Time Inc. looks to a video future with new unit

Michelle Clancy | 04-12-2012

Venerable news and information publisher Time Inc. has launched a new digital video unit to offset revenue draining from its traditional print business.

"This move will unify the strong but disparate efforts we currently have in video, bringing resources from all three clusters and the Time Inc. Studios together to create a strong team with a common set of facilities and back-end technologies," CEO Laura Lang wrote in an employee memo, according to AdWeek. "Advertisers are continually looking for more that can be done in video," she said.

J.R. McCabe has been appointed to manage the unit as senior vice president of video at Time. He will report to Todd Larsen, who was named evp and group president of news and sports over the summer and is also overseeing the digital video unit.

production across Time Inc., some of whom were assigned to specific bra$$$ or to the Time Inc. Studios group, a company spokesperson said. Now, those employees will be centralized under McCabe's leadership and work across all of the company's bra$$$. (At the moment, there are no plans to begin by focusing on any specific titles.) There are also some structural changes ahead, with Lang saying that Time Inc. plans to build out a physical space specifically for the new video unit.
McCabe was previously head of video at Meredith, where he launched Meredith Video Studios for developing content for both digital and broadcast TV platforms.

Viewster launches movie trivia app
December 4, 2012 08.49 Europe/London By Robert Briel

VOD portal Viewster has launched a Beta version of Qster for Facebook, an app that will place movie fans across the globe in a competition against each other.

Qster displays movie scenes one by one and asks you to name the film, character, or actor in ten seco$$$ or less.

Featuring a mix of blockbusters and household names, the game gets progressively harder as players are faced with more obscure films and actors. Movie fans are rewarded with points for correct choices, which can be used to unlock even more movies to play with.

“While some of us are still discovering a love of film, others have spent a lifetime acquiring a vast knowledge of many of the greatest movies ever made,” said Kai Henniges, CEO, Viewster. “With so much information stored in people’s heads, we decided to try and identify the world’s biggest movie buff by putting the public’s movie knowledge to the test.”

Inspired by the classic game show Name That Tune, Qster is available to play for free in the Facebook App Center. Qster mobile apps will also be released soon.

RTL to block Google TV access
December 4, 2012 08.36 Europe/London By Robert Briel

RTL Deutschland inte$$$ to block Google TV from accessing its online programming.

Google inte$$$ to launch its Google Play service in Germany following the availability of Sony Google TV devices in the German market. Google TV operates with Android software and allows viewers to access on-demand and live streaming television on the internet.

“We intend to cooperate with other television manufacturers,’ told Google spokesperson Mounira Latrache to Deutschen Wirtschafts Nachrichten, “But so far, there are no concrete plans.”

The German RTL group said: “We have a problem with third parties who try to monetise our content at our expense. That’s why we will not make our content available on Google TV.”

Fellow private broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 is not worried about Google TV, “It is a niche service. In the market for hybrid TV applications it is not the technical service that matter, but the content itself,” according to the group’s spokesperson, Marcus Prosch.

Through its VOD service Maxdome German viewers have access to over 50,000 legal movies and episodes of TV programmes.

N24 expects positive financial results

Jörn Krieger | 04-12-2012

German news channel N24 expects to reach financial break-even this year: "The N24 group will conclude 2012 with a positive result below the line," managing director Torsten Rossmann told German business newspaper Handelsblatt.

Last year, N24 already achieved in-the-black figures before tax. The main reason is the increasing advertising income which will grow by a two-digit percentage figure in 2012. Among the viewers aged between 14 and 49, N24 now reaches an average audience market share of 1.5%, 0.1% more than in 2011.

Rossmann acquired the commercial broadcaster in conjunction with the Stefan Aust, the former editor-in-chief of weekly news magazine Der Spiegel from TV group ProSiebenSat.1 in June 2010.

"The management-buy-out two-and-a-half years ago has been a very good decision from today's point of view," said Rossmann. "We have provided evidence that it is possible to produce high quality and competitive news with less expenses."

ESPN expa$$$ multi-platform football proposition

Editor | 04-12-2012

ESPN has enhanced its multi-platform global football initiative just as the season gathers pace and the key Christmas/January transfer periods approach across Europe.

The sports broadcaster claims that for the first three months of the 2012/2013 season it has posted 25% growth in online unique users for ESPNFC which brings together all of ESPN’s global football coverage under a dedicated multimedia brand and which is available online, via the mobile Web, smartphone apps, and on TV via the football debate and discussion show PressPass.

