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Category: MediaTransformationUpdate

MediaTransformationUpdate

  • Amazon Unveils Fire TV Omni Series, Its Line of Smart TVs

    Amazon Unveils Fire TV Omni Series, Its Line of Smart TVs

    Not just content to sell other companies TVs, Amazon has unveiled its own line of smart TVs, the Fire TV Omni Series.

    Amazon currently sells the Fire TV Stick line of streaming hubs, giving customers a convenient way to stream Prime Video, as well as virtually all the major streaming platforms. The company is now building on that with the Fire TV Omni Series, a family of full-fledged smart TVs.

    The Fire TV Omni Series is available in a variety of sizes, including 43”, 50”, 55”, 65”, and 75”, and will offer 4K Ultra HD, HDR10, HLG and Dolby Digital Plus. The two biggest models sport a slim bezel for improved aesthetics and include support for Dolby Vision.

    “We’ve reimagined what a TV can do by building it with two of our most popular experiences at the core—the intelligent always-available power of far-field Alexa, and Fire TV’s content-forward approach to entertainment,” said Daniel Rausch, Vice President, Amazon Entertainment Devices and Services. “Our new Fire TV Omni Series smart TVs, with hands-free access to Alexa, make controlling your TV faster, simpler, and more natural.” 

    The TVs will be released October 27 and will start at $409.99.

  • HBO Max Expands to Europe October 26

    HBO Max Expands to Europe October 26

    HBO Max has announced plans to expand to its first six European markets on October 26.

    HBO Max has been expanding at a rapid pace, adding 39 Latin American and Caribbean territories in June. The company has now announced it is expanding to six European countries starting October 26.

    “This is a historic moment as HBO Max lands in Europe,” said Johannes Larcher, Head of HBO Max International. “WarnerMedia movies and series like Harry Potter, Game of Thrones and The Big Bang Theory are passionately consumed by fans all across Europe, and HBO Max has been created to provide them with the most intuitive and convenient viewing experience to watch these and a diverse range of other amazing titles.”

    “The unique and exclusive combination of iconic content from Warner Bros., HBO, DC, Cartoon Network, Max Originals, including local productions and more, creates a streaming platform that fans in Europe will love,” added Christina Sulebakk, General Manager, HBO Max EMEA. “We see enormous potential as we roll-out the all-new, supercharged streaming platform across the region.”

    HBO Max has quickly risen to become one of the top streaming platforms on the market, and this latest expansion will only add to its adoption.

  • Twitter Buying Scroll to Serve as Foundation for Subscription Service

    Twitter Buying Scroll to Serve as Foundation for Subscription Service

    Twitter has announced it is buying Scroll as it looks to establish a subscription service for premium content.

    Twitter has been looking for ways to diversify its services and new ways to monetize its user base. Despite being one of the oldest social media platforms, Twitter has been surpassed in many ways by newer, upstart platforms.

    The company is purchasing Scroll in an effort to introduce paid subscription services, free of ads. Twitter VP Mike Park announced the company’s plans on the company’s blog:

    That’s why we’re excited to announce that Twitter is acquiring Scroll. Scroll has built a way to read articles without the ads, pop-ups, and other clutter that get in the way, cleaning up the reading experience and giving people what they want: just the content. Meanwhile, publishers who work with Scroll can bring in more revenue than they would from traditional ads on a page. It’s a better Internet for readers and for writers.

    Twitter also hopes integrating Scroll will help it to assist the journalism industry, one that has experienced major setbacks as a result fo the digital transformation.

    Those who create and consume news know that reading – and more broadly, journalism – deserve a better future. Scroll will help us build that future, solving one of the most frustrating parts about reading content online. We want to reimagine what they’ve built to deliver a seamless reading experience to our hyper-engaged audiences and allow publishers to deliver cleaner content that can make them more money than today’s business models.

    To do this, we plan to include Scroll as part of an upcoming subscription offering we’re currently exploring. As a Twitter subscriber, picture getting access to premium features where you can easily read articles from your favorite news outlet or a writer’s newsletter from Revue, with a portion of your subscription going to the publishers and writers creating the content.

