The winners of the inaugural Best of SPROCKIT Awards have been announced at the NAB Show in Las Vegas. Five out of 30 startups showcased by SPROCKIT were chosen through voting by the trade show’s attendees. The winning companies were Fluendo (video analysis and multimedia), Psychability (big data and analytics for TV), Yottio (real-time video streaming and trafficking), ScoreStream (crowd-sourced sports information and chat), and Unruly (video ad distribution in native formats across the Open Web). Continue reading NAB 2015: Five Startups Win Best of SPROCKIT Awards in Vegas

Disney is reportedly investing $250 million in DraftKings Inc., a Boston-based online fantasy sports startup. DraftKings enables fans to play fantasy sports on a per-game basis with real money. As part of the deal, DraftKings has committed to spending more than $500 million in future advertising on ESPN’s platforms. While sports fans have enjoyed a variety of options for fantasy leagues from CBS, ESPN, Yahoo and others, the model involved tracking performances across an entire season — and did not involve playing for cash payouts. Continue reading DraftKings: Disney Investing in Online Fantasy Sports Business

In 2002, eBay partnered with Sotheby’s to launch a collaborative online auction endeavor that failed miserably and was almost immediately shut down. With online bidding having grown over the past decade, the two companies recently decided it was time to give their project another go. Last week, eBay streamed two of Sotheby’s live New York auctions online, where it invited eBay users to bid against Sotheby’s clientele for some of the auction house’s most expensive offerings. Continue reading E-Commerce: eBay Partners with Sotheby’s to Stream Auctions

Groupon may offer much more than a collection of coupons. The company is currently offering discounted products through a new initiative called Groupon Stores. Retailers can set up an online store on the Groupon site to sell their goods, which must be at least 5 percent cheaper than the normal prices. Groupon will take a 15 percent commission of the retailers’ sales. The company is testing the new marketplace model as a way to continue growing its Goods business. Continue reading Groupon Experiments with Online Storefronts for Selling Goods

Twitter unveiled its new Curator media tool this week designed to make more tweets available to a larger audience outside of its own site — and ideally build upon its base of 288 million users that log in at least once a month. The tool will help media organizations locate tweets and Vine videos that can be posted with stories and broadcasts. Publishers regularly create and share compelling content related to live events and breaking news. Twitter aims to leverage these publishers to help address its slowing user growth rate. Continue reading Curator Tool Will Help Media Publishers Share Tweets and Vines

The Players’ Tribune, Derek Jeter’s online media platform, has become a preferred channel of communication for athletes who wish to speak their minds about a particular subject. Last week the site garnered some attention when David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox published an article in which he candidly shared his frustration about a drug related incident dating back to 2003. With assistance from editors, these athletes are able to craft stories that directly speak to their audiences.  Continue reading The Players’ Tribune Allows Athletes to Tell Their Own Stories

Videos from the third session of The Entertainment Technology Center @ USC “Virtual NAB Cloud Conference” are now live for viewing on the ETCenterVideo YouTube channel. The videos include a presentation on visual effects workflows in the cloud by Jeff Kember of Google and a description of a popup render farm for VFX by Thinkbox Software’s Chris Bond. Martin Wahl of Microsoft Azure Media Services presented a scalable workflow for live sports and Michelle Munson of IBM/Aspera showcased streaming sports to second screens through the cloud. Usman Shakeel of Amazon Web Services discussed the demands of and solutions for 4K workflows. Continue reading vNab: Workflow in the Cloud for Visual Effects, Sports and 4K

For the first time, the NFL will allow one football game to be streamed on a national digital platform. The league relies heavily on television to broadcast its games, but for this single broadcast next season, it is letting digital platforms bid for the rights. The game will be a week-seven matchup between the Buffalo Bills and the Jacksonville Jaguars to be played in London. The broadcast is slated for 9:30 am Eastern time, but that will be primetime in China where the NFL hopes to attract viewers. Continue reading NFL to Experiment Broadcasting One Game Online Next Season

While television continues to migrate online, live sports have been slow to follow. Many people are still tethered to their cable subscriptions because they want to watch their sports live. As soon as sports programming breaks from bundles and is streamed online, more consumers may become cord cutters and abandon their cable subscriptions altogether. Meanwhile, Canada has become one of the first countries to require companies to dismantle their cable bundles and allow customers to choose their channels. Continue reading Is Television Being Held Back by Traditional Cable Bundles?

Google is testing a new TV ad-tracking system in Kansas City. The technology is reportedly similar to that used for measuring online ad views. The system could represent the Holy Grail for today’s advertising since it potentially provides targeting on a scale never before made possible. While the gross ratings point based on Nielsen viewers remains the industry standard, relatively few households have Nielsen boxes. However, every Google Fiber subscriber has a Google Fiber box, which could be used to target consumers. Continue reading Google Fiber Tracking System Has Potential for Targeted Ads

Following the positive response to the Meerkat app that enables users to temporarily broadcast live video via social media, and the restrictions placed on it by Twitter (which is likely readying its own similar service with the acquisition of Periscope), live-streaming startup Ustream announced that it is opening its internal API to anyone interested in building their own broadcasting app. This could potentially lead to alternatives for individuals and companies looking to broadcast video without the need for embedded media players. Continue reading Ustream Offers SDK for Those Interested in Live Broadcasting

Google will release an open API for the Google Now dashboard/personal assistant, which will allow developers to integrate their apps into the service. Android users might one day be able to get all of the relevant information from Google Now without ever having to open the apps. Currently, Google Now only pulls notifications from Google-based apps like Maps and Search, but another 40 third-party apps are in a pilot program to integrate their apps with Google Now. Continue reading New Google Now API Could Impact the Future of Android Apps

StubHub, a subsidiary of eBay, serves as a secure secondary market for live event ticket sellers and buyers. The company has become a reliable destination for ticket access to premiere live events such as concerts and professional sports. And now the company is looking to expand its offerings by including ticket listings for movie theaters, theme parks and museums. For the movie theaters especially, StubHub could help facilitate the sale of tickets that might not sell otherwise. Continue reading StubHub May Sell Tickets to Movie Theaters and Theme Parks

Forty years ago, Pepsi famously conducted a series of blind taste tests where participants were given two sample cups of soda containing Pepsi in one and Coca-Cola in the other. That campaign, known as the “Pepsi Challenge,” is about to resurface, only this time Pepsi plans to take a very different approach. Pepsi has brought on celebrities such as Usher, Serena Williams and Usain Bolt to encourage consumers of today’s generation to partake in socially responsible and pop culture embedded challenges. Continue reading The Pepsi Challenge is Retooled for Today’s Social Generation

YouTube is facing growing competition from companies such as Snapchat, Facebook and streaming newcomer Vessel for television programming provided by media giants such as Viacom, NBCUniversal and Time Warner. The competition wants to undercut YouTube’s share of big media programming by offering content suppliers more lucrative returns of ad revenue. Despite the offers, some media companies remain hesitant due to the demands of YouTube’s competitors.   Continue reading YouTube Fends Off New Competition for Premium Video Deals