On September 28, Amazon will live-stream the first of 11 NFL “Thursday Night Football” games to its Prime Video members in over 200 countries and territories (excluding China). The last game, between Pittsburgh and Houston, will live-stream on Christmas Day. The event marks the beginning of an era in which technology titans, including Google and Facebook, vie with traditional broadcasters for the rights to major sports deals. The sports leagues are drawn to the global reach of the major technology companies. Continue reading Amazon’s NFL Deal Creates New Paradigm for Sports Rights

According to new data from Pew Research Center, 67 percent of American adults “get at least some of their news on social media,” up from 62 percent in 2016. Facebook is most popular for news, followed by YouTube and Twitter. While percentages did not significantly change year-over-year for platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Reddit and Tumblr, an increasing number of adults are turning to Twitter, YouTube and Snapchat. Interestingly, millennials do not represent all new social media news consumers. The research found that 55 percent of today’s Americans age 50 or older say they get news on social media sites, a 10 percent increase over last year. Continue reading Pew: 67 Percent of Americans Turn to Social Media for News

Vevo is launching a live talk show format that streams across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Vevo.com and Vevo’s mobile apps. Vevo Live includes artist interviews, a studio audience, and interaction with streaming viewers via text chat. The concept evolved from the Vevo Party app, developed during an internal company hackathon last year to enable users to chat while watching the same videos, and eventually became Watch Party. After initial success with its audience, and interest by artists who began hosting their own Watch Parties, the company created Vevo Live. Last week, a Fifth Harmony Vevo Live show attracted more than 3 million viewers across social platforms. Continue reading Vevo Brings New Live Talk Show Format to Social Platforms

NBCUniversal reports that its first NBC News daily show for Snapchat already has more than 29 million unique viewers after one month on air. “Stay Tuned,” which broadcasts twice daily, launched July 18. While the figure tops viewership for some of NBC News’ top-rated television offerings, a direct comparison is not necessarily realistic since a Snapchat view starts as soon as a video is opened — and content created for mobile users is distilled into smaller need-to-know bits as compared to traditional TV news. However, the early success marks a major first step for NBC on the social platform. Continue reading NBC News’ Daily Show Tops 29 Million Viewers on Snapchat

NASCAR and Twitter have inked a deal for all 10 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs races in 2017 whereby in-car cameras will livestream the races to Twitter. Viewers can access the stream via the auto racing organization’s Twitter handle @NASCAR, nascar.twitter.com, NASCAR’s website and the NASCAR mobile app, with real-time curated tweets presented in a timeline. NBCSN, NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app will broadcast the races; the first takes place at the Chicagoland Speedway on September 17 with Toyota sponsoring the live stream. Continue reading NASCAR and Twitter Sign Pact to Livestream Playoffs Races

Ubiquiti, a company known for selling networking products, has introduced FrontRow, a $399 Android-based wearable camera with a round display that enables “effortless capture” from a first-person point of view. The camera lets users toggle the livestream through Facebook Live, YouTube Live and/or Twitter Live. The two 55-gram (almost two-ounce) cameras, one on each side of the wearable device, offer a round 1.96-inch 640×572 LTPS (active matrix LCD) display. FrontRow features a quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. Continue reading Ubiquiti Rolls Out $399 Wearable Camera for Live Streaming

An increasing number of YouTube’s 1.5 billion viewers are watching its videos on the living room TV set rather than smartphones. With Internet-connected TVs, users are having an easier time streaming over-the-top content at home, where they can enjoy the content on a much bigger screen. Other over-the-top providers, from Roku to Apple TV, Facebook to Twitter, are experiencing the same kind of migration from smaller digital devices to the TV. That means more advertisers than ever are buying YouTube and its ilk. Continue reading Advertisers Follow YouTube Viewers to Living Room TV Sets

