Fox’s Eight-Day Delay

Fox recently instituted an eight-day delay between a show airing on television and being available to view online on Fox.com or on Hulu. The idea was to ensure only those who pay for the privilege get to watch these shows the day after transmission.

In reality, thanks to Fox only signing up one distributor before launch, the vast majority of people are being made to wait more than a week to catch up on the Web. Which most people who are very into their favorite shows just aren’t going to be able to do. Cue the obvious result of this doomed plan.

Viewers Respond… With Piracy

According to TorrentFreak, in the five days after the new authentication system was introduced, the number of downloads of both Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen and MasterChef more than doubled.

Sure, this isn’t the most scientific study ever conducted, but it’s clear evidence that people will very quickly turn to alternative sources when their first choice for viewing online is taken away. And the legality or otherwise of these sources isn’t a major concern for most individuals. After all, doesn’t everyone do it?

Conclusions

Who is the head honcho of Fox? One Rupert Murdoch, of course. And he really doesn’t like the impact the Internet has had on how we consume content. He’s already placed most of his newspapers behind paywalls, even though we can read the same news elsewhere for free, and now he’s trying to do the same with television.

It won’t work. It really is as simple as that. There will always be a way around the system, and this kind of move only serves to harm the networks.

I’m not saying piracy or file-sharing is correct or a good thing, necessarily. But it is what most people will do when they’re prevented from watching their favorite TV shows by legitimate means. The sooner Fox and others realize this the sooner they and their viewers will meet in the middle.

Original Web Programming

There is an intriguing trend emerging whereby Internet companies are no longer merely buying up content that has already aired on television but also producing and/or financing their own original programming to air exclusively on one service.

In March Netflix announced it had won the bid (against the likes of HBO and AMC) for House of Cards, a new drama serial starring Kevin Spacey and directed by David Fincher. And now Hulu has joined the ranks, although its series isn’t either as highbrow or expensive to make as House of Cards.

A Day In The Life

Hulu is producing a new six-part series called A Day In The Life, which will see documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me, 30 Days) spending 24 hours with various “fascinating people.”

The first episode features Virgin boss and billionaire Richard Branson, with future episodes seeing appearances by Will.i.am, Russell Peters, and Girl Talk (no, me neither). The series begins on Aug 17.

Spurlock said:

“As a filmmaker, I am always looking for new and exciting ways to reach an audience and to tell stories. When the opportunity to create an original doc series with Hulu presented itself, I jumped at the chance.”

The company has suggested this won’t be a one-off, with Charlotte Koh of the original content development team stating this is part of a “new Hulu initiative designed to support creatively and financially the work of independent storytellers like Spurlock.”

Hulu is currently up for sale, of course, so it seems a little strange that it has chosen now to get into the original production game.

Conclusions

Morgan Spurlock definitely has an audience and one which is likely to be switched-on enough to use Hulu. So it would seem to be a no-brainer for the company to fund his work and get original programming as compensation.

Could this be the start of a huge trend? One which will see the power of the traditional networks and studios somewhat dampened?

[Via AFP]

Online Video Commerce

The vast majority of online video is created to entertain us, the viewers. But there are alternative uses for the medium, one of which is selling products, in much the same way as most television networks feature infomercials and some channels exist solely to sell us stuff we probably don’t need.

We’ve all seen infomercials on TV. They’re usually aired late at night when no one with any kind of life is watching. While the shopping channels are usually like a huge old-style department store open 24-hours a day.

Why has no one thought of combining the two and showing commercial videos online with the aim of enticing people into buying the products being shown off or demonstrated? Well someone, namely former Google executive Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, has.

Joyus Opens For Business

The name of the company is Joyus, and it today announced startup funding of $7.9 million from a range of investors lead by Accel Partners and Harrison Metal. Joyus has also opened in an invite-only public beta.

Joyus has already worked with smaller brands such as Azalea Boutique, Prtty Peaushun, and ModCloth to create premium video designed to sell products. But it hopes to secure big, well-known brands in the future. Analytics as to how best to engage with customers is a major component of the company’s offering to potential clients.

Conclusions

YouTube has dabbled a little in this field, with links to buy content featured in videos. But this is nothing compared to what Joyus is doing, and it could be a huge player in helping brands sell their products and make money by utilizing the power of online video.

[Via AllThingsD]

Global iPlayer App

There has been talk of an international version of iPlayer for some time, with viewers in the U.S. being particularly keen on the idea, even though they know they’d have to pay for it.

America is going to have to wait a little while longer (the US, Canada, and Australia are expected to gain the app within months) but 11 European countries have now been blessed with iPlayer for the Apple iPad. This is seen as a year-long experiment to see how successful a wider and longer rollout would prove to be.

