Happy Friday!
This week saw the launch of the Falcon Heavy by SpaceX which shot up to be YouTube's second most watched live stream ever, and currently has over 16 million views.
Let the scrolling begin!
Top Pick
Hulu Live TV subscribers can customise their Olympic coverage
The Winter Olympics begin today and Hulu announced it will tailor its UI based on users’ Olympic Game favourites.
For example, users selecting luge and freestyle skiing as their favourites will see coverage of those events appear up top in the Olympic Winter Games section of the Hulu UI. They'll also see replays, highlights and athlete profiles surfaced. Hulu is also putting together other collections of content that will compile highlights and clips from the Games.
Viewers will be hoping there is no repeat of the stream fail that happened in the last minute of the Super Bowl.
Future of TV
Ex-Apple execs take on Twitch with launch of new social broadcasting platform Caffeine
Social videogame broadcasting is a relatively new industry, but Caffeine has some big incumbents. Twitch and YouTube, and to a lesser extent, Twitter’s Periscope, Facebook Live, and Microsoft’s Mixer have all been in this space for some time now. However, Caffeine believe that their focus on accessibility, ease of use and a more people-centric approach will lead them to success.
And with a founding team of their pedigree, plus $46 million in funding, they're definitely one to watch.
Lino is launching to be a crypto YouTube with $20 million from China’s most famous seed investor
Blockchain could provide the opportunity for content creators to create more profitable rights agreements. This could see a shift in the dominance of major platforms Facebook, YouTube and Snap. These agreements see content creators being paid a share of overall profits.
On Lino, artists will use the company’s LINO blockchain tokens to pay creators. These tokens are generated by creating and sharing work on the platform, and developing infrastructure or additional applications on top of Lino. At Rerun we think blockchain could provide a digital revolution in rights management and payments for content.
Streaming hasn’t changed TV conversation, it’s killed it
In the last 20 years, the landscape of TV has irrevocably changed. Catch up services, on demand platforms and social media have changed not just how, and how much TV is consumed but how we talk about it. There is no arguing that the changes in the industry have impacted the quality and the amount of TV shows on offer. It seems almost weekly that a new series sensation is released on either HBO, Hulu or Netflix.
At Rerun, we wonder is there now too much on offer? When will we reach peak digital content consumption? And how will this affect the industry at large?
For more thoughts on this check out the following blog post Binge viewing: Is it good for us?
Interactive Media
Patreon is launching its Snapchat-like photo and video feed for artists
This week Patreon added its version of Snapchat's stories 'Lens' into its mobile apps. Lens gives paid users access to exclusive content from creators on the platform. This demonstrates the importance of using video to engage fans. As well as the importance of owning the means to provide these interactions.
Lens provides something lots of artists already offer: a candid and exclusive look at their work. (Individual posts can be either shared publicly or limited to backers.) But it’s potentially simpler for people who aren’t already using services like YouTube and Discord, since it’s built into the Patreon ecosystem.
Audi wants to turn its AR app into a personal showroom
Audi is coming in strong using augmented reality with the release of their own AR app. But this is only part of the picture for them, as they continue to roll out ads in AR using Facebook and Snapchat. Eventually it may become the way they, and other car companies, allow customers to view and test drive cars from anywhere.
Øyvind Rognlien Skovli, Audi Norway's communications director, has said
“We’re looking at this app as if it could be the start of the customer journey in many respects... What comes next is hard to say, but it’s easy to see how we could use the app to launch new models and keep people updated on what’s coming to the market.”
Esports
Esports is ready for prime time—and deep brand integration
There's no doubting the popularity of esports at this stage. However, marketers have been wary of getting involved, as the structure of it doesn't match what they already know. The teams, players, leagues and platforms can vary wildly, and brand owners are scared of making a misstep. This hinders the commercial development of esports, and therefore the industry as a whole.
There's a new movement though that combines the best aspects of esports—authenticity, global community, and a digital-first approach—with the more familiar structure of traditional sports leagues like the NFL. The trailblazer for this approach is the Overwatch League (OWL), which drew in an average audience per minute of 400,000 on its opening day.
We can see this vertically integrated approach, combining the new and the familiar, unlocking new heights for the popularity of esports.
Inside the desperate fight to keep old TVs alive
CRT television sets had been around for the best part of a century before being replaced by the lighter, cheaper, bigger and higher-resolution modern flat screens. The CRT was brushed aside quickly, but it seems time has given them a vintage status at least with some enthusiasts. This article describes how devotees go to some length to preserve this almost forgotten technology. So grab a cup of tea and settle in for a lengthy read about the history of TV, and the unexpected link between this dying technology and the rise of retro arcade games.