Posts for 'Devices'

  • VideoNuze Report Podcast #81 - Dec. 10, 2010

    Daisy Whitney and I are back this week for the 81st edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for December 10, 2010.

    This week Daisy and I focus on Google's video efforts from two perspectives: first, whether it should pay CBS (and other networks) to allow Google TV to access their programs, and second, what are the implications of its acquisition of Widevine, announced last Friday.

    On the former point, as I argued in "Google to Pay CBS? Unlikely." I think it's a big stretch to believe that Google, which is a search engine, is going to start paying content providers like CBS, to direct traffic to them. Certainly that's not what it does online, and there's little reason to believe it will start doing so with Google TV.

    Meanwhile, the Widevine deal underscores how far Google has come in prioritizing copyright protection. It wasn't that long ago when YouTube was a rogue copyright infringer and yet that didn't deter Google from acquiring it. With Widevine and multiple other Google video initiatives, the company is extremely well-positioned to play a bigger role in the distribution and monetization of Hollywood content in 2011.

    If you want to learn more about Google, and also other key online/mobile video trends and predictions for 2011, then join me for a complimentary webinar I'll be hosting with The Diffusion Group's Colin Dixon next Wed., Dec. 15th at 11am PT/2pm ET. We'll demystify 2011 and leave plenty of time for audience Q&A.

    Click here to listen to the podcast (12 minutes, 17 seconds)


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  • Google To Pay CBS? Unlikely.

    CBS CEO Les Moonves said this week that Google TV is not going to get CBS programs for "zero dollars," suggesting that if the company were to unblock access for the device, it would only happen when Google is willing to pay. I've learned to never say never, but in this case I think the scenario where Google pays for CBS and other broadcast networks' programs similarly being blocked from Google TV is very unlikely.

    When Moonves says "I'm not sure what it is," (referring to Google TV) it makes me think he either doesn't understand the Internet, is being disingenuous, or both. As I originally argued a couple of months ago, in "Broadcast TV Networks Are Wrong to Block Google TV," the device is not hard to understand. It serves essentially the same purpose for content providers on TVs as the Google search engine does online and on mobile devices. A user wants to find a piece of content or an answer to a question or a product, he/she types a term into the search bar and a list of filtered results appears. Google has also enhanced Google TV's core search and discover functionality with a bunch of apps that help emulate the full Internet experience on TV; for now those are interesting, but not yet compelling or unique vs. other devices that do similar things. Over time they may be.

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  • Comcast Launches First Android Xfinity Mobile App

    Three weeks after launching its free Xfinity mobile app for Apple iOS devices, today Comcast introduced the Android version of the app. From a video features perspective, the iOS and Android versions line up pretty closely, including search and browse of the On Demand catalog, remote DVR programming and a searchable guide to local listings. All of these are handy, but as I wrote a few weeks ago, the big win for Comcast and its customers will happen when it's possible to actually watch a TV show or movie selected using the app (that capability is coming soon and is part of the larger TV Everywhere strategy).

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  • 5 Items of Interest for the Week of Nov. 29th

    Following the Thanksgiving break last Friday, VideoNuze's end-of-week feature of curating 5-6 interesting online/mobile video industry news items that we weren't able to cover this week, is back. Read them now or take them with you this weekend!

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  • Takeaways From Yesterday's VideoSchmooze Panel

    We had a great turnout for yesterday's VideoSchmooze breakfast/panel in NYC focused on how connected and mobile devices are transforming the video landscape. Panelists included Charlie Herrin, SVP, Products and Technology, Comcast Interactive Media, Doug Knopper - Co-CEO and Co-Founder, FreeWheel, Olivier Manuel - Director of Content, Samsung Electronics, Steve Robinson - CEO and Founder, Panache and Jeremiah Zinn, SVP, Digital Products, MTV.

    Following are some of my key takeaways from the session:

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  • Is Microsoft Planning to Join the Pay-TV Party?

