Posts for 'Podcast'

I'm pleased to present the 294th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

Netflix reported its Q3 2015 earnings this week with overall subscriber growth pretty much in line with the company’s forecast. However, net U.S subscriber additions came in at 880K, which was 270K short of the 1.15 million forecast for Q3 this past July in the company’s Q2 earnings report.

It was the weakest Q3 U.S. subscriber growth since 2011, and continued a downward trend over the past 3 years (1.29 million in Q3 ’13, 980K in Q3 ’14). Netflix said gross subscriber additions in the U.S. were actually up year-over-year in Q3 ’15, and that the shortfall was due to “involuntary churn” caused by credit card companies issuing new chip-enabled cards with new account numbers which in turn caused a disruption in recurring billing.

While we have no reason to doubt the veracity of Netflix’s explanation, many analysts, including Colin and me, find it very murky. Credit card companies have pushed back on the rationale, and other recurring merchants have said they haven’t seen any similar problems. We share our concerns and raise the possibility that Netflix may be reaching the saturation point in the U.S. with slower growth ahead (Q4 results will go a long way to addressing this).

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I'm pleased to present the 292nd edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

Last month Colin and I discussed on our podcast how the connected TV device market is in flux, and this week’s introduction of the TiVO BOLT and the new Chromecast provided yet more evidence of this (not to mention the new Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV).

Colin and I are both very impressed with the BOLT and its new features (after we use the review units we’ll have more to share). We agree that the new “SkipMode” feature - which allows viewers to skip an entire commercial break for a set of 20 TV networks during primetime - is the biggest news with BOLT.

Beyond BOLT, Google also announced new versions and form-factors for its Chromecast device, which Colin and I have both been big fans since its initial release. Colin reviews Chromecast’s new capabilities, which at $35, makes it an appealing mobile device complement.

Stepping back, both of continue to be struck by how all the innovation in connected TV devices is laying the groundwork for SVOD services (which are making investments in long-form programming) to thrive in the living room.

(Note, we recorded before news broke that Amazon has banned Apple TV and Chromecast from its store, the latest twist in the connected TV device competition.)

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I'm pleased to present the 291st edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

Video is emerging as a top priority for Amazon and its varied investments appear to be paying off as it builds an ecosystem to compete with Apple. On this week’s podcast Colin and I dig into the key device and content announcements Amazon has made recently (see also my post from earlier this week) and why they’re important.

Amazon has clearly concluded that video is a successful driver for its Prime service, which is one of the company’s most important consumer-facing priorities. Colin notes that research released from Digitalsmiths earlier this week showed that Amazon Prime video is now used by over 20% of U.S. households, up from 7.5% 2 years ago (by comparison Netflix increased from 28% to 49.4% and Hulu increased from 6.3% to 11.8%).

Colin and I expect a lot more video-related investments by Amazon as it leverages its deep pockets and multiple lines of business to change the rules of the game in OTT.

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I'm pleased to present the 290th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

On this week’s podcast we do an in-depth Q&A with our guest Lee Berke, who runs LHB Sports, Entertainment and Media, Inc. Lee has helped dozens of teams create and implement sports TV networks. He has a wealth of insights into the role of sports in pay-TV and how online and mobile video are causing leagues and teams to adjust their traditional distribution strategies.

Sports are a key driver of increased pay-TV rates and as VideoNuze readers know, I’ve been writing for years (examples here, here, here) about the billions of dollars non-fans pay each year in the form of a “sports tax” - subsidizing expensive sports networks they never watch. With the advent of robust, inexpensive OTT entertainment programming options, the pay-TV multichannel bundle has come under more pressure than ever, with subscriber losses peaking in Q2 ’15.

In our Q&A with Lee we explore these issues and how he sees OTT impacting teams, leagues and sports TV networks. Lee believes TV will remain the most significant revenue source in sports for the foreseeable future, but also sees the leagues more aggressively experimenting online to serve a new generation of fans. Lee also describes how he’s advising teams, particularly on how to maintain flexibility and capitalize on new technologies.      

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I'm pleased to present the 288th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

This week we return to the connected TV category which we both believe remains in flux. Recent research from Parks showed that Roku maintained its market share lead in 2014, with 34% share, followed by Chromecast with 23%. However, as we explain, there are at least a couple of key variables that could shake up the market’s dynamics.

