ITV

Tag: Vimeo

  • Anjali Sud and her big free TV bet with Super Bowl LIX

    Anjali Sud and her big free TV bet with Super Bowl LIX

    MUMBAI: Anjali Sud loves going on the offensive and throwing big and wide. Rarely, has she failed to get a touch down during her career no matter how bold her move. The former rather young CEO of Vimeo – who transformed the service into one valued at hundreds of millions of dollars –  and current Tubi CEO, is once again putting herself to the test – she is pressing the pedal on free streaming television.

    Said she on Linkedin: “I believe in the power of video. I have dedicated my next chapter to empowering audiences with free, frictionless entertainment at Tubi. Viewers deserve fewer barriers, more joy and greater diversity in storytelling. As the most watched free TV streaming service in America, Tubi is committed to defining next generation entertainment.”
    ‘
    Come 9 February and Tubi will be walking her talk and, in her words, “even the walk when it will stream the Super Bowl LIX, free in 4K, for US audiences.” 

     

    Anjali SudThe game will be played between American Football Conference (AFC) champion and two-time defending Super Bowl champion, the Kansas City Chiefs, and National Football Conference (NFC) champion, the Philadelphia Eagles.  For traditional TV watchers, the action on the green will be aired on  Fox Sports with over 100 cameras being used for filming, including a new 4K, 240 Hz model from Sony as its high skycam. The lower skycam will employ the use of lidar and simultaneous localisation and mapping (Slam) technology to provide more precise tracking of its position, data which will primarily be used to improve the performance of augmented reality (AR) graphics. The game will be made available with Dolby Vision HDR and Dolby Atmos surround sound on Comcast Xfinity.

    Sud revealed that it will be a series of firsts for Tubi at America’s biggest sporting event: “from the first-ever Tubi Red Carpet featuring the fashion and celebrity surrounding the game (including the ability to shop the trends from your phone!), to wacky Tubi brand spots that cut to the heart of what we stand for, to airing our biggest original ever, The Z-Suite starring Lauren Graham, after the trophy ceremony.”

    She acknowledged that none of this would have been possible “without the boldness, creativity and steady determination of the Tubi team and our excellent partners at FOX Sports. It has been a true effort from all and I couldn’t be more proud to work with people who aren’t afraid to try new things and reach new heights together…especially when it offers a great entertainment experience for millions of Americans.”

    TV spots  are going at $7.5 million to $8 million per 30 second slot. Wow If that is not steep, we wonder what is.

    Could we have Uday Shankar, Sanjog Gupta and gang  take a similar punt with this year’s IPL? 

  • Stuart Barnes quits Vimeo; joins Yospace as VP international sales

    Stuart Barnes quits Vimeo; joins Yospace as VP international sales

    MUMBAI: Stuart Barnes has been quite a mover and a shaker in the sales world of streaming video. Now he’s moving again. Back to (category leader in dynamic ad insertion) Yospace as VP of international sales in January.

    Says Stuart: “Yospace was where I started my video journey some 20 years ago and I’m looking forward to coming full circle!”

    Indeed he did. For nearly five years between 2003 and 2008. He then joined Bauer Media for another couple of years leading the Yospace product portfolio after it was taken over. Then followed a long journey of more than nine years at Brightcove – which was taken over by Bending Spoons recently – where he rose to become vice-president  new business sales, North America based in New York.

    Initially, he began working for Brightcove in London as regional sales director, northern Europe but he was steered to the US with American market responsibility and he stayed put with the company in New York as vice-president sales, account management, north America for six years.  He finally .moved back to the UK last year as vice-president sales and account management EMEA for BrightCove.

    But he decided to go back home to Yospace when the opportunity came calling.  At Yospace, Staurt is looking forward to working with CEO Tim Sewell  and the team there. 

  • Vimeo buys Livestream, enters live video market, may integrate with OTT tech

    Vimeo buys Livestream, enters live video market, may integrate with OTT tech

    MUMBAI: Vimeo, an ad-free open video platform which has an office in India, signed an agreement to acquire Livestream.

