Looking to further expand its digital footprint, Discovery Communications has entered into an agreement to buy Web video programmer Revision3. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but previous reports put the price between $30 million and $40 million. A top digital video production company, Revision3 boasts more than 23 million monthly unique viewers across 27 digital channels -- and that’s only the beginning, according to Jean-Briac (JB) Perrette, Chief Digital Officer at Discovery Co. “We look forward to cultivating more original content,” he said. Heading into upfront season, Discovery Co. is touting its own online video successes. With video streaming on its Web properties up 70% in 2011, Perrette said he wanted to capitalize on the growing demand for such programming. San Francisco-based Revision3 reported ad revenue growth of 53% last year. While Revision3's programs are hosted by “online celebrities” -- including bloggers, Twitter stars and YouTube -- vloggers -- its content aligns well with Discovery’s key areas of interest, including technology, cooking and popular science. The company has also grown its YouTube subscriber base to more than 4.5 million people -- representing a 400% annual gain. Along with YouTube, Revision3 maintains distribution partnerships with more than 40 other partners, including iTunes, Google, AOL, Yahoo, TiVo, Roku, Boxee, CNET and Zune. Online ad spending grew 22% to $31.7 billion last year, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, with online video pushing ahead at an impressive 29% growth rate. Likely as a result, independent Web video production companies are becoming a rare breed. Before this latest deal, YouTube paid a reported $30 million to $40 million for rival video content company Next New Networks last year. Along with investing further in Discovery.com and TLC.com, Discovery Co. has pursued growth by scooping up Petfinder.com, TreeHugger.com and HowStuffWorks.com. To date, Revision3 has raised $10 million in two rounds from Greylock Partners, with additional funding from Marc Andreessen and Mark Cuban.
Social media has surpassed search, and is poised to overtake online display advertising as the No. 1 source of digital media planning and buying, according to the latest edition of a quarterly survey of U.S. advertising agencies. The survey, conducted by Strata, the agency media software and processing firm owned by Comcast, found that 69% of agency executives now consider social the “focus” of their digital ad spending -- up 32% over the past year, and now a close second behind display (71%) as the dominant digital media-buying platform in the minds of agency executives. “The survey demonstrates that there has been a shift from search -– which has dominated the digital part of the business for the last five to 10 years -– to social,” says Strata CEO and President John Shelton. Shelton said that view was affirmed to him this week while he was attending a technology conference of executives from small and mid-size agencies in New York City this week in which social was the main topic of discussion and nary a word was mentioned about either display or search. “I did not hear the word ‘search’ once,” he said, “ and maybe two out of three of the vendors [presentations] and three out of four of the [agency executives’] questions were about social. Social media is absolutely their main focus right now.” The Strata survey is based on an informal quarterly poll of its agency clients, which Shelton says is more of a cross-section of the U.S. agency scene, and therefore more representative than typical agency surveys that focus on the major agency holding companies. Strata services more than 1,000 agencies, processing more than $50 billion in media each year, and they range from shops billing $3 billion to “just under $1 million.” He said they are also geographically dispersed and include agencies based in the American heartland, as well as the major media markets. The survey found that mobile is also gaining steam, and is now seen as the No. 1 source of digital buying among 29.9% of the agency respondents. The iPhone continues to be the dominant device targeted in campaigns for eight straight quarters, with 75% of the executives citing it. Android came in second at 57% and the iPad was third at 44%. Interestingly, Android has fluctuated between 46% and 70% over the last eight quarters and “continues to look for stability in the mobile arena,” according to Strata. Not surprisingly, Facebook dominates the social media mindset, with 85% of the Strata respondents citing the social network. Interestingly, Google’s Facebook overtook Twitter as the next most dominant social media platform, and Google+ has moved up as a close fourth-place consideration behind Twitter. But Strata said Facebook has reigned supreme over the span of its surveys, scoring top consideration among 80% or more of the respondents for seven of the last nine quarters that it has been conducting the survey. Shelton said TV remains the No. 1 medium of focus among its agency clients, but that digital overall is beginning to close in on its dominance. He also noted that much of TV’s current stature has to do with the cyclical timing of the television marketplace, and especially the fact that we are in a “pre-upfront” buying period, and that we are also in a so-called quadrennial year in which the Summer Olympics and Presidential campaigns place a disproportionate share of attention on television in the ad industry. Shelton said the agency mindset shift mirrors Strata’s own development process, which has shifted significantly toward software and data processing systems earmarked for digital, which has been true of its major rivals – Donovan Data Systems and MediaBank, which recently merged into MediaOcean, and have put most of their focus on digital media processing. Shelton said about two-thirds of Strata’s development investments surrounding its ad agency products has been spent on digital media processing, and he says the company has experienced a 73% growth in usage of its digital products vs. only “single digit” growth of its traditional media products in the past two years.