    Park said Scroll will pause new sign-ups while the service is integrated with Twitter. After the integration, Twitter will work on growing Scroll’s subscriber base.

  • Court Ruling Spells the End of Locast

    Court Ruling Spells the End of Locast

    Lowcast has informed subscribers it will be ending its service following an unfavorable court ruling.

    Locast takes free, over-the-air local channel broadcasts and streams them over the internet. The solution was popular in many areas, with the company covering 55% of the US population, or more than 179 million people. Streaming service Sling even partnered with Locast to offer subscribers access to local channels, a traditionally weak point for Sling.

    While other companies have been shut down for charging a fee for similar services, Locast was free and operated as a non-profit. The company did solicit donations mid-stream, and that appears to be what caused the problem. ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC sued, alleging the donation solicitation still broke the law. Unfortunately, the court sided with the broadcasters.

    Although Locast originally planned on continuing to offer the service without the donation solicitations, it appears to have altered plans and has suspended service, effective immediately. The company notified customers in an email:

    As a non-profit, Locast was designed from the very beginning to operate in accordance with the strict letter of the law, but in response to the court’s recent rulings, with which we respectfully disagree, we are hereby suspending operations, effective immediately. 

    The court ruling and Locast’s decision is a major blow to cordcutters and is an unfortunate win for an industry that has a long reputation of ruthlessly squashing anything that challenges the status quo — including things that benefit its customers.

  • YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Passes 50 Million Subscribers

    YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Passes 50 Million Subscribers

    YouTube Premium and YouTube Music have crossed the 50 million subscriber market, just a few years after Google unveiled YouTube subscriptions.

    YouTube is the undisputed champion among video platforms, but much of the platform’s income is based on ads. The company does offer a subscription service, and it has crossed a major milestone, according to Head of Music Lyor Cohen.

    It’s been almost 6 years since we kicked off our subscription journey at YouTube and today we’re excited to share the news that we’ve crossed 50 million Music and Premium subscribers, including trialers. It’s an honor to build a membership that allows people to more deeply immerse themselves in music, learning, fashion, gaming, and more, all the while supporting the creators and artists that make it possible. Music and Premium subscriptions are key pillars of YouTube’s monetization, enabling unique content and communities to flourish.

  • LinkedIn Killing Stories, Revamping Videos

    LinkedIn Killing Stories, Revamping Videos

    LinkedIn is killing off its ephemeral Stories features but plans to use what it learned to improve videos across its platform.

    LinkedIn introduced Stories last year as a way for professionals to share short videos that would disappear after 24 hours. Liz Li, Senior Director of Product at LinkedIn, says the company was surprised to learn that some people wanted their videos to have more permanence than Stories provides.

    You wish videos could live on your profile, not disappear. In developing Stories, we assumed people wouldn’t want informal videos attached to their profile, and that ephemerality would reduce barriers that people feel about posting. Turns out, you want to create lasting videos that tell your professional story in a more personal way and that showcase both your personality and expertise. 

    Feedback also indicated that many users wanted tools to create more engaging videos.

    LinkedIn appears to be listening to the feedback and plans to kill off Stories by the end of September. The company will then take the feedback and lessons its learned, and roll them into a new and improved video experience.

    We’ve learned a ton. Now, we’re taking those learnings to evolve the Stories format into a reimagined video experience across LinkedIn that’s even richer and more conversational. We want to embrace mixed media and creative tools of Stories in a consistent way across our platform, while working to integrate it more tightly with your professional identity.

  • Apple Buys Primephonic, Will Launch Dedicated Classical Music App

    Apple Buys Primephonic, Will Launch Dedicated Classical Music App

    Apple has acquired Primephonic, a leading classical music streaming service, and plans to released a dedicated classical music app.

    Primephonic made its name as a classical music streaming service, offering handpicked, premium quality audio. Apple wants to build on that, offering Apple Music subscribers the best in classical music.

    “We love and have a deep respect for classical music, and Primephonic has become a fan favorite for classical enthusiasts,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats. “Together, we’re bringing great new classical features to Apple Music, and in the near future, we’ll deliver a dedicated classical experience that will truly be the best in the world.” 