    The latter is a leading live video solution that powers over 10 million events a year. Vimeo also rolled out its own Vimeo Live product, offering professional live streaming capabilities directly through its platform for the first time.

    Following completion of the acquisition, Livestream’s offering will be integrated with Vimeo to empower creators to capture, edit, stream, and archive live events, as well as host, distribute and monetize videos, all in one seamless workflow. The move into live streaming positions Vimeo as the most complete video solution in the market for businesses, organizations and professional creators.

    Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud says: “Live streaming is the #1 request from our creator community this year, and we’re focused on bringing a new level of quality, convenience and craft to this evolving medium.”

    “With the launch of Vimeo Live and the addition of Livestream’s impressive team and innovative product suite, we can empower a diverse range of creators to produce beautiful live experiences with professionalism and ease,” she added.

    Livestream provides businesses and organisations with a solution for connecting with their audiences in real-time. Nearly 50 million viewers tune in to hundreds of thousands of live events powered by Livestream each month from customers including Dow Jones, Philadelphia Eagles, Tough Mudder and Spotify.

    Livestream co-founder and CEO Mark Kornfilt adds, “At Vimeo, we can accelerate the adoption of professional-quality live video by combining our tools and capabilities with Vimeo’s video expertise and global scale.”

    Complete video solution: The integration of Vimeo’s video technology with Livestream’s proprietary hardware and software products, production services and enterprise-level features will provide a end-to-end video solution for a wide range of professionals, businesses and organisations.

    The combination of Vimeo and Livestream will offer: Innovative Production Hardware and Software – Livestream provides production tools and services for capturing, broadcasting and editing live events, from its live event Mevo camera to its live production switcher Studio.

    Future integrations with Vimeo will provide creators with direct access to stream live events through Vimeo and leverage the platform’s robust video tools.

    High Quality Streaming: With Vimeo Live, creators can now broadcast live events in full 1080p with built-in cloud transcoding and adaptive streaming, so viewers can watch in stunning high quality, perfectly fit for their device and bandwidth. Auto-archived live videos on Vimeo can be replaced with files to support 4K viewing.

    Distribution and marketing tools: Creators using Vimeo Live have the flexibility to embed the fully customizable Vimeo player wherever they choose, see who’s attending their event by enabling email capture in the player, turn on live chat, and view live and archived stats to track performance. The addition of Livestream’s syndication tools will enable live distribution across social platforms in the future, including Facebook, YouTube, Twitch and Twitter.

    Singular home for video workflow: Vimeo now provides one home to help creators with all aspects of their video hosting and live streaming workflow – from broadcasting and auto-archiving to storage, management and collaboration to distribution, marketing and analytics. Post-event videos can also be monetised directly to audiences worldwide as a rental, purchase or subscription. Moving forward, Vimeo will also integrate live with its over-the-top (OTT) technology, enabling live content in branded apps across iOS, Android, Roku, Amazon, Samsung, and more.

  • MIPCOM: Keshet gives New Form to digital scripts

    MIPCOM: Keshet gives New Form to digital scripts

    MUMBAI: Global production and distribution powerhouse Keshet International (KI) and New Form, announced a partnership to distribute three of the latter’s millennial- and youth-targeted digital scripted series, launching them to buyers at MIPCOM. KI will seek out both linear TV and digital opportunities for the series internationally.

    KI will offer New Form’s comedy, sci-fi adventure and dark thriller series, all of which are available or soon to premiere in the US on Verizon’s go90 mobile OTT platform, as part of a 20-plus title MIPCOM slate that is Keshet’s largest, most distinctive and diverse ever.

    New Form produces content for mobile-friendly platforms and premium destinations hungry for high-quality content with great stories and value. In addition to go90, the destinations include Vimeo, Refinery29, Fullscreen, YouTube Red and CW’s The Seed.

    “New Form has been at the forefront of creating original premium digital content for new OTT players in the US,” said Keshet International digital & acquisitions SVP Sebastian Burkhardt.

    “With these three remarkable new series, we now have the unique opportunity to expand their reach beyond the booming US market to both linear TV networks – with reformatted 30- and 60-minutes versions – and OTT services throughout the rest of the world.”

