ITV

Tag: Hulu

  • Americans adopt digital apps for Netflix

    Americans adopt digital apps for Netflix

    NEW DELHI: A growing number of American households are relying on dedicated set-top/plug-in devices (otherwise known as Digital Media Players) to watch Netflix on a TV set, according to a GfK study, Over-the-Top TV 2014.

     

    By contrast, video game systems – while still the most common hardware for Netflix viewing on a TV screen – are used much less than they were three years ago

     

    The report shows that 28 per cent of those who stream Netflix on a TV used a digital media player (such as Roku, Apple TV, or Chromecast) to do so; this is nearly double the 2013 level (15 per cent) and roughly five times the 2011 figure (6 per cent). The surge comes as ownership of the players among all homes has increased tenfold – from 2 per cent to 21 per cent – since 2010.

     

    Streaming capabilities built into today’s higher-end TV sets have also become popular, with use of built-in streaming reported by 28 per cent of those who watch Netflix on TV – up from 20 per cent a year ago and 13 per cent in 2011.

     

    On the other hand, reports of watching Netflix on TV through a videogame system have dropped to 43 per cent – down 5 percentage points from 2013, and almost 20 per cent below the 2011 level which was 62 per cent.

     

    The new report also indicates wide generational differences in how people access Netflix. Generations X and Y are twice as likely as Baby Boomers to use a videogame system to watch Netflix on TV. Capabilities built into TV sets are highly favoured by Gen Y Netflix viewers, and both Generations X and Y show strong use of digital media players.

     

    “The wide variations in devices used – and in preferred device by age – speak to a need for Netflix and other SVoD providers to optimise the user experience for each situation,” said GfK Senior Vice President and author of the report David Tice.

     

    “Not only do the device interface and remote control need to be user-friendly, but things like on-screen font size and menus need to be age-appropriate. With a quarter of Netflix users also being Amazon Prime or Hulu viewers, there is a potential battle in user experience as well as in variety and exclusivity of content,” he added.

     

    Meanwhile, Belgian telco Belgacom which has adopted a new identity as Proximus also plans to add entertainment streaming service Netflix to its Proximus TV offering.

     

    Confirming the news, Belgacom Chief Consumer Market Officer Phillip Vandervoort said that Netflix was without doubt a very eagerly-awaited new player. “I’m proud to announce this partnership which reflects the dynamics of our new brand and enables us to offer an amazing experience to our customers on Proximus TV.” 

     

    Netflix started offering its service in Belgium on 19 September, giving people access to a wide variety of TV shows, films, documentaries and other programming, according to Advanced Television.

     

    Installation of the Netflix application on the new-generation decoders will begin at the end of 2014. ‘Ultimately all Proximus TV customers will be able to access Netflix on their TV sets,’ added the telco.

     

     

  • Google’s Android eyes TV market

    Google’s Android eyes TV market

    MUMBAI: The fight isn’t limited to content alone; the battle amongst various players is now all about who will come up with a smarter TV viewing experience. Launched recently, Google interface Android TV aims to do just that.

     

    The new interface is an extension of Google’s operating system which will take Android to the living room in the form of its upcoming version Android L. It can run on various products mainly smart TVs, set top boxes (STBs), smart watches and cars. Google’s earlier TV product, Chromecast, that was launched in 2010 as a plug-in device for television sets allowed viewers to send data from their phones and tabs on to the big screen using wi-fi. The product had failed to excite users.

     

    The USP of the new interface is that Android tablets, phones and watches can be used as remote control; all one needs is a D-pad and a microphone to send audio commands. The screen has three parts: recommendations, games and applications. It will also hold custom-made apps such as Netflix, Hulu, Pandora along with its own apps like YouTube, Hangout etc. The smart TV powered by Android TV can also reorganise its screen based on usage patterns.

     

    All of Sony’s HD and 4k (ultra HD), Phillips, Sharp and TP Vision television sets will support Android TV from 2015. Asus and Razor are the only confirmed set-top boxes to have taken up Android TV to focus on gaming.

