Weekly Digest from the West
Jean-Baptiste Piron
Cultural Attaché I Attaché culturel I Québec Office Los Angeles
-Hulu Climbs Above 20 Million Subscribers, Inks Major DreamWorks Animation Deal: Hulu is trying to flex its muscles and prove it’s bulking up to be a top contender in the streaming TV ring. The company has now surpassed 20 million U.S. subscribers, Hulu announced at its 2018 upfront event Tuesday in New York. The number, an 18% increase since the end of 2017, includes both Hulu’s live-TV package and standalone on-demand service. In something of a coup in its battle with Netflix, Hulu announced a multiyear deal with DreamWorks Animation, giving it exclusive U.S. streaming rights for the studio’s library titles, new releases starting in 2019, and new original series to bow in 2020. The pact is Hulu’s largest deal for kids and family programming to date. DWA has had a five-year relationship with Netflix, which had committed to spending $1.5 billion with the studio under their initial 2013 deal; however, the Hulu deal doesn’t mean the Netflix-DWA relationship is ending. Last month, DreamWorks Animation Television announced a “Fast & Furious” animated series is in the works for Netflix, as part of a extension of their deal to focus on animated adaptations of Universal Pictures film franchises. Also on the content front, Hulu clinched an exclusive streaming deal for “The Good Doctor,” ABC’s breakout new primetime drama of the 2017-18 season. To no one’s surprise, Hulu renewed “The Handmaid’s Tale” for a third season, bringing back the buzzy, award-winning dystopian drama series. Hulu also announced series orders for “Four Weddings and a Funeral” from Mindy Kaling and “Ramy,” a Muslim-American comedy from Ramy Youssef and Jerrod Carmichael. Unlike Netflix, Hulu has a story to sell to advertisers. Hulu said it will begin selling dynamically inserted ads in the Hulu With Live TV service starting later in the second quarter of 2018, coming a year after it launched the $40-per-month bundle. And it announced it will offer the industry’s first ad-supported downloadable content, slated to launch with the 2018-19 TV season. True, Hulu’s 20 million subscribers are still less than half the domestic base of Netflix, which tallied 56.7 million U.S. streaming subs at the end of Q1. But Hulu believes its combo of live TV and streaming VOD gives it a unique position in the market. “Hulu is the complete TV experience for consumers, offering both live and on-demand programming and more consumer choice than ever before,” CEO Randy Freer said at the event. Hulu’s upfront, part of the 2018 Digital Content NewFronts series, was held at the recently redubbed Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden after the streamer bought the naming rights in March. In a new feature sure to delight some Hulu customers, the service later this month will let users to no longer show recommendations for content they aren’t interested in, head of experience Ben Smith announced. The example he used on stage: “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.” Over the past year, time spent watching Hulu has grown by more than 60%. The No. 1 show on Hulu last year, as the company previously revealed in December, was “South Park” — viewers watched 135 million hours of the irreverent animated comedy in 2017, chief marketing officer Kelly Campbell said. That’s been boosted by the “virtual” pay-TV service, which offers 50-plus channels including ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC in most markets. In addition, Hulu said that 78% of viewing on the service takes place on internet-connected TVs.
-Everything Facebook Announced at F8: Almost everything Zuckerberg and his colleagues announced today focused on bringing people together. Virtual reality? It’s about letting you play Boggle with your friends who live across the country. Messenger? A tool for business owners touch base with their customers. There’s even a new Facebook dating platform for, uh, sparking “connections.” The 90-minute keynote speech was filled with ways Facebook hopes it can make its ecosystem feel more social. Also, celebrity dog Jiff the Pomeranian made an appearance. If that sounds like a lot to take in, we agree. So we’ve rounded up all the highlights from this year’s F8.