    Reuters is reporting this morning that Microsoft is exploring a range of options to get into the pay-TV business through a new over-the-top service. The article points to a potential "virtual cable provider" model whereby Microsoft would license multiple networks, which would be delivered to Xbox gaming consoles and other devices.  Also under consideration are creating "content silos" to sell specific premium channels.

    If Microsoft were to join the pay-TV business aggressively it would further alter industry dynamics. The number one issue in play right now is whether consumers are forsaking traditionally packaged pay-TV services and instead opting for some mix of free and paid online-delivered alternatives. Yet while Internet options are gaining in popularity (with Netflix's explosive growth to nearly 17 million subscribers at the end of Q3 the primary beneficiary), hard data supporting cord-cutting is still scarce.

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  • 5 Items of Interest for the Week of Nov. 15th

    After a short break, VideoNuze's Friday feature of curating 5-6 interesting online/mobile video industry news items that we weren't able to cover this week, returns today. Read them now or take them with you this weekend!

    Time Warner Cable Experiments With Lower Tier Video Package
    It's a rare day when a cable operator announces a lower-priced offering, but that's what Time Warner Cable did yesterday, unveiling a test of what it's calling "TV Essentials." The new tier, priced between $30-$40, will most notably exclude ESPN, the most expensive channel in the cable universe, meaning right away TV Essentials isn't targeted to sports fans. I've argued for a while now that pay-TV operators have ceded the low-priced/value-oriented end of the video market to Netflix (and others), which given the ongoing recession is a mistake. It will be interesting to see how the new bargain service fares; 2 things that will limit its appeal though are that no channels will be offered in HD, and that it appears those with broadband Internet and telephone services won't benefit from typical package discounts.

    Nielsen study: We're still a nation of couch pumpkins

    More evidence this week that despite all the deserved enthusiasm over online and mobile delivery, good old-fashioned TV viewing still rules in terms of hours of consumption. Nielsen said that the average person watched 143 hours of TV per month in Q2, essentially flat vs. a year ago. For homes with DVRs, hours of time watched on them nudged up a bit to about 24 1/2 hours. On a related note, this week comScore released its online video viewing data for October, which showed average viewing of 15.1 hours per person. While online video has made huge progress in the last few years, it still has a ton of room to grow to catch up with TV.

    More Videos Ads, More User Acceptance
    Speaking of the comparison between online video and TV, this week brought some interesting new data on monetization patterns for premium online video. Online video ad manager FreeWheel released data that showed mid-roll ads are the fastest-growing category of ads (up 693% since Q1), and now represent 8% of its ad volume. Completion rates have increased for pre, mid and post-roll ads this year, but notably mid-rolls have the highest completion rate, at 90%. FreeWheel's conclusion is that monetization of premium online video is starting to look a lot like TV, with ad pods inserted throughout. Going a step further, if viewer acceptance of mid-rolls stays high, then this represents a valuable opportunity for TV networks in particular to combat DVR-based ad-skipping.

    Startup Claims To Have Set-Top Hulu Can't Block
    It was inevitable that Hulu's decision to block access to its programs would set off a game of whack-a-mole, with various devices springing up to do end-arounds. Sure enough, the $99 Orb TV debuted this week, prominently positioning itself as the device that can bring Hulu (among other content) to your TV. One catch is that Orb streams video from your computer and only does so in standard definition. It addresses the "keyboard in the living room" challenge by also including a smartphone app to control the device. It's not a perfect solution, but it does provide a glimpse into the PR-unfriendly dynamic that Hulu, and the broadcast networks, have created for themselves by blocking access to their content by Google TV and others. No doubt there will be plenty more Orb-like devices to come to market in the months ahead, all positioning themselves as solving the blocking problem.