     

    The software development kit for Android Auto will be launched later with Google’s list of nearly 40 partners such as Bentley, Ferrari, Audi, Ford, Nissan, Mazda, Suzuki, Skoda and Honda.

     

    Android TV runs on various hardwares and isn’t restricted to just STBs unlike its competitors Apple TV and Amazon Fire. Its main objective is to enhance the internet viewing experience on television. Google will launch Android TV and Android L simultaneously post September 2014. 

  • Majority of American viewers still prefer TV to other mediums: Study

    Majority of American viewers still prefer TV to other mediums: Study

    NEW DELHI: Television remains the “key” viewer for video in American homes, but video is increasingly coming from the internet which is taking some toll on traditional distribution.

     

    That is one of the conclusions of a new market research analysis by the Consumer Electronics Association.

     

    According to a report given out by the National Association of Broadcasters in the United States, 45 per cent of TV households reported getting some programming on their TVs via internet (from Netflix or Hulu, for example), up a whopping 17 percentage points from 2013’s 28 per cent.

     

    Nearly half of TV households (46 per cent) also watched video on a portable computer (laptop, notebook or netbook), up from 38 per cent in 2013, or on a smartphone (43 per cent, up from 33 per cent in 2013), or on either a tablet (35 per cent, up from 26 per cent in 2013) or a desktop computer (34 per cent, up from 30 per cent in 2013).

     

    Consumers who said they receive internet-based programming are also doing so on other devices, including gaming consoles (50 per cent), Blu-ray players (40 per cent) and services such as Apple TV or Roku (33 per cent).

     

    But internet-only viewers are still a small fraction at 5 per cent, about the same as 2013.

     

    That number could be growing. CEA says that according to figures as of January 2014, 24 per cent of all households had an internet-enabled TV, with 16.1 million app-enabled TVs projected to ship this year.

     

    The vast majority of U.S. households (93 per cent) have used TVs to access video in the past 12 months. Traditional TV programming is primarily accessed through a pay-TV service, with cable claiming half (52 per cent) of that subscriber base with 60 million subs, down from 63 million in 2013.

     

    Satellite services boast 36 million households (31 per cent), up from 35 million in 2013. Fiber to the home video services account for 14 per cent or 16 million subs, up 33 per cent from 12 million in 2013.

     

    17 per cent of TV households receive television programming through an antenna, with only 6 per cent relying exclusively on an antenna for their TV, in line with 2013 findings.

     

    CEA says there has been a seven percentage point decline in the number of homes using traditional pay-TV platforms since 2010, when 88 per cent of households said they subscribed to cable, satellite or fiber to the home. And since 2005, says CEA, cable service subs have declined from 61 per cent to 52 per cent in 2014. Even with the increases over that time for fiber and satellite, total paid subs are still down.

     

    “The decline in traditional pay TV service may be partially attributed to increasingly accessible internet sourced television programming on TVs as well as the adoption and use of alternative video-capable CE devices in homes,” said the report. “Inexpensive streaming options, such as Netflix and Hulu Plus, are also contributing to the overall decline.”

     

    The numbers appear to bear that out. Over the past 12 months, in homes not subscribing to pay TV, “non-subscriber use of notebook, laptop or netbook computers to view video content increased from a quarter (25 per cent) in 2013 to over half (53 per cent) in 2014. Use of smartphones for in-home video consumption increased among non-subscribers from 27 per cent in 2013 to 46 per cent this year, and 27 per cent of non-subscribers now view video content on tablets compared to just 13 per cent in 2013.”

     

    The CEA report found that 10 per cent of pay TV households currently subscribing to cable, satellite or fiber video services said they were “likely” to cut that cord in the next 12 months. Of those, 23 per cent said they were going the all-internet route, with 20 per cent saying they would be getting an antenna and 17 per cent said they were swearing off video entirely.