https://www.wired.com/gallery/everything-facebook-announced-at-f8-2018/
-To Save the Future, Marvel Studios Must Forget Its Past: Kevin Feige’s shared universe changed franchise films, but as 'Avengers: Infinity War' hits theaters, Disney should heed what happened to the comic-book industry in the '90s and ditch the interlocking storylines. At this point, 18 movies in — with the 19th, Avengers: Infinity War, unspooling April 27 — it's almost reductive to say that Marvel Studios is on a run. What it has done, if you ask any other production entity in Hollywood, is rewrite the rules of the game. There have always been sequels and prequels and spinoffs. (Forget the time-tripping narrative of the original Planet of the Apes movies — which saw 1972's Conquest of the Planet of the Apes take place centuries before 1968's premiere installment — at your peril.) But the Marvel Cinematic Universe, like the comic book narratives created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and others, tells one sprawling story: From 2008’s Iron Man, which revived Robert Downey Jr.'s career and set the Marvel cart in its path, straight through to February's Black Panther, which, at $1.3 billion, is now the 10th-highest-grossing film of all time. Some of those movies have been better than others — 2013's Thor: The Dark World and 2008's The Incredible Hulk are both in the mid-60s on Rotten Tomatoes compared with the 90s scored by Black Panther, Thor: Ragnarok and Spider-Man: Homecoming — but all in, those 18 films have brought in $14.8 billion worldwide for Disney. That much money naturally makes the other studios envious. And that envy has led to a bevy of would-be universe builders. Over the past five years or so, we've seen announcement after announcement: Sony tried to launch a Spider-Man Universe before coming to terms with Marvel and letting it produce Homecoming. Paramount kicked off a writers room for a Transformers Universe, with the first real fruit from that labor, a stand-alone Bumblebee film, dropping this December. I'm sure Universal isn't eager to talk about what happened to its Dark Universe, which was supposed to knit together the Universal monsters like Dracula, the Wolfman and Frankenstein's monster and — thanks to the expensive and underperforming Tom Cruise entry The Mummy — never truly got out of the gate. (Fox has Marvel’s X-Men and Fantastic Four, but with the impending Disney deal, who knows where those IPs will end up?) And then there's Warner Bros., the home of DC Entertainment, which in a very real way kicked off the superheroic arms race with 1978's Superman, turned Tim Burton's 1989 Batman movie into a genuine pop culture moment and gave Christopher Nolan the keys to the Cave starting with 2005's Batman Begins. No doubt looking across Burbank at what Disney (which acquired Marvel in 2009 for $4 billion) was raking in, Warners launched a similarly vast slate of superhero flicks. Man of Steel, then Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice; Suicide Squad; Wonder Woman; and Justice League, DC's version of the Avengers. Most of those films made money, but when compared with Marvel, the critical and box-office response was wanting. Warners was coming late to a shooting war, but the studio thought it had all the big guns it needed. It turns out one weapon was missing. To compete on the cinematic universe battlefield, you need a Kevin Feige.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/avengers-marvel-forget-past-infinity-war-1105342
-YouTube Takes New Aim at TV Advertising Budgets: YouTube wants to siphon off more advertising dollars out of the traditional TV ecosystem. Google’s video platform is promising Madison Avenue new ways to reach people watching YouTube on TV screens — as well as target YouTube ads to cord-cutters and consumers who don’t watch a lot of traditional TV. YouTube says connected TVs represent its fastest-growing device category, thanks in part to the growth of YouTube TV, its over-the-top “skinny bundle” pay-TV service launched last year. While overall mobile accounts for over half of all YouTube videos viewed, users now watch more than 150 million hours daily of YouTube on television screens worldwide. That’s up 50% from 100 million hours per day in the past six months. (One year ago, total viewing on YouTube was around 1 billion hours per day; Google declined to provide an updated figure.) “We are seeing more YouTube being watched on TV screens, and more TV content being watched on YouTube — it’s the ultimate convergence of video,” said Debbie Weinstein, managing director, YouTube/video global solutions at Google. “Advertisers are saying, ‘What are you building for me to reach YouTube viewers on TV?’” Here are the three ad programs YouTube is rolling out:
? “Light TV viewers” targeting: In the next few months, YouTube will introduce a new audience segment in AdWords called “light TV viewers.”
These are consumers who, based on Google and YouTube’s metrics, watch most of their TV and video content online — and are much less likely to subscribe to pay TV.
? YouTube on TV screens: For the first time, advertisers will be able to reach audiences specifically on television screens through AdWords and DoubleClick Bid Manager. That option will join the existing ability to target YouTube viewers on smartphones, tablets, and desktops.
? YouTube TV ad inventory will be available through Google Preferred: So far, Google hasn’t sold ads for its OTT “virtual pay-TV” service. Starting in the fourth quarter of 2018, inventory on some U.S. cable networks on YouTube TV will be available as an extension to Google Preferred, the premium ad program for the top 5% most popular YouTube channels. Google and YouTube plan to begin selling the inventory starting this spring during the TV upfront seasons.
https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/youtube-tv-advertising-spending-cord-cutters-1202791293/
-Sprint and T-Mobile to Merge, in Bid to Remake Wireless Market: Sprint and T-Mobile announced on Sunday that they had reached a deal to merge, moving to create a new telecommunications giant — and betting that regulators will finally allow the American wireless market to shrink to just three national players. A combined company, they said, would have more than 100 million subscribers — and the resources to build out a next-generation wireless network and challenge the longtime market leaders, Verizon and AT&T. Sprint and T-Mobile also said the merged company — which would keep the T-Mobile name and be run by T-Mobile’s chief executive, John Legere — would create thousands of jobs by building out that next-generation network and opening hundreds of new stores in rural areas. But for consumer advocates and regulators, the big questions are these: Will there be enough competition with one fewer national wireless carrier? And will prices go up? Sprint and T-Mobile have tried unsuccessfully to merge before. They were effectively blocked four years ago by regulators in the Obama administration who worried that shrinking the market for wireless providers would give consumers fewer choices and lead to higher prices. The companies revisited the idea of merging last year, but abandoned negotiations after failing to agree on terms. his time, Sprint and T-Mobile have a very specific message for the Trump administration. A combination, they argue, would allow them to create a better so-called 5G network than either company could alone, at a time when the White House views a 5G wireless network as crucial for the country’s economic and national security. The two companies also contend that the wireless business is changing, with new competitors like Comcast finding ways to enter the mobile sector. And thanks to the recent tax cuts, the companies said, they would have the financial means to keep prices low for their consumers. “All the stars have aligned,” Marcelo Claure, Sprint’s chief executive, said in an interview. He added that the deal “allows this company to offer the best product at better prices, lower prices.”