    Comcast's Top Digital Exec Amy Banse to Open New Silicon Valley Equity Fund for Cable Giant and NBC
    As Comcast enters the final stages of approval for its NBCU deal, the company this week announced a new NBCU management structure. One item that wasn't formally announced yet, but was reported by AllThingsD earlier this week was that Amy Banse, formerly head of Comcast Interactive Media (now headed by Matt Strauss), will be heading to Silicon Valley to run the combined operations of Comcast's current Comcast Interactive Capital venture arm, and NBCU's current Peacock Equity (a JV with GE). With all the distribution, technology and content assets that will be under the Comcast roof, the fund will be at the top of any online/mobile video startup's list of strategic investors. I've known Amy for a while and have enjoyed having her on industry panels; she'll be a huge asset to Comcast in the Valley venture world.
     
  • VideoNuze Report Podcast #80 - Nov. 19, 2010

    Daisy Whitney and I are back this week for the 80th edition of the VideoNuze Report podcast, for November 19, 2010. Before getting started, congratulations to Daisy on the release of "The Mockingbirds," her first fiction book, for young adult readers. It debuted 2 weeks ago and is published by Little Brown. In addition to writing the book, Daisy has put together a clever social media campaign which has lifted the book's visibility. Congrats Daisy!

    This week Daisy and I discuss my post from yesterday, "Broadcast TV Networks Are Wrong to Block Google TV - Part 2" in which I laid out the case for why the networks are using a backwards-looking strategy in their decision to block their programs from access by Google TV and other browser-based connected devices.

    To their credit, the networks have actually been quite forward-looking in releasing many of their programs for free viewing on their web sites and on Hulu. But now, by creating an artificial distinction between computer-based and TV-based viewing of online-delivered content, they are violating one of the most basic rules of the Internet era: don't create friction between the product and the customer. While that may help them win retransmission consent deals in the short term, I believe that in the long term it will hurt them. Listen in to learn more.

    Click here to listen to the podcast (11 minutes, 43 seconds)


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  • Broadcast TV Networks Are Wrong to Block Google TV - Part 2

    When Fox decided last week to block access to its programs by Google TV, it was no big surprise since its broadcast brethren ABC, CBS, NBC and Hulu had already done so. By speaking in a unanimous voice, the broadcasters have sent a clear signal that viewing their programs on TV, for free, via online delivery, is not to be. While they're happy to make Hulu Plus subscriptions available via connected devices, if you want to watch for free, you'll be restricted to computer, or limited mobile device-based, viewing.

    A few weeks ago in the first part of "Broadcast Networks Are Wrong to Block Google TV," I speculated on what was motivating the broadcasters to block Google TV, boxee and other browser-based connected devices. In the case of Google TV, it's tempting to believe they are looking to extract payments from Google to distribute their programs. Another possible explanation is that programs aren't monetized as well in online as they are on-air (the "swapping analog dollars for digital pennies" argument). Yet another explanation is that measurement of online viewing is not yet fully mature, so they're worried that if their audience shifts to connected device-based viewing, it would hurt their ratings points, and consequently their ad revenues. But none of these are broadcasters' main motivation.

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  • Comcast's New Xfinity TV App: Nice Start, Lots More To Do

    Comcast unveiled its new Xfinity TV app today for iOS devices, and after downloading and playing around with it a bit, I'd say it's a nice start, though there is a lot more to do. The free app is ultimately meant to allow Comcast digital video subscribers to use it as a guide, program their DVRs, search for shows in the On Demand catalog, view streaming content, create watch lists and access social networking sites to share the viewing experience.

    In the press release Comcast noted that the last 3 features will be coming soon. Of these, the viewing feature on the iOS devices is the most interesting, as it will allow authenticated subscribers to view available content wherever they may be. That's the vision of TV Everywhere, and it's good to see Comcast bridging its content to non-Comcast set-top boxes (which is actually quite a rarity in the cable TV business). It's also an example of how Comcast will, in a sense, be going over the top of other pay-TV operators, when its subscribers watch video outside of Comcast territories.

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  • Clearleap Raises Another $4.5 Million To Accelerate Delivery To Connected Devices

    Clearleap, a web-based technology platform, has raised a new $4.5 million round from current investors, bringing total capital raised to $16.8 million. It is also announcing a new "Stream On Demand" solution which is targeted to pay-TV operators who want to deliver authenticated video streams to connected IP devices. Clearleap introduced this concept over the summer by partnering with Roku to allow pay-TV operators deliver video to its devices.