More Internet and phone consumers at Cablevision Systems helped the company maintain its revenue levels in its first quarter of 2012 versus the same period a year ago. But Wall Street still wasn’t happy. The first quarter gained just 0.2% to $1.659 billion in revenue, a total under Wall Street analysts’ estimates. Tougher news also came with operating income, which slipped 16% to $250.1 million. Net income was cut in half -- $57.1 million from $104.0 million. All that took the wind out of Cablevision’s stock earning -- losing more than 8% on the day to close at $13.54. Cablevision gained 41,800 broadband and 42,400 voice customers in the period. The company said there was a bit of a silver lining. It reversed a long trend, which has been industry-wide, of losing basic video customers. Although a small number, Cablevision made 7,000 additions -- the largest quarterly increase in four years. As other cable operators have reported, Cablevision says its average monthly revenue per basic video customer continues to improve -- almost 2% to $152.53. Cablevision’s other businesses -- Newsday, News 12 Networks, MSG Varsity, Clearview Cinemas, and Cablevision Media Sales Corporation -- slipped 0.6% to $101.0 million, with operating losses narrowing to now $72.5 million compared with the prior-year period. The group witnessed declines in advertising revenues at Newsday.
Looking to change the idea that being or wearing a “suit” is a somehow undesirable quality, Men’s Wearhouse is targeting a younger, hipper client in a new advertising campaign that encourages young men to show off their inherent, individual styles. The new national television and online effort encourages men to “Suit Yourself” with fashion tips, brand names and modern tailoring that help them express their individual styles. The effort taps into what the company calls a growing trend of younger men starting to incorporate more “suit elements” into their everyday attire. “Younger men are paying more attention to their personal style and how they present themselves. They understand that what they wear says a lot about who they are,” Matt Stringer, senior vice president of marketing at Men’s Wearhouse, tells Marketing Daily. “With this campaign we want to re-introduce them to our stores and our selection of styles so they feel confident knowing they’re going to find the pieces that help them create the look they want.” One commercial features chain chairman (and longtime brand spokesman) George Zimmer in a more relaxed setting (driving a car, as opposed to sitting in a chair talking to the camera), explaining this new style. “Traditionally, when we say he’s a ‘suit,’ we think of a certain type of guy: bankers, lawyers, chairmen of boards. People like me,” Zimmer says, over images of stodgy, balding and gray-haired men wearing three-piece suits. As the images change to younger, hipper men, Zimmer continues: “But now the ones wearing the suits are the digital guys, the creative, the change agents,” he says. “Because today, you don’t have to be one [a suit], to wear one,” Zimmer concludes before ushering the brand’s famous line: “You’re gonna like the way you look.” Despite aiming at a new target, the company never considered altering the familiar tagline, Stringer says. “We actually think that the current tagline ties in nicely with the ‘Suit Yourself’ campaign,” he says. “For us, the tagline is a strong statement that supports and reinforces the overall ideas of the campaign of self-expression and confidence.” Other spots feature Zimmer talking about how the suit styles have changed to meet a younger aesthetic. Jackets are shorter, the lapels are narrower, etc. “Part of it is the cut of the man himself,” Zimmer says (imagery in the spot includes one young man fixing his tie as a tattoo peeks out above his collar). “Effectively, we want to create a dialogue with the viewer and invite them to express their individual style so we can in turn communicate how we can help them,” Stringer says. “It’s about how you wear a suit today and how that makes you feel. And then ultimately for the individual what they do with that feeling of self-worth. It’s those emotions that we ultimately wanted to capture with the overall theme of the campaign.” The commercials direct viewers to a newly redesigned Web site, www.menswearhouse.com/suityourself, which will showcase some of the looks featured in the campaign and showcase other styles. The company is also using Facebook to encourage men to upload photos and videos showing off their personal style. Those looks will be incorporated into future promotional videos.