For 6.99 Euros-per-month or 49.99 Euros-per-year iPad owners can gain on-demand access to 1,500 hours of content which includes both new and classic shows. Doctor Who, Fawlty Towers, Only Fools and Horses, and Sherlock are just some of the shows featured.

Domestic/International

The international iPlayer app has a couple of advantages over its domestic U.K. equivalent. Namely 3G streaming and offline viewing. There are also older shows on there to compliment the new shows, but U.K. viewers will be able to find the same classic shows on other services such as YouTube and SeeSaw.

It helps that BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the organization, isn’t governed by the same rules and therefore can concentrate on just one device. On this occasion the Apple iPad. Which makes sense as it’s by far the most popular tablet on sale at the moment.

If, of course, Android tablets take off as they are expected to in the next couple of years then the app can be expanded to include them.

Conclusions

This seems like a truly sweet deal. For what is just a few dollars a month European viewers can gain access to a host of BBC shows that they couldn’t otherwise. Unless they have a big satellite dish or watch online for free. Which most probably do. But still.

[Via The Guardian]

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Friday Phenomenon

Believe it or not it was only back in March that one Rebecca Black came from nowhere to have the biggest hit of the year with Friday, a song and video produced for her by a vanity record label called Ark Music Factory.

Friday is crap, whatever way you look it is. Horrible lyrics sung horribly over a horrible tune by a horrible teenager with no talent to speak of. But none of this mattered, because Friday became a phenomenon on YouTube and soon spread to the mainstream. Rebecca Black was suddenly a celebrity.

With fame comes a chance to make money, and that soon led to a spat between Black (or at least her representatives) and Ark, which led to Friday being removed from YouTube temporarily. But it was soon back, and now so is Black herself.

Hate Equals Great

If you were hoping you’d seen the last of Rebecca Black then you were sorely mistaken. She’s back with a new single titled My Moment, which drops the novelty of Friday but also, unfortunately, the catchiness.

My Moment directly references Black’s rise to fame and the hate she received as a result of being a nobody who became somebody literally overnight. And who can really blame Black for going on the attack against her many critics. Especially as she’s still just 14-years-old.

At the time of writing My Moment has 157,000 Likes and 286,000 Dislikes on YouTube. But it also has almost 9 million views. And that is the only statistic that really matters.

Conclusions

Rebecca Black got lucky, but she’s now using the fame she gained to build a career that could last a few years. It’s already lasted more than the typical five minutes. Rebecca Black – so bad she’s good? Possibly. Certainly so bad she’s famous.

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Space – The Final Frontier

Humanity has long had a fascination with space, but it was only just over 40 years ago that we first ventured out there and landed on the moon. Thanks to technological advances space is now much closer as a destination than it ever has been before.

Unlike Richard Branson’s ambitious plans to fly everyone into space on a commercial basis, UrtheCast is bringing space and a view of Earth to you in your home. Thanks to the power of streaming video.

UrtheCast (EarthCast)

UrtheCast is a Canadian company which is embarking on an ambitious effort to take streaming video to space by installing two high-definition camera with immensely powerful zoom lenses on to the International Space Station (ISS).

Viewers watching online will be able to pause, rewind, and zoom in on specific locations, so long as the ISS passes over those locations.

The service is being sold as “a blend between Google Earth and YouTube,” which is very simplistic way of describing that it features live, real-time video footage of Earth.

UrtheCast is a truly terrible name, evidenced by the fact we need to explain how to pronounce it. I can see what play on words they were going for, but it’s not great.

Still, I guess the name won’t matter so long as the service is good. And not so overpriced as to make it an option only for people with more money than sense. Because I’m guessing this won’t be free.

Conclusions

I love the idea of this, and suspect many other will as well. But do I love it enough to pay money for the service, and sit in front of a computer watching the world literally go by? Probably not. If it was ad-supported, on the other hand…

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[Via PopSci]

‘Friday’ No More

The by-now-infamous Friday by Rebecca Black, which came from out of nowhere back in March, has disappeared from YouTube. The reason? “A copyright claim by Rebecca Black.” Why would you get your own video removed due to a copyright violation? No one seems to know.

YouTube has merely issued a perfunctory statement and until whatever mess is responsible for this imposition is cleared up Black fans will have to do without their go-to video to welcome in the weekend.

This takedown comes just a few days after Friday changed from being a free download to a $2.99 rental from ARK Music Factory, the vanity record label responsible for the song and the video which accompanies it.

It’s ‘Friday’ Again

Thanks to the fact that contrary to some people’s beliefs there are online video sites other than YouTube, we can still watch the original Friday video by Rebecca Black. As found by Mashable on an educational site called SchoolTube.

Is Rebecca Black’s Friday educational in the slightest? Of course not, unless you’re trying to teach people how to make a ton of money with no talent whatsoever. But the fact it’s on the site and available to embed means we can all still watch and listen to our (least) favorite song of all time. Enjoy!

