Social TV Must-Reads (May 9)
VIDEO ROUND TABLE: Social TV, Where’s the Money? With Turner Sports, Socialite, and the Padem Group on a panel at the recent Streaming Media West conference.
‘American Idol’ won the social-tv buzz and the ratings battle with ‘The Voice’ last night and leads our mid-day roundup of must-read stories for the Social TV industry.
The TV season concludes with four finales tonight on our radar.
We debuted a new sports roundup today with analytics on top athletes and teams on social media as well as a look ahead to the weekend.
And, we start the day with a new feature — three things you need to know.
Check out today’s picks and tell us what you think!
TV Ratings: Special ‘Voice’ Beats ‘Idol,’ Head to Head, ABC Comedies Drop
Fast National returns have American Idol dropping a tenth of a point among adults 18-49 on Wednesday night, though adjustments should see it matching or besting last week’s showing. The penultimate performance show of the season averaged a 2.8 rating in the key demo.
Read the article http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/tv-ratings-special-voice-beats-520104
Young Americans Won’t Pay for TV. Will They Ever?
A November 2012 report from digital media analysis firm The Diffusion Group found that 13% of U.S. households who have broadband services don’t have pay-TV (cable, satellite or telco-TV), and of those, 2.6 million have never paid for traditional television. According to TDG, those “cord nevers,” as media analysts call them, are disproportionately millennial: 29% are between 18 and 24. A new generation is coming of age, and so is their collective distaste for cable.
Read more: http://business.time.com/2013/05/09/young-americans-wont-pay-for-tv-will-they-ever/
GamePop Console. Service Brings Mobile Games to TV
The company that brought Android mobile apps to Macs and Windows PCs is making its foray onto another one of your home’s screens: the TV. BlueStacks’ new GamePop console and subscription service that will bring hundreds of Android game titles to any television. GamePop is the company’s first hardware venture, and is available for pre-order starting today.
Read the article: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/05/bluestacks-gamepop/
How Community’s Fans Battled the Nielsen Rating System
Once upon a time, the Nielsen rating system mattered. Not any longer. What matters now is fans and buzz. What matters in the digital age is is tribes and Twitter. It’s been several decades since families gathered around a TV in the living room and watched shows together.
Read the article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/russell-c-smith/reinventing-the-tv-rating_b_3226285.html
Sen. McCain prepping legislation to overhaul pay-TV
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is preparing to introduce legislation perhaps as early as Thursday that would dramatically overhaul the television business and will probably be met with strong opposition from the broadcast and cable industries if it ever gets off the ground.
Read the article: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-mccain-cable-bill-20130509,0,6254534.story
Social TV and the Soap Opera
Social TV is making headlines as broadcasters endeavor to monetize their audiences whose attention is now spread simultaneously across multiple platforms. It is now common knowledge that most TV viewers, while watching their favorite shows, are actively engaged in social media conversations about the shows.
Read the article: http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/Column/Social-Pulse/Social-TV-and-the-Soap-Opera-89453.htm
War of the TV boxes heats up
It used to be that families would gather around the living room TV during prime time to watch their favorite shows together. Even as the living room set has gotten bigger, the audience in front of it continues to shrink. Moreover families aren’t watching together — or even on the same screen. While DVRs have allowed for time-shifting of programs, devices such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones are stealing away eyeballs.
Read the article: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/05/08/the-war-of-the-tv-boxes-heats-up/
Starz Hooks Nook, Google Tablets for TV Everywhere Play
Starz continues slowly expanding the universe for its branded TV Everywhere streaming service, with premium cabler releasing apps for Android tablets including Barnes & Noble’s Nooks and select Google Nexus devices — none of which are even close to being as popular as Apple’s iPad.
Read the article: http://variety.com/2013/digital/news/starz-hooks-nook-adds-4g-access-to-tv-everywhere-play-1200477070/
Time Warner CEO: Video-on-demand best thing to hit premium cable
Many in the entertainment industry are afraid of television programming moving online and toward a video-on-demand model, which wrecks havoc on how companies have traditionally made money. Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes isn’t one of them. “You couldn’t have a more positive development,” Bewkes said about VOD at an investor conference Tuesday.
Read the article: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57583255-93/time-warner-ceo-video-on-demand-best-thing-to-hit-premium-cable/
TV Upfronts: A+E Execs Jab Broadcast Networks’ ‘Failure Tax’
NEW YORK — Leave it to A+E Networks executives to fire the first public salvos at the broadcast networks, which at this moment are furiously preparing for the annual upfront sales bazaar kicking off Monday, May 13, with presentations from NBC and Fox. ”We make decisions based on the creative process — not what Wall Street analysts think we should be doing,” said AEN CEO Abbe Raven.
Read the article: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tv-upfronts-a-e-execs-519521
Betaworks-Backed Telecast Brings TGIF TV Experience To Mobile Video
Betaworks is today launching Telecast, a new service that bundles internet video content into an easily digestible, themed package. Telecast will bundle top-notch video from all over the internet into a package. This package consists of one to five videos, each lasting around five minutes. But each of these videos will have a common thread.
Read the article: http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/08/betaworks-backed-telecast-brings-the-tgif-tv-experience-to-mobile-internet-video/
The Future of TV
As screens continue to proliferate, production democratizes and distribution becomes frictionless we’re likely to see a multitude of new media business models emerge, mix and recombine.
Read the article: http://www.digitaltonto.com/2013/the-future-of-tv/
CBS Taps WWE’s Eric Pankowski SVP Programming, Development
The former Senior VP of Creative and Development at World Wrestling Entertainment Corp. (WWE) has come aboard at CBS TV to develop first-run syndicated programming and oversee current shows, the network announced today. As Senior Vice President of Programming and Development, Pankoswki will report to EVP Maureen FitzPatrick.
Read the article: http://www.deadline.com/2013/05/cbs-taps-wwes-eric-pankowski-as-svp-programming-and-development/
News Corp. Beats Profit Estimates on Higher Licensing Revenue
News Corp. (NWSA), the Rupert Murdoch-led media company that’s set to split in two, beat fiscal third-quarter profit estimates on higher licensing fees for television shows such as ” American Idol ” and “New Girl.” Excluding some items, per-share profit was 36 cents, the New York-based company said in a statement.
Read the article: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-08/news-corp-beats-profit-estimates-on-higher-licensing-revenue.html
Social media eyed ‘Day of the Dead’ trademark fail
When Lalo Alcaraz saw a tweet this week that Disney was seeking to trademark “Dia de los Muertos,” the name of the traditional “Day of the Dead” celebrated by millions in Mexico and the U.S., the Los Angeles-based cartoonist immediately pressed “retweet.”
Read the article: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/09/3388941/latino-activists-disney-cant-trademark.html
Social TV Daily publishes a daily roundup of news articles across the Internet. Excerpts are drawn from the content and full URLs are included.
