Beet.TV

Streaming Media West Download: Broadband-Enabled Devices are Big

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:36:08 +0000

SAN JOSE, CA -- Streaming Media West, the annual industry gathering of broadband executives, drew a bigger crowd this year then last and the focus has changed from delivery and distribution to devices and content, says Dan Rayburn, head of the show.

We caught up with Dan on Wednesday afternoon for a rundown on the show and industry trends.

We were on the scene yesterday and have extensive coverage of the show.

Andy Plesser, Executive Producer

RAMP Powers Video Discovery for CNBC, Thomson Reuters, FOX, others

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:40:53 +0000

The effective transcription of video clips, coupled with contextual tagging, is essential to the discovery of videos material, says Tom Wilde, CEO of the Boston-based RAMP, formerly known as EveryZing.

The company announced its name change today at the Streaming Media West show in San Jose along with the launch of "content optimization" platform for media publishers.

The service is currently implement with media giants including Thomson Reuters for its Reuters Insider program a subscription services which includes a number of business programmers including Beet.TV. RAMP's engine automatically transcribes Beet.TV content and inserts hyperlinks. (See an example below.)

The company does the same for CNBC and FOX. It is now seeking to expand its offering to many more publishers along with marketers who are seeking to have their content discovered more broadly.

The company is also selling its hosted software solution with partners including thePlatform, Brightcove and YuMe. The service and targeted for bigger enterprise users.

RAMP has been spun out of BBN Technologies, the Boston-based defense-technology firm which was sold in October to Raytheon. RAMP has raised funds from venture firms and $8.25 million from the NBC Universal venture fund in May.

I spoke with Tom at the Beet.TV offices a few days ago.

Andy Plesser, Executive Producer

"Social TV" is Here: Facebook Connect is Emerging as Powerful Catalyst for Video Views and Joost Integration Proves It

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:46:15 +0000

Facebook integration around video got its first high profile exposure with CNN and the Inauguration of President Obama, but the first was last year's collaboration with Joost.

A spokesperson for Facebook has told Beet.TV:

"Joost users who have connected their Facebook accounts continue to rank as most active group on the site. These users watch more videos, are more likely to participate in Joost.com's community, and are more likely to contribute comments about the site's video content."

Some metrics around the Joost/Facebook integration:

--Since Joost implemented Facebook Connect in December 2008, the average Facebook Connect Joost user has watched +29% more videos and posted +6% more comments than the average Joost user who has not connected his or her account.

--What's more, Joost's Facebook Connect users have invited +8% more friends, and have joined +16% more groups on average.

Viral Video is Dead According to Kevin Nalty in New Media Minute

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:41:04 +0000

Brands making videos for YouTube don't need to spend a lot of money because there's no correlation between production values and views, the online video strategist Kevin Nalty told me in this week's New Media Minute.

I interviewed him after his iMedia Summit talk on "Seven Strategies for YouTube Success" and he shared some of his tips. Brands shouldn't go for the big viral hit, but they should affiliate with popular YouTube stars. For more of his insight, check out the New Media Minute.

Daisy Whitney

Editor's Note: Daisy's New Media Minute is produced and sponsored separately from Beet.TV. We are pleased to publish her segment regularly here. AP

New Online TV Guide Enters Crowded Market

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:04:26 +0000

The online television listing serving Clicker launched last week, entering the crowded business of online television listings.

We caught up with the Los Angeles based company's CEO Jim Lanzone at NewTeeVee Live last week and asked him about the service and how it stands out in a competitive space.

"Clicker is the complete programming guide for Internet television," Lanzone said. The service catalogs 400,000 full episodes across thousands of distribution points online and brings them together in one site, he said.

The service has been in private beta since September, meaning users needed an invite to use the site. Now, anyone can use Clicker, Lanzone said. The company made the decision to launch officially based on user feedback from the last few months.

Clicker aims to make money via advertising and lead generation, but for now Lanzone is focused on building an audience. That's no easy task as the company faces competition from market leaders like TVGuide.com and OVGuide.com. Both of those sites offer listings and help Web users navigate and find both TV shows and original Web video online. Another popular programming guide is SideReel.com. In addition, many consumers simply turn to Hulu first to find shows to watch.

Clicker lists shows by title, category, recommended, popular and by media, such as TV or Web original. "You can search it and it's in a directory format almost like a Wikipedia for online programming," Lanzone said.

Daisy Whitney, Senior Producer

NFL Ups its Digital Game with Mobile, Live Streaming and Subscription Services

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:01:05 +0000

Though it only has two years of online video availability under its belt, the NFL is hot on the trail of new media opportunities.

That's what the league's Laura Goldberg told Beet.TV at the NewTeeVee Live event in San Francisco last week. She's the general manager of NFL.com and she said the league is particularly keen on mobile opportunities for its games.

"We are trying to find more and more ways to offer the games online and mobile is becoming more and more important," Goldberg said. Currently, the NFL has a partnership with Sprint letting Sprint customers watch Thursday night games on their cell phones (such as the recent San Francisco 49ers-Chicago Bears Thursday night match-up) as well as highlights.

