Happy Friday!
Yesterday was International Women's Day. We loved this article highlighting women who are pushing boundaries across the fields of technology, science, design and innovation.
Let the scrolling begin,
Top Pick
'Make TV more like digital TV': Networks are removing clutter to improve TV viewing 🙌
Fox Networks Group said it wants to cut advertising on its networks to two minutes per hour by 2020.
In a effort to stem the loss of audiences, pay TV channels like Fox, NBC and Turner are making bold moves to significantly cut the amount of on-air advertising time in their programming. Data shows that an increasing amount of viewers are opting to watch TV on connected and mobile devices because they feature less or no ads. This is potentially an industry-defining shift, and will have all sorts of knock on effects for content creation and TV network operations. But also, perhaps, a better viewing experience.
Future of TV
Netflix isn't chasing the competition into sports or live TV
At a Netflix press event in Hollywood, CEO Reed Hastings revealed a little more about the company's strategy and where they see themselves in the market.
[Netflix] doesn't have any plans whatsoever to do live TV, even if rivals like Hulu and Amazon's Prime Video are investing heavily in that space. "To follow a competitor, never, never, never," he said. "We have so much we want to do in our area, so we're not trying to copy others, whether that's linear cable, there's lots of things we don't do. We don't do [live] news, we don't do [live] sports. But what we do do, we try to do really well."
Hastings seems happy to draw this line in the sand. Undoubtedly emboldened with the addition of 8.3 million new customers in the last quarter of 2017, which was the largest ever for Netflix. But with the 2019 release of Disney's dedicated service fast approaching and increasing competition from Hulu and Amazon's Prime, we wouldn't be surprised if Netflix's strategy becomes a little more flexible in the future.
You can watch Netflix on any screen you want, but you’re probably watching it on a TV
Netflix released some stats around viewing habits that may surprise you. Evidently, people are signing up for Netflix on mobile platforms and on computers, but the majority of viewing happens on a TV. This is even more pronounced at the six-month mark, with the average viewer spending 70% of their Netflix time parked in front of a TV. This statistic is almost exactly the same regardless of the type of content being played. The best screen for content is the biggest one you have.
Discovery will look into OTT launches after Scripps acquisition
Following on from last years' announcements by Disney and ESPN, this week Viacom and Discovery announced direct to consumer OTT offerings, planned for 2019.
OTT is shaping up as a major trend for 2018/19 as a way for content owners and brands to reach audiences directly.
Having control of both content and content delivery gives brands much more scope to experiment with interactive formats and creative advertising models.
Viacom for example, has 10,000 hours of library product. Given the unexpected success of Friends with Gen Z Netflix viewers, this could be a great way to attract new audiences to old content.
Hulu’s interactive ad lets viewers buy movie tickets with a remote
The bulk of TV revenues are still coming through advertising. As TV Networks feel the pressure from audiences to dial down the quantity of ads served, new revenue streams are finally coming online.
This example of interactive movie ticket purchasing is one to watch. Hulu at 18m subscribers, is well positioned to make a viable revenue stream from experiments like this.
'We are definitely trying to connect the experiences of watching a piece of content to buying a piece of content – a movie ticket. With affluent, younger consumers migrating to streaming services from linear TV, finding new ways to connect with them is of growing importance.' - JP Richards, EVP Worldwide Marketing and Chief Data Strategist, Warner Bros.
Interactive Media
Uncovering the potential of mobile audio: a new experimental player, and a new show
The Guardian have released an experimental "visual podcast". The Strange Bird series, is a new podcast that incorporates visual elements inside a 'chat' like screen to add context to what is being heard. Podcasts have been gaining momentum as a popular editorial strategy for newsrooms recently. As The Guardian observed this trend, they started to question how audio is being presented online, how it could be made more accessible, and how to use visuals to enhance the listening experience.
We noticed that no one had yet built a place or a product that brings all of these complementary storytelling elements together in one simple and easily accessible place for listeners to experience a show, and also subscribe on an ongoing basis.
We're looking forward to a follow up piece from The Guardian U.S. regarding the effectiveness and potential for this type of listening experience.
How brands like Audi and Pez are winning the AR game
AR is now being used to engage with customers by some of the biggest brands. This year has already seen Audi allow customers test drive a car from their smartphone, create their own circuit and even drive through four seasons.
One of the best examples of the use of AR was by 'The Dutch Lady' a Vietnamese dairy brand who used AR to create 'The Flying Farm' app. When a child scans the milk pack, they are transported to the magical world of the Dutch farm and Bella the cow.
The award-winning app reached over 40,000 downloads and saw a 19 percent rise in product sales during its launch.
We at Rerun think AR is at the start of helping brands interact with their audiences and it will allow advertisers to create a more pleasant disruption rather than generic ads or click through banners.
Anchor’s redesigned app focuses on podcasting
If you've ever looked longingly out the window, think to yourself how you'd like to be a podcaster, now is your time to make it a reality.
Anchor—previously the Snapchat for audio—is now the newest and easiest way to launch a podcast. It basically removes all the costs and complications of podcasting. With Anchor you can create, host, record, and publish your podcast all from your desktop or smart phone. Oh, and it's free.
I think what we’re best at right now is empowering creators. -Mike Mignano, Anchor CEO
Storytelling
Reinventing The Music Industry -- Again
We love talking about the music industry whenever we can, especially when it overlaps so well with what's happening on screen. This interview with Oscar Hoglund, cofounder of Epidemic Sound, gives us a lot to think about. With their music being heard over 20 billion times a month via online video, there's a massive industry here that many may not even think about.
The mission was to make a more transparent, flexible and straightforward process for creating and supplying music to storytellers.
A simple mission having a massive impact on content creators, musicians, and audiences alike.
Amazon has a fix for Alexa’s creepy laughs
Been hearing any unexplained random laughter recently? No it isn't a ghost. Its Alexa! Over the past few days, users have been hearing unprompted giggling from their Alexa devices. It seems Alexa has been mishearing phases similar to 'Alexa laugh', and mistakenly laughing in response.
A pretty laughable bug...