Nielsen this morning released preliminary estimates for television’s so-called “universe” -- the percentage of U.S. households with at least one conventional TV set capable of receiving at least one conventional TV signal -- and for the second year in a row, it has declined, albeit at a miniscule rate. Like last year’s decline, Nielsen executives attribute some of the reduction to changes in the U.S. Census’s estimates for the number and composition of U.S. households, which the TV universe estimates are based on, but they say at least part of it is a function of changes in the media technology composition of U.S. homes. Precisely how much, they cannot say. “We continue to see increased media use proliferation, fueled by consumers able to watch professional, long-form video delivered traditionally and over the Internet by a number of devices, such as game consoles, computers, smartphones, tablets and over-the-top streaming like Apple TV,” explains Pat McDonough, senior vice president of insights and analysis at Nielsen, adding that Nielsen estimates that TV penetration, “as currently defined,” will be at 95.8% of U.S. households in January 2013. The preliminary estimates, which will be used as the basis of all of Nielsen’s calculations –- and the planning, buying, posting and guarantees for TV advertisers next year –- project the number of TV households will decline to 114.1 million for 2013, from 114.7 million in 2012. The number of persons 2+ living in those TV households will decline to 289.2 million in 2013 from 289.3 million in 2012. The final 2013 TV household and persons universe estimates will be released in August. McDonough explains the impact of the 2010 U.S. Census data releases, noting that they occur over two years: “The 2012 universe estimates were the first to reflect the 2010 Census results for total population, total households, and ethnic population totals. “These advance 2013 universe estimates are the first to reflect the 2010 Census results for demographic details (persons by age, sex, and ethnicity) as well as ethnic households.”
Google is making a big bet on original video content, unveiling a plan to back its YouTube channels initiative with $200 million in marketing support. The announcement, which was made Wednesday during its digital “NewFront” presentation, will support an initiative that Google’s YouTube began last fall with the rollout of 50 niche content channels, and more than 50 new channels will be added soon. According to Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s head of global content, the video-sharing giant will spend the $200 million across Google sites and its advertising network to promote the channels. In a call with reporters, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt explained why Google is placing such a big bet on original video content. “We’re about to see another large explosion in the use of video,” he said, adding that the video industry is in what he described as a “third wave” of transformation. The first wave was broadcast to cable, he said, while the second was cable to the Web. Google’s plans were unveiled Wednesday night at New York’s Beacon Theatre during YouTube’s first-ever “upfront,” which refers to the annual television tradition in which media companies present their new programming lineups to advertisers in the hope that they will purchase ads. YouTube’s presentation marked the end of the two-week series of so-called digital content “NewFronts,” or upfront sales pitches, from Web giants Hulu, Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft, YouTube and even a few traditional media companies like NBCUniversal and The Walt Disney Co. During its presentation, YouTube featured three new channels that are part of the YouTube expansion: one about the lives of women, another about U.S. Olympians, and a third from Tribeca Film Enterprises. The channel about the lives of women, called “WIGS,” will be comprised of series, documentaries, and other content. It comes from producer Jon Avnet (“Black Swan,” “Fried Green Tomatoes,” “Risky Business”), and director Rodrigo Garcia (“Albert Nobbs,” “In Treatment,” “Mother and Child”). Some big Hollywood names are being linked to series on the channel, including Jennifer Garner, Virginia Madsen, Julia Stiles, Alison Janney, Caitlin Gerard, America Ferrera, Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Beals, Michael C. Hall, Stephen Moyer and Alfred Molina. In conjunction with the U.S. Olympic Committee, the “Team USA” channel, which AT&T is sponsoring, will feature content about present and past Olympians, and instruction from Olympic sport coaches, in addition to classic Olympics footage. “The Picture Show” channel from Tribeca Enterprises, which produces the Tribeca Film Festival, and Maker Studios, will be a hub for online series, behind-the-scenes footage and short films. It will not show feature-length movies.