    “Bringing the best of Primephonic to Apple Music subscribers is a tremendous development for the classical music industry,” said Thomas Steffens, Primephonic’s co-founder and CEO. “Artists love the Primephonic service and what we’ve done in classical, and now we have the ability to join with Apple to deliver the absolute best experience to millions of listeners. We get to bring classical music to the mainstream and connect a new generation of musicians with the next generation of audience.” 

    Primephonic is no longer accepting new subscribers, and will go offline September 7, while Apple works on integrating its features into its own standalone classical music app. Primephonic subscribers will receive six months of Apple Music for free as part of the deal.

  • Axel Springer Acquiring POLITICO

    Axel Springer Acquiring POLITICO

    Germany’s Axel Springer has announced a deal to acquire POLITICO, including the rest of their POLITICO Europe joint venture.

    POLITICO has risen quickly in the journalism industry, over the course of its 15-year existence, and has become a major player in the political news field. The company now employs more than 500 journalists, writing for POLITICO and its sibling publication Protocol.

    Since 2014, Axel Springer and POLITICO have partnered on their joint POLITICO Europe venture, a venture which has been profitable since 2019.

    Axel Springer is now purchasing POLITICO, giving it full control of the company, along with the two companies European joint venture.

    “POLITICO’s outstanding team has disrupted digital political journalism and set new standards. A true North Star,” said Mathias Döpfner, CEO Axel Springer. “It will be a privilege and a special responsibility to help shape the future of this outstanding media company. Objective quality journalism is more important than ever, and we mutually believe in the necessity of editorial independence and nonpartisan reporting. This is crucial for our future success and accelerated growth.” 

    “My 15-year adventure with POLITICO has been the ride of a lifetime,” said Robert L. Allbritton, Founder and Publisher of POLITICO and Protocol. “I reach this milestone with a sense of satisfaction that I hope is shared by every POLITICO. Together we have built what is without a doubt the most impressive and most enduring of the many experiments in new publications over the past generation. Particularly in recent years, we have put the emphasis on doing rather than boasting, and what multiple competitors have aspired to—a consistently profitable publication that supports true journalistic excellence—we have achieved.

    “Above all, I have always known that ownership  is about responsibility. As POLITICO has prospered in recent years,  accompanied by the successful launch of Protocol,  it became steadily more clear that the responsibility to grow the business on a global scale, to better serve the audience and create more opportunities for our employees, might be better advanced by a larger company with a  significant  global footprint  and ambitions  than it could be by me as owner of a family business. As I have often said, I would only welcome a new investor that reflected my values and POLITICO’s distinctive company values. Axel Springer and Mathias Döpfner and his team meet that test better than any other company in media  today.  I look forward to working with them as publisher of POLITICO and Protocol as we reach even greater heights.”

  • YouTube Paid Creators $30 Billion Over the Last Three Years

    YouTube Paid Creators $30 Billion Over the Last Three Years

    YouTube has provided insight into the state of its content platform, including some impressive figures regarding its revenue and payouts to creators.

    YouTube is the undisputed king of video platforms. The company recently crossed the milestone of two million creators in its monetization program — the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) — and is revealing just how much it has paid those creators over the last three years.

    Creators who are part of YPP can make money and earn a living from their content on YouTube with ten different monetization features (and we keep adding more), from advertiser revenue to selling merchandise. Over the last three years, we’ve paid more than $30 billion to creators, artists, and media companies. 

    With $7 billion in ad revenue in Q2 20201 alone, YouTube’s report is an impressive glimpse into just how important the platform is to Google’s overall business.

  • T-Mobile Giving Customers One Year of Free Apple TV+

    T-Mobile Giving Customers One Year of Free Apple TV+

    T-Mobile is giving its Magenta and Magenta MAX customers one free year of Apple TV+ streaming service.

    Apple TV+ is home to a number of critically-acclaimed and/or award-winning shows and movies, including Ted Lasso, Morning Show, See, CODA and Greyhound. The service is normally $4.99 a month, but new and existing T-Mobile Magenta and Magenta MAX customers will be able to get it free for one year, starting August 25.

