Happy Friday & welcome to Rerun!
This week the whole team here has been awestruck by how incredible Google Earth VR is. Not only that but Google Earth relaunched on Chrome and Android with a heap of new storytelling features, including content from the BBC. Our minds are abuzz with the storytelling potential of Google Earth VR...
Top Pick
Amazon’s NFL deal includes $30 million in free marketing
As discussed in previous editions of Rerun, Amazon has inked a deal to stream five Thursday night NFL games in 2017 for the price of $50 million. But this is only part of the deal agreed. It has emerged that in addition, Amazon will give the NFL $30 million worth of free marketing and promotion across Amazon platforms. 😯
This pushes the total value of the Amazon NFL deal to $80 million. Last year, Twitter paid just $10 million for 10 Thursday night NFL games.
With the addition of free promotion for the NFL, Amazon is clearly giving their full support to the deal. At Rerun, we think this makes total sense. Amazon could be one of the primary candidates to purchase the rights to Monday night football when the current TV deals expire after the 2022 season.
This is a strong bet by Amazon on the future of TV, and a big blow to Twitter.
Features
Facebook releases timeline of murder filmed live on platform
The immediacy and simplicity of live streaming video tools mean anyone with a mobile phone can be a content producer, broadcasting live to a global audience.
This story is about the darker side of this new landscape and the ethical questions it raises for video platforms like Facebook.
Last weekend in the US, a 37-year-old man live-streamed himself contemplating the murder of a 74-year-old man. He then carried out the murder and subsequently posted a video of it on Facebook.
This raises serious ethical questions for Facebook and other video platforms to consider. A race to win eyeballs globally has achieved great results very quickly, but perhaps too quickly in order to put the right editorial checks and balances in place around the types of content that should appear on video platforms.
Without editorial guidelines and ethical responsibility to their audience, it's difficult for video platforms to monitor the types of video content being posted by their users to their audience, and respond when things go horribly wrong.
This is one case where the new generation of video platforms can learn a lot from the traditional TV industry.
Future of TV
Netflix reveals some interesting insights
In the wake of Netflix's first quarter results, some interesting tidbits have been revealed about the streaming giant.
Firstly it considers sleep and not Amazon as its greatest competitor! In its view, the market is so vast that there is plenty of room for everyone.
For now, live sports is off the table. Netflix has flatly rejected the possibility of live sports programming to investors and believes it can earn more viewing and satisfaction from spending on movies and TV shows.
With the success of Stranger Things, Netflix is beginning to explore merchandising shows with books, comics, gaming toys, collectables, soundtrack and apparel. According to the RBC's Mark Mahaney Netflix has the potential to create a standalone billion-dollar revenue opportunity through merchandise.
And finally Netflix has major 'YouTube envy'. Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix described to investors the room Netflix has to grow to match the viewership and content scale of YouTube.
Interactive Media
Emmy awards revamp interactive media honors to reflect new landscape
Emmy awards for interactive media aren't exactly a new thing. What is exciting is that the award categories are getting a makeover, showing a healthy respect for the direction the future of the TV industry is headed.
New categories will include:
- Outstanding Interactive Program
- Outstanding Original Interactive Program
- Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media Within a Scripted Program
- Outstanding Creative Achievement in Interactive Media Within an Unscripted Program
Don't forget to submit your entries by May 1!
Facebook F8 conference 2017: Breakdown
Facebook's F8 conference served up a dizzying amount of announcements aimed at developers. Trust Wired, then, to provide a succinct yet well-rounded breakdown of the key announcements of new camera features, the potential of new augmented realities and bots that will soup up Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram.
In a blog post entitled Facebook Spaces: A New Way To Connect With Friends In VR, Rachel Franklin, Head of Social VR at Facebook, expands further on the potential of one of Facebook's more exciting new products, illustrating how seriously the company is devoting its resources to VR.
However, even those outside of the social media giant's circle are excited about new developments. Josh Constine of Tech Crunch notes that critics were previously sceptical of Facebook's Snapchat-like Stories and Camera features in Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp. Constine brilliantly sums up the Snapchat - Facebook race for innovation with camera effects platforms:
While Snapchat might have had a head start in bringing AR to consumers, Facebook has just mapped out how it plans to take augmented reality several steps further.
Snapchat is launching a self-serve platform for Snap ads
Currently, the only self-serve option for Snapchat advertisers is geo-filter ads. The process for Snap ads, the full-screen videos shown in between user or Discovery stories, was updated in January and is already due another update. Advertisers no longer want to go through a third party to purchase ads - they want to do it themselves.
Coming just weeks after Snap's IPO, advertisers expect more. A fully self-serviced advertising platform will allow advertisers greater ease of spending on ads.
Snapchat must be able to provide advertisers with the tools, data and results that parallel or exceed the rest of the industry.
Users and investors expect more too, in the form of a longterm global expansion strategy. Consumers are unhappy about Snapchat's alleged lack of interest in developing markets.
It will be tough for Snapchat to please all parties.
... it has been setting a path to growth based on making more money off its already highly engaged users.
Virtual Reality
The film industry is beginning to recognise and invest in VR
At Rerun, we recently acquired an Oculus headset, and our lunch times are now filled with wonderful and mesmerising VR experiences. It absolutely delights us that the film industry is beginning to recognise and invest in VR.
CARNE y ARENA', '(Virtually present, Physically invisible) is the first ever VR film to be chosen for the Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival. Created by Academy Award winners Alejandro González Iñárritu, and Emmanuel Lubezki, the six and half minute solo experience explores the human conditions of immigrants and refugees.
Ridley Scott, well known for 'Alien' and 'Blade Runner', is launching a new VR division of his production company Ridley Scott Associates, dedicated to the production of high-end immersive films using VR, AR, and mixed reality. The RSA VR Studio is already busy at work on numerous projects, including a 360 immersive film campaign for Siemens, the forthcoming Alien: Covenant VR experience and an episodic VR series called Blackbox in partnership with Endless VR.
At Rerun, we are excited to see the potential of VR realised in the film industry.
Esports
Esports to be an official medal event at 2022 Asian Games
It's a huge step for the mainstream recognition and credibility of esports. In Asia, it has always been much more mainstream than in the West, but until now it hasn't been recognised as an official competitive sport. This new ruling will see it added as a 'demonstration sport' as early as the 2018 Asian games.
What's especially interesting is that this is a result of a partnership between The Olympic Council of Asia and Alisports, the sports arm of Chinese online retail giant Alibaba. Earlier this year Alibaba signed an 11-year deal to be a leading sponsor of the summer and winter Olympics, thought to be worth more than $1bn.
There's no doubt that the surge in popularity of streaming has played a part in this. With that in mind, and with esports viewership still growing all the time, how long before we see esports being added as an Olympic medal event?
Briefs
- Hulu’s Live TV service to cost $39.99 per month, sources say
- Facebook's new developer SDK lets users capture 360 photos and videos in-app
- Twitch's new subscription model will let fans pay streamers significantly more money
- David Attenborough explaining rocks in VR will be incredibly calming
- Tumblr launches Cabana, a new app for watching videos with friends
David Lynch’s TV commercials are even weirder than his films
David Lynch is widely renowned as one of the greatest directors of his era. His famous productions range from the very beginning of his career, Eraserhead (1977), all the way to more recent ones such as Mulholland Drive (2001). His revival of the famed Twin Peaks television drama from the early '90s is also set to debut in early May.
However, this is a conglomeration of his best, most quirky, and "bonkers" commercials over the years!