Weekly Digest from the West
Jean-Baptiste Piron
Cultural Attaché I Attaché culturel I Québec Office Los Angeles
-The Disney+ interface feels empty but elegant compared to Netflix: Browsing through a demo of Disney’s upcoming streaming service, Disney+, the most striking thing about it is the stark contrast with its biggest competitor: Netflix. Where Netflix is overflowing with content trying to catch subscribers’ attention, Disney+ feels comparatively barren. Like Apple TV’s library of apps, Disney’s service is almost surgically clean in its design precision. But the specific ways its content is compartmentalized might be divisive. The density difference makes sense: in 2018, Netflix had approximately 1,570 TV shows and 4,000 movies available for streaming. At launch, Disney+ will have approximately 500 movies and 7,000 individual TV episodes. But whereas Netflix can feel like disorganized chaos, every section of Disney+ is broken down into its own pocket, like Apple TV. Sitting down for a hands-on Disney+ preview at D23, Disney’s biennial convention in Anaheim, California — just across the street from Disneyland — the difference between Netflix and Disney+ couldn’t have been clearer. In part, that’s because Disney’s upcoming service has different goals. “From a technical level or UI level, I haven’t really compared it to Netflix,” Michael Paull, Disney’s streaming services president, told The Verge. “Simple” may be the best word to describe Disney+. Its interface divides content into rows that people can scroll through based on personalized recommendations, new releases, and curated selections. The top row of the app has a carousel with a few priority titles to scroll through, including new theatrical releases Disney wants to highlight (Captain Marvel showed up on my demo) and Disney+ originals. There’s also a row for featured shows and movies that will be curated in-house, according to Paull. Right now, it’s mostly comprised of big theatrical releases and Disney classics, but that could change, Paull said. In the same way Netflix has started to use its featured section to primarily highlight its original content, there’s a good chance that Disney+ originals will take up a majority of that row. The most obvious and interesting part of the Disney+ homepage is a selection of Disney subsections: Star Wars, Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and National Geographic. It’s clear this is how the company wants people to use the app, to home in on their favorite brands or franchises. People “generally know what they’re interested in” when they open the app, Michael Cerda, vice president of product on Disney+, told The Verge. If you’re looking for Star Wars content like the new Mandalorian spinoff series, or the few Marvel movies Disney+ will launch with, people want them in the same space, he continued. Think of these subdivisions as almost entirely separate apps. They host collections of titles from every franchise and brand that Disney wants to highlight. The Simpsons, for example, has a huge section. People can go into that area, then scroll through each individual season to find an episode to watch. It’s similar to how shows on Hulu operate.
-HBO to feature League of Legends in final season of Ballers: League of Legends is coming to the HBO comedy drama series Ballers, according to a new video teaser for the show’s fifth and final season shown during the 2019 LCS Summer Split finals today. Ballers first aired in 2015. The series centers around Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s character Spencer Strasmore, a retired NFL star who takes on the role of financial manager for fellow NFL players. Season five, which kicks off tonight, will feature League as one of the show’s characters shifts gears to pursue a career in esports. The HBO show will feature League across the entire season instead of focusing the game into just one episode arc, according to Rioter Anton “JokrCantSpell” Ferraro. The video trailer included a brief scene with Rick Fox, a beloved and prominent figure in the League community. Fox founded the esports organization Echo Fox in 2015 and helped the organization find success across numerous esports titles, including both League and Super Smash Bros. It remains to be seen what role Fox will have in the final series of Ballers, but as both a former NBA star and an Iron-ranked League fan, Fox will seemingly fit right in with the theme of the season. The LCS Summer Split finals are currently underway with the series between Team Liquid and Cloud9. Fans can tune into the action on Twitch to see who will come out on top.
-Either Netflix, Amazon or Hulu SVOD in 74% of U.S. Households: Nearly three fourths of American homes, 74%, subscribe to at least one of the major SVOD services, Netflix, Amazon Prime or Hulu, up from just 64% in 2017 and 52% in 2015. The findings are part of Leichtman Research Group’s Emerging Video Services 2019, which surveyed 1,116 heads of households across the U.S. The numbers aren’t shocking — research reports illustrating increased OTT consumption have filled media news websites like this one on slow news weeks ... like this one. But LRG has been tracking this sector with scientific process for as long anyone. And it’s interesting to look at the market now, right before Disney+ changes it rather dramatically. Also notable: 69% of U.S. homes use more than one major SVOD service, up from 51% in 2017 and 38% in 2015. Frequency of usage is up only slightly: 33% of those surveyed said they stream their SVOD service every day, compared to 29% in 2017. For Netflix users, 27% said they shared their subscriptions with someone outside the home, vs 19% for Hulu and 10% for Amazon Prime.