    At the time I wrote that the partnership blurred the boundaries between traditional video and broadband-centric or "over-the-top" video distribution. As Clearleap's CEO Braxton Jarratt explained to me the other day, those boundaries will become even more blurry as customers adopt Stream On Demand. With the new solution, pay-TV operators can authenticate, manage quality of service (QOS) and bill for video delivered to connected devices that are either owned by the consumer or by the operator itself.  Braxton said that Stream On Demand's first customers will be announced later this year or early next. Clearleap's focus to date has been on incorporating online video into legacy linear and VOD systems.

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  • Irdeto Securing Content on Logitech Google TV Device

    Logitech has chosen Irdeto's Cloakware to help secure premium content on its new Google TV-powered Revue device. The Revue offers access to subscription services like Netflix, and also open Internet access to other download-to-own and rental models. Irdeto has had a relationship with Netflix, which Irdeto's David Vogel told me yesterday helped the company understand the key security issues and speed integration. Cloakware helps secure the user authentication process and other digital assets.

    Google TV is still a very new product, but it has already run into hiccups gaining access to free content, with most major broadcast TV networks and Hulu blocking their programs. The premise of being able to access paid and free, premium and independent video, all through one box, still remains an exciting prospect however.

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  • Entone Introduces FusionTV To Help Telcos Blend OTT With Linear TV

    IPTV vendor Entone jumped into the connected device fray today with a new managed service called "FusionTV" for telcos looking to offer a hybrid linear TV/broadband/online video package. Entone's CEO Steve McKay briefed me on the company's plans last week.

    For consumers, FusionTV's appeal is that it brings together several value propositions into one user experience: linear HDTV, whole home DVR, online video and media sharing. As a result consumers don't need to buy and wire together a DVR or connected device (or multiple of these for additional rooms), and also don't need to disrupt their existing video source, whether that be telco, satellite, over-the-air, etc. For the telcos (primarily tier 2), FusionTV is a new value added service to improve the competitiveness of their broadband service, while also helping bring online video under their roof, thus preempting over-the-top cord-cutting.

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  • Amazon is Now Selling Samsung's Connected Blu-ray Players For Lowest Prices Yet

    Amazon is now selling two of Samsung's most popular connected Blu-ray DVD players, the BD-C5500 and the BD-C6500 for $109 and $132, respectively, which I believe are the lowest prices yet for these two products (note these are new, not refurbished). The main difference between the two is that the 6500 has built-in wireless and 1GB of local storage, whereas the 5500 supports wired Ethernet access only. I've been tracking the prices on these two units for a while now and actually picked up the 6500 almost a month ago for what was then the lowest price I had seen of $190. The new prices put the Blu-ray players in close proximity to Apple TV and Roku in particular.

    Just yesterday, Best Buy was advertising the 6500 for $160, which itself was probably the best price I'd seen to date (by comparison, Crutchfield and Walmart.com are both still asking $250). The move toward $100 brings both products well into the comfort zone for many millions of buyers this holiday season, helping drive Blu-ray penetration to new highs. This in turn creates many more connected homes accessing content from providers like Netflix, Vudu, Pandora, etc.

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  • Why You Should Come to the Next VideoSchmooze, on December 1st in NYC

    The next VideoSchmooze breakfast/panel is coming up on Wed, Dec. 1st at The Samsung Experience, located in the Time Warner Center, 10 Columbus Circle, NYC. The topic of our panel, which I'll moderate, couldn't be more timely: "How Connected and Mobile Devices are Transforming the Video Landscape."

