New digital video services should be permitted to operate on a level playing field with broadcasters and other traditional programming services, says former TV and movie studio executive Barry Diller. In speaking to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation, Diller, the chairman/CEO of IAC and investor in Aereo, a new digital video service, said: “It will take vigilance to make sure that Net neutrality is to be safeguarded." This includes Internet services such as Aereo. Aereo is a new digital video service delivered over the Internet to individual virtual "antennas" for consumers. Because it uses “antennas,” it is akin to what consumers do with their TV antennas to get a “broadcast” station. In that regard, the company claims, it should not be subject to making retrans deals with TV stations. Broadcasters have filed lawsuits against Aereo. Diller, a proponent of the Internet service, believes the Communications Act of 1996 needs to be changed -- to now include Internet services that didn’t exist when the act was passed into law. He says some 15% of U.S. TV homes used over-the-air signals, but the quality is poor. Aereo provides clearer signals. “By making over-the-air signal digitals useful to consumers, Aereo is bringing the very reality Congress sought.” Diller added that Aereo is just one of many companies/services looking to make progress by using the Internet to send TV/video to consumers. While he didn’t name others, Diller did say some current TV distributors should have less power. “If intermediaries have less control, creators could reach consumers more directly, and will not have to sign over so many rights to distributors. In the question-and-answer section, Diller said: “What online can offer is more a la carte programming… The Internet gives the ability to offer the narrowest of narrowcasting. There is no closed pipe.” That said, he didn’t think video on the Internet would overrun traditional TV systems: “It’s not going to replace pay television.”
Sometimes, what’s old is new again. AOL, whose robust content syndication strategy has helped distance itself from its aggregator past, is once again touting itself as a portal – this time for all things video. The new hub, dubbed “AOL On,” was dubbed Tuesday evening during its portion of the digital “NewFront” to advertisers, agencies and the press in New York City. With big acquisitions like The Huffington Post and 5Min Media, AOL had been focusing on spreading its influence to other sites and syndicating content around the Web. Now, it seems, the company wants to bring those eyeballs back. With AOL On, the Web giant is bringing its entire video offering under one umbrella. AOL On is comprised of 14 discrete channels and more than 300,000 videos, including a new slate of seven original Web series (also something the company has tried in the past), and some 1,000 publisher content partners. Many of the publishers have been part of AOL’s 5Min syndication network, and while their video programming will continue to be syndicated through that platform, they will for the first time be organized around a single destination. Compared with Google’s video giant YouTube, 300,000 videos may not sound like a lot, but the company claims AOL On will be distinguished from other video sites by its library of premium video programming, which advertisers covet because the content is deemed brand-safe. AOL says AOL On videos will be original, as well as “partner,” or branded content. Ran Harnevo, AOL On’s senior vice president of video, highlighted the importance of AOL On being available across devices. He added that the video portal could both complement and compete with TV buying strategies. “We are well-positioned not only from a scale perspective, but from a programming perspective to capture TV dollars,” Harnevo said. “It is undeniable that online video has strategic advantages relative to TV, and we have the programming, audience and measurement tools to not only target audiences but find them where they are on the Web.” As part of its bid to capture TV dollars, AOL earlier this month said it would use Nielsen’s new Online Campaign Ratings panel data to sell and guarantee advertisers audience guarantees based on online’s equivalent of “gross rating points” (or GRPs), which is the same metric used to buy and sell television.
Hi, folks, Today's VideoDaily Roundup focuses on big media, starting with Barry Diller, who throws a punch at media and telco firms in his written Senate hearing testimony. We follow this by profiling a TV Everywhere service that aims to play nice with big media firms. After that, Hulu investor Providence Equity Partners takes a stake in former News Corp. COO Peter Chernin's new media venture. Next, online video enters the classroom (in a good way), and finally: will premium publishers soon be forced to put their video inventory on ad exchanges? Diller Takes Shot at Big Media with Senate Testimony In written testimony submitted to the Senate Commerce Committee's hearing on video migration on Monday, IAC/InterActive Corp. Chairman Barry Diller accused big media of “experimenting with forms of economic discrimination." Diller urged Congress to “prevent cable and telecommunications companies from leveraging their dominance in existing markets for video delivery to control emerging markets.” He did not name any names. Diller, whose latest big investment Aereo is attracting litigious attention from the likes of Walt Disney Co.'s ABC and other networks, was among several witnesses called to the hearing to examine how Web video technologies are blurring the traditional concept of television. Aereo, for example, is a service that allows users to access broadcast TV on any device for $12 per month -- without the networks' consent. TV Everywhere Service Aims to Woo Big Media Firms It's part Slingbox, part DVR -- but without the need for a set-top box, says GigaOm's Ryan Kim. NimbleTV, a NY-based startup, on Monday launched a beta TV Everywhere service that allows customers of pay-TV subscription plans to have their content streamed to them on any device. Subscribers to the service would pay their regular fee to their provider, and would add another $20 or so per month (the exact fee is still unclear) for streaming access, unlimited DVR storage, and the social recommendation tools that NimbleTV provides. At the moment, it is unclear which TV providers are signed up for the service, which is debuting in NY. Other reports claim that NimbleTV will start offering satellite service through its software, at which time exact pricing will be announced. By keeping the pay relationship intact, NimbleTV hopes to avoid lawsuits. “I imagine that a lawsuit from distributors is probably in NimbleTV's future,” Kim asserts, adding that investors are already planning for that eventuality. Hulu