Friday’s Social TV Must-Reads (May 10)
TV manufacturers are collaborating on Automatic Content Recognition technology. How soon could that result in smarter sets and could it sideline the growing second-screen industry?
Last night, the NBA Playoffs had a rare open night and the NHL buzz dominated while “American Idol” stayed atop the broadcast Social TV buzz. Check out what the top shows were trending last night, read the top Social TV tweet, all right here.
Sports is one of the hottest areas in Social TV and rules the buzz weekdays and weekends. Check out the weekend sports schedule, sports highlights, and top tweets in our sports roundup, right here.
Our top pick of must-reads at mid-day comes from VR-Zone, taking a look at ACR technology.
Read this and so much more today, including app news, ratings, advertising, upfronts, earnings, hardware, deals, people, more sports and news from the Latin Market.
Give a read and let us know what you think!
Top Story
Smart TV makers push for Automatic Content Recognition
Major smart TV makers worldwide are partnering up to push for Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology. ACR will allow smart TVs to recognize video images and sounds, and retrieve specific content much quicker that the standard search method via text input or database browsing.
- Read the article
Apps
Social App Pheed Brings Streaming Pay-Per-View to Mobile
There’s a reason social app Pheed has catered to the creative community in the six months since it launched. It’s an amalgam of sites like Instagram and video and audio sharing apps, where creatives can retain rights to their content and monetize it if they want.
- Read the article, via All Things D
Eurovision Song Contest 2013 gets second-screen app
British fans of the Eurovision Song Contest are used to hearing tongue-in-cheek commentary while watching the annual event, but in 2013 they’ll also be able to browse the lyrics for each song as it’s performed. This year’s contest has spawned an official app, released for iPhone and for Android, which is designed to offer second-screen features while the event airs on television.
- Read the article via Guardian UK
Ratings
Engagement: ‘Dead’ Walks Off With Top TV Ranking 05/10/2013
AMC’s “Walking Dead” doesn’t break the top-50 list in the Nielsen ratings. But in Optimedia’s Content Power Ratings, released this week, the Zombie-themed show was the No. 1 ranked network program of the 2012-13 TV season.
- Read the article via MediaPost
Advertising
IAB Open Letter to Digital Buyers
In response to yesterday’s open letter to the Web video ad seller community from a cadre of top digital buyers, IAB president and CEO Randy Rothenberg fired off an open letter of his own to the digital gang of eight, which includes Digitas’ Adam Shlachter, Zenith’s John Nitti and GroupM’s Rob Norman.
- Read the article, via Ad Week
Upfronts
Upfronts Pregame Analysis: CBS Rules the World
We’re less than 100 hours away from the start of upfronts, the weeklong TV industry tradition in which broadcasters (and, recently, a few cable networks) try to convince advertisers they’ve had the Best Development Season Ever and sponsors best buy lots of commercial time in the new shows because everybody in America has already set their DVRs to record them.
- Read the article, via Vulture
2013 Upfronts: ”About a Boy’ among five new series orders from NBC
Marcus (Benjamin Stockham, left) and Will (David Walton) play in the pilot for “About a Boy.” (Jordin Althaus / NBC) On Thursday NBC announced it was giving series orders to five pilots, including new shows from industry heavyweights J.J. Abrams, Jason Katims and James Burrows. In “The Family Guide,” J.K.
- Read the article, via LA Times
Earnings
Sony Returns to Profitability in 2013, Looks Ahead to PS4, TV Recovery
Troubled 2011 is behind it, but much work remains Sony Corp. ( TYO:6758), one of Japan’s largest companies, in its fiscal 2013 reversed its money bleed from the prior year, despite some of its units struggling.
- Read the article, via Daily Tech
Panasonic Profit Forecast Misses Estimates as TVs Stall
Panasonic Corp. forecast annual profit that missed analyst estimates after Japan’s second-biggest television maker continued to lose market share to Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. Net income will probably be 50 billion yen ($495 million) in the year started April 1, compared with a net loss of 754 billion yen in the previous year, the Osaka-based company said in a statement today.
- Read the article, via Bloomberg
Hardware
Stream PBS content to your Roku player
I used to talk about my Roku streaming player a lot; I’m a big fan of the device. I’m currently using the latest Roku 3 after my old Roku somehow disappeared during a cross-country move. Funny thing about the gadgets we use; after a while we take them for granted and stop talking about them.
- Read the article, via IT World
Deals
Yahoo’s Mayer Said to Explore Bid for Hulu to Add Video Service
Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer is exploring whether to bid for the Hulu LLC streaming-TV service, people with knowledge of the matter said. Mayer met this month with Hulu senior executives to learn more about the site, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private.
- Read the article, via Bloomberg
Condé Nast Entertainment to Launch ‘Vogue’ Digital Channel
Vogue is joining Condé Nast Entertainment’s expanding digital platform. CNE unveiled the new video channel, which marks the third in the company’s new digital video network. CNE announced slates for GQ and Glamour earlier this year. Programming for the Vogue channel will include six original series inspired by the iconic brand.
Read the article, via THR
Brazilian media giant Globo ditches Facebook
Summary: The largest mass media conglomerate in Brazil declared yesterday that none of its content would be promoted on Facebook. But shouldn’t the company be exploring the future rather than ignoring what users want?
- Read the article, via ZDNet
‘American Idol’: Cut the judges some slack
First, there were rumors that producers of “ American Idol ” were considering replacing pop icon Mariah Carey with former judge Jennifer Lopez . Now there’s speculation that all four judges – including Carey’s sparring partner Nicki Minaj , Keith Urban and veteran Randy Jackson — will get the sack in an attempt to jumpstart the series, according to the Wrap.
- Read the article, via LA TImes
People
Troy Young Hired as Hearst Digital Media Chief
Hearst Magazines, the publisher of such venerable titles as Esquire and Cosmopolitan, said on Wednesday that it was creating a new position, president of digital media. The job will go to Troy Young, 45, who will be responsible for content, revenue production and development strategies for Hearst Magazines’ 26 online properties, which include Cosmopolitan.com, Elle.com and RealBeauty.com.
- Read thearticle, via NY Times
Sports
ESPN US wants to keep its mobile content flowing, despite data caps
Sports-focused content network ESPN wants to ensure that users keep watching its content on their mobile devices, and to achieve that, plans to work around data plan caps. According to the Wall Street Journal, ESPN is having discussions with at least one major US carrier to subsidize wireless connectivity to ESPN.
- Read the article, via Pocket Lint