-3 Companies Winning the OTT Race With Advertisers: Americans are getting serious about cutting the cord. By the end of 2017, more than 22 million people had dropped their cable or satellite TV providers; millions more have chosen not to sign up for cable or satellite TV services at all. A slew of recent industry reports have shown that Americans are actively in pursuit of new ways to consume entertainment. According to eMarketer, their reasons for cutting the cord are primarily based on factors related to price and convenience. eMarketer also projects that within the next three years, the number of people who have never subscribed to paid television services will equal the number of people who have abandoned it. All in all, a whopping one out of three Americans is expected to forgo cable or satellite as the primary source of content viewing by 2021. These trends present a challenge to brands and agencies. How do you reach the third of the audience no longer watching traditional TV?
1. Hulu: Hulu has generated significant amounts of buzz with its original show “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which helped it earn critical acclaim, a dozen coveted Hollywood awards, and worldwide recognition for its original programming. In early 2018, Hulu reported that it had 17 million subscribers and, despite a revenue loss in 2017, was able to capture $1 billion in ad revenue — something that makes an irrefutable case for the shifting of advertising dollars toward OTT.
2. Pluto TV: Pluto TV offsets the cost of the viewer experience by offering ad-supported commercials, similar to those executed by traditional cable and broadcast networks today. It includes established networks like NBC News, CBSN, Food TV, and Fox Sports, as well as popular internet channels including Cheddar, PopSugar, WPT, and People TV. The brand recently struck deals with major studios, including MGM and Warner Brothers, and has earned its place as a sought-after advertising outlet for marketers looking to reach cord cutters. Pluto TV has been called the “best cord-cutting app,” and Digital Trends said, “It doesn’t seem like Pluto TV will be going anywhere.”
3. Roku went public in September 2017 after seeking an IPO valuation of $100 million. The bulk of the brand’s revenue comes from its Roku players, but it’s seen its customer lifetime value nearly double in a two-year span; it relies on a mix of streaming subscriptions, licensing partnerships, and advertising, all of which have led to brands migrating to Roku from traditional TV buys. The company has seen a number of competitors enter the player fray since its inception, but Fortune noted in 2017 that Roku “is doing better than Google and Apple,” thanks to its OS-agnostic device. This is just one of the many reasons advertising revenue is finding its way to Roku.
https://readwrite.com/2018/04/25/3-companies-winning-the-ott-race-with-advertisers/
-Google teams with NBC to build VR content for its TV shows: Virtual reality has yet to hit the big time with the vast majority of consumers — headset sales are still in the single-digit millions — but today Google and NBC announced a deal to make programming that could help the medium pick up some more mainstream appeal. The two said that they will be working together to produce at least 10 multi-episode VR productions that will run as extra content alongside core programming on NBC itself and its network of other channels. Users can watch in VR on Google Cardboard or Daydream View, and it will also be hosted on YouTube for those not immersively inclined. Google said that it will also down the line make some of the content available on the VR180 format for 4K, three-dimensional video. Initial programs that will get the VR treatment include NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” (which has already produced a selection of VR productions here, here, and here); reality show “Vanderpump Rules” from Bravo; and content from SYFY WIRE, the website for the Syfy TV channel. With VR still a relatively young industry, and Google is continuing to develop its own internal capabilities, there are a number of routes that can be taken to capture the experience. In this case, it looks like Google will be using the deal with NBC to promote and use Jump, its own platform for VR video capture that it first launched back in 2015.
https://techcrunch.com/2018/04/30/google-teams-with-nbc-to-build-vr-content-for-its-tv-shows/
-Disney and Twitter to create live ESPN shows — with ABC and Marvel on the way: Disney and Twitter are teaming up to create live shows for the short-form messaging platform, the two companies announced on Monday. ESPN, which is owned by Disney, and Twitter will co-create and develop live shows for the platform and share advertising revenue, the companies said. For Twitter, the move elevates its efforts to broaden into live video, following deals with Bloomberg and BuzzFeed for news video. Twitter also has deals with sports leagues including Major League Baseball. Twitter stock rose more than 4 percent after the announcement. ESPN isn't the only party to the wide-ranging deal. Disney said many of its divisions will eventually produce live content for Twitter, including ABC, its cable TV channels, its movie operation Walt Disney Studios, Radio Disney and Marvel. Viacom also said Monday that it had reached a deal to provide Twitter with ? daily news content" from Comedy Central, BET and MTV. ESPN's deal with Twitter comes shortly after the launch of its streaming subscription service, ESPN+. Disney has said it is planning to launch a second entertainment-oriented streaming service in 2019. This deal is viewed as helping ESPN highlight its new online video products on social media, a destination of growing importance to media outlets looking to appeal to younger viewers. For Twitter, it’s a chance to add more high-quality video, which opens the door to more expensive video ads.
-What’s Coming to Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime in May 2018: https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/netflix-hulu-amazon-prime-may-2018-1202792040/