Investor Pumps Cash into Hulu Champion's New Media Firm As COO of News Corp., Peter Chernin spearheaded the creation of the joint video venture Hulu, owned by News Corp., The Walt Disney Co., and Comcast Corp. Now, Providence Equity Partners, which owns 10 percent of Hulu, is making an investment in Chernin's media investment/production house, The Chernin Group. The agreement sees Providence Equity acquire a large minority stake in the Chernin Group and receive multiple seats on its board of directors. The Chernin Group will use the cash -- rumored to be close to $200 million -- to look for new media investments. As The LA Times points out, the partnership with Providence Equity will likely put to rest the endless speculation surrounding Chernin's future -- he is often linked to just about any major vacant job at a big media firm. It seems Chernin wants to build his own media empire now. Online Video Augments Classroom Learning Online video has become a valuable 21st-century learning tool, Forbes.com reports. Predictably, most educational video content is found on YouTube, but the problem is that many school districts prohibit use of the Google video service due to the amount of potentially distracting and inappropriate content it contains. Hence, the emergence of a new breed of teacher-approved video sites, such as the educational video portal WatchKnowLearn, and education-focused YouTube copycats like SchoolTube and TeacherTube. Not to be outdone, YouTube itself has made a bid to appeal more to educators and students with a new network setting called YouTube for Schools, which only allows access to some 750 approved channels from education partners. Will Publishers Soon Be Forced to Put Video Inventory on Exchanges? Speaking at the BrightRoll BRX Video Summit earlier this month, AOL SVP of Video Ran Harnevo claimed that within two or three years, only four or five of the biggest premium publishers will sell their inventory directly to advertisers, while "the rest of the publishers will have to cooperate with exchanges to create efficiency for the buying side." That's a bold prediction, given that publishers generally only use exchanges to sell remnant video inventory, and the demand for premium online video content is still so much greater than the supply. What will force publishers to put their premium inventory on ad exchanges? As Harnevo himself pointed out, AOL's video inventory has been 98 percent sold out for the last six months. David Derobbio, Eastern sales director for NBC News Digital, added that his company's digital properties are anywhere from 92-95 percent sold out. Part of the reason for this, Derobbio said, is that NBC's digital video content is intended to complement its TV news product, which means NBC hasn't made a significant push to bolster its video offerings.
Hi, folks, We start today's VideoDaily Roundup with the startling news that streaming entertainment usage on Microsoft's Xbox Live service has now outstripped multiplayer gaming (which the service was originally designed for) in the U.S. Next, an Atlantic Wire columnist argues that TV Everywhere doesn't solve the basic problem of today's pay-TV service. Over at the Senate hearing on the future of TV, product placements take center stage, and finally: the video advertising battle is heating up in China as the country's major players consolidate. Xbox Live Entertainment Usage Outstrips Multiplayer Gaming in the U.S. The LA Times reports that Microsoft, during its Digital Content NewFront presentation in New York on Monday, had some fascinating news regarding the use of Xbox Live, the online service for its game console, the Xbox 360. Ross Honey, general manager of entertainment and advertising for Xbox Live, said streaming entertainment usage more than doubled year-over-year and had actually surpassed multiplayer gaming on Xbox Live in the U.S. "That's a profound event," he said. "When Xbox Live started 10 years ago, what it was all about was multiplayer gaming. Now, Xbox Live really is an all-in-one entertainment platform." Indeed. Microsoft, Honey said, has struck some 50 content deals in recent months for Xbox Live, including agreements with cable provider Comcast Corp., and HBO, that offer subscribers access to TV shows via the Xbox 360. He added that Xbox Live has grown 30 percent in the last year to 40 million members, and that the console outsold all other so-called over-the-top devices (such as Blu-Ray players) that connecta TV to the Internet. TV Everywhere Doesn’t Solve the Basic Problem New TV Everywhere services like Nimble TV -- which aims to stream your existing cable TV service over the Web for an added fee -- are not the answer consumers are looking for, says The Atlantic Wire's Rebecca Greenfield -- "like all digital content problems before it, until consumers get what they really want in the television department -- raw streaming Internet television sans cable subscription.” Consumers want on-demand, a la carte options and/or subscriptions to shows that they know they want to watch, not the same overpriced 500+ channel bundle that the cable and satellite companies are selling. Greenfield argues that as with the music industry before it, consumers will simply steal what they want until the industry gets it right. Product Placements Adorn The Senate’s Future of TV Hearing The Senate Commerce Committee hearing on video migration has devolved into something of a product marketing showcase, The Washington Post's Cecilia Kang says, as the execs giving testimony -- realizing that thousands would be watching the hearing via live streaming -- pulled out their respective products. In between demonstrations of the online video capabilities of the Kindle Fire by Amazon and the Xbox 360 Kinect by Microsoft, the execs touted Net neutrality, and warned against the dangers of data caps imposed by carriers and ISPs. As we have noted before, the hearing is the Senate's first close look at the transition away from traditional television services toward on-demand, a la carte and online subscription services. Video Advertising Battle Heats Up in China, as Players Consolidate The battle over Web video advertising in China heated up Tuesday when Tencent Holdings, Sohu.com, and Baidu said they would join forces to offer video services in the country. The arrangement will see the three companies collaborate on content licensing and broadcasts. According to Bloomberg, Sohu.com and Baidu’s iQiyi are the third and fourth-biggest players in online video advertising in China, respectively. Last month, Youku, China's most popular video site, agreed to buy No. 2 player Tudou Holdings in a deal valued at $1 billion at the time. The combined entity would have accounted for more than a third of China’s video advertising revenue in the fourth quarter, according to Analysys International.