    Here are 5 great reasons you should come:

    1. Our panel is top-notch and you'll learn a lot. Our panel includes:
    -Charlie Herrin - SVP, Products and Technology, Comcast Interactive Media
    -Doug Knopper - Co-CEO and Co-Founder, FreeWheel
    -Olivier Manuel - Director of Content, Samsung Electronics
    -Steve Robinson - CEO and Founder, Panache
    -Jeremiah Zinn - SVP, Digital Products, MTV

    Our panelists represent a diverse group of perspectives on connected and mobile devices. How does each see the development of these devices unfolding and their impact? What should we expect this holiday season? Who wins and who loses as connected and mobile devices proliferate? If you've been to a VideoSchmooze before or another session I've moderated, you know you can expect a no-BS, fact-driven and highly-focused/entertaining session. There will be plenty of time for audience Q&A and for meeting the panelists.

    2. Schmooze with industry colleagues. The name "VideoSchmooze" says it all. VideoSchmooze events are opportunities to meet others in the industry who  have responsibility for and/or influence over their companies' online/mobile video initiatives. The start of any deal is developing personal relationships; VideoSchmooze events help connect you to a couple hundred people you need to know.

    3. Educate yourself about connected and mobile devices. The Samsung Experience is a unique showroom displaying all the company's newest gadgets and staffed by professionals who can answer all of your questions, without looking to make the sale  (it's a showroom, not a store). You'll see demos of the "Tab," which is Samsung's newly-released Android-based tablet (meant to compete with the iPad), the line of high-end Galaxy smartphones with brilliant 4-inch Super AMOLED screens, connected Blu-ray players perfect for streaming Netflix and other content, and of course the unbelievably-thin new LED TVs. Get hands-on and learn!

    4. VideoSchmooze is an incredible value and fits your schedule well. Sometimes attending a broader industry conference makes sense. But these days, finding 2 days out of the office to spare, plus the thousands of dollars in registration fees and travel expenses required is becoming a rare luxury. With VideoSchmooze, for $50-60 (early bird discounted tickets now available), you get a high-quality education/networking event that fits snuggly into your hectic schedule. No finance geek is going to give you a hard time that VideoSchmooze busted your quarterly T&E budget. Plus, all early bird registrants are eligible to win a Samsung connected Blu-ray player.

    5. Yummy breakfast goodies from Bouchon Bakery. OK, if you're not sold yet, then here's the best part - you can expect yummy and plentiful breakfast goodies from the Bouchon Bakery just next door to the Samsung Experience.  You can get a cup of Joe and a factory-tasting bagel from Dunkin Donuts while dashing to your office any morning, but how often do you start your day with a flaky fresh pain au chocolat and steaming cup of coffee? Pretty enticing, huh?

    Need more reasons to come? Drop me an email at wrichmondATvideonuze.com or call me at 617-699-4459.

    This VideoSchmooze breakfast is generously sponsored by Akamai Technologies, FreeWheel and Panache. It is being held in association with CTAM's New York chapter. The Fortex Group is providing marketing support.

    Click here to learn more and register for early bird discount
     
  • Broadcast TV Networks Are Wrong to Block Google TV

    Since word broke late last week that ABC, CBS and NBC are blocking access by Google TV to their full-length programs, I've been scouring the web and  speaking to colleagues, attempting to get some insights about what's going on here. Though I've heard plenty of free-floating concerns raised, I've yet to really understand solid reasons for why broadcast networks are doing this that can't be addressed somehow. Therefore, as best I can tell, for now at least, I think the broadcast TV networks are wrong to block access.

    The most obvious reason is that they're creating a false and meaningless distinction between screens. Whereas you can "go online" and freely access plenty of ABC, CBS and NBC shows at their own web sites, (and at Hulu for ABC and NBC), the networks have decided that if you're trying to "go online" via your Google TV, that's unacceptable. In an age where computer screens are getting bigger all the time - looking more like TVs - why exactly should this distinction matter?