In addition, iPhone users can watch all games on their mobile phones if they have DirecTV's $199 per season NFL package, known as "Sunday Ticket," and the SuperFan $100 upgrade. The league introduced the iPhone option with DirecTV for the first time this season. The SuperFan option lets Sunday Ticket customers watch the games on their iPhone and computers, as well as via DirecTV.

"You will see the importance of the mobile phone growing" Goldberg said.

Sports has been one of the last programming categories to migrate online because the content is so valuable. Also, because sports are live there is an inherent immediacy to watching them on television and other traditional means. That's why the NFL, the country's most popular sport, waited until 2008 to offer some of its games online. Still, leagues such as Major League Baseball have made aggressive moves to offer games online. MLB streams nearly all its games online in a subscription package and via a number of over-the-top services such as Boxee and Roku. The NFL has been testing online video by carrying its Sunday night NBC game live online since the start of the 2008 season. Goldberg declined to reveal how many viewers watch the games online each week.

Also, the NFL offers an out-of-country package for international fans to watch the games live online, Goldberg said. The NFL Game Rewind service includes every game online after they've aired. In addition, NFL.com offers a number of live highlight options during game broadcasters, Goldberg said.

Daisy Whitney, Senior Producer

Comcast to Debut Online Video Service for 15 Million Cable Subscribers and 24 Cable Channels

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:56:53 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO -- Comcast, the nation's biggest cable system, will launch an online offering of its television service to 15 million Comcast "double play" subscribers next month, Comcast's Interactive Media President Amy Vanse told Beet.TV's Daisy Whitney in this video interview.

While the December introduction had been widely anticipated and was announced last week, the scale of the offering has not been widely discussed.

Comcast will offer subscribers of the double play service, those with both television and Internet, cable programming from 24 networks on their computers at no additional cost.

Comcast is expected to make this service available to all if its 24 million subscribers.

Several networks are providing a limited offering of their content for initial launch. These include A&E, AMC, BBC America, DIY Network, Fine Living Network, Food Network, Hallmark, HGTV, History, IFC, MGM Impact, Sundance Channel, WE tv, E!, The Style Network, G4 and FEARnet.

While the major broadcast and premium cable networks are not yet in the Comcast program, we expect several will join in next year.

With the anticipated Comcast acquistion of NBC Universal, it may be that NBC will be a big player in this big cable/Internet convergence development.

Andy Plesser, Executive Producer

Brightcove Launches Low-Priced Solution, Native iPhone App Dev Support and More

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:27:29 +0000

Brightcove, the video platform services company, which has established a reputation for providing video services for big publishers and business enterprises, is launching a slimmed down version of its solution, which is priced at $99 per month

Boxee Expands to Consumer Electronics as CEO Avner Ronen Seeks Ubiquity

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:53:25 +0000

Boxee, a software program which allows users to connect Web video to a television set, created a lot of buzz last week when the company announced it was providing a consumer electronics device, the Boxee "Box."

We caught up with CEO and founder Avner Rovner at the NewTeeVee Live conference in San Francisco on Thursday. Avner gave us a rundown on progress.

Andy Plesser, Executive Producer

YouTube's Move to 1080p Format is Good News for Madison Avenue

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:02:04 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO -- The much blogged about introduction of a higher quality playback experience at YouTube, using a 1080p shoebox sized player, was done in part to accommodate the emergence of pre-roll video advertising on the giant site.

In a related announcement this week, YouTube said it would start an experiment with pre-roll ads, providing users with the option to not see the ads.

The quality and format of the YouTube player has been an issue for advertisers who want to present high quality advertising on YouTube.

At last month's Beet.TV Online Video Roundtable at MSBNC.com, top advertising agency executives complained bitterly about the quality of video on sites like YouTube.

With these announcements, YouTube and Madison Avenue have lined up a little bit closer.

Yesterday at the NewTeeVee Live conference, we caught up with Hunter Walk, YouTube's director of product development. He spoke about the new format, the experiment in pre-roll ads and YouTube's open API.

With Google before the acquisition, he give an overview of YouTube and its growth as part of Google.

Andy Plesser, Executive Producer

Adobe Aims to Dominate Software Format for eReaders

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:54:53 +0000

Adobe sees a big growth opportunity in the emerging eReader market, says Bill Rusitzky, who heads media alliances for the software company.

The company is heavily promoting its ePub product which will be used in the Nook and the Sony eReader. It is not used in the Kindle and will not likely be used in the anticipated Apple Tablet.

MediaMemo's Peter Kafka reports on the looming software battles over formats for the new devices.

I interviewed Bill last month in New York at the Beet.TV Online Video Roundtable.

Andy Plesser, Executive Producer

Forrester Report on Online Video: It's Way Beyond the Media Business Now

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:19:41 +0000

Forrester senior analyst has just published a comparative study of six online video platform service providers. We reported on the study on Friday.