Derek E. Baird :: Barking Robot

Is YouTube the New Cable TV?

A little over a year ago Google, with much fanfare, launched Google TV. Unfortunately, things didn't quite pan out as well as Google or its partners (Sony, Logitech and Intel) had hoped.

Even an infusion of pop culture icon Kevin Bacon couldn't rescue Google TV.

However, big changes are underway at the Googleplex that Google hopes will change the fortunes of of the struggling service.

Google TV, Take Two

According to an article in Business Insider, the first big change to the service is that "Google TV will present all content in one interface regardless of source -- when you look for comedy shows or movies, for instance, you get your cable shows, Netflix rentals, and (critically) YouTube videos all arranged next to one another." 

This move is part of Google’s plans to transform YouTube into more of a “leanback” experience, make TV more social and challenge the dominance of traditional broadcast and cable television providers.

YouTube, The New Cable TV

In addition, Google announced that YouTube would partner with dozens of content creators to bring quality original programming to the platform. 

Demonstrating the wide range of channels that will be rolling out over the next several months, the well-known names participating as creators include Madonna, Jay-Z, Amy Poehler, Rainn Wilson, Shaquille O’Neal, Sofia Vergara, Tony Hawk and Ashton Kutcher.

To aid YouTube viewers with discovery, the channels will be grouped into topic categories such as pop culture, sports, music, health and fitness, animals, and domestic design, as well as categories organized by demographics like age range and ethnic identity.

That's my two cents. So what do you think? Is this new and improved YouTube content experience a threat to cable TV?

Trend Watch: YouTube Beats out Facebook as Top Youth Social Media Brand

A new Harris poll says that YouTube is the top social media brand among America's youth.

The video site beat Facebook as Social Media Brand of the Year in the 13- to 24-year-old age range, according to the 2012 Harris Poll Youth EquiTrend study.

In terms of YouTube’s popularity, other studies have shown that more than 2 billion videos are played every day on the vide-sharing site and that YouTube mobile receives more than 100 million views daily.

The study sought to benchmark the brands that America’s youth prefers by evaluating familiarity, quality, and purchase consideration. More than 5,000 Americans, ages eight to 24, took part in the study. [Via PR Daily]

Related: YouTube Pictures Teachers and Students Using More Video in the Classroom

Trend Watch: When Television Meets Tablet Computers [VIDEO]

What will happen when television meets tablet computers?

SuomiTV and Nordkapp have explored the future of television and created a concept to illustrate the direction where we expect TV watching to evolve in the near future.

Pretty cool stuff.

 

(Sorta) Related: Facebook Now Outranks Television in the UK [Infographic]

Warner Brothers Teams Up with Facebook to Launch Social TV Series 'Aim High'

An upcoming Warner Brothers series about a high-school spy, played by Twilight star Jackson Rathbone, will pull fans into the show through a clever Facebook integration that allows viewers to have their Facebook profile information, pictures and music incorporated in the show.

"Aim High," will debut on October 18 on Facebook and will run for six episodes.

Gimmick? Or brilliant? What do you think?

Related: USA's 'Psych' Social TV Campaign Scores With Fans

Infographic: Twitter Famous (63rd Prime Time Emmy Awards Edition)

With the 63rd Primetime Emmy® Awards just a mere 10 days away, here's a infographic documenting who the most popular Emmy nominees are on Twitter (by sheer number of followers).

Pass it along and show your friends who's buzzing the loudest in Tinseltown. [View Large]

Related Infographic: What Jobs Do Characters of Emmy Nominees Hold Down?

From 'We' to 'Me': The Rise of Fame in Kids TV Programming and Pop Culture

Researchers at UCLA Children’s Digital Media Center have conducted a study that looked at the most popular TV programming for kids 9 to twelve between 1967 and 2007 to look for changes in the values that the shows promote.

The results, for anyone who's watched TV lately, shouldn't be too shocking.

The authors conclusion? The study found that in the 1960's the the value of community and kindness were the primary message of programming for 9-11 year olds. In one decade, from 1997 to 2007, fame leapt from #15 to #1 in importance, out of a list of 16 values.

“Preteens are at the age when they want to be popular and liked just like the famous teenagers they see on TV and the Internet. With Internet celebrities and reality TV stars everywhere, the pathway for nearly anyone to become famous, without a connection to hard work and skill, may seem easier than ever.”

Before we start placing the blame at the feet of Hannah Montana, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez or other tween stars, it should be noted that not a single tween was surveyed for this study. Instead, they interviewed adults who grew up during the particular decades included in the study.

