Weekly Digest from the West
Jean-Baptiste Piron
Cultural Attaché I Attaché culturel I Québec Office Los Angeles
-The music industry uses your social data to predict it’s next big artists: Fifteen years ago, Steve Jobs introduced the iPod. Since then, most music fans have understood this has radically changed how they listen to music. Less understood are the ways that raw information – accumulated via downloads, apps and online searches – is influencing not only what songs are marketed and sold, but which songs become hits. Decisions about how to market and sell music, to some extent, still hinge upon subjective assumptions about what sounds good to an executive, or which artists might be easier to market. Increasingly, however, businesses are turning to big data and the analytics that can help turn this information into actions. Even as new information becomes available, old models still help us organize that information. Billboard Magazine now has a Social 50 chart which tracks the artists most actively mentioned on the world’s leading social media sites. In a way, social media can be thought of as analogous to the small musical scenes of the 20th century, like New York City’s CBGB or Seattle’s Sub Pop scene. In Facebook groups or on Twitter lists, some dedicated and like-minded fans are talking about the music they enjoy – and record companies want to listen. They’re able to follow how the “next big thing” is being voraciously discussed within a growing and devoted circle of fans. Streaming music services are increasingly focused upon how social media is intertwined with the listening experience. The Social 50 chart is derived from information gathered by the company Next Big Sound, which is now owned by Pandora. In 2015, Spotify acquired the music analytics firm The Echo Nest, while Apple Music acquired Semetric .Songwriters and distributors now know – more than ever – how people listen to music and which sounds they seem to prefer.
-The Messy, Confusing Future of TV? It’s Here: If you’re like me and the millions of other Americans who have canceled a cable television subscription over the past few years, you’re probably familiar with the phenomenon I’ve started calling “the hunt.”
It goes like this: First, you decide to watch one of your favorite shows — HGTV’s “Fixer Upper,” in my case. You plop down on your couch, turn on your TV and boot up your streaming device. Then you shuffle from app to app, trying to remember which of your half-dozen streaming services has the program. Was it Netflix? Hmm, no. HBO Go? Nope. Hulu Plus? It has the first three seasons, which you’ve already seen, but not the fourth. You finally find the fourth season on Amazon, but it’s not included free with Prime Video. It costs $2.99 per episode. The hunt ends with a whimper: You sigh, suck it up (those kitchens aren’t going to renovate themselves), and fork over $19.99 for the entire season. An enterprising entrepreneur might someday be tempted to package some of these new services and sell them for a single price, essentially remaking the old cable bundle for the internet. But industry experts say that such cooperation between the industry’s giants is unlikely, given the enormous sums at stake. “There’s no chance of that happening,” said Dan Rayburn, who analyzes streaming media for Frost & Sullivan. “Companies will do what’s best for their bottom line.” The post-TV world “will not be orderly or neat,” said Dave Morgan, the chief executive of Simulmedia, a marketing technology company. “No one is sitting back and saying, ‘What’s the perfect way the consumer wants to come at this?’ Everyone is arming up.” In other words, the hunt will only get harder.https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/08/13/technology/the-messy-confusing-future-of-tv-its-here.html?partner=IFTTT&referer=https://t.co/OvsqJPIdep?amp=1
-Some TV Networks Take a Hit from Cutting Ad Time, Benefits Yet to Materialize: TV giants like Turner and Viacom have been experimenting with cutting down the number of commercials they air in shows. They theorize that viewers will be happier, and they could even charge more for fewer ads, increasing revenue in the long run. But so far, there is no clear evidence of a financial payoff. Viacom attributed a 2% slide in domestic ad sales in the June quarter to a decision to reduce ad loads on networks such as MTV and BET. The company also warned that domestic ad sales will continue to decline in the September quarter. Viacom’s hope is that over time its reduced clutter will win over viewers who otherwise skip through ads or change the channel or gravitate to ad-free platforms like Netflix .Time Warner ’s Turner cable unit said in late 2015 that it would reduce the number of commercials on its TruTV network the following year. The company, which was initially asking for a 20% to 30% premium for some of the scarcer inventory, said early last year that it planned to cut ads on TNT by 50% in three dramas. https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/some-tv-networks-take-a-hit-from-cutting-ad-time-benefits-yet-to-materialize-1502683263
-Facebook knew about Snap’s struggles months before the public: You may have only recently discovered that Snap isn't having much luck attracting new users, but Facebook knew months before -- and there's a chance you helped it find out. The Wall Street Journal has learned just how Facebook has been using app usage data from Onavo Protect, the VPN-based security app from its Onavo team, to see how Snapchat adoption has changed over time. The social network looked at aggregated info about the frequency and duration of app use to determine that Snapchat use slowed down soon after Snapchat-like Instagram Stories became available. In other words, Facebook knew it could double down on its anti-Snap strategy within just a few months. This isn't the first time Facebook has used Onavo's app usage data to make major decisions. The info reportedly influenced the decision to buy WhatsApp, as Facebook knew that WhatsApp's dominance in some areas (99 percent of Android phones in Spain had it) could cut it out of the loop. Likewise, it added live video after seeing how people used Meerkat and Periscope. To be clear, Facebook isn't grabbing this data behind anyone's back. The company says Onavo Protect is explicit about what info it's collecting and how it's used, and that apps have incorporated market research services like this "for years." The odds are slim that many people read these disclosures before using Protect, but anyone who was concerned could have found them. The revelation here is more about how Facebook uses that information rather than the collection itself.
