Nvidia’s Picasso continues to gain market share among visual companies looking for an AI foundry to train models for generative use. Getty Images has partnered with Nvidia to create custom foundation models for still images and video. Generative AI by Getty Images lets customers create visuals using Getty’s library of licensed photos. The tool is trained on Getty’s own creative library and has the company’s guarantee of “full indemnification for commercial use.” Getty joins Shutterstock and Adobe among enterprise clients using Picasso. Runway and Cuebric are using it, too — and Picasso is still in development. Continue reading Getty GenAI Tool for Images and Video Is Powered by Nvidia

Fox Corporation’s Tubi TV video streaming service is rolling out a proprietary movie recommendation app called “Rabbit AI” in a beta test for iOS customers in the U.S., with other platforms to follow. Powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4, currently available only to enterprise and other paying customers, Rabbit AI provides “a new way to navigate” Tubi’s library of more than 200,000 movies and TV episodes, “providing hyper-personalized recommendations based on the contextual meaning of the terms,” the company says. A Rabbit AI plugin for ChatGPT is also now available to OpenAI subscribers, Tubi says. Continue reading Tubi Chooses ChatGPT to Power Content Recommendations

Some of the nation’s biggest streaming services have banded together to form a trade group, the Streaming Innovation Alliance, that will lobby at federal and state levels for policies that support their goals. Early members include Max, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock, The Walt Disney Company, TelevisaUnivision, ViX, BET+ and the MPA. Signing on as advisors are Washington D.C. veterans Fred Upton, who headed the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Mignon Clyburn, once acting chair of the FCC. The creation of the trade group comes as new online regulations loom. Continue reading Streaming Giants Form Trade Group as New Regulations Loom

Walmart has doubled the size of its Marketplace platform in the past 18 months, with about 100,000 active sellers. Now, the company — which receives seller applications at the rate of about 20,000 per month, about 10 percent of which get approved — feels it is within striking distance of Amazon. Some say Walmart has been emulating the moves of the Seattle-based e-retail giant, including now adding sponsored video ad units in time for the holiday shopping season. The Walmart+ online brand has been emphasizing convenience, membership, free delivery and even a Paramount+ Essential plan, similar to Amazon’s approach of offering Prime Video. Continue reading Walmart Extends E-Commerce Push, Adds Sponsored Videos

AI tech startup Capsule is debuting a video editor it says can help enterprise teams achieve results “10x faster.” “Today, if you work at a large company — in marketing or comms, or maybe even sales or HR — creating even the simplest video can be daunting,” Capsule suggests. After querying more than 300 such enterprise teams about their pain points, Capsule focused on three areas of improvement: simplifying motion graphics, adhering to strict brand guidelines, and making the editing process more collaborative among teams across desktop and mobile, where apps are typically “siloed.” Continue reading AI Startup Capsule Creates Video Editor for Enterprise Teams

YouTube announced a new AI-powered creator tool called Dream Screen and hinted at things to come at its annual Made on YouTube event last week. Rolling out on a test basis to select YouTube Shorts creators later this year, Dream Screen will generate “fantastic settings” for video backgrounds. YouTube says it will “eventually” allow creators to “instantly reimagine” their videos by typing an idea prompt that results in new content created with AI tools. The company also announced it will have AI-generated recommendations for video ideas and machine learning assistance with music track search. Continue reading YouTube Debuts AI Creator Tools for Shorts and Mobile Video

As creators embrace artificial intelligence to juice creativity, TikTok is launching a tool that helps them label their AI-generated content while also beginning to test “ways to label AI-generated content automatically.” “AI enables incredible creative opportunities, but can potentially confuse or mislead viewers,” TikTok said in announcing labels that can apply to “any content that has been completely generated or significantly edited by AI,” including video, photographs, music and more. The platform also touted a policy that “requires people to label AI-generated content that contains realistic images, audio or video, in order to help viewers contextualize.” Continue reading TikTok Creates New Tools for Labeling Content Created by AI