Moreover, they also discuss--and this is important--how kids today are more attuned to values such as fame than kids in the 1970s and 1980s. The bottom line?

Parents need to do some co-watching of shows that are aimed at the pre-teen (and teen!) demographic to see what values are being conveyed. Talk to your kids. Ask them what they are thinking so you can help steer them toward more grounded and realistic outlook on life.

That's my two cents, what's yours?

You can read the entire study, The Rise of Fame: An Historical Content Analysis, in the Journal of CyberPsychology.

 

Trend Watch: TV Gets Social [VIDEO]

 

During Nielsen’s Consumer 360, Nielsen’s Jon Gibs discussed how TV viewers engage with social media and television and how it’s creating a new type of “co-viewing.”

Related: Study Reveals Shift as Social Networking Becomes 'Social Entertainment'

Infographic: Facebook Now Outranks Television in the UK

According to a survey conducted by eXpansys, UK residents spend an average of two and a half hours using Facebook every day, compared to just two hours watching TV.

Their nifty infographic shows how the social web continues to chip away at the UK TV viewing audience.

View Large

Related Links

• TV Ownership Drops for the First Time Since 1992
• Gen Y, Social TV and Multiplatform Media Consumption
• MTV Turns To Twitter And Facebook To Power New Flagship Show
• eGuides TV Web Extensions
• Bravo Virtual Season Finale Party a Big Hit with Viewers
• Report: Gen Y Wants TV to Get More Social
• I Want My Twitter TV?

Oscar 'All Access Pass' Gives Viewers A Rare Peek Behind the Scenes Look at Hollywood's Biggest Night

Here in SoCal, we have five seasons: Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall and Award Season. The grand finale of 'Award Season' are the Academy Awards.

This year the ceremony takes place on February 27, 2011 at the Kodak Theatre and will be hosted by Gen Y stars James Franco and Anne Hathaway.

It's been a rough couple years for the annual telecast with ratings taking a bit of a hit---especially among Millennials. However, last year the Academy Awards made a concerted effort to attract youth to the show and it paid off with a 14% boost to Oscar TV ratings among 18-49 year olds.

The 2010 Oscars youth strategy included a more social media experience, the inclusion of teen friendly stars like Miley Cyrus, Zac Effron and Taylor Lautner as presenters, two original Oscars web series (Behind the Dress & The Road to the Oscars), extra video features and live streaming of the Red Carpet arrivals.

 

This year The Academy of Motion Picture Art & Sciences is once again rolling out the red carpet in a bid to attract a more youthful and technically savvy demographic with a new interactive technology that gives online Oscar fans the ultimate insider's view of Hollywood's biggest night.

The new premium feature is called Oscar All Access, and gives fans an insider’s view of the evening from the Red Carpet all the way through the Governor’s Ball.

Members (signing up is $4.99) actually will have the ability to control their own experience using the groundbreaking “360 cam” technology to control multiple cameras along the Red Carpet, at the Awards show, and afterwards at the Governor’s Ball.

 

In addition to Oscar All Access experience, the Academy also has an official Backstage Pass iPhone and iPad App that allow you to have a more interactive social entertainment experience with the Academy Awards show. Hopefully next year they will expand the Backstage Pass to include all types of Android mobile devices.

It's great to see The Academy embracing new media and providing fans with a more interactive experience. Last year was a step in the right direction and hopefully their social TV friendly approach will pay off in big ratings boost among younger and tech savvy demographic groups.

You can also connect with the Oscars on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

P.S. As long as I have your attention, if you haven't already--go see Oscar host James Franco in his Oscar nominated role for the film 127 Hours. The story, the acting, the cinematography are amazing. Go James! Go Danny Boyle!

 

Trend Watch: Gen Y Affluents

Digital media is trouncing traditional channels with Gen Y, the largest U.S. consumer group. Deft marketers are recognizing the value of investing in their own sites, social media platforms, and mobile apps.

“It’s the ‘end of the beginning’ of a dramatic shift in ad-spending from traditional formats to digital. Power will shift as brands cultivate authentic relationships via social media, creating cohorts whose size dwarfs media brands’ subscriber bases.” ~L2 Founder and NYU Professor Scott Galloway

L2 surveyed nearly 1000 high-achieving and high-earning Gen Y adults for this study. Refined to a panel of 535, on average this sample set is on a trajectory to earn more than $80,000 in the short-term and double their income within the next five years.

Gen Y Affluents: Media Survey

KEY FINDINGS:

• Facebook, hands down: 81 percent of millennial use Facebook every day—nearly twice as many as watch TV or read newspaper content.

• Blogs scale the gates of the fourth estate: 45 percent read blogs every day, as many as those reading newspaper content.

