Category: Mobile

Smart Phones and Mobile Media

Food Network Launches “Discover Food Network” Channel on SnapChat

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbOMqA2AOIk

Popular messaging app Snapchat announced today that it has partnered with top media media brands, including Food Network, in order to launch a new in-app news feature that will allow users to access a collection of the day’s top stories and videos with just one swipe.

The app’s new ‘Discover’ feature includes 12 unique news channels, one for each media partner, plus a dedicated Snapchat channel which will include original content from the app’s creators.

With the move, Snapchat is positioning itself as a media platform — one that reaches an estimated 100-plus million monthly active users. Snapchat Discover will compete with other video platforms and services that encompass video, including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Every channel in Snapchat Discover is refreshed after 24 hours, “because what’s news today is history tomorrow,” the company explained.

Food Network is Snapchat’s exclusive launch partner within the food category. The Discover Food Network channel on Snapchat extends the Food Network brand to reach even more young consumers with new and exciting content tailored specifically for that audience. As well as being an engaging new channel for young food fans, Discover Food Network on Snapchat will provide a new opportunity for advertisers to reach engaged young people who love food.

“Food Network has led the dialogue around food for more than two decades, informing and entertaining passionate and engaged fans, and we are excited to bring it to the Snapchat platform,” says Brooke Johnson, President of Food Network & Cooking Channel. “Audiences are more food-conscious than ever before and the Discover Food Network channel on Snapchat will provide users with the great content they love, designed specifically for their mobile devices.”

Users can tap on a channel and swipe left to flip through each channel’s daily edition, containing five to ten stories selected for the service by the Food Network editorial team.

The expectation is that some consumers will discover Food Network content through Snapchat, then seek more through Food Network’s television channels, digital and mobile platforms.

Twitter to Expand Video Offering

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According to Mashable, Twitter is developing a new video ad unit to support its soon-to-launch native video tool.

While details are still being hammered out, Twitter is apparently leaning toward a “pay-for-play” cost structure. It would include a six-second preview video that automatically plays in user feeds and the option to click to view the entire video.

Most likely, ads will only appear if and when users choose to view the full video, sources say.

“They don’t have it totally figured out yet,” said one marketing executive who was briefed on Twitter’s plans. Specifically, the microblogging giant has yet to decide exactly when advertisers would be charged for a video “view,” or its cost.

Key to new native tool will be a content discovery (or “surfacing”) feature, Kevin Weil, vice president, product at Twitter, said in November.

“We’re experimenting with better ways to give you what you come to Twitter for: a snapshot of what’s happening,” Weil explained in a blog post. “We can use information like who you follow and what you engage with to surface highlights of what you missed, and show those to you as soon as you log back in or come back to the app.”

 

Netflix becoming more like TV

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Netflix has announced what it’s calling the biggest update ever for its more than 40 million streaming customers, rolling out a more visually rich design that will be the same regardless of what kind of device is used to bring videos from the Internet to the TV.

Netflix says that the majority of the 1 billion hours of video its users stream each month is viewed on televisions, via TV apps or devices like the Roku, Blu-ray players or gaming consoles.

Under the new format, which began rolling out Wednesday, clicking on a show or movie will call up a full-page description, with multiple images and an explanation of why Netflix recommended it for you. Descriptions of the videos will be sharper, Netflix says, and users who choose to let Netflix access their social-media profiles will get recommendations based on their activity and friends’ activity, as well as on videos they’ve watched in the past.

Until now, most versions of Netflix streaming looked like a relatively flat grid, consisting of row after row of suggestions based, generally, on what kind of videos had been streamed by the user in the past.

“The new interface, which has been two years in the making, is a visually striking departure from the familiar grid of movie tiles and boxes, and it is designed to mirror the experience of TV watching.

Other new features include expanded support for Netflix Profiles, a way to let people in the same household customize their experience, and support for voice controls on Xbox 360. Post-Play, the feature that automatically starts the next episode of a TV show you’re watching or suggests others when you’re done, also is being redesigned.