    “Customers love streaming at T-Mobile. In fact it’s the #1 use of our network with over half of overall traffic— so of course, we’re expanding options for customers – bringing them the award-winning Apple TV+ for 12 months free, an offer only available from T-Mobile,” said Jon Freier, EVP of Consumer Group at T-Mobile.

    “T-Mobile customers can now enjoy Apple TV+ for a full year, and watch right in the Apple TV app across all their favorite devices,” said Peter Stern, Apple’s VP of Services. “Apple TV+ has the highest-rated originals of any streaming service, so we are excited that millions of T-Mobile customers will be able to take advantage of this offer.”

  • Adobe Acquiring Frame.io

    Adobe Acquiring Frame.io

    Adobe has announced it is acquiring Frame.io, a company specializing in cloud-based video collaboration.

    Video services have exploded in popularity, in large part as a result of pandemic-driven lockdowns. Video editing, however, is still a challenging a product of past years, and has not benefited from cloud-based collaboration as much as other industries.

    Frame.io has been working to change that, with a cloud-based collaborative platform for video editing. Adobe sees potential paring Frame.io’s platform with its own Premiere Pro and After Effects software.

    “We’ve entered a new era of connected creativity that is deeply collaborative, and we imagine a world where everyone can participate in the creative process,” said Scott Belsky, Adobe Chief Product Officer and Executive Vice President, Creative Cloud. “With this acquisition, we’re welcoming an incredible customer-oriented team and adding Frame.io’s cloud-native workflow capabilities to make the creative process more collaborative, productive, and efficient to further unleash creativity for all.”

  • UK Regulators May Force Facebook to Sell Giphy

    UK Regulators May Force Facebook to Sell Giphy

    Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has raised significant concerns over Facebook’s Giphy purchase and may force a sale.

    Facebook bought Giphy, the popular animated GIF platform, for $400 million in 2020. The social media giant wanted to integrate with Instagram. That integration has raised major concerns with the CMA.

    The CMA provisionally found that Facebook’s ownership of Giphy could lead it to deny other platforms access to its GIFs. Alternatively, it could change the terms of this access – for example, Facebook could require Giphy customers, such as TikTok, Twitter and Snapchat, to provide more user data in order to access Giphy GIFs. Such actions could increase Facebook’s market power, which is already significant. The CMA’s analysis suggests that Facebook’s platforms – Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram – account for over 70% of the time people spend on social media and are accessed at least once a month by 80% of all internet users.

    The CMA has made it clear that, should its concerns be confirmed, it may force Facebook to sell Giphy, the latest setback for a Big Tech company looking to acquire a smaller service.

  • Verizon Giving Customers a Free Year of AMC+

    Verizon Giving Customers a Free Year of AMC+

    Verizon is adding another entertainment service to its wireless bundles, giving some customers a free year of AMC+.

    Wireless carriers have increasingly been bundling various streaming and entertainment services in an effort to reduce churn. Verizon already offers Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, discovery+, Apple Arcade, Apple Music and Google Play Pass on its high-end unlimited plans.

    The company now includes AMC+ to that roster, giving customers access to programming from AMC, BBC America, IFC and SundanceTV, in addition to the content libraries of Shudder, Sundance Now and IFC Films Unlimited.

    “Enhancing the way that fans enjoy their beloved content is at the center of what we do at Verizon,” says Erin McPherson, Head of Content Partnerships at Verizon. “Adding up to 12 months of AMC+ on us to our robust set of content offerings is just one more way we’re able to give our customers unique experiences, like getting to see the new season of the iconic AMC show, The Walking Dead, and the wealth of other acclaimed content that AMC+ offers, all on us.”

    “Verizon has been a great and valued partner over the years, and we are pleased to now extend that partnership to our new premium streaming bundle, AMC+,” said Josh Reader, president of distribution and development for AMC Networks (Nasdaq: AMCX). “Over the last year, we have seen tremendous interest in AMC+ from consumers and our distribution partners, and the launch of this new partnership with Verizon couldn’t be better timed, with the premiere of the 11th and final season of The Walking Dead later this month and a truly spectacular lineup of original programming coming later this year and in 2022.”

