CYNOPSISDIGITAL
02.24.17
Good morning. It's
Friday February 24, 2017 and this is your first early morning
digital briefing.
TODAYâS CODEBREAKER
CAVE: A cave automatic virtual environment (better known by the acronym
CAVE) is an immersive virtual environment in which images are projected onto between three and six walls of a room-sized cube.
TOP NEWS
Itâs official:
Disney is making some major cuts to
Maker Studios, the MCN and digital media company it acquired in 2014. The media giant is laying off 80 Maker staffers as it restructures its publishing and digital media division, of which Maker is a part. (Disney hasnât said just what percentage of Makerâs workforce those 80 cuts represent.) The new cuts come soon after Maker was shifted to Disneyâs
Consumer Products and Interactive Media (
DCPI) group. One reason for the cuts: As some recent reports make clear, Disney plans to dramatically shrink the number of
YouTube creators that Maker partners with. According to a source who spoke to
Variety, Disney wants to drop the number of creators that Maker works with to
less than 1,000. At one point, that number was as high as 60,000.
ADVERTISING
Facebook is looking to launch some new ad products. The social giant says that itâs started testing mid-roll ad breaks within on-demand videos. (The test is taking place among a âsmall number of partners,â according to Facebook.) In addition, the company is expanding its beta test of ad breaks within
Facebook Live videos. The beta will now be available to U.S. publishers and users for broadcasts with 300 concurrent viewers or more. Finally, the company will now let eligible media partners serve in-stream video ads on their own apps and websites through the Facebook
Audience Network program. Facebook itself sells the ad inventory. Like YouTube, Facebook offers its partners a 55% cut of the revenue.
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE
WINNING STRATEGIES FOR BRANDED CONTENT
TV nets & advertisers alike know branded content is one of the most effective ways to get closer to customers & itâs also a highly effective solution to TVâs ad-blocking challenge. In this 2/28 webinar, experts from
BEN,
Discovery Communications,
Scripps Networks Interactive,
ESPN &
The Weather Channel will offer case studies & insights into the kinds of creative, innovative experiences you need to bring to the table to appeal to both your audience & brands.
Register today.
MEASUREMENT
Like any content creators,
YouTubers would love to have a more complete view of their audience. Now it looks like some of them will get one:
ComScore is providing mobile viewing metrics to YouTubeâs partner channels. The owners of such channels will have access to channel-level insights across both mobile and desktop consumption. The measurement firm was already providing desktop-only reporting for YouTube channels, but given that roughly 70% of YouTube views take place on mobile platforms, those metrics were no longer cutting it.
PLATFORMS, APPS + DEVICES
Gracenote, the provider of media and entertainment metadata that
Nielsen recently bought from
Tribune Media, announced that it has now standardized its ID tags in a way that broadens results when sports, music, or video fans search for info across smart devices and programming guides. Among other platforms, Gracenote currently powers guides for
DirecTV,
Comcast,
Roku,
Samsung Smart TVs, and offerings from
Spotify and
Apple. As Gracenote puts it in a new press release, the new standardized IDs âlink musical artists to discographies, actors to TV shows and schedules, episodes to seasons and athletes to live games across linear TV, video on-demand (VOD) and over-the-top (OTT) services.â For example, a search for
Beyonce would deliver results across her entire music, TV and movie career.
VIRTUAL + AUGMENTED REALITY
Looks like
Samsung is thinking about launching a wireless controller to go along with the next version of its
Gear VR headset. A new FCC filing, while heavily redacted, included a sketch of the device.
Sammobile was the first to spot the news. As the site points out, the FCC sketch looks quite similar to the PlayStation Move controller, a device used with the PlayStation VR headset. Still, thereâs no telling what the device â if it comes to be made â will look like in the end.
HTC is moving closer to the debut of
Viveport, its VR subscription service. As first reported by
Variety,HTC is now officially allowing developers to register their VR experiences and games to be part of the serviceâs launch, which is expected later this spring. The service, which will be exclusive to the
HTC Vive headset, was initially announced at
CES last month.
OTT + SVOD
Urban Movie Channel (
UMC) has been added to fourth-gen
Apple TVs. The service, owned by
RLJ Entertainment, is geared toward African American and urban audiences. It had 20,000 subs by the end of 2016. By comparison, RLJâs other streaming service,
Acorn TV, had over 430,000 subs. But the addition to Apple TV is the latest sign that RLJ intends to make a serious push to increase UMCâs subscription base. Just last week, the service named
Traci Otey Blunt, an RLJ Entertainment exec since 2014, as UMCâs President. âThe Apple TV app will give UMC the ability to reach many potential new subscribers while also providing additional exposure for the channel,â said Blunt in a statement. The service costs $6.99 per month.
EXECUTIVE NEWS
The Weather Company has made a new hire. The
IBM-owned company has named
Mark Risis as its new
VP of Partnerships. Heâll focus on building new tech and data partnerships in the media and ad tech space. Risis joins The Weather Company from
TiVo Research, where he served as
Head of Strategy and Business Development.
WEBINAR: PROGRAMMATIC DATA & MEASUREMENT
Speaking of
The Weather Company,
Director of Programmatic Platforms David Virenius will be on-board for
Cynopsisâs new webinar,
Programmatic Data & Measurement: New Solutions for TV and Digital. Youâll learn how and where to buy inventory programmatically, how to employ the best measurement techniques, and how best to make use of data. To learn more and register,
go here.
TRIVIA
Our Last Trivia Question:
Steve Buscemi held a titular role on a digital series. Which one? Answer:
Horace and Pete. Buscemi played Pete; Horace was played by series creator
Louis CK.Kudos to Anthony Schach-Discovery Communications/MD, Len Appel-Branded Entertainment Network/NY, Dan Quitério-Understood/NY, Susan Nessanbaum--Goldberg Whose Line Is It Anyway?/Angst Productions/CA, David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/CA, Joe Lanzerotti-A+E Networks/IL, Anjali Desai-Departure Films/NY, Andy Bellamy-Producers Guild of America/NY, and Mathew Tombers-Intermat, Inc./NY
Follow-up:
Louis C.K. inked a major deal with Netflix this week, but itâs a different service that recently acquired the streaming rights to
Horace and Pete. Which one? (Email
[email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and state.)
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE
APRIL 12 / CYNOPSIS WORLD ESPORTS SUMMIT
Everything you need to know to join the eSports movement and succeed. Tickets are flying off the shelves. Register before 3/22 to save on the East Coastâs premiere eSports Summit!
Sponsors/Partners: Go To Team, Bruin Sports Capital, eSports Ad Bureau & rEvXP
DIGITAL SPOTLIGHT
Netflix tries to run the gamut when it comes to programming, producing everything from prestige dramas to kidsâ cartoon series. One genre it hadnât covered yet, until today: competition shows.
Ultimate Beastmaster, executive producedby
Sylvester Stallone, is an international reality series that tests contestantsâ strength and endurance. You can check out the trailer
here.
See you Monday,
David Teich 02.24.17
Roberta Caploe: Publisher
@robertacaploe
Diane K Schwartz: Senior Vice President, Media Communications Group
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JOB OPENING: SPONSORSHIP COORDINATOR/CROWN MEDIA FAMILY NETWORKS/NY: Track, create & coordinate sponsorship reports. Coordinate added value elements, & interface w/Traffic, Ad Sales, & Promo dept. BS req. & 2 yrs TV or Ad Sales exp. Full info/apply
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