    “Partnering with Keshet on the international distribution of three of our signature series is a significant step forward for our long-term strategy of creating, producing and distributing high-quality programs that have wide millennial appeal across multiple viewing platforms around the world,” said New Form business development SVP JC Cangilla.

    Two of the three New Form series appearing at MIPCOM have already premiered on go90 in the US: The high school comedy Mr. Student Body President – A charismatic student body president and his Machiavellian chief of staff give “high school politics” a new meaning as they battle for power over pep rallies, gossip, and grades, with all the ambition and fervor of hardened Washington operatives. Starring Jeremy Shada (Adventure Time, Parenthood, ParaNorman), Arden Rose (1.3 million YouTube subscribers) and Christina Moore (True Blood, That 70s Show, MADTV).

    The Streamy Award-nominated sci-fi adventure MISS 2059 – An intergalactic sci-fi adventure about a beauty queen on Earth who is mistakenly selected to represent humanity in a life-or-death Galactic tournament. Starring Anna Akana (1.4 million YouTube subscribers, Ant Man, The Fosters), Nikki Soohoo (The Lovely Bones, Stick It, Private Practice) and Hartley Sawyer (Geek & Sundry’s “Caper”, The Young and the Restless, The McCarthys).

    KI will also offer Cold, set to premiere in the US on go90 this month on October 13:

    Her mother brutally murdered… her father in prison for the horrific crime… 16-year-old Isla Wallis returns to her remote hometown to discover the truth about what really happened to her family. Now, alone and abandoned in the icy wilderness, Isla will be pushed to the edge of survival as she fights to expose the killer and save more than just her own life. Starring Annalise Basso (Captain Fantastic, New Girl, Ouija 1 & 2, Oculus, True Blood), Todd Lowe (Gilmore Girls, True Blood, Criminal Minds, NCIS), Jim True-Frost (The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, Hostages), and Marcus Johns (6.5 million Vine followers, Expelled, Rock of Ages)

    Additionally, Keshet will be adding a homegrown series, Aces to the list of digital offerings on their full MIPCOM slate. Created by Moti Adiv, Yoni Zicholtz and Jonathan Bar Ilan and produced by Keshet Broadcasting, Aces quickly became Israel’s number one digital series and subsequently migrated to Keshet’s linear channel. The show provides a hilarious fly-on-the-wall peek into the world of five poker buddies when they let loose during their Friday night card game.

  • MIPCOM: Keshet gives New Form to digital scripts

    MIPCOM: Keshet gives New Form to digital scripts

    MUMBAI: Global production and distribution powerhouse Keshet International (KI) and New Form, announced a partnership to distribute three of the latter’s millennial- and youth-targeted digital scripted series, launching them to buyers at MIPCOM. KI will seek out both linear TV and digital opportunities for the series internationally.

    KI will offer New Form’s comedy, sci-fi adventure and dark thriller series, all of which are available or soon to premiere in the US on Verizon’s go90 mobile OTT platform, as part of a 20-plus title MIPCOM slate that is Keshet’s largest, most distinctive and diverse ever.

    New Form produces content for mobile-friendly platforms and premium destinations hungry for high-quality content with great stories and value. In addition to go90, the destinations include Vimeo, Refinery29, Fullscreen, YouTube Red and CW’s The Seed.

    “New Form has been at the forefront of creating original premium digital content for new OTT players in the US,” said Keshet International digital & acquisitions SVP Sebastian Burkhardt.

    “With these three remarkable new series, we now have the unique opportunity to expand their reach beyond the booming US market to both linear TV networks – with reformatted 30- and 60-minutes versions – and OTT services throughout the rest of the world.”

    “Partnering with Keshet on the international distribution of three of our signature series is a significant step forward for our long-term strategy of creating, producing and distributing high-quality programs that have wide millennial appeal across multiple viewing platforms around the world,” said New Form business development SVP JC Cangilla.