  • Four Labor Unions Ask FTC to Block Amazon’s MGM Purchase

    Four Labor Unions Ask FTC to Block Amazon’s MGM Purchase

    The Strategic Organizing Center (SOC) has written the Federal Trade Commission, asking the agency to block Amazon’s MGM purchase.

    The SOC represents four unions: the Service Employees International Union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Communications Workers of America and the United Farmworkers. Together, the four unions include some 4 million workers.

    The SOC has written an open letter to Ms. Holly Vedova, the FTC’s Acting Director, Bureau of Competition, expressing concerns over Amazon’s proposed purchase of MGM Studios, valued at $8.45 billion.

    The letter highlights the current state of the streaming video-on-demand (SVOD) market, a market Amazon is uniquely poised to gain an unfair advantage in.

    The SVOD market is in the midst of both massive expansion and increasing vertical integration. The market is currently dominated by an oligopoly of five firms. In 2020, Netflix (20%), Amazon Prime Video (16%), Hulu (13%), HBO Max (12%), and Disney+ (11%) collectively comprised 72 percent of the entire US SVOD market.1 Each of these firms operate their own studios as well as a streaming platform which acts as distribution channel for content they choose to acquire, or, increasingly, that they produce themselves.

    The letter goes on to highlight that Amazon’s dominance in other markets, specifically e-commerce, allows the company to offer its SVOD services for free, putting it in a position to abuse its market power.

    Amazon’s Prime membership – which bundles free, expedited delivery with streaming video at no additional cost to consumers – is radically different from the per-month-fee model implemented by SVOD competitors. This model, which has already drawn the attention of competition authorities in Europe, involves an aggressive pricing strategy that unfairly leverages Amazon’s dominance in e- commerce into the SVOD market by offering streaming content at no cost to consumers.

    The letter quotes former studio exec Barry Diller’s assessment of the deal to sum up the SOC’s objections.

    “[When I ran studios] the key point of movies was to please consumers,” but for a service like Amazon Prime “incentives have changed … The system is not necessarily to please anybody. It is to buy more Amazon stuff.”

    The SOC’s opposition to Amazon’s MGM deal is just the latest challenge the company is facing amid increasing antitrust scrutiny.

  • AMC Will Accept Bitcoin as Payment

    AMC Will Accept Bitcoin as Payment

    AMC has announced it will start accepting bitcoin as payment by the end of 2021.

    In an earnings call Monday, AMC CEO Adam Aron said all US theaters would accept bitcoin, for both tickets and concessions, if the purchase is made online. The company plans to have the necessary systems in place to accept the transactions by the end of 2021, according to CNBC.

    As the outlet points out, the news brings together two highly volatile factors. Bitcoin’s prices have been all over the map in the last year, while AMC was one of the stocks that benefited from traders on Reddit’s WallStreetBets group, the same traders that brought GameStop to unexpected heights and cost hedge funds and short-sellers billions.

    Regardless of the backstories involved, another major company accepting bitcoin as payment is sure to help drive the cryptocurrency’s popularity even more.

  • AT&T and TPG Capital Complete DirecTV Spin-Off

    AT&T and TPG Capital Complete DirecTV Spin-Off

    AT&T and TPG Capital have completed their DirecTV deal, spinning off the brand from AT&T.

    After buying DirecTV in 2015 for $48.5 billion ($67.1 billion including debt), the service lost millions of subscribers in the ensuing years. As a result, AT&T decided to spin off the satellite TV company in a deal with TPG Capital.

    The new DirecTV company will own DIRECTV, AT&T TV and U-verse video services. HBO Max, owned by AT&T’s WarnerMedia, is not included in the deal.

    AT&T will retain 70% ownership of the new company, while TPG Capital will own the remaining 30%.

  • New York Times Pushes Back a Return to the Office

    New York Times Pushes Back a Return to the Office

    In what is becoming an all-too-familiar routine, The New York Times has announced it is pushing back its return to the office.

    After more than a year of working remotely, many companies have been eager to have their return onsite. Many were shooting for sometime in September as the deadline. The Times had set September 7 as the day for employees to return to the office, at least three days a week.

    Like Apple and Google, however, the Times is pushing that date back as the Delta variant of COVID leads to an increased surge in cases.

