The shooting of the feature film “Le Visiteur du Futur” was completed a few days ago. Reminder: Le Visiteur du Futur is surely the most famous web series in France. It started in 2009 on Daylimotion. There was a second season in 2010 and the success was huge. In 2012, the French videogame and animation studio Ankama, associated with French broadcaster FranceTV financed two more seasons. In 2021, it is now a movie. More: http://www.levisiteurdufutur.com/
The Instagram series “Projet Pieuvre” has just released its 1000th episode. The creator Arthur Vautier announced that the series will now also be on Facebook, but with specific new content (the Instagram series is pretty graphic and addresses gay topics such as AIDS or Chemsex).
The fund for Shorts creators is the latest entry in a social media bidding war for online personalities spurred by the success of Bytedance Ltd.’s TikTok. Snap Inc. launched a new fund last fall for top performers of its video product. Facebook Inc. has tried to lure stars — and copied features — from TikTok, and introduced more ads on its shorter videos.
A new platform called Whip Media Exchange has launched in a beta version that allows buyers and sellers to make better, data-driven decisions on licensing streaming rights to films and shows
The rise in ad-supported VOD and free ad-supported streaming television, or FAST, is projected to grow the market segment’s revenue 144% to a combined $66 billion across 138 countries through 2026, according to new data from Digital TV Research. The U.S. became the largest AVOD market in the world in 2019 — driven in part by ViacomCBS’s Pluto TV, Fox Entertainment’s Tubi, The Roku Channel, Redbox Live TV, Rakuten TV and Amazon-owned IMDb TV, among others. The U.S. will generate $21 billion in revenue, followed by China with $5 billion.
Ad-supported streaming services, aka AVODs or FASTs, are the darlings of the media world now, with good reason. Their strengths — along with some weaknesses on the advertising front — are documented in a new report from Verizon Media and Publicis, “Capitalizing on the CTV Opportunity.” The report is based on a nationally representative survey of 3,000-plus U.S. TV viewers, fielded between Feb. 1-11.
From “Protocol” newletter : Google’s R&D unit, Area 120, has been quietly testing digital merchandise sales for YouTube content creators. The test is not integrated into YouTube’s website or apps, but instead is being facilitated on a separate platform called Quaya. Content offered via Qaya includes PDFs, videos, MP3s and personalized reports, with prices ranging anywhere from $3 to $149. The platform is telling users that it is taking a cut for “technology & transaction fees,” but is not detailing how much that is. Quaya currently hosts simple catalog pages for each creator, and offers buyers an option to access their past purchases. Content discovery is planned, but not yet implemented.
The report notes that the rate of cord cutting appears to be evening out. Cable, satellite and telco TV providers dropped 1.6 million subscribers in first quarter of this year, down very slightly from 1.7 million during the same period in 2020.
Quibi was a dumpster fire. But some Quibi shows were (ducks head)… actually good. Now a first batch of erstwhile Quibi shows — renamed as Roku Originals — are free to stream on The Roku Channel, a free, ad-supported video service operated by streaming device maker Roku. The channel is available on Roku’s own gadgets, but can also be watched on the web and on apps for Apple iPhones and iPads, Android devices, Amazon Fire TV and some Samsung connected TVs.
Consumers are starting to feel the financial pinch from spending on streaming and cable subscriptions, with two in five saying they’ve had to limit spending elsewhere to afford their TV subscriptions and four in five conceding they’ll need to cut back to pay unaddressed bills or household utilities costs. Only half of those studied said the will keep all their TV services post-COVID, while one in three already have plans to cut cable or streaming services and two in five plan to cut more than one type of service.
Rotten Tomatoes, which has long graded and recommended things to watch with its Tomatometer, is launching its own linear streaming channel.
WEB SERIES TO WATCH THIS MONTH
Canadian “Convos” is now one of the longest running web series. Season 9 is now complete. It’s pretty funny but you may need to be familiar with the series.
If you haven’t watch an African web series yet : “Cheat on Me” from Ghana started this month on Youtube. Note the commercials on screen inside the episode, they apparently fund the production. The channel has 140.000 subscribers. Watch episode 1 here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4SUfAD6FKQ
Roku said the dispute is not about money but starts with a demand that Roku manipulate search results to favor YouTube TV. Google also wants access to data otherwise not available.
