Happy Friday! Welcome to Rerun!
This week saw this report from Wired about Train Jam, a video game hackathon that took place over a 52-hour train journey across the US from Chicago to the Game Developers Conference in California! We've definitely reached peak hackathon! đź‘ľ
It's a fitting start to the eclectic round up of stories for you this week.
Let's get to it!
Top Pick
TV may actually die soon – stay tuned
A timely, entertaining and insightful read from Shelly Palmer about what he has dubbed 'F.A.N.G.' the collection of new TV market entrants otherwise known as Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google. Mr Palmer compares how FANG's audience insights stack up against traditional TV networks like ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox across 4 data sets - attention, consumption, passion, and intention.
FANG is delivering actionable data to advertisers in ways that traditional broadcasters simply can’t.
Future of TV
How Sky is pushing beyond TV with more branded social video
Sky is pushing further into social video with its acquisition of content-production company Diagonal View. Diagonal creates up to 30 branded videos a week in an agile workflow for the likes of Sony Music and Channel 4 News. With the deal, Sky can increase its social video and branded-content capabilities to help it reach younger audiences.
Sky will also gain more in depth knowledge of digital content production and platforms.
'It’s about sharing best practice,” said Jamie West, Sky’s group Director of Advanced Advertising. “We want to learn how they have been so successful in growing their user base from a standing start to 15 million regular subscribers. When we sat down with Matt [Heiman, founder of Diagonal View] and the team, they were always very adept at understanding what is resonating with the audience, where they will update a piece of content or create something new to drive engagement.'
Amazon’s NFL streaming deal could shake up TV advertising
Last week, Amazon announced a one-year deal to stream ten Thursday night NFL games this coming season on Amazon Prime. The arrangement means Amazon is entitled to sell two minutes per hour of advertising during the games, ad space normally sold by local TV stations carrying the broadcast.
At Rerun, we think there is serious potential for Amazon to innovate in the advertising market. Firstly, as Mike Shields from the WSJ suggests, Amazon could use the football games to experiment with presenting different ads to different consumers at the same time. This would showcase the future potential of web-delivered TV advertising.
Secondly, Amazon could theoretically show specific ads to viewers based on their NFL viewership, and their Amazon Prime subscription details. Currently NFL games will only be available to Amazon Prime subscribers, who pay $99 a year for free, two-day shipping with access to music, movies and TV shows for the service. Amazon could facilitate online purchases associated with adverts, and ship directly to its estimated 60 million subscribers, all within their Amazon Prime account.
This could be a major step forward for video commerce and digital advertising
Storytelling
North: An illustrated travelogue by Christoph Niemann
Christoph Niemann is a prolific German illustrator and graphic designer, perhaps most famous for his New Yorker magazine covers. His unique style has seen him featured in episode 1 of Netflix's documentary series Abstract, as well as amass almost half a million followers on his Instagram. Most recently he visited the Svalbard islands, nestled between Norway and the North Pole, and created this sublime multimedia travelogue for National Geographic.
The current trend with social apps is letting people scribble on top of photo and video, and here's how that looks in the hands of a master!
5 video storytelling tools for camera shy entrepreneurs
If your lack of video creation skills has been holding you back, it’s time to take a leap of faith.
Take the leap also knowing there is no lack of netting in the form of video creation and story-telling apps to catch you. Apps that allow users to be creative in stitching together their own clips, videos, and music are popping up everywhere.
Here Forbes gives a list of the top 5 out there today.
Video is a huge part of the marketing mix and increasingly so. So, video creation is just one of many story-telling tools that business and brands are beginning to embrace.
Virtual Reality
Survey: hardware prices and limited content are the biggest barriers to VR adoption
Hardware prices and limited content; it isn't breaking news that these two issues are standing in the way of VR fulfilling its potential as a leading tech product.
However, while VR Intelligence and VRX's survey of 523 VR professionals - 48 percent of them content creators such as broadcasters and developers - consolidates much of what we already know of those two stumbling blocks, it also offers insights on where VR is growing.
Interestingly, VR tech providers and content creators are both in agreement on many of the challenges towards mass consumer adoption of VR, not least among them lack of consumer awareness, lack of content and the price of head-mounted displays.
The good news for mass consumer adoption? More industries outside of media and entertainment, such as education, architecture and healthcare, are showing growing interest in the advancements being made in VR technology.
Relive your first weeks alive with new VR experience
The Guardian have released their third VR experience, 'First Impressions'. It follows up on the widely acclaimed '6Ă—9', a VR experience about the reality of living a life in solitary confinement.
'First Impressions' shows you life through the eyes of a newborn baby, allowing you to experience the development of a baby's eyesight over the course of its first few months. It's a fascinating and educational experience—we had no idea babies had such poor eyesight—and it drives home the effects that stimuli and neglect can have at that age.
You can download 'First Impressions' for free on the Google Play Store.
Briefs
- YouTube’s biggest star is testing his next show on Twitch
- 'Rick and Morty' enter the VR universe on April 20th
- Burger King's "OK Google" ad doesn’t seem OK with Google
- Boomerang, a new cartoon VOD service, launches with 1,000+ episodes for $5/month
- Comcast is planning a Netflix rival using NBC shows
Gorillaz - Saturnz Barz (Spirit House) 360 - YouTube
Here at Rerun, we're big fans of the virtual band Gorillaz. They are a band entirely made up of animated characters, however their songs are written by many collaborators including co-founder Damon Albarn. When performing live, they are very unique. For example, in 2006 they used a projector screen to perform with Madonna at The Grammys.
And they've continued their mantra of experimentation throughout their career: They recorded an entire album on one iPad. They recently developed a mixed reality app in which they plan to release their newest album at the end of April. And they made this Youtube 360 music video.
Keep it up Gorillaz! Your fans are loving it.