First is that on Sept. 9th Apple will introduce a new Apple TV, which will include a range of new features (though Colin notes 4K appears to be missing). Given Apple’s massive customer base, the new Apple TV will almost certainly gain market share at other devices’ expense.

The second variable is if pay-TV operators prioritize integration of major OTT services into their advanced set-top boxes. This would improve the viewer experience by not requiring a change of inputs to access OTT services and in turn would diminish demand for standalone connected TV devices (this is analogous to how integrated DVRs succeeded). However, as I recently wrote, even though OTT integration is a huge opportunity for pay-TV operators, it’s not yet clear they’re embracing it.
 
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I'm pleased to present the 287th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

This week Colin and I dig into the idea of Comcast launching a curated video service called Watchable, which was initially reported by Business Insider. Colin is extremely skeptical of the plan and outlines 4 key reasons why. I’m a little less skeptical, but as I explained earlier this week, believe there’s a lot more upside for Comcast in integrating major OTT services into its X1 offering.

Regardless of the specifics, we both believe that Comcast and other pay-TV operators need to move more deeply into online video as the traditional TV and pay-TV businesses come under increasing pressure.
 
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I'm pleased to present the 286th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

The past couple of weeks have brought into stark relief the tectonic changes happening in the video and TV industries. Linear ratings are way down, audiences are fragmenting to on-demand sources,  pay-TV subscriber losses are up and advertisers are shifting their spending.

In this week’s podcast, Colin and zero in specifically on the huge shifts occurring in TV and video advertising. Advertisers’ priorities and buying processes are fundamentally moving toward more flexible, data-driven approaches. I explain why programmatic video/TV and mobile video ads are surging, looking at recent results from TubeMogul and SpotXchange as key evidence (see here and here for more). We also get into why advertising-supported VOD could have a bright future.
 
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I'm pleased to present the 285th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

It’s been a wild week for major media companies as mixed earnings reports, fears that cord-cutting is accelerating and anxiety over ad dollars leaving TV all combined to send big media stocks plummeting. Meanwhile, with Netflix expanding internationally, Hulu and Amazon gaining ground and many other SVOD services launching in 2015, the question of what role SVOD will play for consumers and in the media ecosystem of the future is becoming more relevant all the time.

Those are the topics of today’s podcast, as we start by analyzing recent Parks research (which both Colin and I wrote about, here and here) revealing high levels of churn for various SVOD services. Colin is less concerned about high churn than I am, as I see high churn as indicative of a broader challenge SVOD services have with consumers, namely, not being seen more as transactional opportunities, given how frictionless it is to add/drop these services.

Colin and I agree that great content is going to be the key to SVOD services retaining subscribers. But with more people walking around with binge-viewing bucket lists, I think it’s going to be harder than ever to hook viewers on shows they didn’t have an interest in already, especially given the proliferation of great content. We explore these dynamics further.

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I'm pleased to present the 284th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

This week we turn our attention to ESPN, which was prominently in the news on Monday, when Disney CEO Bob Iger stated that he believes it’s inevitable that long term ESPN will be sold directly to consumers, instead of in the traditional multichannel bundle. To be fair though, Iger wasn’t ready to put any timeline on this move, so it’s clearly not happening any time soon.

As Colin and I discuss, there are many online video trends unfolding that make ESPN’s world more complicated. These include a decline in the number of ESPN subscribers over the past few years due to the proliferation of OTT entertainment apps that are diminishing the appeal of the multichannel bundle,  pushback by pay-TV operators focused on cost containment and skinny bundles (e.g. Verizon’s Custom TV), the aggressive moves by leagues to roll out their own online-only streaming packages, the wide availability of sports-related information online and more.

We hash out what all of this means to ESPN and where things are likely heading from here.

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I'm pleased to present the 283rd edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

Yesterday Comcast reported its Q2 ’15 results, including the best Q2 video subscriber numbers in 9 years. Comcast lost just 69K subscribers, vs. 144K in Q2 ’14. Comcast’s performance is in contrast to Verizon’s dismal Q2 video subscriber results. I’m eager to see what trend emerges from the whole pay-TV universe in Q2, given Netflix’s breakout Q2 U.S. subscriber performance and whether cord-nevering is accelerating.