https://www.multichannel.com/news/netflix-amazon-or-hulu-in-74-percent-of-us-homes
-Amazon Seeks Exclusive Programming for IMDb TV: Amazon.com Inc. is steadily increasing its investment in IMDb TV, its ad-supported streaming service for on-demand movies and television shows, as consumers suggest that there is room for alternatives to ad-free subscription video. In recent months, Amazon has asked content suppliers for more exclusive licenses to movies and TV shows for IMDb TV, according to people familiar with the effort. It contacted Vice Media to discuss a deal for IMDb TV to pick up “Vice News Tonight,” the Emmy-winning half-hour news program canceled by HBO earlier this year, according to a person with knowledge of the outreach. The company has also begun offering to pay an upfront license fee for some type of exclusivity, moving past IMDb TV’s initial focus on only sharing ad revenue for compensation, the people said. For some content owners, upfront fees are more attractive because they guarantee a fixed payment. Pure revenue-sharing deals and hybrid deals that mix a fee with revenue-sharing are available as well. And Amazon is exploring creating linear channels within IMDb TV, according to the people familiar with the matter. These TV-like “always-on” channels could be focused on genres such as crime and lifestyle, or dedicated to specific outside media outlets. Amazon is speaking with studios, TV programmers and other content producers about stocking channels with content or supplying entire channels of their own, the people said. IMDb TV’s competitors the Roku Channel and Pluto TV already offer such linear feeds. The push for more ad-supported streaming video comes as the subscription-based option gets crowded. Established ad-free services, such as Netflix, Hulu (which also has an ad-supported tier) and Amazon’s Prime Video, are set to contend with Walt Disney Co. ’s Disney+ and WarnerMedia’s HBO Max, both of which are on the horizon. “The rapid growth of free, ad-supported video streaming services has taken the industry by surprise, given that there is already so much out there,” said Alan Wolk, co-founder of media consulting firm TVRev. “I suspect people watch them as lean-back or background TV, often as something to have on as they’re doing something else.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-seeks-exclusive-programming-for-imdb-tv-11566936875
-Vevo Partners With Vewd to Bring Music Videos to TiVos, Smart TVs: Major label-owned Vevo has struck a partnership with smart TV operating system provider Vewd to bring music videos to TiVo DVRs as well as smart TVs from manufacturers like Sony, Hisense and Philips. The two companies have struck a global distribution deal, meaning that Vevo content will reach consumers in North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific. Altogether, this should add tens of millions of devices to Vevo’s smart TV footprint. Vevo videos will go live on Vewd-powered devices in late September. “Naming Vewd as a smart TV scaling partner is a key moment for our OTT strategy,” said Vevo’s bizdev executive vice president and general counsel Alex Kisch in a statement. “With the tremendous scale afforded by Vewd’s far reaching network of television partners, Vevo will have the opportunity to tap into important and growing markets, bringing some of the most sought-after content to new audiences and creating value for our artists, songwriters, labels and publishing partners.” Vewd may not be as much of a household name among consumers as Roku or Android TV, but the platform has long been key to bringing smart TV apps to a number of TVs and internet-connected devices. Previously known as Opera TV, Vewd’s software has been shipped on close to 350 million smart TVs, set-top-boxes and streaming devices, according to company information. In the past, Vevo used to develop its own set of owned-and operated apps for mobile devices and streaming platforms. However, the company abandoned that strategy last year, shut down its apps, and consolidated its resources to focus on optimizing its presence on YouTube. Since then, Vevo has been taking some steps to once again build out a smart TV distribution strategy, albeit with a very different approach: Instead of developing and maintaining its own apps, the company is primarily focusing on syndicating its videos into existing platforms.