Looking for highly engaged, socially active teens who reside in high-income households? Video sharing and streaming platforms are a good place to start, according to new findings from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Indeed, youth from higher-income and higher-education families are more likely to video chat than youth from lower-income and education households, Pew found. “Just 14% of teens in lower-income families are video chatting, compared with 40% of teens with parents with higher levels of education,” according to Amanda Lenhart, a senior research specialist at Pew Internet. Similarly, teens who use Facebook and Twitter are more likely to use video chat, with 41% of Facebook users chatting -- compared with 25% of nonusers -- and 60% of Twitter users using video chat -- compared with 33% of non-Twitter users. Overall, 37% of Web users ages 12-to-17 reported participating in video chats with others using applications such as Skype, Googletalk or iChat, while 27% reported recording and uploading video to the Web. Some 95% of teens 12-17 use the Internet, according to a survey of 799 teens conducted by Pew between April and July of last year. Neither ethic background or sex had a great deal to do with video sharing and streaming behavior, Pew concluded. That represented a marked change from previous research, which found that boys were far more likely to engage in such activities. Online girls, however, are more likely to report video chatting than boys -- with 42% of girls who use the Web saying they have video chatted, compared with about one-third (33%) of boys. White teens who use the Internet are more likely to report video chatting than online Latino teens -- 41% of white teens do so, compared to 28% of Latino youth. However, Pew found no statistically significant differences between online black youth and either white or Latino youth in video chatting.
In its first quarterly earnings report since going public in February, online video services provider Brightcove reported revenue of $19.9 million on a net loss of $4.3 million, down from $5.8 million the previous quarter. Compared with the first quarter of 2011, revenue increased 53%, while Brightcove’s customer base increased 49% to 4,254 total customers. "We are pleased to announce strong financial results, highlighted by 53% revenue growth year-over-year, in our first quarter as a public company," said Jeremy Allaire, Brightcove Chairman and CEO. "Brightcove continues to expand its market share leadership position, and we believe the company is well positioned at the center of multiple powerful growth trends -- video, mobile, cloud and social." Perhaps the only black mark on the first quarter earnings report was that non-GAAP (which stands for generally accepted accounting principles) loss per share was $0.17, while analysts expected a loss of $0.16 per share. Brightcove said it raised $54.6 million in its initial public offering on Feb. 17 and is now sitting on $60.6 million in cash and equivalents, up from $17.2 million at the end of last year. The company expects similar revenue of $19.5 to $19.9 million for the second quarter, and revenue of $81 to $82.5 million for the full year. Brightcove is a cloud-based video hosting and publishing services provider that enables video content to be delivered smoothly across screens. It also helps content providers stream video to the Web using HTML5 rather than Adobe Flash. More recently, Brightcove entered the mobile app development business by helping publishers create apps for Android and iPhone.