     

    The report is based on findings of a telephone survey of 1,006 adults, 504 men and 502 women 18 and older, living in the continental United States. The survey was conducted between 24 and 27 April, with 606 landline interviews and 400 by cell phone. The margin of error at 95 per cent confidence is +/- 3.1 per cent. 

  • Sony’s Crackle inks exclusive content deal with NBCUniversal

    Sony’s Crackle inks exclusive content deal with NBCUniversal

    MUMBAI: Crackle – the free video streaming platform – backed by Sony Pictures Entertainment is strengthening its content library. It has now signed a deal with NBCUniversal for the exclusive rights to more than 140 movies over the next three years.

     

    The agreement will see movies such as Ray, Jarhead and the remake of King Kong that will be will be exclusively available on the service but won’t appear on other ad-supported distributors including television channels.

     

    This certainly cements the fact that Sony is much focused on improving its video streaming service, even after Crackle shut shop in UK beginning 1 April. This also shows its willingness to go against the grain of other streaming sites like Netflix and Hulu, which work primarily on subscription models.

     

    This move makes Crackle something of a hybrid, operating as a streaming service but making deals like a television channel. The acquisition of exclusive rights provides the service with what it hopes will be content that draws viewers.

     

    Since it is entirely supported by ads, Crackle’s strategy is to appear on as many platforms as possible. The streaming channel is currently on 27 different devices including gaming consoles, streaming set-top boxes and connected televisions.

     

    Crackle was formerly known as Grouper, which Sony bought in 2006 for $65 million. Its original iteration placed it in competition with YouTube more than streamers like Netflix. Sony decided to rebrand it as Crackle in 2007 as a streaming and movie TV library.

     

    Sony has struggled more broadly, spinning off its TV business and selling its computer division.

  • WWE Superstars get animated with ‘WWE Slam City’

    WWE Superstars get animated with ‘WWE Slam City’

    MUMBAI: Mattel is well renowned to be one of the leading toy manufacturers in the world with the likes of Barbie, Hot Wheels and Monster High, amongst others under its IP. The toy manufacturing giant has inked a deal with the wrestling giant – WWE – for an original animated short format series.

     

    WWE Slam City, the company’s new kids’ property includes an original animated short-form series and a complete line of WWE Slam City merchandise. The 26-episode series, which launched yesterday in US, Canada and UK is comprised of two minute shorts featuring WWE Superstars in their new animated world, WWE Slam City.

     

    The first four episodes began airing from 17 March at WWESlamCity.com and Cartoonium on YouTube. WWE Slam City toys, including action figures, ring sets and more, are currently available at major retail stores.

     

    “WWE Slam City is a multi-platform property that takes our Superstars out of the ring and introduces them to kids through entertaining and action-packed animation,” said WWE chief revenue and marketing officer Michelle D. Wilson. “This strategic initiative is perfectly complemented through our partnership with Mattel and adds to an already dynamic portfolio of content designed to create lifelong WWE fans.”

     

    The series, filmed in the next generation of stop-motion animation, features a new WWE animated character ‘The Finisher’, who fires all of the WWE superstars and sends them to WWE Slam City to find day jobs. WWE Superstars are plunged into new career challenges as John Cena as an auto mechanic, Randy Orton Orton as a zookeeper, Sheamus as a theater usher, The Miz, Rey Mysterio, Kane, Alberto Del Rio as a coffee house barista and Mark Henry pack every street corner with work to do and scores to settle in a new life outside the ring, but still staying true to their WWE personas.

     

    In addition to WWESlamCity.com and Cartoonium on YouTube, WWE Slam City will also be available in US on WWE Network, Hulu, PlayStation, Xbox, AOL On, Nintendo, Vudu, Google Play, Kabillion, Mattel.com and iTunes. WWE will utilise all of its assets, including TV broadcasts, live events, digital and social media to generate awareness for its new kids property.

     

    “Slam City is the result of a seamless collaboration with WWE where we are bringing kids a completely new and invigorating entertainment experience,” said Mattel senior VP, global brands marketing, boys and entertainment Doug Wadleigh. “Combining fun to watch content that features Superstar favorites, along with an engaging line of toys, enables Slam City to further expand the WWE Universe while opening new avenues of play for the franchise.”

