Issue 76  26th August 2016

Inside Backstage: YouTube’s plan to bring photos, polls, and text to the video service

Amid competition from Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter, YouTube is developing a feature internally called Backstage where users can share photos, polls, links, text posts, and videos with their subscribers.

We saw last week that YouTube is making a big effort to appeal to content creators in the face of competition from other platforms. This week Venturebeat learns of a new feature that aims to bring creators closer to their fans and subscribers. We think it could be a vital move, given that the other platforms have far more advanced social features and ways to connect to an audience.

NBC's ratings dive may be a harbinger: deluge of content may be overwhelming viewers

Are we hitting peak content? In an age of boundless content creation and unlimited access to viewing it, can the global TV audience absorb a continuous supply of new shows? Or are ratings starting to decline?

Team Rerun predicts an increase in audience availability over the next 5 years as more parts of our lives become automated and on-demand - You gotta watch something when sitting in that self-driving car!

The Olympics didn’t stumble because of 'millennials'. It stumbled because of NBC.

Bloomberg and NBC want to blame the audience for not participating in their content the way they expected them to. But if the results were not what they expected, perhaps they should consider that maybe the problem is with the product.

In a recent Bloomberg article, trading firm BTIG were quick to pin NBC's fallen Olympics ratings on 'millennials' losing interest in sport (what??) and new competition like Snapchat, Netflix and others. But to us this simplistic view is so limited it's almost a cop-out, and the 'blame the new thing' argument is weak and worn-out.

The author of this Medium article, Brenton Henry, offers a counterpoint. It wasn't the audience's fault, it was NBC's lacklustre product offering. He walks us through his own experience trying to watch the opening ceremony, and argues that if NBC had provided a Netflix-like offering for a one-off $10, with good UX, they would have seen a lot more engagement from the younger demographic.

Spotify plans more original video series

This week Spotify has announced its adding more original video content to its platform. This article from Digiday suggests it might be ditching some of the licensed short-form content deals it has with partners like Comedy Central and ESPN.

Frankly, Team Rerun was never on board with this one, as this type of content jarred with (a) music, and (b) the passive personalised engagement that Spotify does so well.

“What Spotify has come to learn is that Spotify is amazing when you have a passive audience — when the audience doesn’t need to look at a video,” said one Spotify content partner. “Some of the Spotify videos that did best were TED Talks, because those don’t actually need to be watched.”

Like other social platforms, Spotify has a large ready made audience to be served up original video content in the same way it currently serves up its Discover Weekly list. If they get the content mix right, this has the potential to be our new personalised MTV, which is quite exciting.

Vice boss predicts M&A 'bloodbath'

VICE media CEO Shane Smith wasn't shy about shaking up the media industry during his talk at the Edinburgh International Television Festival this week.

“There is a revolution going on in media. And it’s scary, and it’s fast, and it’s going to be ugly. But it’s also totally necessary to keep going forward. Change has never been more important, never so crucial, especially in our industry."

VICE Media recently launched the Viceland TV channel, with the aim of attracting millennials back to linear TV. It hasn't all been smooth sailing, as initial audience numbers are reportedly lower than expected.

The live streaming video report: Forecasts, emerging players, and key trends

BI Intelligence has released a report on the rapid growth of live video streaming in 2016. It looks at the challenges and monetization opportunities that lie ahead for brands and marketers, as well as an overview of emerging players in this space.

Online video has become a key part of the strategic business model for both brands and marketers as they seek more innovative ways to capture consumer attention.