    “In light of the evolution of the virus, including new trends around the Delta variant and the updated guidance from the C.D.C. this week on masking, we have decided to push out our plans for a full return at this time,” Meredith Kopit Levien, chief executive of The New York Times Company, told staff in an email on Friday.

    The news comes a day after President Biden addressed the nation, urging individuals to get vaccinated. Biden emphasized that vaccination is not a political issue, but one of “life and death.”

  • Dell Cancels Some Alienware Shipments to Certain States

    Dell Cancels Some Alienware Shipments to Certain States

    Alienware customers in specific states are in for a disappointment, as Dell is cancelling some shipments.

    First noticed by Marie Oakes, Dell’s website contains a disclaimer regarding shipping to certain states.

    The issue revolves around legislation passed in those states governing computer energy efficiency.

    “This product cannot be shipped to the states of California, Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Vermont or Washington due to power consumption regulations adopted by those states,” the website says. “Any orders placed that are bound for those states will be canceled.”

    Dell has confirmed the issue in a statement sent to the The Register:

    Yes, this was driven by the California Energy Commission (CEC) Tier 2 implementation that defined a mandatory energy efficiency standard for PCs – including desktops, AIOs and mobile gaming systems. This was put into effect on July 1, 2021. Select configurations of the Alienware Aurora R10 and R12 were the only impacted systems across Dell and Alienware.

  • Apple No Longer Listed Under NAB Attendees

    Apple No Longer Listed Under NAB Attendees

    Following news Apple would be attending its first NAB Show in a decade, the company has been pulled from the list of attendees.

    The National Association of Broadcasters hosts the NAB Show, a trade conference aimed at the broadcasting industry, as well as supporting media and tech industries. Apple’s last appearance was a decade ago, leading to quite a bit of excitement when the company was listed as one of this year’s attendees.

    According AppleInsider, however, Apple is no longer listed. No reason was given for the company’s sudden disappearance from the attendee list, so it’s unknown whether Apple is still planning on attending, had a change of plans or was never planning on attending and was listed accidentally.

  • HBO Forces Apple TV Users to HBO Max, Shuts Down Apple TV Channel

    HBO Forces Apple TV Users to HBO Max, Shuts Down Apple TV Channel

    HBO has shut down its Apple TV Channel, forcing users to embrace HBO Max instead.

    Apple TV Channels is the company’s premium channel service, allowing users to subscribe to premium channels and watch them via the Apple TV app. The billing is also handled via Apple’s ecosystem, rather than paying the content channel directly.

    As 9to5Mac reports, HBO had already stopped accepting new subscribers via Apple TV Channels once HBO Max launched. Now the company has even blocked existing subscribers from accessing content, forcing Apple TV users to use HBO Max instead.

    Warner Media clearly sees HBO Max as the future of its streaming efforts. Unfortunately, that seems to mean promoting HBO Max exclusively, even at the expense of partnerships that benefit the end user.

  • Twitter Beats Q2 Expectations

    Twitter Beats Q2 Expectations

    Twitter posted its Q2 earnings, beating expectations on $1.19 billion in revenue.

    Once the darling of the social media market, Twitter has been surpassed in recent years by newer upstarts. The platform showed it still has room to grow in its latest report, however, posting $1.19 billion in revenue, an increase of 74% year-over-year.

    Advertising revenue came in at $1.05 billion, an 87% increase year-over-year. The company also posted an 11% year-over-year growth of the coveted Monetizable Daily Active Usage (mDAU).

    “As we enter the second half of 2021, we are shipping more, learning faster, and hiring remarkable talent,” said Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s CEO. “For example, our increased shipping cadence contributed to reaching 206 million average monetizable DAU (mDAU) in Q2, up 11% year over year and 3% quarter over quarter. There’s a tremendous opportunity to get the whole world to use Twitter.” 

    “We delivered better-than-expected performance across all major products and geographies while growing our audience,” said Ned Segal, Twitter’s CFO. “We continued to make significant progress on our direct response and brand products with updated ad formats, improved measurement, and better prediction. We are driving more value for advertisers with our strong push into performance-based advertising and expanded offerings for small and medium-sized businesses.”