https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/vevo-vewd-smart-tv-partnership-tivo-1203316081/
-Facebook Reportedly Working on New Snapchat-Like Messaging App for Instagram: Facebook has been working on a new private messaging app for Instagram, according to a report by The Verge. The new app, dubbed Threads, is meant to help users share their location and other details with their closest Instagram friends. A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment. Threads allows users to exchange private messages with their closest Instagram friends, according to the report. In addition, it also offers users the option to automatically update their status, and share it with their friends. This could include information about their location, whether they are currently on the move, and more. The app would be largely complementary to Instagram, and even mirror some of the photo sharing app’s messaging features. However, the idea seems to be to give Instagram users a space to more easily communicate with their close contacts, without having to worry about connections their other Instagram followers and not-so-close friends. In many ways, this seems to be a response to Snapchat emphasizing connections with friends over influencers — something that’s been at the core of the app’s 2018 redesign. Facebook has not been shy about taking inspiration from Snapchat in the past, with the cloning of Snapchat’s Stories format being the most notable example. At the same time, Facebook has also been trying similar forms of private messaging. In 2017, Instagram began working on a private messaging app called Direct, which it ultimately abandoned in May. At the time, executives told the press that users simply didn’t want to switch back and forth between multiple apps for messaging. Some of Facebook’s more recent moves could alleviate at least part of that problem. The company has been making a push to integrate all of its messaging apps, including Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp, allowing users to message each other across these apps. This could conceivably also apply to Threads, allowing users to exchange messages with their Instagram friends without forcing them to download yet another app first.
https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/facebook-instagram-threads-messaging-app-1203315429/
-Inside Plex’s Quest to Become a One-Stop Shop for Digital Media: Get ready for yet another ad-supported video service: Media center app maker Plex is gearing up to add free movies and TV shows to its app, starting with content from Warner Bros. Plex announced a deal with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution Thursday, which will allow it to add a still-unspecified amount of the studio’s movie catalog to its app when it launches ad-supported video streaming later this year. But Plex isn’t just looking to compete with ad-supported video services like Tubi and Pluto. Instead, the company is aiming to turn its app into a kind of one-stop-shop for digital media, capable of serving up anything you might want. To that end, Plex has plans to begin reselling video subscription services via its app, and add transactional VOD, in the first half of 2020. “You shouldn’t have to go to a lot of different apps to get the content you care about,” said Plex CEO Keith Valory in a recent conversation with Variety. “This is going to be the one place for the media that matters most to you,” added the company’s vice president of marketing Scott Hancock. Plex executives know that they will never be able to offer access to everything you might want to watch — Netflix originals in particular will likely not be available any time soon. However, they are confident that they’ll be able to serve up much of the rest, including movies, TV shows, podcasts, news and webisodes. “75-85% of the content you care about, you’ll get in one beautiful app,” Valory said. This goal of becoming the premier destination for consumers’ digital media needs has been a long time coming for Plex. Originally launched as a hobbyist project to develop software for media center enthusiasts, Plex incorporated as a startup 10 years ago this December. The first couple of years, Plex developers focused on building some core functionality for users with existing digital media collections. Key to this has long been the Plex Media Server, a piece of companion software Plex users are running on their home PCs, network-attached storage drives or similar devices. That server helps organize digital media libraries, and is capable of streaming content from someone’s home to a Plex app on their phone, or from their home office PC to the Roku Plex app in their living room. “The first three to four years was all about building the underlying infrastructure,” recalled Valory.
https://variety.com/2019/digital/news/plex-avod-service-warner-bros-deal-inside-story-1203317271/
-CBS Studios Intl. Sets Multi-Series Agreement With France’s TF1 Group: CBS Studios International has struck a new licensing agreement with French broadcaster TF1 Group for multiple series from CBS Television Studios, it was announced Thursday. Shows included in the exclusive deal will include Michelle and Robert King’s upcoming “Evil”; Dick Wolf’s “FBI: Most Wanted”; “Beverly Hills, 90210” reboot “BH90210”; and ABC’s ensemble drama “A Million Little Things.” The agreement continues CBS’ partnership with TFI Group, which began with “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.” The new deal also includes broadcasting rights for the iconic franchise on TF1 Group channels. “We are thrilled to expand our partnership with TF1, giving French audiences access to our bold slate of network series,” said Barry Chamberlain, president of sales for CBS Studios International. “This agreement demonstrates how we continue to monetize our programming by delivering an incredible array of powerful new content to top broadcasters around the globe.”
-Nielsen: How to properly measure the impact of esports for brands and advertisers: Analysts predict esports should be a very big business in the future, and it is already amassing huge audiences. Brands and advertisers want to dive into it, but first the business has to be properly measured and understood. And that’s the job of Nicole Pike, the managing director of Nielsen’s global esports business. I spoke with her about the challenges of properly measuring esports audiences for brands and advertising clients, and understanding the unique nature of esports fans. We talked about the trends and the hype. Pike is going to be a speaker at the upcoming Esports BAR Miami event on October 1 to October 4. She has been following the game industry for a dozen years and in the past few years she has been consulting with key players in the sports business and measuring the impact of sponsorship campaigns with esports audiences.
