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Next Big Sound Tracks Online Music Discovery and Sharing

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January 22, 2013

Analytics provider Next Big Sound has released its State of Online Music report, which provides a detailed look at how social networks, streaming services, online radio and digital downloads are impacting the way consumers discover and share new music. Online growth was staggering in 2012 with a 45 percent increase in new plays, 67 percent increase in new fans and 6 percent increase in new profile views. Continue reading Next Big Sound Tracks Online Music Discovery and Sharing

CES 2013: Android Devices Are Now YouTube Remotes for TVs

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January 8, 2013

Google’s new “send to TV” feature is starting to pop up on a collection of new TVs and devices from companies like Sony, LG, Panasonic and Bang & Olufsen. The feature turns a consumer’s Android device into a YouTube remote for the big screen, and also allows users to push videos from devices to Google-equipped TVs. These YouTube-friendly sets will premiere at CES this week. Continue reading CES 2013: Android Devices Are Now YouTube Remotes for TVs

Google Aims to Replace iPhone Camera App with YouTube Capture

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December 19, 2012

YouTube has released a new basic iOS camera app that uploads automatically and makes sharing to social networks as easy as pushing just one button. Simply called Capture, it “comes with a few key features that make it superior to the default iOS camera app: It offers image stabilization and color correction, and users can trim clips and even add a YouTube-approved soundtrack,” reports GigaOM. Continue reading Google Aims to Replace iPhone Camera App with YouTube Capture

Firmware Update for Sony Bravia TVs adds Twitter, Facebook, YouTube HD

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December 6, 2011
  • Sony announced it has updated firmware for its Bravia LCD TV sets, enabling viewers to get tweets, post on Facebook and watch hi-def videos via YouTube HD.
  • Bravias have also added compatibility with a version of the Remote Keyboard application, previously available only on Vaio PCs and Xperia smartphones.
  • “Finally, you can now get live Twitter updates along the bottom of your screen and even use a Shazam like feature called Track ID to determine the names of songs, or their artists, that are played during your shows or commercials,” reports Engadget.
  • The press release emphasizes keyboard compatibility: “You can already use your smartphone or Vaio keyboard to control your TV and surf the Web — and now you can use other laptops too. From typing a Web address to searching for information about the latest movies, it makes entering text on-screen even easier than using your TV remote.”
  • The free update is currently available for those with compatible Bravia TVs.

New Homepage: YouTube Goes Social with Focus on Google+ and Facebook

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December 2, 2011
  • YouTube is redesigning its homepage and channel pages to incorporate “better personalized video discovery and viewing, with a notable emphasis on social features,” reports TechCrunch.
  • A new default Subscriptions feed on the homepage offers users content based on what videos they watch and which channels they subscribe to (the feed can also be filtered). Users can share videos using Google+ or by opting-in on Facebook, both located on the navigation bar.
  • Channel pages have four new templates that come with a Feed tab showing the channel owner’s activity (highlighting features such as commenting on a video and subscribing to a channel).
  • “These additions, which are more analogous to template options in Tumblr or MySpace rather than Facebook’s one-size-fits-all style, let producers promote their works in the most natural style for what they offer,” suggests the post.
  • The homepage and channel changes are the first significant updates, but TechCrunch adds that YouTube is “also introducing a site-wide design upgrade to all the elements — typography, iconography, etc. It’s separately adding new versions of its Xbox and Google TV applications, that feature magazine-style tile interfaces showing various channels. Finally, the company is touting the success of its advertising platform, saying that it’s seeing strong demand for its new cost-per-click style of video ads.”

Beta Release: Cinefy App Provides Video Editing and Effects for the iPhone

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November 29, 2011
  • Chairseven and App Creation Network recently announced the beta availability of Cinefy, “a mobile video editing and effects platform for iPhone where users create and share videos mixed with high quality visual effects,” according to the press release. “Cinefy empowers users with no editing skills to quickly insert footage, add music and apply visually stunning effects with its intuitive and simple interface.”
  • The app offers branded effects packs which opens a marketing opportunity for TV and game studios to promote in an engaging way and possibly draw “massive viral exposure.”
  • Users can export their videos to their device’s camera roll in addition to Facebook, YouTube and Vimeo. Cinefy will eventually be available for iPads and Android devices.
  • To help create soundtracks, Friendly Music has teamed up to provide a catalog of songs, “offering 100 percent legal and all rights-cleared music for personal and custom online media creations.”