Netflix says the update will take about two weeks to reach all devices, which include PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Roku 3, and new and future smart TVs and Blu-ray players.

Some older smart TVs and Blu-ray players may receive the new look if manufacturers update them, and the overhaul will be added for the Roku 2 box early next year.

One set-top box that won’t be getting the update is Apple TV. That system has “specific templates that are set by Apple,” according to Netflix.

Netflix says it has more than 31 million U.S. subscribers to its streaming service, plus almost 10 million international subscribers.

Mobile Advertising expected to surpass desktop by 2017

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Mobile advertising is growing so rapidly that it will pass desktop advertising by 2017, according to a new report from eMarketer.

Leading the way will be search ads; mobile accounts for 22% of all search ads this year and is expected to grow to 60% by 2017. It was at 2% only three years ago. About half of all spending on display ads will be in mobile’s column by 2017 as well. Other key findings:

Mobile search ads should be worth $4.34 billion this year, up from $3.95 billion in 2012.

Mobile display ads should bring in $3.81 billion in 2013, up from $3.38 billion last year.

Mobile ad dollars overall will more than double from last year to $8.5 billion.

Video-ad revenue on mobile and desktops is expected to hit $4.1 billion this year and rise to $9.2 billon in 2017.

New study shows Moms prefer iPads over iPhone

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A new report from mobile-analytics firm Flurry.com, The Who, What, and When of iPad and iPhone Usage, reveals that moms and home-design enthusiasts, are using iPads more than iPhones.

Meanwhile, health and fitness, music lovers, and video enthusiasts are all over the iPhone.

The heaviest period of use for the iPad during the day is from 6 pm to 11 pm; iPhone app usage also peaks during these hours.

Mobile Devices Account for only 2% of TV Viewing

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Most folks don’t use their mobile devices for TV viewing. According to a study from the Council for Research Excellence, mobile devices account for just 2% of all TV viewing. However, the group that the study calls “early adopters” and “opinion leaders” are far more active on mobile TV than that. Still, if TV execs want watchers to actually be paying attention to their content, they should hope they are watching on smartphones. Smartphone TV watchers were multitasking on other electronic devices while viewing only 14% of the time while tablet viewers were doing other things 27% of the time and those watching on computers were doing other things 31% of the time.

The number actually goes up on regular old broadcast TVs with viewers multitasking 34% of the time. Another piece of data supporting smartphone viewership as the strongest is that 39% of those viewers looked up show information, posted about the show on social networks or engaged in some other kind of online activity relating to the TV programming. Meanwhile, those who actually watched the show on TV only had 21% of viewership do those things, lower than both tablet viewers (27%) or those that watched on computers (31%).

In Other Words: Focus your mobile efforts on smartphone users.

VivaKi study determines the best Tablet ad formats

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The three best ad models for tablets are: banner to full-page rich media, pre-roll with overlay, and rich media interstitial.

This is according to The Pool, a 14-month long research initiative from VivaKi that featured participation from 26 major advertisers and publishers, including Bank of America, Coca-Cola, GM, ABC Television, Crackle, Scripps, Tremor, and Yahoo.

The study uncovered that the three aforementioned ad models “significantly outperformed” their respective benchmarks on at least one of three behavioral metrics (engagement rate, click-through rate, or time spent), and those who engaged with the models saw lifts on all six attitudinal metrics (unaided awareness, aided awareness, mobile ad awareness, message association, brand favorability, and purchase intent).

For example, pre-rolls with an overlay, which the study determined worked best with video content (obviously), generated a 3.3% increase in time spent when compared to a traditional pre-roll video.

Vivaldi study identifies the best Tablet ad formats

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The three best ad models for tablets are: banner to full-page rich media, pre-roll with overlay, and rich media interstitial.

This is according to The Pool, a 14-month long research initiative from VivaKi that featured participation from 26 major advertisers and publishers, including Bank of America, Coca-Cola, GM, ABC Television, Crackle, Scripps, Tremor, and Yahoo.