Happy Friday, folks! Today we start off with a glimpse into just how much (or how little) YouTube’s new channel workers are getting paid for their efforts. Next, could Facebook’s new sports video deal pave the way for brands? Amazon Studios serves up a new twist on a very old, very established Hollywood model. Comcast brings live streaming to its cable subscribers. Finally: social video ads hit a new record in the first quarter. Report: YouTube Channel’s Workers Make $15 Per Hour During its "Digital Content NewFront" presentation Wednesday, YouTube touted its new lineup of original content channels, including “WIGS," which will offer scripted series, short films and documentaries about the lives of women and features lots of A-list Hollywood talent. Well, The Wall Street Journal interviews several people working for “WIGS” and reveals that everyone in set-level production (which includes actors and crew) has agreed to work for as little as $15 per hour per day. According to the report, the low pay is partly due to the fact that YouTube is giving its channels only a few million dollars each -- far less than the cost of a typical TV production -- making it impossible to pay average industry salaries. “Things were better without any money issues,” said actor Caitlin Gerard ("The Social Network"). “It’s creativity for creativity’s sake.” WIGS co-owner Jon Avnet, a Hollywood producer, said actors and filmmakers are willing to make sacrifices for experience in the emerging online video genre. “Scripted stories are what get talent,” he said. WIGS launches with its first series, “Jan,” on May 14. Facebook Sports Video Deal Could Pave The Way for Brands A few days ago, social networking giant Facebook struck a deal with digital video provider Perform Group that brings the London-based company’s range of international sports content to Facebook users, who can now subscribe for the service using Facebook Credits. Perform had previously struck similar deals with YouTube and LG, but the company is now hoping that Facebook, with its 900 million users globally, will become Perform’s largest source of subscribers. To be sure, the market for international sports content -- targeting mostly expats and foreign fans -- is small, but as MediaPost columnist Mike Bloxham points out, the deal is just one more example of potential revenue streams that Facebook, which goes public in a few weeks, could pursue. It also helps establish Facebook as a video destination beyond just clips and content shared by users, Bloxham says, adding that branded video channels could be a next step. Amazon Offers New Twist On Original Video Content With each passing week, more and more original video content is being made available to consumers. Among the newer entrants to a space long dominated by traditional media companies and television are Netflix, Hulu, Google/YouTube, AOL, Yahoo and now, Amazon. As Digital Trends’ Geoff Duncan notes, Amazon’s Amazon Studios is somewhat late to the party, but its business model “turns the traditional Hollywood system on its head” by bypassing the established industry maze of executives and insiders that greenlight new projects. Amazon is inviting anyone to submit their ideas for a comedy or children’s programming series. The requirements for consideration are a five-page description and a completed pilot script of 22 minutes for a comedy, or 11 minutes for a children’s program. The Web retaling giant says it will decide whether to buy an option for a given series in 45 days, for which writers get paid $10,000 upfront. If Amazon turns the idea into a full-budget series, it will pay the creators $55,000 along with 5% of its proceeds from merchandise. For writers that are just starting out, Duncan says this is pretty much in line with what the industry pays. Will the idea work? One worry, Duncan says, is that Amazon Prime will cost subscribers $79 annually, which will turn off a lot of consumers who are used to seeing content for free. The other concern is that Internet video users have notoriously short attention spans, so the bet on long-form content is not guaranteed to pay off. Comcast Strikes Live Streaming, TV Everywhere Deals With Disney The convergence of TV and online video programming goes both ways: Multichannel News is reporting that Comcast has struck a deal with The Walt Disney Co. to give its subscribers access to WatchESPN, the media giant’s live sports streaming service. It has also struck a "TV Everywhere" deal with Disney that will see content from Disney’s three children’s cable networks become available to the pay TV operator’s subscribers. The WatchESPN and Disney networks deals are part of a 10-year deal Comcast made with Disney in January. WatchESPN carries most of the live events on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3, and is available on WatchESPN.com and on smartphones and tablets. It is currently only available to video subscribers of Time Warner Cable, BrightHouse Networks and Verizon’s FiOS TV. WatchESPN apps have been downloaded about 8 million times to date, according to Matt Murphy of Disney & ESPN. Social Video Ads Reach Record In Q1 People watched 1.3 billion social video ads in the first quarter of 2012 -- 40% more than the same period in 2011 and 225% more than the first quarter of 2010, according to a study by video analytics company Visible Measures. “Social video ads,” in this case, refer to advertisements that consumers proactively search for and watched on sites like YouTube. It’s worth noting that, because of the Super Bowl, the first quarter will always be inflated when it comes to measuring the viral success of a video ad, but this year’s totals were also heavily inflated by the phenomenal success of Invisible Children’s “KONY 2012” video (not a Super Bowl ad, by the way), which came first in the Top 5 with 170 million views. M&M Candies’ “Just My Shell” came second with 41 million views, followed by Volkswagen’s “The Dog Strikes Back” with 37 million views, Rovio’s “Angry Birds Space,” 31 million, and Honda’s remake of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” 25 million.
