As its legacy continues to grow, last year will forever be the year of London 2012, one of the greatest events ever to grace the sporting world. It also happened to fall within what the industry is calling ‘The Social Era’ of sponsorship.
So what have brands learnt from it? And what does that mean for sponsorship and the rest of 2013 – already dubbed ‘The Empty Year’? Read More
The FT reports that Google could this week unveil “an à la carte subscription service” for some of its specialist YouTube channels as part of an effort to finance a broader range of content.
The initiative would echo recent moves by those such as Netflix and Amazon moving into original content. Read More
Netflix’s unique content play, “House of Cards”, starring Kevin Spacey, has satisfied its subscriber base in the US according to a small survey by Cowen. It has also made their subscribers more loyal.
However it failed to take off from a word of mouth perspective and the content was mediocre rather than exceptional. In light of this both move from Netflix what is the future of content v’s distribution channels in the digital age and who will gain the most from this change in dynamics?
(C) Netflix
This week House of Cards was made exclusively available on Netflix, the online subscription based video streaming service. This bold move from a television aggregator that delivers content through a relatively low cost subscription model, to being a content producer (and one with deep pockets – House of Cards alone cost over $100 million to make), does have the potential to compete with both producers and distributors of broadcast content.
Netflix says it will be producing a minimum of five original series each year to entice audiences to subscribe to its service. Potentially a game changer, Ted Sarandos, Netflix ‘s chief content officer, told GQ ‘The goal is for us to become HBO faster than HBO can become us’.
But does the research data support this move?
YouTube is planning the next phase of its development and is reported to be launching pay-per-view channels, which would see it challenge cable TV as well as streaming services such as Netflix and LoveFilm. According to various reports, Google’s YouTube has been in contact with a number of content producers with a view to supplying it with programming, which could be priced in the region of $1 to $5 (63p to £3.17) a month. Read More
Making the television set interactive is not a new idea. Remember WebTV from the late 90′s? Today, almost every TV manufacturer is coming out with their own version of ‘Smart TV’, and there are a multitude of devices (such as Roku and Boxee Box) that enable consumers to have access to content that until recently was only available online. But although manufacturers are getting close, TVs are not smart enough (yet). Here are three reasons why. Read More
LoveFilm made the news recently when it announced it’s expanding its collection of online films thanks to a new deal with Disney. That was big news then, but may seem like just a small step now that Google has announced that it’s signed licensing deals with a number of major Hollywood Studios to allow movie buffs to rent films through YouTube.
Netflix has also announced its decision to license original content. What does this mean for traditional TV broadcasters as yet more content becomes available not only on demand and online, but exclusively so? Read More
It is being reported that Google is planning to launch an unlimited subscription service for movies and is considering starting it in the UK first to avoid stiff US competition from Amazon and Netflix.
Google is said to have been in talks with Hollywood studios for months and will look to launch in the UK before expanding to the US. Read More
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