Happy Friday!
This week we take a look at Go90âs future inside Verizon. Netflix are experimenting with interactive TV shows for adults. Google and Amazon continue to feud. Marvel are to launch a Wolverine podcast. Snapchat allow a Bitmoji to steal your coffee. We take a fond look back at the top 10 YouTube videos of the year plus lots more!
This infographic reveals the past, present, and future of online visuals.
Let the scrolling begin!
Features
With buying halt, Go90âs future inside Verizon is clouded by the Oath merger
According to Digiday's sources, Go90 has stopped its original-content spending while Verizon works out the kinks in the aftermath of its Oath merger (AOL & Yahoo). While it's clear that Verizon has big plans for its media offering, Go90 has yet to really take off.
âMy guess is they become a studio,â said the first Go90 original content partner. âThey become a point guard that ideates and develops the content that it then distributes across the Verizon family. I wouldnât be surprised if Go90 as a platform morphs or goes away â but I donât see Verizon leaving the content world.â
Future of TV
Netflix is reportedly experimenting with interactive TV shows for adults
Back in June, Netflix premiered 'Puss in Book: Trapped in an Epic Tale', a choose-your-own-adventure movie for children where viewers decide how the story unfolds through interactivity. It's recently been announced that a TV show is in production that uses the same type of interactivity, but aimed at adults. News of this announcement has already started a conversation around how our favourite shows might be made better or worse by interactivity.
Interactivity has the potential to be an intrusive and distracting addition in longer form content. At Rerun, we believe the success lies in the execution. Interactivity is a tool for writers and directors to tailor a creative and immersive experience, it must feel as if the story couldn't be told without it. Not only that, but how the choices are presented to the audience is just as important. We're looking forward to learning more!
Google is pulling YouTube off the Fire TV and Echo Show as feud with Amazon grows
It's been an eventful week for Amazon media. The long-awaited Amazon Prime Video app arrived on Apple TV in over 100 countries, just one day after an escalation in Amazon's feud with Google.
A few months ago, Google pulled the YouTube app from Amazon's Echo Show. Amazon responded by removing all Nest products from its stores and then adding a workaround web version of YouTube back to the Echo Show. Google has now blocked that web version from Echo Show, and more importantly, pulled all YouTube services from Fire TV.
For bonus points, try asking Alexa to order you a Chromecast and see how she responds. I was offered a Fire TV stick, then a Roku, before she ran out of options.
Would Disney with control of Hulu and Fox Studios, have the formula for a Netflix Killer?
Who dare challenge Netflix?
Well, if what we hear is true, Disney might be well positioned to start taking swings. With word of a $60 billion deal for pieces of 21st Century Fox, they could be building up an arsenal to up the competition. The deal would mean Disney's ownership of Foxâs movie and TV studios, 30% stake in Hulu, the FX and National Geographic cable networks group, regional sports networks, and other assets.
Next week we'll pop some popcorn and keenly anticipate some exciting news around this.
Interactive Media
Amazon may have patented the next big thing in online shopping
Almost all Amazon product reviews are written but, as business research firm L2 wrote, Amazon is now pivoting to video.
âthis feature is a logical step given how often consumers watch how-to and product review videos before making purchases.â
One example of how Amazon sees this working is that a customer can watch a video ad on an itemâs detail page, such as a product review. As the customer watches more of the ad, the displayed price for the item drops. Depending on how strong Amazonâs patent is, no online retailer outside of Amazonâs ecosystem can offer this benefit to customers.
McDonaldâs sponsored a Snapchat Bitmoji that steals your coffee in augmented reality
McDonald's and Snapchat have partnered for the platformâs first sponsored bitmoji. The augmented reality feature aims to promote its McCafe products and lets users have their 3D Bitmoji steal a coffee cup from them. In an almost elfish manner, the character mischievously runs around the cup before running off the screenâMcCafe and all.
McDonaldâs USA chief marketing officer Morgan Flatley said in a statement
âWe are always looking for new and compelling ways to engage with our customers, and we are excited to the first to bring this approach to life with our partners at Snapchat. As augmented reality continues to present opportunities to innovate through creative, we are thrilled that people can not only express their love of our coffee, but finally give the (digital) version of themselves a delicious cup of McCafĂ©.â
We think this is a great idea and we are loving it...
Storytelling
How Technicolor changed movies
Vox Almanac have released a short video on the history and impact Technicolor had on movie industry from the 1910's. The video references the The Wizard of Oz. The iconic scene where Dorothy walks through a door into the Land of Oz...
There are 3 things about this scene you might get wrong. and each one helps show the real history of technicolor. These misconceptions explain what the technicolor triumph really was. From the technical aspects that made it work, to exactly why it took over the movies, to the way in which the technology shaped the look of the 20th century.
Marvel to launch Wolverine podcast âThe Long Nightâ
Marvel is expanding Wolverineâs story through a new series of podcasts. This provides fans a new medium with which to explore one of Marvel's most popular characters. The podcast will launch exclusively on stitcher Premium in spring 2018 before a wide release across other podcast platforms in the fall. At Rerun we think it is a great way to diversify and help the grow the story of well know characters and story arches.
Virtual Reality
Rift core 2.0 dev diary #1: The next chapter for rift
The new Oculus software redesigned for Touch, looks like it could be the best attempt at VR computing so far. In beta you can bring up your Windows apps within VR and completely customise your 'Home' view. You can unlock items from a base set of things over time, and in 2018 they plan to open a kind of hub for community-made things.
Core 2.0 consists of three key parts: a complete overhaul of Home; a redesigned Oculus desktop app; and Dash, a brand-new system interface that brings the power of your PC into VR.
The top 10 YouTube videos of the year
It's the most wonderful time of the year! Yes, YouTube's top 10 videos of 2017 are out. We've collectively viewed these top 10 videos 633 million times, for over 40 million hours. We can't get that time back, but in celebration of the end of 2017, we should give them all one last view.