Conclusions

I can only assume at this point that this whole thing is a publicity stunt to reinvigorate interest in a song which has had its moment in the sun and now faded into obscurity. Either that or there’s some really complicated legal shenanigans going on behind the scenes between Black and the ARK.

Either way, I expect Friday will be back on YouTube shortly. So we can all stop panicking immediately.

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Inventive YouTube Videos

There have been lots of inventive YouTube videos over the past few years, most of which have been posted on our sister site WebTVHub. These include Annoying Orange, and virals from Old Spice and Tippex.

And now we have a new game to suck all our time away from us: a YouTube version on the classic Tic Tac Toe. Unfortunately, what is the simplest game when played with pen and paper is a little trickier to recreate on a video site.

Interactive Tic Tac Toe

YouTube Tic Tac Toe has been created by video producer Rutter Jared. Great name, great game. It uses the annotation feature on YouTube to astounding effect, with 131 separate videos and more than 1,000 annotations required to cover every possible move and combination of moves in the game.

Jared told GigaOM that YouTube Tic Tac Toe required him to put in a month’s worth of 14-hour days, with the video editing and annotations being laborious work. And I doubt I’d have had the patience to see it through, if I’m honest.

The one aspect I don’t like is that it’s virtually impossible to win because we, as the player, always goes second, and everyone must know by now that Tic Tac Toe is usually won by the player who goes first. Which is Jared. Still, it’s fun losing in such an innovative environment.

Conclusions

As well as being fun for those of us who play the game, it’s a job for Jared as he has been making a living producing videos for YouTube since November 2010. YouTube has been trying to entice people to become full-time video creators of late, and it’s clearly working.

YouTube Beats Piracy

Downloads of music over BitTorrent are falling, a trend that must be music to the ears of record label executives. There are obviously still large communities out there sharing music in this way, but the more-casual downloader appears to have found alternatives.

One of those alternatives is YouTube, an online destination where almost every new song, and most old ones as well, are available to listen to free and legally. It may be the officials video released through Vevo, a literal music video, or simply a still of the artist with the audio playing over the top. It doesn’t matter to those seeking to hear a particular track.

Building Relationships

Google has to pay each time a track is played on YouTube, half a penny a pop is the guesstimation. With some artists having their videos played hundreds of millions of times this means serious revenue for the record labels.

There are also other free and legal alternatives, such as Spotify and Pandora, both of which have built legitimate relationships with the major record labels by paying for the content they stream.

I’m sure there is a lesson to be learned here.

A Lesson To Be Learned

The lesson is, of course, that the way to tackle piracy of any kind is to offer legal alternatives that are either free or cheap enough the average Internet user won’t have to re-mortgage their house to have the pleasure.

There are signs the television and movie industries are cottoning on to this undeniable fact. Disney is trying to ensure all its content is available online through its own portals, no doubt to try and avoid people automatically heading down the piracy route to obtain it. But it’s not enough, and it’s not happening fast enough. And until it does, piracy will continue to flourish.

Studios want to be paid for their content, and as long as they are then they’re happy.

Conclusions

I’m not for a second suggesting piracy will disappear. It probably never will, and if it did it would take years to get there. But changing it from a mainstream activity to one undertaken only by the very committed would be a major win. And it’s all about offering alternatives.

Glenn Beck Television

GBTV is built around a daily live two-hour show similar to the one he hosted on Fox News until recently. It will be streamed live over the Web every day at 5pm E.D.T, which puts it in direct competition with whatever show Fox News chooses for Beck’s old slot.

There will also be other original programming, all available to watch on a PC, smartphones, Apple devices, and Television sets (via Roku). That is if you’re willing to pay the asking price of either $4.95-per-month for ‘GBTV’ or $9.95-per-month for ‘GBTV Plus’.

From Insider To GBTV

There have been other attempts at this kind of venture, but those which have asked for subscription fees up-front rather than going the freemium route haven’t lasted long. Beck is a law unto himself though.

Glenn beck isn’t, unlike other attempts at online television networks, starting completely from scratch. Through his nationally-syndicated three-hour daily radio show, the Glenn Beck Program, and his recently-canceled television show on Fox News, Beck gained loyal fans and followers, many of whom already pay to be members of ‘Insider Extreme’, a kind of fan club and community for those on Beck’s side of the political spectrum.

It’s estimated that 80,000 people already pay $9.95-per-month for the privilege of being a member of Beck’s clique, and those will all automatically be converted into GBTV subscribers. That’s a pretty large and switched-on userbase to launch with.

Conclusions

I’m personally not a fan of Glenn Beck, and obviously won’t be subscribing to GBTV. But there are plenty who will do, and Beck is starting from a strong position. If he can build an online network catering to his niche audience then it would prove it’s possible to do. So begrudgingly, I wish him luck.

[Via The New York Times]

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