Happy Friday!
This week it emerged that some Samsung phones were spontaneously texting usersâ photos to random contacts without their permission! đ
Let the scrolling begin!
Top Pick
World Cup viewing boost for BBC
The World Cup may be coming into the latter stages of the tournament but it's already been a major viewing boost for BBC.
BBC Sport online has received a total of 31.2m unique browsers so far, compared to 32m for the whole of Brazil 2014, with the Player Rater receiving over 310,100 unique browsers. The Tunisia v England game is the BBCâs most watched TV event of 2018 with 18.3m viewers, and further 3m online streaming requests.
The immersive viewing experience has also done well for BBC with the 'Sport VR â FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 app' has been downloaded a total of 325,000 times showing future growth in the VR experience for live sporting fixtures.
âMillions are watching the big matches on their connected TV at home, while millions more are sneaking a peek on their work laptop or cramming in some games on their commute. People love the BBCâs World Cup coverage -and weâre making sure they can tune in whenever and wherever they want.â noted Matthew Postgate, Chief Technology & Product Officer
Future of TV
Sacred Games: Can Netflix's Mumbai mob drama turn India on to TV?
Netflix has its eyes set on expansion in India. Traditionally Indian viewers prefer to watch Bollywood productions rather than TV content. However with the growth of internet connectivity, Netflix is hoping to draw in the growing digital audience in the region.
To achieve this, Netflix have commissioned a raft of new Indian shows, such as Scared Games, a crime drama based on the book by Vikram Chandra. At Rerun, we think is a clever and exciting move for the platform.
Interactive Media
Niantic is opening its AR platform so others can make games like Pokémon Go
Niantic, the game developer responsible for creating AR game Pokémon Go, plans to open up the underlying AR platform behind its products to third-party developers.
They're also behind other AR experiences in 'Ingress', and the upcoming title 'Harry Potter: Wizards Unite' using their technology named 'Real World Platform'.
Niantic released a number of demos of their new and experimental capabilities. One involved a new AR visual technique called 'occlusion', which allows virtual creatures like a 3D Pikachu to blend into real-world environments.
Recognizing objects isnât limited to understanding what they are, but also where they are. One of the key limitations of AR currently is that AR objects cannot interact meaningfully in a 3D space. Ideally, AR objects should be able to blend into our reality, seamlessly moving behind and around real world objects.â
Storytelling
With blunt talk and compelling stories, viral videos are turning unknown women candidates into political sensations
Last week 28-year-old activist, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, landed a surprising win in the NY congressional primary elections. She knocked a 20-year veteran and power broker in Congress off his seat. No one expected that.
What we're especially interested in is how Ocasio-Cortez, and underdog candidates like her, are using video as a key tool in getting their message out. Andâmost importantlyâhow it's winning them elections across the country.
Mark Putnam, a film maker for political ads, said âItâs a new way for an underdog to raise their profile nationally and rise up above the crowd... Everyone is trying to capture magic in a bottle with a viral video.â Keep an eye on who's making the best content, and you might be able to predict the next wave in the US political landscape.
Capturing Donald Glover dance in This Is America video
We love this animated pixel art of Donald Glover's infectious dance moves from his track 'This is America', created on a 30 year old Macintosh SE computer! Groovy.
That's all from the Rerun team at Axonista. Have a fantastic week and we look forward to sharing more news on the future of TV and interactive video next week.