TV networks were plagued with late starts to the season for many prime-time shows, due to TV production delays. Nielsen data for this measure looked at the September 21, 2020-April 25, 2021 period versus the similar time period the year before.
With Discovery+ and Paramount+ — the last of the major new premium streamers (for the moment, at least) — in the game as of fourth-quarter 2020, total U.S. subscriptions in Q1 rose 24% on a year-over-year basis, and 6% versus Q4, according to Antenna.
If its current growth trajectory continues, YouTube will book between $29 billion and $30 billion in revenue this year. Netflix is expected to report $29.7 billion in revenue for 2021, according to an average of estimates from analysts polled by Refinitiv.
“With the additional capital we now have the ability to invest more aggressively,” Chopra said. “I would expect that streaming content expense and total company expense should be somewhat higher, but very importantly over time.”
Surveying over 1,000 US consumers, the report from IAS demonstrates that YouTube ranks as consumers’ top choice on CTV devices, while indicating new opportunities for digital advertisers to activate brand safety and suitability tools in 2021.
Many European broadcasters, while offering OTT components as a complement to their core businesses, have been slow to adapt when compared to the explosive growth of the US Netflix and lack the resources to rapidly scale like a Disney.
In a 30-minute virtual pitch, the streaming provider noted the median age of its viewers is 39 (compared with 60-plus for the broadcast networks), and they are less tethered to the traditional cord. About 57% of Roku users have no pay-TV subscription, but many of them are willing to pay for SVOD services like Netflix and Disney+.
Nielsen’s data has been criticized by networks and distributors represented by the VAB. The VAB contends that Nielsen is caused under-reporting TV usage because of faulty reporting from homes in the Nielsen sample that Nielsen was unable to verify because Nielsen had to stop doing in-home maintenance while following COVID-19 protocols.
The overall streaming pie expanded biggly in 2020, and so did Netflix’s subscriber ranks, which grew by around 40 million users. But the biggest subscription streaming platform in the world actually saw its global market share decrease from 29% to 20%, an overall decline of 31%, with a flurry of new competitors, including HBO Max and Peacock, entering the SVOD market.
“The growth of Pluto TV’s ad business is reflective of how advertisers are funneling more money toward streaming video,” wrote eMarketer’s Ross Benes, who cited Advertiser Perceptions research that suggests 42% of U.S. agency and marketing professionals plan to increase ad spending within streaming services over the next 12 months.
Online video subs revenue grew 142% primarily due to the global pandemic, with revenue rising from $265 million in 2019 to $639 million at the end of 2020. Disney+ Hotstar and Netflix accounted for 78% of the total online video subscription market revenue.
The survey found that 45% said yes when asked do you view ads in exchange for free video or editorial content. Another 40% said it depends on the content.
“The launch of PrendeTV signals a new transformation era for Univision as we expand our already dominant position in U.S. hispanic broadcasting into the AVOD streaming market and build on our leadership as the largest Spanish-language content and media company in the U.S.,” said Pierluigi Gazzolo, president and chief transformation officer at Univision
“Last week I said girls rule, this week they dominate,” said Brian Fuhrer, Nielsen’s senior vice president of product strategy in his weekly video announcement. He noted that the recently-released Ginny & Georgia, the acquired content of Good Girls and the Rosamund Pike starrer I Care a Lot accounted for about 37 percent of total viewing in the top 10.
The latest Pew Research report tells us that 34% of U.S. households lack fixed broadband at home (that’s more than 100 million Americans), and many tens of millions of homes lack “smart” TVs. Plus, when it comes to watching live sports and news, TV’s “tent-pole” programming, broadcast and cable deliver high-definition viewing with no lag or latency.
The finding, part of Nielsen’s periodic “Total Audience Report” amalgamating most of the electronic media sources it measures in the U.S., shows the number of minutes of media used by the average American adult declined 16% to 600 in the third quarter of 2020, when the pandemic was surging, compared with 714 minutes daily during the same quarter in 2019.
