Happy New Year!
In the tradition of kicking the new year off with a prediction, our top thought is that 2017 will be a transformative year for brands going direct to consumer and becoming true media companies in their own right.
As the decline in relevance of the 30 second TV ad spot picks up pace, brands looking to pioneer this new landscape will be free to ditch the baggage of traditional TV models and metrics, and truly innovate - bringing clever, interactive video experiences to their customers as they tell their stories in new ways. Early successes here will show the way for others and ultimately transform how all brands engage with consumers for years to come.
Throw machine learning, mega-mergers, bots, Alexa, the rise of e-sports, and - of course - Facebook into the mix and it makes for exciting times in the year to come!
But first, here's a round up of our favourite stories from this week!
Top Pick
The technology behind ESPN'S digital transformation
A fascinating interview with ESPN CTO Aaron LaBerge gives great insight into how a company that's synonymous with TV sports is retooling itself for digital-first viewing on phones, tablets and streaming boxes - as well as its journey of discovery along the way.
"We're integrating teams that are left brain and right brain in many ways," he adds. "Broadcast television has a certain way to think about solving problems. And guys who write Internet software have certain ways to think about problems. We erase the mediums and focus on the content and the fact that we're going to have multiple mediums. Getting those people together has been, organizationally, a challenge for me. But it's also been exciting."
Future of TV
You can now control Netflix using Google Home
It’s official: Google and Comcast are bringing it all back home.
With Google adding support for Netflix and Google Photos to Google Home and Comcast’s preview at CES of its new smart home platform, 2017 looks like the year in which consumers more choice and competition for an all-in-one, smart home solutions.
Disney will launch Snapchat shows, beginning with a Bachelor spinoff
Disney have annouced they will begin producing shows for Snapchat. These shows will exist as Snapchat Stories. The first show, a recap of ABC’s The Bachelor called 'Watch Party: The Bachelor' was launched on January 3rd. A very interesting choice of show for their first...!
The venture represents an opportunity for Disney to reach the type of younger viewers that Snapchat attracts. The two companies previously worked together on a special Live Stories feature around ABC's broadcast of the 2016 Academy Awards.
One interesting detail to the deal is that, unlike other Snapchat partnerships, Disney will control and sell all the ads that appear in its shows on Snapchat.
'A secondary agenda': What media companies and marketers really do at CES
CES, the annual Consumer Electronics Show took place this week in Las Vegas. The show is a platform for the biggest and brightest technology, marketing and media firms to showcase their new devices and gadgets. While the show's primary attractions are the floor shows and press releases, CES is becoming a seminal event for private meetings and side conferences as over 180,000 delegates converge for the event.
The appeal in CES, according to agency executives, is the chance to hold [meetings] in a quick and efficient manner during a time when the media business is laying the groundwork for the rest of the year.
For product announcements, press day at CES is the most exciting day of the show. From TVs, to drones, and wearable tech, companies showcase their new products. Here are our top 3 products from CES this year;
- Blackberry is back, with The Mercury
- Intel showcased the world's first 'walk around' VR experience
- LG, wouldn't be LG, without releasing a new and awesome TV, the W7 OLED
Six TV streaming trends that will accelerate in 2017
Roku has 13% of the U.S. smart TV market share, with 9+ billion hours of video and music streamed on the service during 2016. Armed with this type of data, Roku's predictions for 2017 are worth noting. The TL;DR is that the lines between OTT and TV will continue to blur.
According to Roku;
- People will still stream to their TV set.
- Brands will continue to invest more in targeted video advertising on OTT.
- We can expect to see a rise in the number of bundled channel offerings on OTT.
A more holistic set of 2017 predictions to note, are those from leading UK TV consultancy firm Decipher Media who look at the connected home, social TV and the mainstream TV audience.
PewDiePie rails against massively popular toy review channel headlined by a 5-year-old
It seems Felix Kjellberg, better know as PewDiePie, isn't taking the threat of dethronment (as the most viewed YouTuber) by a 5 year old lightly. Ryan ToysReview, a children’s channel is headlined by a charismatic five-year-old, and has become the most viewed YouTube channel in the US for twenty consecutive weeks with hundreds of millions of views. Kjellberg felt compelled to post a vlog asserting his YouTube dominance with a rather cutting skit of Ryan ToysReview to reinforce his point.
Amongst many accusations, PewDiePie claims that the majority of Ryan’s views are being fabricated by robots. In support of this, he remarks that Ryan’s videos have relatively small numbers of likes and comments, when compared to the channel's massive viewing figures.
According to Melissa Hunter, the founder and CEO of Family Video Network
Kids’ videos generally have a low engagement rate that hovers around 10%.... She notes that viewers cannot comment, like, or subscribe within the YouTube Kids App, and that the nonsensical comments Kjellberg suspects are bots are “not evidence of anything other than tiny fingers on tablets and mom’s phone trying to comment but being unable to actually spell anything.”
Virtual Reality
How VR is starting to become our reality in 2017
From Peter Luckey’s Kickstarter campaign in 2012 for the Oculus through to the improved headsets that we now enjoy with more available content, VR has travelled a long distance in a short space of time. More involvement and investment from tech giants and broadcasters over the last five years has lead to increased versioning, improved experiences with hardware and growth in available content.
With sectors like hospitality getting on board with VR and more diverse storytelling and content generation in the form of VR documentaries and sci-fi animated series, is 2017 the year in which VR starts to become a reality?
Briefs
- Nielsen Buys Gracenote From Tribune for $560M
- Google Lines up CBS, Disney, Fox for Unplugged Streaming Video Service
- 10 Alexa skills for your new Echo, ranked by popularity
- Online to replace TV as top ad medium by 2020
- Twitter signs an exclusive live streaming deal with PGA Tour
Home robot Kuri is like an Amazon Echo designed by Pixar
Kuri is the first real home robotic to be introduced to the market. While Kuri isn't the R2D2 of robots, it represents an exciting step in the right direction. As part of its feature set, it can control audio, play games, and check in on your home. However its most exciting characteristic is its interactive design.
Mayfield Robotics, a startup fully owned and funded by Bosch, employed a longtime Pixar animator to design the robot. The DNA of Pixar design is evident in the feel of the robot's round shape, and expressions and its sound effects are aptly named romojis. Like Wall-E, it's a robot you want to befriend!