keep talent on board: the Google-owned company announced earlier today its plan to back original series by four of its best-known creators, Moreover, it is also teaming up with DreamWorks subsidiary AwesomenessTV to create several films featuring YouTube stars over the next two years.

IPG Media Lab Leads Interpublic’s Investment In Samba TV

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: New York Times

Led by IPG Media Lab’s advisement, Interpublic Group (IPG) is taking a minority stake in Samba TV, a startup that specializes in advanced TV analytics. Following the announcement this morning, IPG looks to leverage Samba TV’s technology into actionable insights from audience behaviors, thereby developing more effective strategies for clients. “We’re always looking to fill the hole and find new opportunities to measure what was previously unmeasurable,” said Chad Stoller, a managing partner of the Lab.

Read our previous Partner Spotlight to learn more about Samba TV.

 

Header image courtesy of Samba TV’s Twitter

Verizon FiOS Customers Get Flexibility

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: The Verge

Verizon FiOS is devising ways to make its cable programming more attractive to viewers who now have alternative streaming television options like Sling TV, PlayStation Vue, and HBO Now. Starting Sunday, customers can avoid cable package offerings and pay for a more customized set of channels. The new “Custom TV” packages will start with a $65 bundle that pairs with Internet service and 35 TV channels. The TV half alone can be purchased for $55 each month with the option to purchase $10 add-ons for additional channels. There’s high anticipation to see how cable networks begin to adapt to the growing OTT trend that we’ve been intently following.

New Roku Focuses On Content Discovery And Curation

Posted on by Lab Team

Read original story on: Re/Code

Earlier this week, Roku updated its lineup to introduce new features that primarily focus on improving its content search and discovery. Users of the Roku 3 can enjoy the complimentary enhanced voice control remote, while users of older models can use the Roku mobile apps to activate voice commands. Moreover, Roku optimized its search results, while also adding a new “My Feed” feature that lets you follow upcoming movies to see when they become available. As it continues to improve its user experience, Roku looks to hold on to its title of most popular OTT set-top box despite increasingly fierce competition.

On Trend: Is 4K Content The Future Of TV Streaming?

Posted on by Lab Team

After years of buzz, we are finally seeing some major leaps in streaming video quality. The Ultra-HD TV from Samsung stunned the crowd at CES 2014, and Netflix started its push for 4K content in last October, for good reason: not only does 4K content mean a higher subscription fee, Netflix also leveraged it to promote its Open Connect Initiative, an effort to partner with ISPs in various operating markets to localize substantial amounts of traffic with open peering.

That said, there are still some legitimate obstacles keeping 4K videos from becoming the norm in over-the-top streaming. Besides the fact that most of TV sets currently in the market have yet to add 4K support, streaming high-definition video to millions of users also poses a complex challenge to the broadband infrastructure. Recent reports claim that the upcoming new Apple TV model will not support 4K video streaming, citing additional production cost and low consumer interest as primary reasons.

While it is easy to see why Apple may choose not to tap into the nascent 4K content market just yet, in the long run, as production cost wanes and internet speed continues to improve, Netflix might just be getting the first-mover advantage as the ultra-sharp new standard of the streaming experience in the near future.