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  • With Woomi, Miniweb Looks To End Debate About Browsers In Connected Devices

    Back in August, in "For Connected Devices - To Browse or Not To Browse, That is the Question," I described a split in the product approaches among connected devices makers - whether to include a browser or not. Including a browser means that the whole Internet is theoretically accessible, just like going online. This is the approach of devices like Google TV and boxee. Not including a browser is everyone else's approach (e.g. gaming consoles, connected TVs and Blu-ray players, Apple TV, Roku, etc.). With no browser in place, consumers only get access to the content the device maker has integrated such as Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, etc. To partially open up, some like Roku have begun offering an API to content providers.

    But now U.K.-based Miniweb (a spin-off of BSkyB) is looking to render moot the browser debate by offering a clever new cloud-based services platform called "Woomi" which gives content providers an on-ramp to widespread availability on connected devices even when no browser is available.  Speaking with Miniweb's CEO Jerome de Vitry and its founder/chief architect Ian Valentine recently, I was impressed with how well the company understands the problem it's trying to solve and the technical approach it's using to do so.

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  • 6 Items of Interest for the Week of Oct. 18th

    It was another busy week for online/mobile video, and so VideoNuze is continuing its Friday practice of curating 5-6 interesting industry news items that we weren't able to cover this week. Read them now or take them with you this weekend!

    Networks block Google TV to protect themselves
    Yesterday news started breaking that ABC, CBS and NBC are blocking access by Google TV. There are numerous concerns being cited - potential disruption of advertising, encouraging cord-cutting, incenting piracy, diminished branding, unsatisfactory ad splits with Google, and general worry about Google invading the living room. Each item on its own is probably not enough to motivate the blocking action, but taken together they are. Still, doesn't it feel a little foolish that broadcasters would differentiate between a computer screen and a TV screen like this? For Google, it's more evidence that nothing comes easy when trying to work with Hollywood. I'm trying to find out more about what's happening behind the scenes.

    TWC Lines Up For ESPN Online Kick
    An important milestone for TV Everywhere may come as early as next Monday, as #2 cable operator Time Warner is planning to make ESPN viewing available online to paying subscribers. Remote access is part of the recent and larger retransmission consent deal between Disney and TWC. TV Everywhere initiatives have been slow to roll out, amid cable programmers' reluctance.  Further proving that remote authenticated access works and that it's attractive with a big name like ESPN would increase TV Everywhere's momentum.

    Hulu Plus, Take Two: How's $4.95 a Month?
    Rumors are swirling that Hulu may cut the price of its nascent Hulu Plus subscription service in half, to $4.95/mo. That would be a tacit recognition of Hulu Plus's minimal value proposition, largely due to its skimpy content offering. As I initially reported in August, over 88% of Hulu Plus content is available for free on Hulu.com. More important, Netflix's streaming gains have really marginalized Hulu Plus. Netflix's far greater resources and subscriber base have enabled it to spend far bigger on content acquisition. Even at $4.95, I continue to see Hulu Plus as an underwhelming proposition in an increasingly noisy landscape.

    Viacom Hires Superstar Lawyer to Handle YouTube Appeal
    Viacom is showing no signs of giving up on its years-long copyright infringement litigation against Google and YouTube. This week the company retained Theodore Olson, a high-profile appellate and Supreme Court specialist to handle its appeal. While most of the world has moved on and is trying to figure out how to benefit from YouTube's massive scale, Viacom charges on in court.

    Verizon to sell Galaxy Tab starting November 11th for $599.99
    Verizon is determined to play its part in the tablet computer craze, this week announcing with Samsung that it will sell the latter's new "Tab" tablet for $600 beginning on November 11th. The move follows last week's announcement by Verizon that it will begin selling the iPad on Oct. 28th, which was widely interpreted as the first step toward Verizon offering the iPhone early next year. Apple currently owns the tablet market, and it remains to be seen whether newcomers like the Tab can break through. For his part, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said on Apple's earnings call this week that all other tablets are "dead on arrival." Note, if you want to see the "Tab" and learn more about how connected and mobile devices are transforming the video landscape, come to the VideoSchmooze breakfast at the Samsung Experience on Wed., Dec. 1st.