Disney and YouTube Join Forces in Original Video Series Deal

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November 8, 2011
  • Disney and YouTube have announced a partnership to produce original content for online distribution.
  • “Disney Interactive Media and YouTube, a division of Google, will spend a combined $10 million to $15 million on original video series; those shorts will be produced by Disney and distributed on a co-branded channel on Disney.com and YouTube,” reports The New York Times. “The channel will also include amateur video culled from the torrent uploaded to YouTube daily.”
  • Disney hopes that the deal will attract children to its online videos as Disney.com has seen a drop in traffic and Disney Interactive has reported losses over the last four quarters.
  • The goal is to “bring Disney’s legacy of storytelling to a new generation of families and Disney enthusiasts on the platforms they prefer,” explained James A. Pitaro, co-president of Disney Interactive, who added that a complete redesign of Disney.com should be completed by fall 2012.
  • YouTube hopes the deal will help create credibility with parents who are concerned about the site’s content as well as compete with cable providers for advertising revenue.

2012 Forecast: What Should We Expect of Streaming, Cable and TV?

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November 8, 2011
  • Television’s future remains murky as content providers and cable companies get ready for battle, and streaming services continue to gain momentum.
  • “But change is going to come, and amid news that Google is interested in entering the cable TV business and continued rumors that Apple will be releasing its own branded television set, we also have to wonder what’s going to happen with streaming services like Hulu and Netflix,” reports Digital Trends.
  • The article suggests it is the cable companies that have the most to worry about (those that control the last model). “Forget applications having a say in all this: The real war is going to be fought between cable networks and the content providers that want to move on to a new format.”
  • “Farther off, I think [YouTube] will challenge Hulu first. Netflix is more like a library. Google is a beast and you have to keep an eye on those guys,” TalkPoint CEO Nick Balletta says. “They have the muscle and cash to weather the storm.”
  • Balletta believes adoption of connected TVs will take root by late 2012, and before then we’ll see significant fragmentation before we can truly cut the cord.

Competition: Is Google Considering Plan to Enter the Pay TV Business?

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November 7, 2011
  • Google previously announced a high-speed Internet service project in Missouri and Kansas. The Wall Street Journal now reports that insiders indicate Google may expand the project to include a phone and video service, with channels from Disney, Time Warner and Discovery.
  • Google has other ventures in the television business including its new Google TV software update and announced deals to produce around 100 free, ad-supported online YouTube channels.
  • A former Google product director said, “Internet companies like Google will be able to give you [the] same high-quality content” as cable and satellite prices and possibly at lower prices as more TVs connect to the Web.
  • Nothing has been confirmed about Google’s plans to expand the project to wider areas. But if the company follows through, it “could unleash a new wave of competition within the traditional TV business,” suggests WSJ.

Online Video Strategies: Does YouTube Really Need Hollywood?

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November 4, 2011
  • Analyst Anthony DiClemente of investment firm Barclays Capital estimates YouTube’s revenues at $1.6 billion, which suggests the “site’s revenue has now synced up with the price Google paid for it five years ago,” reports AllThingsD.
  • Analysts debate the global percentage of Web video revenues YouTube has captured, but seem to agree that it “is finally a big business that makes serious money.”
  • Is the Hollywood channels strategy the next big step for YouTube to take on the traditional TV and cable networks?
  • “The big idea behind that one, after all, is to create stuff that advertisers will be happy to pay a premium for,” suggest the article. “But if YouTube is already generating $1.6 billion a year for non-premium stuff, why bother?”
  • AllThingsD suggests that the new “channel strategy is a big focus for YouTube, but it doesn’t mean the site is abandoning what’s already working.”