     

    WWE Slam City is a key component of WWE’s larger strategy to expand its reach to kids. In 2013, WWE’s national TV programming reached nearly three million kids each week, representing more than 20 per cent of WWE’s average weekly TV audience. WWE also reaches kids through the number two action figure property in the US.

     

    In addition, WWE supports programs that positively impact children and families around the world, including a 30-plus year relationship with Make-A-Wish as well as various literacy, education, anti-bullying and military initiatives.

     

    In addition to toys, a full WWE Slam City merchandise line, including apparel, back-to-school accessories, books, graphic novels and home videos will be available in stores by the end of 2014. In 2015, a WWE Slam City mobile game, as well as health and beauty items, home goods, party supplies and stationary will be available.

     

    The 26-episode WWE Slam City series is co-produced by WWE and Mattel’s Playground Productions, a new division within the Mattel Global Brands with a mission to identify, cultivate and produce compelling storylines through multiple platforms.

     

    “Slam City’s multi-platform animation engages kids where they are today with a unique larger-than-life Superstar inspired storyline that’s authentic to WWE,” said Mattel Playground Productions senior VP David Voss. “We worked closely with WWE to ensure our style and storytelling complimented the brand, and really tapped into our creative expertise to produce a playful narrative that both kids and fans enjoy.”

     

    With the launch of the WWE Network recently and this tie-up with Mattel, the wrestling giant is clearly looking at reaching out to a wider set of audience on both on-air as well as off-air platforms.

  • Hulu moves out of Japan market

    Hulu moves out of Japan market

    MUMBAI: The online video on demand (VOD) service giant Hulu has decided to move out of the Japanese market. It’s been three years since it has operated in the region and now Hulu is selling its business Nippon Television Network Corporation.

     

    Hulu launched in Japan in September 2011. Now, Nippon TV is taking over the operations, in a transaction expected to close in early spring. The move marks Nippon TV’s entry into the SVOD business.

     

    As part of the acquisition, both companies will be entering into a separate agreement in which Hulu will license its brand and technology to a subsidiary of Nippon TV, as well as provide support services that will enable Nippon TV to continue to make the SVOD service available under the Hulu brand using the same platform. Nippon TV’s popular shows and original exclusive content will launch on the Hulu service in Japan.

     

    Nippon TV also plans on consolidating on the already prevalent business of Hulu and will look to add on its already boisterous presence in terrestrial broadcasting with delivery of content through the internet. The company is confident of using Hulu’s brand and wide content line-up and technology to further its brand value.

  • Stream TV to display 4KTVs with glasses-free 3D at CES 2014

    Stream TV to display 4KTVs with glasses-free 3D at CES 2014

    MUMBAI: Stream TV Networks is all set to showcase its consumer-ready 4KTVs featuring breakthrough Ultra-D glasses-free adjustable 3D technology during CES 2014. Of the various sizes to be brought to market by the company’s brand partners in 2014, the 50″ and 55″ models will be on display at CES 2014 to be held from 7-10 January at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

    Some of the TVs will be accompanied by the seeCube-4K™, an external device that converts a wide range of content – 2D or 3D stereoscopic sources –  to 2160p glasses-free 3D in real time.

     Stream TV has ported its real time conversion technology to the new Qualcomm 8074 processor, and a second version of the TV will carry the conversion technology built into a chip, significantly reducing costs. 

    Using complex algorithms, the Ultra-D technology converts 1080p/2 million pixel content into a 4K/8 million pixel viewing experience. Users can connect their satellite or cable service, VOD, Blu-ray player, Xbox or PlayStation, as well as watch internet content from Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Baidu TV, PPStv, iQYi tv, Totou TV and other video sites with ease.

    “Ultra-D presents a never-before-seen glasses-free 3D viewing experience,” said Stream TV Networks CEO Mathu Rajan in a release. “There’s a lack of 4K content out there, but by generating millions of new pixels with depth information, we truly take advantage of what a 4K screen can offer,” he added.

