Renault expands 24/7 Renault.TV offering with factual entertainment, docs, lifestyle shows, test drives & motor sports
Digital Platforms continue to challenge traditional broadcasters - Like MTV, Vevo Charges Hard Into Original Shows via Advertising Age
Hulu Picks Up New Canadian Thriller ‘Guidestones’
The series is supported through Canada’s Independent Production Fund (which committed $1.4MM in web series funding last year) and sponsors including Coca-Cola, Canadian fast-food chain Pizza Pizza, and the Toronto Blue Jays.
Google, YouTube, Yahoo, Hulu will present their shows at the digital upfronts in April - Web TV’s New Lineup via WSJ.com
The devices that power our digital lives have undergone disruptive changes over the past several years. Smartphones have evolved from text-based communication tools to multimedia hubs. Ereaders and tablets have grown from cool ideas to transformative technologies. Televisions, game consoles and media players have gained internet connectivity, and with it, access to new worlds of digital content. “As these device categories evolve and new ones come into being, consumers will continue to expect digital content to be available on all screens, at all times, in all locations,” said Paul Verna, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, “Smart Devices: Evolution and Convergence.” In the US over the next two years, eMarketer expects more than 26 million mobile phone users to turn to smartphones, helping put the devices in the hands of more than half of all US mobile users by 2014….Content producers, device-makers and marketers will all see new opportunities—and challenges
Another signal of the growing attention being paid to the streaming video sector, and specifically the growing emphasis on made-for-web content: online video network Blip.tv announced a $12-million round of funding, and a rebranding. Now it’s known simply as “Blip.” The round of funding includes participation from Bain Capital and Canaan Parters, as well as debt from Silicon Valley Bank. Blip, which focuses on original web-only content, claims to have 13 million monthly unique visitors in the U.S., with 30 million users globally, with 330 million video views per month. It syndicates its content to a number of other platforms such as iTunes, YouTube (NSDQ: GOOG), Facebook, Twitter, Roku, Verizon FiOS, TiVo (NSDQ: TIVO) and Sony (NYSE: SNE) TVs. Its usage, however, is still a far throw from YouTube’s, which had nearly 160 million monthly uniques in the U.S. alone in December, according tocomScore. Blip says that it will use the funding to develop more tools and services for web series producers, as well as further investment in its advertising and distribution platforms. Why the rebranding? Blip says it is to distinguish itself better from so-called premium content brands like TV networks that have made the migration to online streaming. The making to web-original content is also something being chased by bigger players, too, as they look to create more video inventory and attract ever more users for premium-rate online video advertising. YouTube has embarked on a massive drive to create more channels in partnership with third parties, and Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) announced in January a deal with Tom Hanks to create an animated series, Electric City. Still, business is going in the right direction for Blip, which says that revenues at the company were up by 100 percent in 2011.