Amazon Prime Video plans to introduce commercial breaks to its popular streaming service early next year, following top platforms such as Disney+, Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max, which already offer ad-supported tiers. The company indicates it will run fewer ads than traditional linear TV broadcasters and broadband rivals but has yet to specify numbers. Subscribers in the U.S. who want to keep the streaming service ad-free have the option of paying an additional $2.99 per month. Amazon explained that its strategy to include ads would help it “continue investing in compelling content and keep increasing that investment over a long period of time.” Continue reading Amazon Prime Video to Run TV Commercials Early Next Year

Amazon has developed a new virtual fan experience that includes shopping and interactive tours to tie-in with popular Prime Video series and films. The first such immersive experience is designed for fans of the Prime Video series “Gen V,” and includes a virtual tour of the show’s fictional Godolkin University, which trains aspiring superheroes, complete with a campus store brimming with actual merchandise that fans can purchase from Amazon. The programming extensions aim to offer “culturally rich environments for customers to discover, learn, experience, and consume more of their favorite stories” while shopping. Continue reading Amazon Launches Immersive Online Shopping on Prime Video

With Netflix ceasing DVD rent-by-mail operations as of September 29, a market opportunity has been identified by Seattle, Washington-based independent Scarecrow Video, which wants to step into the role vacated by the streaming giant. Described as the largest remaining video retailer in the U.S., Scarecrow began experimenting with a rent-by-mail program in 2019, offering DVDs and Blu-ray Discs delivered to mailboxes across the country. While rare titles are excepted from the rent-by-mail program, and applications to participate in the program must be individually approved, Scarecrow has proclaimed the program a success. Continue reading Indie Video Store Tries to Fill Netflix DVD-by-Mail Rental Role

Free video streaming service Crackle has become one of the first third-party publishers to support Amazon Interactive Video Ads. The integration via the Crackle Connex sales arm will let consumers learn more about a product or add a product to their Amazon shopping cart directly from the screen during an ad break. Crackle parent company Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment is expected to add Amazon ads to its Chicken Soup for the Soul and Redbox VOD apps in the future. The agreement also allows Amazon Fire TV customers to watch free movies and TV shows via Redbox. Continue reading Crackle Using Amazon Tech to Test Interactive Shopping Ads

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced a TikTok fine of about $368 million today based on how the popular social platform processes data of younger users. DPC announced in 2021 that it was investigating TikTok’s compliance with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) privacy and security laws. The investigation identified specific problems with TikTok’s default account settings, the Family Pairing settings, and its age verification process (although the age verification model did not violate GDPR, the probe found that TikTok did not sufficiently protect the privacy of children under 13 who were able to create an account). Continue reading Ireland Fines TikTok $368 Million for Mishandling of User Data

TikTok had a high-profile at New York Fashion Week, courting the marketing departments of companies including Gucci, Madewell and H&M at a splashy event at the East Village restaurant Cathédrale, decorated with mannequins bedecked in TikTok-inspired togs and a video wall featuring the “little luxuries” touted by TikTok users. While TikTok has succeeded in making itself a mandatory advertising outlet for many brands, the Fashion Week outreach was part of the platform’s effort to transition to a sales platform in its own right as after a year of testing it finally rolls out TikTok Shop for all U.S. users. Continue reading TikTok Shop Rolls Out to U.S. Users Following Year of Testing

While mainly used by creators for extreme sports photography, the tiny GoPro Hero had its close-up moment in 2015’s “The Martian” to capture the effect of driving a rover across the surface of Mars. It was also used for some action shots in 2021’s “The King’s Man.” Changes to the new Hero 12 Black bring the action cam closer to something storytellers might want to try. Upgrades include the GoPro Enduro battery, with up to 2x longer runtime than its predecessor, and the Max Lens Mod 2.0 accessory, which enables a vast 177-degree field-of-view at 4K/60 fps. Continue reading GoPro’s Hero 12 Black Offers Something for Pros and Creators

YouTube is increasingly popular among connected TV (CTV) viewers who no longer turn to the social video service only for music videos or one-off skits. YouTube says that in the U.S., 65 percent of CTV watch time is on content that is 21 minutes or longer. The shift has prompted the Google-owned platform to change its approach to display advertising. The company is experimenting with longer but fewer ad breaks and limiting creator control with regard to ad placement on new videos. A new countdown timer more prominently displays the time until an ad ends or can be skipped. Continue reading YouTube Connected TV Popularity Prompts Ad Break Testing