-Why Teens Are Creating Their Own News Outlets: In the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, Olivia Seltzer, now 15, noticed a shift at school. “Basically overnight, all we could talk about was politics and what was going on in the world,” she tells Teen Vogue. Many of her peers in Santa Barbara, California, had parents who were undocumented immigrants, so they issues in the news hit close to home. Suddenly the personal felt very much political. “This massive interest in the news and politics came with an equally massive gap in the media,” Seltzer continues. “Traditional news sources are primarily written by and geared toward an older demographic, and unfortunately, they don’t always connect to my generation.” That’s a problem, and an urgent one. Though a free press is crucial to democracy, more than one in four local newspapers have closed since 2004, and more Americans are getting their news from social media than traditional print media. Keeping young people engaged is necessary to foster civic engagement, and Seltzer wants to help close the gap. In February 2017, she launched theCramm, which offers a daily look at major stories from around the world, distilled into a newsletter that lands in email and text inboxes each weekday. Every day, she rises at 5 AM to read the news before school, poring over outlets, including the BBC, CBS, NBC, The New York Times, Politico, and Reuters, among others, to ensure readers are receiving an “unbiased point of view with the news.” Seltzer works with an editorial team that helps research stories and finds inspiring individuals to interview for the newsletter, an advisory board comprised of “trusted adults,” and "theCramm Fam," ambassadors from around the world who promote theCramm. After reading, she compiles about 30 headlines into the Notes app, then divvies up articles of the day into sections before writing her coverage, which works to make the news “engaging, informative, and easily digestible.” Despite the perennial tsk-tsking from older generations who fret that today’s young people are obsessively scrolling social media on their phones, a recent survey by Common Sense Media found that 78% of American teens ages 13 to 17 say it’s important to them to follow current events. Young adults are more likely to consume news through social media sites than they are traditional news organizations, online or in print, but that isn’t necessarily a negative when it comes to news. Teens who use social media are more likely to be civically engaged, and smartphone users who engage with social media report they’re more regularly exposed to people who have different backgrounds, and feel like they have more diverse networks.
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/teens-creating-own-news-outlets-instagram-text-message
-Snap Bets Its Future on a Stylish New Pair of Spectacles: The future belongs to those who prepare for it today. For Snap, the maker of the ephemeral messaging app Snapchat, it’s preparing by making a new pair of sunglasses: Spectacles 3. This isn’t Snap’s first rodeo. The company debuted the first version of Spectacles in 2016. Back then, they came in "fun" colors like bright teal and were sold out of pop-up vending machines. People went wild for them, until they didn't; Snap reportedly lost $40 million on unsold inventory. Two years of reengineering led to the second iteration: better hardware, and also better design. No more candy colors, no silly yellow rings around the camera lens. Then it rolled out a pair of high-design Spectacles, all black, that looked more like something you’d find at Net-a-Porter than Chuck E. Cheese. With Spectacles 3, Snap continues this evolution. The new shades have steel frames and classic details, with upgraded tech too: two HD cameras for capturing footage with depth and dimension. Snap calls the premiere a “limited edition launch.” It wants the product to have a “premium” feel to match its $380 price tag. And Snap isn’t planning to sell a whole bunch of them, according to a spokesperson for the company. nstead, Snap is playing the long game. Right now, Snap lives on the phone. But in the future, the phone might give way to another platform. Snap is betting that it will be eyewear—and in continuing to make its Spectacles, it’s making sure it has a place in that future.
https://www.wired.com/story/snap-spectacles-3-glasses
-Netflix’s New Releases Coming in September 2019: Netflix is ready to kick off fall by adding new movies and TV shows to the platform in September. A number of original films will be added to the streaming service, including Tall Girl, Between Two Ferns: The Movie and In the Shadow of the Moon. Original series that will debut throughout the month include The Politician, Unbelievable, The Spy and The Last Kids on Earth. Additionally, new seasons of Netflix originals Elite, The Ranch, The Chef Show, Fastest Car, The Glitch, Hip-Hop Evolution and Jack Whitehall: Travels With My Father will be added to the service in September. The original documentaries Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates and Hello, Privilege. It’s Me, Chelsea will also debut during the month. The Lord of the Rings: The Return to the King, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, My Sister’s Keeper, Eat Pray Love, The World We Make, Sarah's Key, Superbad and The Grandmaster are among the movies that will be added. New seasons of The Walking Dead, Gotham, I’m Sorry, Shameless and American Horror Story will also appear during the month. Additionally, Lifetime's Surviving R. Kelly will be added to the platform Sept. 15.