The other day, for about the 27th time, UPS sent me an email that commenced with a reminder of how irresponsible and thoughtless a human being I've become: "Our records indicate that you have not taken advantage of My UPS recently." Upon further investigation, I learned that I haven't tracked a package in a number of weeks, which I can only assume has rattled the company to the core of its being. Understandably, then, UPS called on me to reaffirm my commitment to the cause - indeed, to reaffirm my commitment to America. Heaven forbid it should just stash my data away, like every other e-entity has done since the beginning of the Internet. Nonetheless, I re-upped with My UPS, because I am nothing if not a considerate partner within the context of corporate relationships. But upon visiting the site, I made a most unexpected discovery: That one of my favorite bands is in bed with UPS. That's right: Pearl Jam has been seduced by the charms of Big Delivery. Apparently the band threw an awesome 20th anniversary bash in the wilds of Wisconsin last Labor Day weekend and needed to ship a metric assload of stuff halfway across the country for the occasion. Being a bunch of idealistic, decent fellas, the band members worried about the environmental impact of doing so. Thus was born a relationship with UPS, which got the gear into place without unleashing a carbon tornado or harming a single twig. In turn, UPS put together a video highlighting its role in the effort, which debuted on UPS.com a few weeks back. The relationship is a real coup for UPS. Pearl Jam is one of the few A-list acts that has integrity to spare - though probably not as much as Cameron Crowe's fawning PJ20 documentary, which proclaims that the band is 13 times more incorruptible than the Dalai Lama and Spider-Man combined, would have us believe. Unfortunately for everyone involved, however, the clip overplays that hand. PJ guitarist Stone Gossard, a smart guy who usually self-deprecates with great and welcome ease, comes across as a bit of a scold. And by touting its role in helping Pearl Jam atone for its enviro-sins, UPS unwittingly calls attention to its own actions. My first thought upon viewing the video: "Holy kashmoly - if a caravan of Pearl Jam semis can do so much damage, the UPS fleet must be punching earth-sized holes in the ozone layer every afternoon." That's probably not what the company envisioned. Also, let's be honest. It's impossible not to mock do-gooder rockers, especially when they start chirping about carbon output and other topics above their pay grade. When Gossard asks, "What can Pearl Jam and UPS talk each other into doing that will really make people go 'Wow!'?," it's like, whoa, great question, dude! Maybe streak at a WNBA game? Or have Scott Davis join the band for an "I Got You Babe" remake? Mindstatus: blown. As for the video itself, it's innocuous enough. Over the strains of Pearl Jam's "Of the Girl," Gossard yaps about sustainabilityitude. We see clips of Pearl Jam old and new and we see a train. We get jealous that nobody has invited us to visit the band's warehouse. That's all. There are worse ways to spend slightly under three minutes, like by pondering the environmental impact of a television set expelled from Keith Moon's hotel window and into the pool below. UPS has long ranked as the country's worst corporate sloganeer. Between setting "That's Logistics" to the tune of "That's Amore" and the whole "What can brown, which is the color of poop, do for you?" thing, the company's marketing sometimes obscures the fact that it is the best at what it does. "Pearl Jam: A Story of Logistics" – which should certainly be given due consideration as an album title down the road - is just another small misstep. I doubt it matters much in the grand scheme of things.