    Two of the three New Form series appearing at MIPCOM have already premiered on go90 in the US: The high school comedy Mr. Student Body President – A charismatic student body president and his Machiavellian chief of staff give “high school politics” a new meaning as they battle for power over pep rallies, gossip, and grades, with all the ambition and fervor of hardened Washington operatives. Starring Jeremy Shada (Adventure Time, Parenthood, ParaNorman), Arden Rose (1.3 million YouTube subscribers) and Christina Moore (True Blood, That 70s Show, MADTV).

    The Streamy Award-nominated sci-fi adventure MISS 2059 – An intergalactic sci-fi adventure about a beauty queen on Earth who is mistakenly selected to represent humanity in a life-or-death Galactic tournament. Starring Anna Akana (1.4 million YouTube subscribers, Ant Man, The Fosters), Nikki Soohoo (The Lovely Bones, Stick It, Private Practice) and Hartley Sawyer (Geek & Sundry’s “Caper”, The Young and the Restless, The McCarthys).

    KI will also offer Cold, set to premiere in the US on go90 this month on October 13:

    Her mother brutally murdered… her father in prison for the horrific crime… 16-year-old Isla Wallis returns to her remote hometown to discover the truth about what really happened to her family. Now, alone and abandoned in the icy wilderness, Isla will be pushed to the edge of survival as she fights to expose the killer and save more than just her own life. Starring Annalise Basso (Captain Fantastic, New Girl, Ouija 1 & 2, Oculus, True Blood), Todd Lowe (Gilmore Girls, True Blood, Criminal Minds, NCIS), Jim True-Frost (The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, Hostages), and Marcus Johns (6.5 million Vine followers, Expelled, Rock of Ages)

    Additionally, Keshet will be adding a homegrown series, Aces to the list of digital offerings on their full MIPCOM slate. Created by Moti Adiv, Yoni Zicholtz and Jonathan Bar Ilan and produced by Keshet Broadcasting, Aces quickly became Israel’s number one digital series and subsequently migrated to Keshet’s linear channel. The show provides a hilarious fly-on-the-wall peek into the world of five poker buddies when they let loose during their Friday night card game.

  • Sky invests in US online TV company TV4 Entertainment

    Sky invests in US online TV company TV4 Entertainment

    MUMBAI: Sky has invested $0.3 million, via convertible debt security, in LA-based TV4 Entertainment, which owns a growing portfolio of special-interest television channels aimed at audiences which are typically underserved by traditional TV companies.

     

    The channels are distributed across multiple online platforms in the US including Hulu, Amazon, Sony, Vimeo, YouTube and Roku. 

     

    TV4’s portfolio includes a dozen channels, reaching millions of unique users every month. It has more than 30 new channels in development. The current portfolio includes: DocComTV aimed at documentary devotees; All Warrior Network for fans of the warrior genre; Motorland, a video network for automotive enthusiasts; the Ultimate Champion Network which has programming for combat sports fans; and The Clarity Project, a channel exploring child illness. 

     

    TV4’s strategy has been to acquire and aggregate high-quality video content into recognisable channel brands. Through more than 200 content partners, TV4 has licensed over 5,000 feature length and short form titles as well as many TV and web series. 

     

    The investment in TV4 builds on Sky’s ongoing programme of investing in innovative startups that help Sky bring new ideas, insight and services into its business. This follows recent investments in leading online sports network Whistle Sports, Pluto TV, the online video aggregator and the US ad tech firm Sharethrough. Sky has previously invested in a number of other pioneering US technology companies, including the IP streaming service provider Roku, the immersive 360 video specialists Jaunt and the OTT video delivery firm 1 Mainstream.

     

    Sky director – corporate business development Emma Lloyd said, “This exciting investment will help us develop our understanding of niche content genres and what audiences are most passionate about. We are committed to developing partnerships right across our business that support and extend our leadership position in content and innovation. We look forward to working with the team at TV4 Entertainment as they continue to grow.”

     

    TV4 Entertainment founder and CEO Jon Cody added, “Our goal in this round of investment was to bring on strategic global investors that could unlock business opportunities as we expand internationally over the next year. Bringing Europe’s top entertainment company in Sky into the TV4 Entertainment family is the perfect fit for this mandate. We look forward to growing the value of the Company for our shareholders while bringing tomorrow’s television to viewers across the globe today.” 