Across all devices and platforms, ESPN said that fans have spent almost 1.8 billion minutes on ESPNFC during the first three months of this season. Additionally, fans are said to have accessed more than 12 million videos across all digital devices and platforms.

At the heart of the enhanced package is ESPNFC TransferCenter, described as a “responsively-built digital destination” that will provide fans a real-time catalogue and multi-media connection to the stories, rumours, updates and player transfer news in leagues worldwide during the run-up to, and throughout, the winter transfer window.

The app is designed to automatically optimise for users across whatever device they are on — computer, tablet or mobile, etc — and displays content chronologically in feed-style layout in which all forms of content can be immediately consumed and shared across social platforms. The service will evolve to feature news, video, social media integration and player statistics.

Taking advantage of Microsoft’s platform upgrade, ESPNFC is expanding availability with the launch of a new free multi-device, multi-screen Windows 8 app optimised for multiple devices, including touch screen tablets and laptops, and desktop PCs. The app utilises the Windows 8 live tiles which provide users with dynamically updated content and offers ESPN’s Gamecast function, providing access to the live digital experience with commentary.

ESPNFC is also developing a worldwide network of writers, bloggers and analysts covering the latest news and developments 24/7, including a roster of its own blogs and contributors, and in the coming weeks will include an expanding affiliated blog network – pulling together some of the top independent voices in the football blogosphere.

Over the coming weeks, ESPNFC will launch a half a dozen new blogs, with new offerings around continental European clubs such as Roma, the MLS in the US, as well as subject-specific blogs.

Commenting on the developments, Arne Rees, vice president, ESPN digital media international, said: “ESPNFC is increasing the number of fans and bra$$$ who connect with our football coverage worldwide. ESPNFC is one of ESPN’s most significant global commitments to the sport of football and leverages the core strength of what ESPN does well – serve sports fans.”

Mediaset España introduces online advertising agency

Iñaki Ferreras | 04-12-2012

Mitele, Mediaset's España online platform, is to incorporate more content and at the same time launch an interactive advertising online agency named Adlive.

Mitele offers a wide selection of programmes and series from Mediaset España's seven television networks as well as films from Telecinco Cinema, totaling over 4,200 hours of content offered to viewers per year.

After a year of service, Mitele has achieved over 114 million videos on demand, over 68 million live sessions, 137,000 'frie$$$' on Comunidad Mitele - a social network where users discuss the content in real time - more than 15,000 fans on Facebook, over 24,500 followers on Twitter. In addition, the Mitele app for smartphones and tablets currently has over 180,000 downloads, while the application developed for the programme La Voz exceeds 560,000 downloads on iOS and Android operating systems.

Mitele offers complete episodes of TV series, films in original version, the live stream of Gran Hermano (Big Brother) 24 hours a day, and sporting events like the Roland Garros tournament and the European Football Championships.

The online platform has also released ADLIVE, a pioneering online advertising agency based on a technology that automatically recognizes TV commercial breaks and can adapt for additional content specifically aimed at Mitele's online audience.

The service adds value to advertising by supplementing it with exclusive content, for example the making of the series, movie trailers, music videos, interactive games developed for sporting events, micro-spaces, branded content and innovative advertising formats. All of this is sandwiched between blocks of short spots created specifically for bra$$$ looking to impact on customers who view television through the Internet.

ADLIVE aims to offer a new window for small advertisers who generally do not have access to large TV campaigns and clients seeking to supplement their conventional campaigns or initiatives with new forms of communication within the online environment.

SFR to withdraw from ADSL TV?

Pascale Paoli-Lebailly | 04-12-2012

French telco SFR, a Vivendi company, is set to withdraw from ADSL pay-TV and VOD after which those services will be handled by its sister company Canal+, according to the BFM TV website.

The operator, which must make drastic choices as it plans job cuts, is to stop producing its own TV bouquets like Selection and Grand Spectacle and VOD offers to lean on a new partner, the site says, adding that talks with Canal+ are ongoing.

Both bouquets claim 300,000 subscribers, and SFR has judged them as not being profitable enough, according to the BFM TV site, and sees the best solution as being the sale of Canal+'s own pay-TV offers, which include Canal+ and Canalsat.

The BFM TV website asserts that SFR will though continue to offer a free-of-charge basic bouquet as well as optional channels such as BeInSport or OCS.

At the end of 2011, SFR global pay-TV offers reached 450,000 subs and accounted for €60 million revenues, while VOD services brought in €32 million.

Neither SFR nor Canal+ has confirmed these rumours.