Digital Economy: U.S. Companies Push for New Internet Trade Rules

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November 4, 2011
  • “Google, Microsoft, Citigroup, IBM, GE and other top-tier American companies on Thursday urged the United States to fight for trade rules that protect the free flow of information over the Internet,” reports Reuters.
  • The coalition criticized federal requirements for companies to have their data centers within a country’s borders to provide services. Additionally, the group argued against governments blocking access to services such as Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, and YouTube.
  • The group says future U.S. trade pacts must “reflect the new realities of the global economy: specifically, the contribution of the Internet toward economic growth, toward job creation and exports,” said Bob Boorstin, director of public policy for Google.
  • “Even when Internet curbs are intended to support legitimate public interests such as national security of law enforcement, businesses can suffer when those rules are unclear, arbitrary, unevenly applied or more trade restrictive than they need to be to achieve their objectives,” suggests the group’s paper.
  • “We want the free flow of data just like we want the free flow of goods and services,” said Nuala O’Connor Kelly, chief privacy leader at General Electric. “In the information age, data is our widget.”

Will YouTube become Next-Gen Content Provider with New Channels?

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October 31, 2011
  • Media companies and well-known personalities are lined up as YouTube gets ready to produce original content for 100 online video channels.
  • Sources indicate Google is dedicating $100 million to the initiative, aimed at transforming YouTube into a next-gen cable-like platform for specialized video channels.
  • “The Internet search giant on Friday said it had signed major deals with Hollywood to bring professional, high-quality programming to YouTube that could help it increase the time viewers spend watching videos on the site and attract more advertisers,” reports the Los Angeles Times.
  • The company is also launching a software update to Google TV, designed to integrate with the new content.
  • “The partnerships that YouTube announced Friday with dozens of media companies, production companies and online-video creators will generate about 25 hours of new programming each day for YouTube.”
  • Michael Eisner’s digital studio Vuguru, Stan Lee’s POW Entertainment and television production company Magical Elves are a few of the early partnerships. Celebrity channels will feature personalities such as Ashton Kutcher, Amy Poehler and former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal.

Will Android Market Access and YouTube Interface Resurrect Google TV?

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October 31, 2011
  • Google is offering an update to Google TV that includes a streamlined UI, quick-launch bar for most-used apps, an app that can locate 80,000 movies and TV episodes via the Web or TV, and a new TV-oriented YouTube interface.
  • The Android Market looks to launch current and new apps specially optimized for television (access to the Android Market may prove the biggest step for Google TV).
  • YouTube is looking to create original content and become a “next-generation cable provider” by signing deals with media companies and celebrities.
  • However, the service has been hindered by TV networks that “continue to block Google TV from viewing Web sites that stream some of their shows that are freely available to personal computer browsers,” reports Forbes. “That’s a big turn-off given that other devices such as Apple TV, Roku, and many others offer access to more TV content.”
  • In a related post, GigaOM lists the more notable new features and includes a 7-minute video demo.
  • “The new version of Google TV isn’t really all that groundbreaking; rather, it’s what Google TV should have offered all along,” suggests GigaOM. “And that seems to be exactly what Google was aiming for with this release — not a big flash, but finally a solid base that can be continuously improved both through Google’s apps as well as applications from third-party developers.”

AsiaD Video: Peter Chernin Discusses Hulu, Netflix, YouTube and More

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October 25, 2011
  • Peter Kafka interviews Peter Chernin in this interesting 11-minute video from the AsiaD conference.
  • “As News Corp.’s longtime chief operating officer, Chernin was instrumental in developing Hulu,” reports All Things D. “He explained why he wanted to build the video site — in part to compete with Google and YouTube — and why he thinks its studio owners should help it thrive today — in part to compete with Netflix.” Chernin also expresses his thoughts on purchasing Yahoo.
  • Chernin knew IPTV would be big, but didn’t want one dominant video distributor like YouTube. Thus, the studios got together to create Hulu, which today competes with Netflix.
  • Chernin believes online viewers will pay $2 per month for premium content. He talks about the future of video and creating something like a digital HBO.

Veokami Offers New Platform for Watching Concert Videos Online

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October 24, 2011
  • New platform from San Francisco-based Veokami aggregates user generated videos of concerts.
  • Veokami crawls YouTube and automatically puts together a playlist of videos from a single concert.
  • Videos are then synchronized with each other to offer Veokami users the ability to switch between the different camera views that were found on YouTube, without interrupting the flow of the music. Clips can also be arranged based on audio and video quality.
  • According to GigaOM, “the goal is to extend its platform so that artists, promoters and — most importantly — fans will be able to build these pages themselves. That could end up being a very powerful promotional tool for artists as they look to show listeners what it’s like to be at one of their shows.”
  • The company’s site also suggests the tool could be useful for organizing videos from political events and conferences.

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