  • Unbundling channel rates a danger to TV ecosystem?

    Unbundling channel rates a danger to TV ecosystem?

    MUMBAI: In the midst of the digitisation process in India, several issues continue to be left unanswered. One such being the matter of unbundling of channels for which the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued a consultation paper asking suggestions from stakeholders regarding the same but no decision was reached after that. There is however a rift between MSOs and aggregators on the issue with the MSOs favouring it and aggregators being against it.

    The real question is whether or not it will benefit everyone including the broadcasters, MSOs, aggregators and finally the consumer. 

    A report on the situation in the US by investment banking and asset management firm Needham and Co’s entertainment analyst and MD Laura Martin says, unbundling of cable TV rates could well be a recipe for disaster for all concerned. In the report, Martin has taken a look at the issue from the consumer’s perspective and its consequences for them and for the ecosystem. 

    Martin’s report reveals that US households pay about $720 per year for 180 channels out of which they watch just 18. Consumers would like to pay $30 per month to watch these 16-20 channels. As compared to this, in India, annual rates are a paltry $30-$60 per annum for anywhere between 120 channels to 200 plus channels. 

    Martin argues that if consumers wanted to have all 180 channels as a la carte, their annual spending would increase to $1260, i.e, 75 per cent higher than the current price. 

    Here’s how it goes: cable TV channels in the US generate $56 billion from advertising and $45 billion from subscribers, while pay TV distributors pocket $30 billion, if one goes by last year’s figures. She estimates that if there was unbundling about 124 channels out of these 180 would be wiped out as they would not be in a position to have an average of the 165,000 viewers which Martin estimates are needed to break even on each cable TV channel’s $280 million per annum investment. Her view is that niche channels would simply disappear.

    The decrease in channel choices, points out Martin, would also mean that approximately $80 to $113 billion would be lost in consumer value and the government would lose $20 billion in taxes. It will also put the US, which is already dealing with a high unemployment rate of 7.3 per cent in October 2013, at a risk of losing 1.4 million additional jobs.

    She also warns that if these 180 channels do not create content that is engaging young Americans in the 18-34 year age group, there might be no traditional linear television left in 10 years. Viewers are resorting to cord-cutting and migrating increasingly to online for their entertainment to services such as Hulu, Netflix, Big Frame, Defy Media, Fullscreen, Machinima, Maker Studios,etc. According to a statistics portal Statistica, 43 per cent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 preferred Netflix as compared to 46 per cent of paid subscribers who chose cable.

  • Amazon brings instant video service to Japan

    Amazon brings instant video service to Japan

    MUMBAI: Amazon has started to offer its online video distribution service in Japan, allowing customers to purchase or rent films and TV shows from a selection of more than 26,000 titles.

    Shochiku and Toho as well as major broadcasters NHK, TBS and Fuji TV are among the content producers for Amazon Instant Video in Japan. The service offers video downloads for around 100 yen ($1) for rental and 1,000 yen ($10) for purchase.

    Hulu and Apple are both currently operating platforms in the region, adding to the competition that also includes local operators such as GyaO Corp, Tsutaya TV and NotTV. The Japanese cable network JCOM also offers a VOD service that allows for content to be downloaded on multiple devices. With Amazon Instant Video, titles can be streamed to two devices, but only downloaded to one. One of the devices linked with the service is Amazon’s own Kindle tablet.

  • Johannes Larcher departs Hulu

    Johannes Larcher departs Hulu

    MUMBAI: US Video on Demand (Vod) service Hulu‘s senior VP of international, Johannes Larcher, has stepped down.

    His departure comes ahead of reports that the company will be sold. There are seven companies chasing it including Yahoo!.

    Larcher joined Hulu in 2009 and two years later oversaw the site‘s move into the Japanese market. This is its only foreign launch so far.

    Larcher led the company‘s expansion to Japan two years back and was tasked with launching the service in other territories.