Comcast gave a lot of the credit for its Q2 subscriber improvement to its X1 set-top box. Comcast said it is now shipping 30K X1 boxes per day and expects to ship 6 million in 2015.  Comcast noted that X1 improves churn, viewing time, DVR penetration and other metrics.

As VideoNuze readers know, I’ve been an X1 subscriber for 3 years now, and continue to be very impressed with its modern web-like experience. But as I discuss on the podcast, the big missing piece in X1 remains access to OTT apps like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and others. In fact, the app section of X1 is devoid of video options, instead offering utilities like horoscopes, weather, traffic, stocks, photos, Pandora and Facebook (note Comcast recently announced a new gaming service for X1 with EA).

This lack of OTT access stands in stark contrast to TiVo (which we use for our primary TV), where all major OTT apps are integrated, and searching for a TV show returns results across all services. Comcast has a huge opportunity to please its X1 subscribers with OTT integrations. Last Fall I noted the timing seemed right for a Comcast-Netflix partnership and it’s mind-boggling to me there’s been no visible progress on OTT in 3 years since X1’s launch.

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I'm pleased to present the 282nd edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

This week we dig into Netflix’s Q2 ’15 results. As I wrote yesterday, the big number for me was the 900K subscriber additions in the U.S., breaking out of the narrow 530K-630K range over the past 3 years. If pay-TV video subscriber additions are soft for Q2 when reported over the next few weeks, then it will suggest accelerated cord-cutting and cord-nevering.

Colin also explores Netflix’s big international gains, its emerging movie strategy and its endorsement of the Charter-Time Warner Cable deal. While Netflix may well be negatively impacting the video side of the pay-TV business, we also discuss what impact it is having on the broadband side.

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I'm pleased to present the 281st edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

Earlier this week SNL Kagan released an updated forecast of fee increases for pay-TV operators to carry broadcast and TV networks. Using that data Colin modeled what DirecTV’s programming costs would be and how they would translate into higher subscriber rates and lower margins.

No surprise, Colin’s analysis further highlights how expensive pay-TV is becoming. Colin and I discuss how this directly translates into more cord-cutting and cord-nevering given the range of inexpensive, high-quality OTT options.

All of this is happening against a backdrop of kids abandoning TV altogether. That trend was illustrated by new research from Miner and Co. Studio, which revealed that 57% of parents of kids age 2-12 say their kid prefers a device OTHER than the TV to watch video. Worse, almost half of these parents said sometimes as a punishment they take their kid’s device away and instead make their kid watch TV. We discuss the implications. (make sure to watch Miner’s video interviews too)

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I'm pleased to present the 280th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

First up this week, we discuss binge-viewing’s soaring popularity, most recently illustrated by a new study from TiVo, which found 92% of respondents saying they had binge-viewed at some point. (TiVo defines binge-viewing as watching more than 3 episodes of a series in a day.)

No surprise, Netflix dominates, with 66% of binge-viewers saying they use the service to watch their favorite shows. Interestingly, respondents said that half of their binge-viewing occurs alone, reflecting the broader trend of how personalized and fragmented TV has become given the broad range of options.

Supporting that concept is data from Twitch, the live-streaming gaming site that Amazon acquired, showing that 21 million viewers watched its E3 coverage, more than double the level of 2 years ago. There was a peak of 840K concurrent viewers, 16 times as big as E3’s attendance. The popularity of Twitch, and soon YouTube Gaming which will be huge as well, both illustrate how live-streaming gaming is peeling audiences away from traditional TV viewing.

Listen in to learn more and happy July 4th!

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I'm pleased to present the 279th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

Change is everywhere in the video and TV industries and this week 6 different news items hit our radar, which Colin and I think illustrate how quickly things are moving. In today's podcast we discuss each of them and why we think they're significant.

The items include continued falling linear TV ratings as measured by Nielsen, Hulu distributing Showtime, new research showing that Netflix's audience is size larger than those of broadcast TV networks, Tennis Channel's converged TV Everywhere-OTT model, HBO premiering 2 new shows on Facebook and Ooyala's new data showing that 42% of video views are now on mobile.

(note: Colin wanted to clarify one point - when citing Netflix viewership, he said it was 10 million hours streamed per quarter when it's actually 10 billion hours)

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I'm pleased to present the 278th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

This week Colin and dig into why data is taking center stage for video content providers and advertisers. We completely agree with the point Videology Chairman and CEO Scott Ferber made in his opening presentation at this past Tuesday's Video Ad Summit, that "The One With the Data Rules" in the converged world.