• News brands thrive—it’s paper that’s dying: Nearly half read a newspaper every day, but 79 percent access that content digitally on a daily basis.

• Digital killed the TV set: 42 percent watch TV shows online; 27 percent watch movies online.

• The upwardly mobile go mobile: 25 percent use mobile to access social media, and one in eight watched a video on mobile in the past 24 hours.

• Digital branding is paramount: 63 percent use social media to engage with brands, and more than 50 percent say that Facebook, blogs, and brand videos affect their opinions about products.

• Websites are flagships, too: Websites are as influential as physical stores in shaping Gen Y sentiment, second only to friends’ opinions.

NYTVF: The Straight Dope on Web TV

The NYTVF was founded in 2005 as the industry's first recognized independent television festival, providing a platform to elevate the work of artists creating for the small screen.

Held annually each fall in New York City, the birthplace of modern television, the Festival unites artists, executives, industry figures, and fans together in one forum to celebrate the medium and to help shape its future.

 

 

Trend Watch: New Television & the Media Blender

Every electronic mass media format introduced in the 20th Century, including film, radio, and television, is now in the process of absorption into digital telecommunications networks.

To survive in the 21st century, the companies that produce and distribute traditional media types must adapt to an entirely new environment. The new networks include digital broadband provided by cable television system operators and telecommunications companies offering wireline and wireless access.

via vimeo.com

From the plasma screen in your media room, to the portable device in your pocket, to the side of a high-rise in Manhattan, savvy broadcasters are creating comprehensive "ecosystems" for rich media content with multiple consumer touch-points and immersive interactivity, blending television, web, movies and gaming to redefine the experience of television now and for the next generation.

The 2009 5D Conference explored the intersection of design and technology in the creation of "new television", the experience in front of the screen and the experience in the screen created by the blending of media and the interaction of the consumer.

In this clip, Robert Tercek addresses the vectors of change across all platforms of media and looks at the sphere of media industries that have been absorbed by the telephony sphere.

ABC Introduces Social TV iPad App for "My Generation"

As more and more people get iPads and other multiplatform devices that allow them to sit on the couch and socialize with friends while watching their favorite TV shows, traditional broadcast media outlets are looking for new and interesting ways to connect viewers to their programming and make it a more social experience.

Earlier today, Disney/ABC Television Group and The Nielsen Company announced the debut of ABC’s first-of-its-kind “My Generation” Sync iPad App that is designed to enhance the experience of watching ABC’s new show, “My Generation.”

Completely free to download and use, this innovative app makes watching “My Generation,” which premieres next Thursday, September 23rd at 8pm ET/PT on ABC an interactive experience.  

The “My Generation” Sync app provides exclusive content and social media functionality on the iPad in real time as viewers watch the show – whether they watch it live or on DVR.

 

Using Nielson’s Media-Sync Platform and audio watermarks, the app automatically synchronizes with the television show and allows viewers to unlock content such as polls, trivia, behind-the-scenes info and more.

As we look to the future of TV, consumers can expect more interactivity, personalization and portability that allow viewers to easily consume TV entertainment on devices other than the glowing box in their living room.

For younger viewers, television is a much more interesting and socially interactive experience when they can watch a show and discuss it in real time online with their friends. So it makes sense that ABC is looking at this trend and created this iPad app to provide younger viewers with a social tv experience.

The app also allows users to interact with other viewers through their various social networks as they watch the show. The app is free and available to download in the App Store on iPad.

Trend Watch: Social Media in the UK 2010 [Video]

 

This is a little video produced by Ireland-based PR firm Simply Zesty that explores the state of social media in the UK.

The video includes some interesting social media stats and other demographic information, including: 85% percent of the UK population is online and they spend over 6 hours on social media sites every month, nearly 60% of them read blogs and 64% have their own profile on a social network.

Trend Watch: Is Starling the Future of Social TV?

 

Let's face it. The shift away from traditional broadcast media to the web isn't the only sign that social media is here to stay. Consider the changes in content development and distribution, audience measurement models and advertising.

As more and more people get iPads and other devices that allow them to sit on the couch and socialize with friends while watching their favorite TV shows, traditional broadcast media outlets will have to find new and interesting ways to connect viewers to their programming.

As we look to the future of TV, consumers can expect more interactivity, personalization and portability that allow viewers to easily consume TV entertainment on devices other than the idiot box in their living room. The implication of these changes is so strong that its time to begin considering the future of TV.

In this video Kevin Slavin, president of Starling, talks about how they are enabling social TV and how they expect this trend to impact both consumers and traditional broadcast TV/media companies.