Ashish Pherwani, partner and media and entertainment leader, EY India, said: “The M&E sector witnessed a shift in demand patterns as consumers actively sought alternatives and had the time to try new things. Consumption patterns shifted and increased across online news, gaming, and entertainment
The growth in value will complement an increasing viewer base. Juniper estimates that there will be over 1 billion e-sports and games viewers by 2025, increasing from 800 million viewers by the end of 2021.
Starting August 31, 2021, the PlayStation Store will no longer offer movie and TV purchases and rentals. When this change takes effect, users will still be able to access movie and TV content they have purchased through PlayStation Store for on-demand playback on their PS4, PS5 and mobile devices.
According to GlobalData, the total pay TV services revenue in the country will drop from US$2.4 billion in 2020 to US$2.1 billion in 2025, representing a CAGR of -2.6%. The report says that this decline will come as a result of continued drops in cable TV and DTH subscriptions. The firm predicts that cable TV and DTH subscriptions will decline at a CAGR of 10% and 7%, respectively, between 2020 and 2025 due to ever-increasing cord-cutting. This practice, along with a decline in ARPU levels across all pay-TV service segments will also hurt the overall pay TV revenues over the forecast period.
The executive claims 70% of YouTube viewers have purchased products advertised on the platform. Last December, more than 120 million people in the U.S. streamed YouTube or YouTube TV on their TV screens.
Tubi will start off by focusing on original movies, but has discussed spending as much as $4 million an episode on new TV series, according to people familiar with the plans. The company is still talking to advertisers about partnerships for its first slate of programs, said the people, who asked not to be identified because plans haven’t been announced.
In 2025, the analysis company projects that of the nearly $18 billion for AVOD, $5.3 billion will go for Hulu; $4.4 billion for Roku; $2.3 billion each for Peacock and Pluto; $1.9 billion for Tubi; and $500 million for HBO Max (an ad option yet to start.)
# covid – About how pandemic affects content production “Producers of new scripted content — which typically spends an average of 11 months in production — will be battling against COVID-related delays well into 2021, far longer than their unscripted counterparts, according to a study from Ampere Analysis.
While producers of new unscripted content — which spends an average of just two months in production — have been able to adapt production to the new circumstances, already overcoming the worst period of delays, the same is not true for their scripted counterparts, according to the analysis.
Compensating for the lack of new high-quality scripted content, unscripted commissions increased from 66% in Q2 2019 to 72% in Q2 2020. Reality shows benefitted the most from this trend with 24% more titles commissioned in Q2 2020 than in Q2 2019.
#quibi – About Quibi getting its first Emmy The first Emmy wins for Quibi, which is led by Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman, don’t come as a surprise: The well-funded mobile streamer has paid handsomely for its originals — upwards of $100,000 per minute of programming from A-list Hollywood talent. All of its entries were in the short-form categories, which historically have been populated by series that are sidecars to TV shows. https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/quibi-first-emmys-wins-1234774206/
#discovery #streaming – About Discovery going streaming CEO David Zaslav, speaking this week at a Goldman Sachs investor conference, said Discovery’s new streaming service will be “coming to the market very soon” and he said his company is “aggressively driving” new original content for the platform. kHe suggested that Discovery will take an approach similar to Disney+ and use its brands – like Discovery, Oprah, Food Network and Chip and Joanna Gaines, who are launching their own Magnolia Network – as “curation portals.” https://www.fiercevideo.com/video/discovery-says-its-new-streaming-service-coming-very-soo
#SVOD market experiencing unprecedented growth amid #Covid19 While subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) is experiencing huge growth, it is projected that advertising-based video-on-demand (AVOD), which is free, will surpass SVOD in revenue and share of viewing time by 2024. The current growth rate of both models is being accelerated by Covid. With reference to cable subscribers moving to streaming services, non-connected TV homes, currently 31.2% of homes, will rise to an estimated 46.6% of homes. Martin suggested, “it’s chord-swapping, not chord-cutting” that is evolving as households look to higher broadband delivery to eliminate buffering. https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/356154/the-future-of-the-entertainment-sector-revealed-at.html
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