Fast-food chain Taco Bell is teaming with ride-sharing firm Lyft to offer passengers a “Taco Mode” in the Lyft app for requesting rides between 9:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. that include a stop at a Taco Bell drive-through. The option will be tested around Newport Beach, California the next few weeks, and will likely expand nationally in 2018. “I kind of think of this like inverse delivery — like we’re delivering you to Taco Bell,” said Marisa Thalberg, Taco Bell’s chief marketing officer. “You’re being delivered to the food as opposed to having to get in your own car and drive.” Continue reading Taco Bell Is Experimenting With New Marketing Vehicle: Lyft

The University of Oxford just released a disturbing report documenting increasing evidence that 29 governments around the world are exploiting Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms to influence — both domestically and internationally — public opinion, distribute false news and sabotage those perceived as foes. As might be expected, autocratic rulers use these strategies, but so do governments that have been elected democratically. The tactics employed vary from country to country. Continue reading Report Lists 29 Governments That Manipulate Social Media

Internet companies, large and small, will begin to rally their users to join a “day of action” online protest against the demise of net neutrality. Many of these same Internet companies fought hard for these same net neutrality rules, instituted in 2015. FCC chairman Ajit Pai has said he supports an open Internet but that the Obama-era rules are too “heavy handed.” Net neutrality prevents large service providers from slowing down the Internet offerings, including media such as movies and music, of their rivals. Continue reading Internet Firms Rally Users to Oppose the End of Net Neutrality

CrossVR’s campaign on crowdfunding site Patreon intends to raise money to fund the ongoing development of Revive, a so-called hack that allows HTC Vive users to play content that is exclusive to Oculus and not released on Steam. Now, Oculus Rift inventor and co-founder of Oculus VR Palmer Luckey reportedly pledged $2,000 per month to support the CrossVR effort. Luckey left Facebook (which acquired Oculus) in March, the aftermath of a legal battle over the VR technology. The PR team for Oculus has already stated that it doesn’t condone Revive. Continue reading Palmer Luckey Backs VR Tool to Run Oculus Games on Vive

Facebook will begin to live-stream more than a dozen UEFA Champions League soccer matches in September via a partnership with Fox Sports. The deal includes double-headers during the group stage, four round of 16 games and four quarterfinal matches. With the Champions League, Facebook adds a high-profile event to its growing lineup of live sports. The social giant is betting that live sports, which draw viewers to comment on social media platforms, will also be appealing to advertisers. Twitter, for example, has already committed to all-day live video programming. Continue reading Facebook, Fox Sports Partner to Live Stream UEFA Soccer

Google’s Uptime app, that lets users watch YouTube videos in real time with friends, is now freely available to iOS users following its invite-only limited beta test. The beta, which started in March, was updated a few times, adding the ability to play and share music videos, as well as connect to Facebook to find friends to watch videos with. Users can also chat, leave comments and place emoji on top of the video. A replay of a shared video will include the ability to see comments at the time in the video they were made. Continue reading Google Debuts YouTube Shared Viewing App For iOS Users

Social media giant Facebook announced it now has 2 billion monthly active users. The new milestone comes five years after reaching 1 billion users, and 13 years after Mark Zuckerberg first launched the platform. According to TechCrunch, Facebook leads social apps based on number of logged-in users, “above YouTube’s 1.5 billion, WeChat’s 889 million, Twitter’s 328 million and Snapchat’s estimated 255 million.” Facebook’s WhatsApp and Messenger each have 1.2 billion users, while its Instagram photo-sharing app recently exceeded 700 million. Continue reading Facebook Reaches New Milestone of 2 Billion Monthly Users

Amazon revealed to Reuters that it will charge advertisers $2.8 million for 30-second commercials during the NFL Thursday Night Football games it will stream live to Prime customers this upcoming season. Amazon is paying the NFL $50 million to stream the season’s 10 games, the company’s first major push into live sports. In addition to Amazon Prime streaming, the games will also be available on either CBS or NBC, each of which are airing five games. Last season, Twitter paid $10 million to stream Thursday night NFL games. Continue reading Amazon Prices NFL Thursday 30-Second Spot at $2.8 Million