https://www.engadget.com/2017/08/13/facebook-knew-about-snap-struggles-through-app-tracking/
-Matt Cherniss Joins Apple in Latest TV Push: Former WGN America president Matt Cherniss has joined the tech giant and will serve as a chief lieutenant to new co-heads of video programming Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg. His role is being described as chief creative/head of U.S. programming as Erlicht and Van Amburg eye a split of duties between domestic and international. Cherniss has a long relationship with former Sony Pictures Television co-presidents Erlicht and Van Amburg as he was a big buyer of the independent studio's programming, including critical darling Underground and Outsiders. Both dramas, which were WGN America's top-rated originals, were canceled as part of the cable network's decision to exit the high-end scripted originals business. (WGN America, under new owner Sinclair, is now focused on low-cost acquisitions like the recently acquired Bellevue.) Cherniss’ relationship with Van Amburg and Erlicht dates back to his time as an exec at FX, where he worked on the Sony-produced Rescue Me.Cherniss, who stepped down from WGN America in June, brings a wealth of experience to Apple. In addition to running a network, he has also overseen a corresponding studio and worked at broadcast (Fox), basic cable (FX) and a film studio (Warner Bros. Pictures). His time at WGN America was largely spent trying to put the former superstation on the map, which required making bigger, straight-to-series bets on shows including Salem and critical favorite Manhattan. During his tenure at WGN America, Cherniss expanded its distribution by nearly 10 million homes. Hollywood has been breathlessly anticipating Apple's entree into original programming for years and got a taste of what the company has planned when it released its first original series, Planet of the Apps, on June 6. A spinoff of The Late Late Show With James Corden’s popular Carpool Karaoke also launched this month. (Still to be determined is Apple's first scripted series, Vital Signs starring Dr. Dre.) But the consensus among the entertainment industry’s creative community has been that Apple wouldn't become a serious buyer until it had installed a head of programming.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/news/matt-cherniss-joins-apple-latest-tv-push-1026254
-Walmart’s Vudu video streaming service is coming to Apple TV on August 22nd: Walmart has confirmed a native app for Vudu, its video streaming service, is set to become widely available on Apple TV beginning August 22nd.The creation and integration of an app had been discussed since March, when a Vudu engineer confirmed it was “in development” on the official Vudu forums. Currently, Vudu users have to use AirPlay from an iPhone or iPad to watch movies and shows on Apple’s set-top box.The service offers more than 100,000 titles that can be rented or purchased and also supports UltraViolet, a digital cloud locker for video that has become the entertainment industry standard. Vudu also allows customers to convert over 8,000 movies from disc to digital by scanning a film’s barcode, allows purchased titles to be shared multiple times without additional charge, and offers 4k support.
-Can Disney Create a Netflix of Sports? Since Disney announced on Aug. 8 that it would ditch Netflix and launch its own over-the-top video channel for family fare, more than $3 billion in market capitalization has vanished at the world's largest subscription streaming service to date. Such is the clout of the dominant film and TV studio and its plan to build a digital home for anticipated blockbusters such as Toy Story 4 and Frozen 2. But it may be separate plans to launch a new ESPN stand-alone streaming service that could have quicker and more meaningful implications for the future of television. ESPN has been losing subscribers since about 2013, though it has been making up for those declines with ever-increasing fees, now at about $7.54 per sub — more than consumers pay for TNT, NFL Network, Fox News, USA Network, TBS and Nickelodeon combined. But ESPN’s defections recently reached roughly 3 percent of subscribers annually, according to Nielsen, so the conglomerate clearly feels it needs to do something drastic, given that, by some Wall Street estimates, the sports network is responsible for roughly one-quarter of Disney's profit each year. While much is in flux, Disney CEO Bob Iger said the new ESPN service will stream 10,000 hours of live sports annually that customers won't get from the ESPN cable channel, including MLB, NHL and Major League Soccer matches as well as Grand Slam tennis tournaments and a plethora of college sports. Additionally, Iger said the ESPN digital service will offer individual sports packages for purchase. Iger wants the new content to be accessed through ESPN's existing app. Consumers who pay for ESPN through their cable or satellite bill will still get it via authentication, but ESPN also will offer freestanding subscriptions to those who don’t get ESPN that way (though the premium content will be reserved for TV subscribers).
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/can-disney-create-a-netflix-sports-1029630