    One-Third of US Adults Skip Live TV: Report
    A fascinating new study from Say Media (the entity formed from the recent merger of VideoEgg and Six Apart), suggesting that 56 million, or one-third of adult Internet users, have reduced their live TV viewership. The research identified 2 categories: "Opt Outs" (22 million) who don't own a TV or haven't watched TV in the last week and stream more than 4 hours/week, and "On Demanders" (34 million) who also stream more than 4 hours/week and report watching less live TV than they did a year ago. Not surprisingly, relative to Internet users as a whole, both Opt Outs and On Demanders skew younger and higher educated, though only the latter had higher income than the average Internet user. This type of research is important because the size of both the ad-supported and paid markets for live, first-run TV is far larger than catalog viewing. To the extent its appeal is diminishing as this study suggests poses big problems for everyone in the video ecosystem.


     
  • Encoding.com Now Offering Expanded Codec Support for HTML5

    HTML5 is gaining further momentum today as leading cloud encoding provider Encoding.com is now supporting the WebM and Ogg Theora video codecs, adding to its longstanding support for H.264. As a result, customers can now choose "presets" for these codecs so that all browsers and devices supporting HTML5 will be able to seamlessly playback video.

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  • 5 Items of Interest for the Week of Oct. 11th

    Continuing VideoNuze's Friday feature of highlighting 5-6 interesting online/mobile video industry stories that we weren't able to cover this week. Read them now or take them with you this weekend!

    JetBlue Unvails Ads Created By Mullen
    Take a moment to head over to YouTube today where JetBlue has bought out the top-of-page expanding banner for a hilarious new ad campaign, "You Above All," featuring a series of reality-style videos of New Yorkers in situations that mock the JetBlue competitors' service. The clever JetBlue campaign follows the head-turning Sylvester Stallone YouTube ad for "The Expendables" from a couple months ago and underscores the ascendance of YouTube as the #1 piece of online real estate for break-the-mold video campaigns for high-profile brands. Google is capitalizing on YouTube's appeal by featuring it prominently in its current "Watch This Space" ad campaign promoting the value of display advertising.

    Google TV Guns for Cable Deals
    And speaking of Google, with the recent introduction of Google TV, the company is reaching out to cable operators to ink integration deals similar to what it showcased with satellite operator Dish TV last week. Google TV offers tantalizing potential, particularly to smaller operators, to add Internet elements to their core video service, helping better compete with over-the-top entrants like Netflix. Conversely, as we saw this week with the funding/public launch of BNI Video (and in a series of separate product announcements coming next week), technology vendors are lining up to offer cable operators the ability to deliver their own Internet experiences. It's a very confusing time for cable operators, who must figure out whether to go it alone and invest heavily, or partner with a tech giant like Google.

    comScore Releases September 2010 U.S. Online Video Rankings
    comScore's video rankings for September yielded no big surprises, as Google/YouTube continued to be the dominant online video provider and Yahoo narrowly retook the #2 spot from Facebook. comScore changed the way it publicly reports its data this past June which has made it a little harder on independent analysts like me to show trending data as I used to do. Nonetheless, I'm hoping to have some new trending charts to share soon.

    Blip.tv Predicts Best Quarter Yet for Web Creators
    More encouraging news on the online video ad front, as video platform/distributor blip.tv said this week that Q4 '10 is on track to be its best quarter ever. Blip has been a very important player in bringing independent web series to market and its ability to monetize is a key driver of sustainability for many fledgling creators. Blip's news synchs with overall online video ad momentum in first half '10.

    Introducing the JW Player for Flash and HTML5
    Last month I wrote about how the open source JW Player is receiving 15K downloads per day. This week version 5.3 of the JW Player was released which integrates Flash and HTML5 into a single video player, using a unified JavaScript API. What that means is that anyone embedding the new player can seamlessly deliver either Flash or HTML5 video with the browser auto-detecting which playback mode to use. Since browsers and devices are still quite heterogeneous in what formats they support, initiatives like this help reduce friction in publishing and user experience.