As an individual whose lot in life is to trawl the web for brand-burnishing video, I often find myself confronted by daunting philosophical questions. Like: "Is it possible for a brand to do more harm than good by seeking attention for its feats of charitable largesse?" Or perhaps: "Is that the CEO's wife singing the song in the background?" Or: "Seriously, a global megaconglomerate wouldn't really pay someone valid currency for something that sounds like a distressed beagle cooing over a rejected ABBA track, would it?" I ask these questions in the wake of viewing "Let's Colour Project So Far… in 4 Minutes," a clip which showcases the benevolent munificence of Dulux and its sibling paint brands. For the past two years or so, the Let's Colour Project has been on an urban-prettification binge, arming local groups around the world with Dulux paints and encouraging them to slap some color on schools, graffiti-scrawled slums and other eyesores. As far as product/charity tie-ins go, few line up quite as naturally. Unfortunately, Dulux decided to set aside its manic paintlust and pat itself on the back for a community-involvement campaign well done. The resulting four minutes and change of video don't undo all the campaign's good - the buildings are still painted and the children are still smiling and la la la sunshine gumdrop happypies - but they make Dulux look like a parody of a community-focused brand, one more eager to tout its fundamental decency than to present itself as a forward-thinking, serious-minded category leader. "Let's Colour Project So Far" packs a whole lot into its four minutes. There are sped-up sequences in which any number of public surfaces go from naked to painted in three seconds flat. There are shots of people painting, creatively intercut with shots of people smiling and people giving the camera an enthusiastic thumbs-up. There are stat counters spinning madly, illustrating the multiplying-as-we-speak number of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube nods and the ever-quantifiable "lives impacted" - because really, nothing impacts a young life like a freshly orange-coated stoop. Most useful of all, there are deep thoughts voiced by project participants and observers, who alternately sound optimistic about trivial matters ("It shows the children that there are whole teams of people who are out there thinking about colour and paint and all the rest of it") and somewhat porny ("without colour… there is no throbbing vibration to live"). If you didn't know any better, you'd think the video was produced by a teenager armed only with relentless good cheer and a circa-2005 Microsoft make-your-own-videos tutorial. And then there's the aforementioned background song, which has burrowed its way into my cerebrum in the hours since I had the bad fortune to encounter its dulcet melodies. Atop a peppy, mechanical backbeat, the singer outlines a dystopian vision of multihued tomorrows in which no surface goes unpainted: "We'll own the future together… let's colour… show them what we can do… we are the world, we'll colour the world brand new… let's colour… future for me and you (let's colour)… together we'll make it new (let's colour)… shine so bright (let's colour)." Does anyone know offhand which international tribunal holds jurisdiction over atrocities of a jangly nature? The only thing to admire about the clip, really, is that the Let's Colour folks don't wield the branding paddle too sadistically. Dulux-stamped products don't make their first cameo until the 1:51 mark and the brand's on-screen appearances never approach the usual level of pleased-with-self obnoxiousness. To that end, I suspect the "Let's Colour Project So Far" director is in hiding after a series of veiled "I know where you work" threats from the recognition-thirsty folks in marketing. Charity and community involvement are good things, whether or not they're court-ordered. But by flashing its good-corporate-citizen badge so ineptly, Dulux makes me think less of its brand and, by extension, its products. It's like, these people can't string together an innocuous, effective 100-second clip promoting a worthy community-involvement project, and they expect me to welcome their paints into my boudoir? Think again, Mister! That's kind of an achievement in itself.