The study uncovered that the three aforementioned ad models “significantly outperformed” their respective benchmarks on at least one of three behavioral metrics (engagement rate, click-through rate, or time spent), and those who engaged with the models saw lifts on all six attitudinal metrics (unaided awareness, aided awareness, mobile ad awareness, message association, brand favorability, and purchase intent).

For example, pre-rolls with an overlay, which the study determined worked best with video content (obviously), generated a 3.3% increase in time spent when compared to a traditional pre-roll video.

HBO considers unbundling HBO GO

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HBO could widen access to its HBO GO online streaming service by teaming up with broadband Internet providers for customers who do not subscribe to a cable TV service, HBO Chief Executive Richard Plepler said.

Plepler told Reuters on Wednesday evening at the Season 3 premiere of HBO’s hit TV show “Game of Thrones.” “Maybe HBO GO, with our broadband partners, could evolve.”

HBO launched HBO GO in 2010 to let subscribers view its shows over the Internet on devices such as Apple Inc’s iPads. The service has about 6.5 million registered users, compared with more than 100 million for HBO’s main service globally.

However, HBO GO is only accessible to viewers who pay for cable TV service, plus an extra fee for HBO. This means monthly bills of $100 or more typically for people who want to use HBO GO.

Plepler said late Wednesday that HBO GO could also be packaged with a monthly Internet service, in partnership with broadband providers, reducing the cost.

Customers could pay $50 a month for their broadband Internet and an extra $10 or $15 for HBO to be packaged in with that service, for a total of $60 or $65 per month, Plepler said.

“We would have to make the math work,” he added.

HBO, owned by Time Warner Inc, relies on large financial support from its cable and satellite TV partners to help distribute and promote its shows.

Plepler said in January that it would not make business sense to provide an Internet-only product that circumvents its existing distribution network.

Internet-only rivals such as Netflix Inc and Amazon.com Inc are challenging this approach by delivering original programming directly over the Internet.

BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield said that for now, it is not within HBO’s economic interest to offer a broadband-only product, since it endangers HBO’s business model.

“The current model is good to them. If it starts to break down, I’m sure HBO will evolve,” Greenfield said.

He added that HBO GO gives the network an edge against other cable networks if since it is “increasingly on everybody’s smart phone, tablet and desktop.”

GAME OF PIRACY

Game of Thrones has been pirated heavily online, a trend that some industry experts blame on HBO’s tight control of how and when the show can be viewed and the cost of such access.

Most of the piracy occurs outside the United States and HBO is trying to control it, Plepler said.

George R.R. Martin, author of the books upon which the TV show is based, said most of the piracy happens in Australia where viewers have had to wait about six months to see the show.

If Australian viewers got access to Game of Thrones at the same time as in the United States, that would reduce piracy, Martin added.

An HBO spokesman said that 176 markets will air season three of the shows within a week of the United States premiere.

John Bradley-West, one of the actors on the show, said piracy may be reduced if HBO offered a full season pass via Apple’s iTunes store for viewers to stream online a day after the official TV broadcast.

HBO is not changing its Game of Thrones distribution windows for DVDs and electronic sell-through, or EST, the HBO spokesman said. EST is a way of distributing video over the Internet that allows viewers to download movies and TV shows.

In the past, Game of Thrones has been available on iTunes and DVD several months after its initial release.

Smart devices dominate PCs in the home

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There are now more than half-a-billion devices in US homes that are connected to the web and offer access to apps, according to The NPD Group.

Overall, NPD’s report says the number of connected devices per “US internet household” has grown from 5.3 devices three months ago to 5.7 devices today.

This growth was fueled by increases in the installed base of tablets (nearly 18 million) and smartphones (nearly 9 million).

This doesn’t mean it’s time to close the coffin on the PC, though, as John Buffone, Director/Devices at NPD Connected Intelligence, says PCs are still the most prevalent connected device in US internet households.

“However, when you look at the combined number of smartphones and tablets consumers own, for the first time ever it exceeded the installed base of computers.”