There is growing recognition that data is the glue that will guide multiscreen strategies and executions, in both content development and advertising. We discuss how companies like Netflix, Hulu, Sling TV and others are already capitalizing on data. Yet, it's still early days for exploiting data's full potential.

As our Video Ad Summit morning keynoter, David Cohen, Chief Investment Officer of Universal McCann said very well, we're in a phase where advertisers are trying to re-aggregate audiences across platforms and services at a scale comparable to what was available on TV not that long ago. Doing so is incredibly difficult, but data is the key to ultimately enabling this.

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I'm pleased to present the 277th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

On today's podcast we dig into the incredible growth in mobile video consumption and how it is impacting content creators and advertisers. Earlier this week I wrote about how Facebook's auto-play and audio-off video, which is mainly consumed on mobile, is influencing the creative process. Colin weighs in with new IAB data showing how pervasive mobile video viewing has become, including how many people are now watching 2 screens simultaneously.

Stepping back, we're in agreement that mobile is really a game-changer for everyone in the ecosystem. The advent of larger screen smartphones in particular has fundamentally changed how these devices are used, making video much more important. Neither of us sees this trend slowing any time soon.

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I'm pleased to present the 276th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

It was yet another busy week for industry news, with a highlight being Showtime announcing its new OTT service for $10.99/month. For entertainment-focused viewers who want inexpensive access to great content, the world keeps getting better all the time.

Meanwhile for sports fans, the NFL announced it's partnering with Yahoo to live-stream a Jaguars-Bills game online in the Fall.

In one piece of non-news, it appears that neither Apple's OTT service nor an upgraded Apple TV device are going to debut at WWDC next week. And finally, it appears that ads won't be coming to Netflix any time soon either.

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I'm pleased to present the 275th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

We all know the video industry is undergoing unprecedented changes. To make things more tangible, in this week's podcast, we discuss recently released data that we believe illustrates well how different the industry and viewers' behaviors are today vs. just a few years ago.

In particular, we highlight connected TV adoption data from Leichtman Research Group, long-form/live viewing data from FreeWheel, shifting media consumption data from GfK/IAB, and video delivery forecasts from Cisco.

The overarching takeaway is that in the past 5 years, online video has evolved from a short-form, lower-quality, desktop-based experience to a long-form, TV-level experience that's now mainstream in the living room. As this trend gains further momentum, there are huge implications for TV networks, pay-TV operators and advertisers.

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I'm pleased to present the 274th edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

VideoNuze readers with good memories will remember that back in January, 2013, I wrote how Apple had a massive opportunity to introduce a new type of television, which I thought was 100% inevitable, with the only question being the specific timing of its launch.

Well, this week, the WSJ reported that Apple actually shelved its TV plans a year ago, believing that it couldn't find a sufficiently compelling differentiator.

In today's podcast, Colin articulates 5 key reasons why he believes Apple will never make a TV. Colin cites TVs' low margins as the biggest obstacle. Colin's points are well taken, but I disagree with him and think Apple has missed a chance to do something really compelling which partially reflects its growing risk-averseness.

Colin and I rarely have such polar opposite views, and we have a very vigorous give-and-take on the issue.

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I'm pleased to present the 273rd edition of the VideoNuze podcast with my weekly partner Colin Dixon of nScreenMedia.

Since Verizon announced it was acquiring AOL for $4.4 billion earlier this week, there has been a ton of media coverage, with lots of speculation about what the deal means for Verizon going forward. This is at least partly due to the companies doing a relatively poor job of articulating the deal's strategy.

In this week's podcast, Colin and I weigh in as well, focusing mainly on how AOL's video, programmatic and video syndication assets could mesh well with Verizon Digital Media Services, which already provides back-end delivery and monetization to video content providers (see here and here). Combining the two seems like the biggest point of leverage to Colin and me, yet we note that Verizon didn't even mention a VDMS role in any public comments on the deal.

Meanwhile, in a week when the pay-TV industry suffered its first-ever first quarter loss of video subscribers, we also discuss how Verizon seems intent on innovating beyond the traditional multichannel bundle.

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