Happy Friday! Welcome to Issue 51 of Rerun, your weekly digest of digital storytelling, interactive media and the future of TV curated by Axonista.
With more VR headset options, comes more confusion about what to buy, so this week’s Top Pick is not one but two handy VR headset buyer’s guides to help you make that important decision.
We’ve also got lots going in the world of streaming platforms, with Verizon and Hearst teaming up to launch new channels, YouTube championing female filmmakers, who might in turn be eligible for the new Emmy categories. There’s lots on messaging apps, with BBC WhatsApp documentaries, Netflix Instagrammers, Facebook paying celebrities and Snapchat superstar DJ Khaled. What a week!
Let's get straight to it!
Top Pick
The Ultimate VR headset buyer's guide
Not one, but two VR headset buyer's guides this week from The Verge and Wired, a clear signal that we are just about to reach the tipping point of mainstream VR.
The Verge has sorted headsets into cheap, mid-range and high-end tiers, and Wired has categorised theirs into 'Buy now', 'Wait for' and 'Not quite VR'.
This week, we've also seen huge brands get in on the VR action, with McDonald's bringing VR to happy meals, and Coca Cola suggesting ways to fashion their packaging into a VR headset.
VR all the things!
Features
Confessions of a media agency CEO on display advertising
In this article, Digiday cites an anonymous Digital Agency CEO who attacks banner ads as not only redundant in an age of ad blocking, but also as not a good return on investment in general.
While it might be the case that some banner ads don’t work well, like all forms of advertising, it evolves with its platform. From the many comments on this article, it’s clear other ad execs don’t share this view.
With more and more people using mobile devices for video consumption and adopting ad blocking tools while viewing content online, we’re seeing a move towards more sophisticated branded content tailored to new platforms. Amazon's TV ads are a good example of this, linking back to brand websites and the Amazon store.
YouTube launches two new initiatives to support female filmmakers
It’s International Women’s Day on March 8th and, to coincide with this, YouTube is launching its 'YouTube Spaces Women’s Program’ which includes work from filmmakers from around the world as well as support from stars such as Geena Davis.
Given the recent complaints about lack of diversity at the Oscars, it’s interesting to see platforms like YouTube position themselves as more democratic and supportive of talent. Along with this program, YouTube is also partnering with the UN in its Sustainable Development Action Plan, appointing female Change Ambassadors to encourage support for gender equality.
Future of TV
Verizon and Hearst to Create TV for Mobile Millennial Viewers
It's that word 'millennial' again! Verizon and Hearst are joining forces to launch two new channels aimed at 'mobile millennial viewers from the heartland' and available on Verizon's Go90 streaming service. The channels are:
RatedRed.com, with programming about music, food, outdoors, politics, military and faith, and Seriously.TV, offering a comedic take on current events at the speed of breaking news. Other networks are planned.
The partnership is promoted by Go90's viewing data, which shows that young viewers are as enticed by original digital content as traditional content.
Equally, the 'millennials' don't have any brand loyalty towards existing cable networks in the same way that older generations do, and that's the opportunity Verizon and Hearst hope to capitalise on.
This job at Netflix is an Instagrammer's dream
Netflix has posted a job advertisement seeking "Grammasters", which offers Instagram Pros the chance to travel around Europe taking photos of movie sets, including those of Netflix originals. The job is for two weeks and the winning candidates will be paid $4000 for their work, while Netflix picks up the travel bill. Interested candidates should follow Netflix on Instagram and tag their own awesome photos with #grammasters3.
But what exactly is Netflix up to?
Are they creating content for their upcoming second screen companion app? Are they planning to launch a tiny behind the scenes show on Instagram? If so this a very cost effective way of building a strong hipster Instagram following.
Facebook may pay celebrities to use live streaming service
Facebook is feeling good about the future of mobile video and live streaming and is giving it a bit of welly in order to kickstart the market, offering a select beta group of Hollywood celebrities some cash compensation to encourage them to use Facebook's live video streaming service to communicate to fans and attract new ones.
The idea is that, long-term, Facebook thinks the service will generate ad revenue, and that instead of paying celebrities directly, it can share the ad revenue with celebrities who generate it, in the same way YouTube does with its individual content creators.
Putting TV on your face: Avegant Glyph
A prototype was demoed a few years back at CES with not much excitement, but the Avegant Glyph is now ready for shipping. It might look like a Star Trek prop, but it delivers TV, video and games through a head mount display in what basically seems like a set of headphones worn across the eyes. You can plug in your iPhone, tablet or computer to watch away. Perfect for travelling so you can watch in solitude.
Does that sound cool to you? Having a TV that’s always in front of your face? If you have to mow the lawn but don’t want to miss the game... or want something better to stare at than the bald spot on the guy in 12C...or want to fly a drone while seeing what it feels like to be a drone…then it might.
Primetime Emmys will accept content from digital producers and distributors
PewDiePie winning in best short form entertainment? Adult Swim content winning best comedy? Now that the Primetime Emmy award nominations extend to digital content, this could be the case.
Short form entertainment from distributors and producers like YouTube, Maker Studios and AwesomenessTV will be eligible for nomination and the Emmys now include three new categories for short form.
This might seem like a timely acknowledgement of the variety of video entertainment forms, but it's disappointing that the awards will be presented in the separate Creative Arts ceremony rather than the main one.
Interactive Media
How Snapchat Built a Business By Confusing Olds
A great read from Bloomberg about how Snapchat's business model works, and the endearing case study of the rather unlikely Snapchat hero DJ Khaled who has built a following of over 6 million fans on the platform.
Khaled had never heard of Snapchat when a friend suggested he check it out last year. While taking a break from touring last fall, he gave it a shot. “I didn’t really know how to use it,” he says on a recent afternoon in Los Angeles. “I was kind of just talking to myself.”
Storytelling
How the BBC is stepping up its use of chat apps with Viber and WhatsApp
We all know the popularity of BBC News, so it’s really fascinating to see some of the ways that they’re finding new ways of bringing news content to audiences.
The BBC is extending its use of messaging platforms to find new ways of storytelling and to reach new mobile markets, using WhatsApp and Viber to distribute documentaries in an interesting new way.
The first, Our World: Kidnapped in Mexico, unfolds on Viber in text, pictures and animation. The second, Young, Angry and Connected, is produced by BBC Africa and distributed on WhatsApp, with three minute videos released over one week.
Briefs
African Netflix iROKO targets thrifty consumers with daily plans
Microsoft HoloLens VR dev kit available for pre-order from 30 March for $3000
The Washington Post is embracing vertical video
Google announce Tiltbrush, a 3D painting experience for the HTC Vive
Pulp Fiction owner Miramax sold to Qatar broadcaster BeIN
Brands and agencies are already experimenting with on-demand Snapchat geofilters
Where's Waldo in 360 degree
Most of us remember the endless fun of Where's Waldo, so here at Rerun, we were really excited about a nostalgic return to a familiar puzzle in a more contemporary form.
Shot on five GoPros, you can pan around through a number of different locations, with familiar characters like Mario and Toad from Nintendo popping up.