  • New film’s release on Vimeo takes Hollywood industry by surprise

    New film’s release on Vimeo takes Hollywood industry by surprise

    NEW DELHI: The film made on the sci-fi love story has taken the entire film industry by surprise in Hollywood.

     

     

    And this, not merely because of its difficult subject line, but because of the decision of Brin Hill, director of In Your Eyes, to distribute the Joss Whedon-penned romantic drama on Vimeo. The same coincides with the movies’ release in New York. Following the premier at the Tribeca Film Festival, Whedon announced that the film would be distributed via Vimeo for a $5.00 rental fee.

     

     

    It was a bold announcement, typical of the sci-fi tinged love story which tracks the relationship of Rebecca (Zoe Kazan) and David (Michael Stahl David), two strangers who discover they share the same senses of vision, smell and touch as they go through their very different lives in New Hampshire and New Mexico, respectively.

     

     

    Full of the clever turns of phrase and of genre to be expected from a script hailing from the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” creator, the film benefits from the tangible chemistry between its two leads and the sleek way Hill allows their relationship to unfold.

     

     

    Said Hill, “I had to tell the story of two people, thousands of miles apart, who can experience the world through one another’s senses.  The characters interact, but they are not in the same state, much less the same room.” 

     

      

    Given all the unusual elements at play, In Your Eyes could only emerge from Bellwether Studios, where copious creative control is afforded by low budgets and the benevolence of its bosses, Whedon and wife Kai Cole, who last backed the similarly envelope-pushing adaptation of “Much Ado About Nothing.”

     

     

    Hill said: “The first time I read the script, I saw the film in two different colour palettes. I knew that I always wanted to identify each environment by a colorscape. It’s much more subtle than, say, a traffic light, but it’s there, and it was there to root them in the ground and know where they are at any given time. Then [there was] the intimacy of camera and having it move a little bit because there is a talking nature to this. It’s about two people who are exploring each other through dialogue, so there’s a challenge of how you keep that energetic. I’d like to think my style lent itself to that really well, but I also was blessed to have Zoe Kazan and Michael Stahl-David. Their dynamic and their chemistry is really, really great, and what makes the film so fun to watch is their discovery of one another.”

  • New video platform to compete with YouTube, Vimeo

    New video platform to compete with YouTube, Vimeo

    NEW DELHI: A new video platform for lifestyle content Wonder PL hopes to compete with YouTube and Vimeo and capitalise on the soaring popularity of online video streaming.

     

    Backed by Universal Music Group, Qualcomm Ventures, former Apple executive Pascal Cagni and a personal investment by Vice Media president Andrew Creighton, Wonder PL which was launched on 13 March features topics from wellness to food to entertainment targeting women.

     

    Wonder PL is differentiating itself from YouTube by targeting professional content makers to use its platform for an annual fee. Whereas, YouTube is free to anyone who wants to upload a video.

    “We want to be the Whole Foods of video,” said Wonder PL founder and CEO Sofia Fenichell. “YouTube is Wal-Mart.”

     

    Wonder PL is going after brands and content creators such as the National Film Board of China and chef Tom Aikens. Wonder charges an annual fee of $300 for its members to use the platform to upload videos. “We know everyone is going to produce more videos,” Fenichell said.

     

    While more people are uploading and consuming video, it is a crowded market. Google’s YouTube, which is ad-supported, has more than a billion unique users per month who watch more than six billion hours of video.

     

    IAC/Interactive’s Vimeo provides a platform for professional users too. Anyone can post videos to the Vimeo platform for free but it charges up to $199 for more comprehensive features like additional storage, support and the ability to sell video on demand. Vimeo takes a 10 per cent cut on all videos using this additional feature. The platform has over 22 million registered members and reaches a global monthly audience of about 150 million.

     

    Fenichell said Wonder will depend on subscription revenue for now but could eventually start providing opportunities for sponsored content. People view videos on Wonder in an ad-free environment.

     

    “The industry currently trades a free or nominal membership fee in exchange for taking very high platform commissions,” she added. “We believe this is an unsustainable model for creators who need to generate value from their work.”