Monday, August 27, 2018
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Twitter and Facebook Fight for TV Spots
In a quest for more visual representation, Facebook and Twitter have set their eyes on the big screen – television.
Facebook Live, Facebook’s newest feature, is set to deliver live stream video for its users – on TV. According to the New York Post, both Facebook and Twitter have begun approaching television execs and programmers to implement this live stream service.
Facebook Live, operating similarly to YouTube, stream and share live video on one’s feed.
Though much is still being discussed behind closed doors, it’s clear that there are a lot of possibilities for Facebook Live. One may be that Facebook, like YouTube, is working on a system to monetize its content. Another is that it’s possible Facebook may even provide a bundle of programming to its users.
The motivation? Well, some might argue that both Facebook and Twitter bring a more youthful, user-friendly demographic to TV. This is an obvious incentive for television programmers. Since the rise of streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu, Shomi and Amazon, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to reach younger, targeted demographics.
When it comes to the ad world, this could be especially good news. We all know how much time and effort is spent on social media online – if there is a larger platform, this could be a “holy grail” for television programmers and advertisers alike to reach desired audiences.
But is the incentive high enough for those behind TV? Neither Facebook or Twitter heavily rely on monetization, making it difficult to determine whether TV execs would want to take that risk. Nevertheless, Zuckerberg has publicly made it known that Facebook is focused on creating its own content for monetized consumption.
Another interesting thing to note is that Facebook is also not interested in the rights for existing or new television programs. That means creating, generating and sharing entirely new and organic content, specific to its brand.
Likewise with Twitter (which used Meerkat to broadcast its live content to Twitter followers and now Periscope to stream live events), it is also interested in widening its scope to the new forum.
At Key West Video, we view ourselves as avid consumers of all things media – both online and onscreen. For more information on some of the services we provide, visit our website.
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Tuesday, May 27, 2014
VOD Revolution is Here
Families used to gather around the TV at 8pm to watch their favorite prime time shows. It was a mark of honor for a program to be placed in that prime time slot. They had the largest audience, and with that came the most valuable advertising space. VOD (video on demand) in all its various forms is changing that.
Some popular shows are now only available through VOD services. For example, after an extremely popular run on FOX, Arrested Development was brought back exclusively on #Netflix, 7 years after its initial cancelation. Forbes.com columnist Dorothy Pomerantz thinks that “Bringing Back ‘Arrested Development’ is Netflix’s Smartest Move Yet”.
There have also been wildly successful series that premiered on the #VOD medium. The American series House of Cards premiered its entire first season on Neflix in 2013 to widely positive reviews.
VOD services like Neflix, Hulu, iTunes & even YouTube are even affecting DVD & Blu-Ray sales, especially when it comes to TV series boxed sets.
“What amazes us is that TV content owners are making TV streaming rights available to Netflix . . . It will be interesting to see if Hollywood executives can resist Netflix’s short-term cash, in order to protect their DVD ‘cash cow’ or whether they at least start adding some ‘000’s’ to the annual rates they charge Netflix for content.” – BTIG Research analyst Richard Greenfield
Which ever VOD service takes the lead in this movement, its clear that the user is really becoming their own personal content programmer, and watching their favorite shows when its most convenient for them.
Albert Cheng, vice president of Disney/ABC Digital Media, doesn’t think prime time television viewing is going anywhere anytime soon.
“They give the viewer another opportunity to see a show they’ve missed; they’re another opportunity to get that show further along (in its overall visibility). (Even with iPods and PCs), the bulk of consumer time will be spent in front of the tube. The largest platform you have will still be TV in five years, and it’ll play a large role in driving other platforms. In 10 or 15 years, I can’t see that far.”
Let us know what you think! Do you watch most of your favorite TV shows during it’s regular broadcast, or through VOD services, or something else? What do you foresee as the future of television?
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
TV: Is it Dying? Quite Possibly...
Is TV Dying? Does Anyone Care?
If cable television died would anyone care? Recent stats show that over the past few years there has been a sharp decline in the number of new cable TV subscribers, and more and more individuals are abandoning their current subscriptions altogether.
Jim Edwards wrote an interesting article several days ago detailing this shift away from cable and even broadband, with a large number of individuals accessing video content on their smartphones through utilizing free wifi.
He begins by explaining the current state of cable television;
“Aside from a brief respite during the Olympics, there has been only negative ratings growth on broadcast and cable TV since September 2011, according to Citi Research.”
This is not a promising report. It shows what many have known for some time, but cable executives have been in denial over.
So what does this mean for video content producers? It simply means that we need to find different avenues to reach these audiences. The decline in cable viewers does not mean that those audiences are done with video content. On the contrary they actually crave video content more than ever. They just do not want it in a traditional format.
“We’re at the beginning of a major historical shift from watching TV to watching video — including TV shows and movies — on the internet or on mobile devices.”
Why should we be told when to watch a particular show, when we can watch it online at any time that is convenient to our individual schedules. This is one of the reasons for the change, because our societies and thus lives have changed over the past decade, therefore our access to entertainment needs to adapt as well.
The move from cable to digital format (mobile, computer and tablets) is not only based upon scheduling but also location. With smartphones we can now watch our preferred content anywhere we are. It doesn’t matter if you are on the bus, at a coffee shop or waiting in line somewhere, content such as YouTube videos are very accessible and convenient to watch. With the way modern lifestyles are, and the fact that more and more video content is being reduced to several minutes in length, it is no wonder why 40% of YouTube traffic coming from mobile devices. It is easy, quick and always accessible.
While companies have known about this shift away from standard cable viewing to digital devices has been happening for some time now, the investment in ad dollars for digital versus cable hasn’t transformed the way one would expect. There is still more ad dollars pumped into commercials for cable TV then there is for marketing in the digital sphere. This is something that needs to be investigated and changed otherwise there will be missed opportunities.
One of the major reasons this is occurring is because even though TV audiences are declining, it is still a place where companies can reach a mass amount of people. In the digital sphere there may be larger audiences but they are currently more segregated and have thus proven difficult to reach. There are so many different avenues, due to different platforms, different social sites, and different devices. Due to this, there is no one ‘tried and true’ method like there was with cable TV. Advertisers need to be innovative and find interesting ways to reach these audiences, ways that have never been done or even thought of before.
It is quite clear that unless drastic measures are taken to make cable TV more accessible to the digital culture we now live in, it will slowly die away or at least, like radio, have much less of an impact on society and thus the ad dollars that it brings in.
Tells us what you think! Do you still watch cable TV? Would you be mad if it disappeared, or would you just turn to your phone or tablet for your video content?
TV: Is it Dying? Quite Possibly...