Video Snacking To Drive Revenue Growth

We are about to get overwhelmed with tons of short form video content as the long tail of video consumption is about to get longer.  In today's NY Times, Tronc, once known as Tribune Publishing, has revealed their plans to increase video content 1000% daily.  And other online publishers are following this trend.  With video content attached to every online article, the hope is that more viewers will stay on the page longer, click the video, watch the ads, and continue to snack on other articles and other video content.  A very sound strategy.

Whether the content is created specifically for the page or linked via syndication or other means, the direction is clear.  More video snacking with content that connects with the viewer should create a better user experience.  And hopefully drive online revenue higher.


Two online companies, Wochit and Wibbitz, seem to have the means to quickly and efficiently link content to articles.  "The two services’ automation features work in similar ways. They analyze, and may summarize, text, be it a script or a traditional news article, and then automatically find photographs and video clips to go with it." Whether users find the additional content useful to them or simply clutter may determine the long term viability of these services.  But done right, the use of video on the page should be good news for these content companies. 

Cameras Are Everywhere

In the wake of recent news events, the accessibility and use of cameras has provided a video record of what has often been a he said, she said exchange.  That 1 picture is worth a 1000 words may be true, but it may not be the whole truth either.  Still, that video cameras are everywhere is becoming a more important part of our daily lives.

It seems that every sidewalk has a video camera focused on it, every store has a video camera recording each corner, and in everybody's pocket there is a video camera, our smartphone, ready to record events as they happen.  And we are being record in our good times and in our bad.  Cameras are everywhere.

That it catches criminals and criminal intent is a very good thing, that it provides a potentially independent view of a situation is also good, and that it hopes to enhance security and provide protection is important.  But the reverse is a loss of privacy, individual freedom, and a likely permanent record of our actions, good ones as well as our indiscretions.  Personal privacy is lost for the greater good. 

I've always enjoyed catching video moments of my family's lives.  They are a permanent reminder of the events of our lives.  I'm happy too when citizens with their phones capture everything from silly moments to criminal activity.  The hope is that truth of the moment shines through.

But when it comes to media and the availability of these "videos", I worry that sensationalism outweighs truth, ratings over discretion.  Is it necessary to show everything, no matter how insensitive or gory it might be?  Does it make our society more compassionate or does it start to desensitize us?  There was once a time where media withheld material that wasn't relevant to the situation; today, the need to beat out other news organizations means that faces are no longer blurred, blood is no longer ignored, and pain and violence are showed in all its glory.  In the drive to show everything, we may be becoming more hardened to it.  Our scale of restraint has vanished.  And I worry that we, as a society, are heading down a very dark path. 

Netflix And Comcast Are Now Frenemies

In a not so surprising move, Comcast and Netflix have found a way to cohabitate.  Comcast customers that have the latest set top box, the X1, in their homes will be able to watch Netflix on their TV by simply switching to the Netflix channel.  Previously, users would have to switch inputs from the set top to another box, their Chromecast, Apple TV or Xbox, before accessing their Netflix subscription.  One less step, but for those looking for simplicity, an important one.

So why did Comcast agree to let Netflix in the front door?  Perhaps they recognized that Netflix was not the reason folks dropped cable.  Perhaps by being customer friendly, Comcast sees customers take full value of their cable subscription.  Perhaps it provides a bit of revenue or maybe even some additional research into the minds of their subscribers.  And perhaps they realize that set top boxes may one day be history and best to get some incremental value before it is too late.

Regardless, the press has reacted quite positively the news.  I suspect that customers will as well. And a happy customer may just stay a Comcast customer. 

Apple Should Not Buy Tidal

Subscription content services are a nice business to own.  They provide a nice monthly stream of revenue that can be accounted for with limited risks in subscriber loss.  Heck even cable has seen a very small percentage still from cord cutting.  In music, the big player is Spotify and Apple Music would surely like to beat them.  But recent news that they might purchase Tidal is not the answer.  Sure it has Jay Z but that does not a business make.  And it certainly won't make Apple Music any better or bigger.  Whether it secures any exclusivity is questionable, especially when you consider what Apple may have learned from the book side of the business and dealing with both book publishers and eventially the Judicial Department.

Still, the strategy of building better content businesses is a good one for Apple.  Could that mean buying someone as big as Netflix or perhaps even a Time Warner Inc, home of Turner, HBO, and Warner Bros?  I would love that move.  But maybe something smaller is a better first step.  Given the Viacom issues and Sumner Redstone lunacy, Showtime and sister networks might be a better idea.  Lionsgate is picking up Starz; once owned, they could be in play too.  And let's not forget Scripps or AMC.  Overall, I believe that video subscription should be Apple's next big content move.

And as for SIRI and the Amazon Alexa competition.  That is a blog for another time. 

Starz Deal Demonstrates The Value Of Content

Lionsgate believes that content and distribution are intertwined and so have announced their deal to buy cable pay provider Starz for $4.4 billion.  According to Multichannel, " Although anticipated for months, the combination will give Starz the production heft it has craved as well as a vast content library – the merged entity will have 16,000 movie and TV titles – while Lionsgate gets a distribution arm in the Starz and Encore premium channels. It also paves the way for a broad range of new content partnerships and accelerates the growth of Lionsgate and Starz’s own OTT services."  A win-win for both companies and one that leverages the strengths of each other.   The deal should be approved by end of year.  

This deal comes as a result of the work done by John Malone, CEO of Liberty Media , who invested in Starz, spun it off into a separate company and ultimately put Lionsgate together with Starz to finalize a deal.  Not surprising, Malone's Discovery Channel also has a piece of Lionsgate making this deal more of a family affair for Liberty Media.  Given John Malone's MIdas Touch with content and distribution, the newly combined entity will do quite well. 

Globalization Verse Isolationism

We live in interesting times.  While domestically, our political system grapples with issues ranging from immigration to unemployment, from freedom to security, from guns to the right to choose.  And as a democracy, we have a full range of thoughts and actions on how to accomplish our goals.  There are those that believe that we should be armed, that we must build walls to restrict entry, and we must tell others what they can do with their own bodies.  Others seek more regulation and restriction, interdependency, and choice.  But the one truth is that each of us have our own point on the line on where we stand, similar with some and different with others.

But what we face in the US seems no different than what is faced abroad and Brexit certainly demonstrates that a majority were fed up with status quo.  But unlike a revolution, a vote to exit the EU may answer one issue while creating so much more uncertainty.  In this case, no one seemed to plan out what the next steps should be should the vote pass.  Change and uncertainty consistently go together.

The riding question is if such a move to withdraw and separate is truly the right strategy.  Technology, media, communication, environmental issues, and so much more have made this planet Earth a much more smaller place to inhabit.  We all live on this one planet and for now we have no other planet to move to.  Rather than isolating ourselves, restricting movement, pushing others away, we need to learn how to listen, how to get along and ultimately to start growing up and behave like adults, not children.  Violent physical conflict should never be the answer; communication, conflict resolution, and compromise should be the global mantra.  Ultimately, "Can't We All Just Get Along."

As for our upcoming election, perhaps some will see a lesson learned from what the UK is now experiencing;  others will not.  Let's hope that a majority finds that we can find an orderly process.  But the world around us must also grow up too.  Violence should never be the answer.  But that esson might take a lot longer to learn. 

Intel Wants You To Know What They Do

Fascinating article in the NY Times about how Intel is using original content to craft its branding message.  It's no longer Intel Inside, rather, it is "experience what’s inside" to further describe the effects that Intel technology has on people's lives.  Of course no one tends to buy an Intel product and we think of them as components inside another brand.  Whether this ad campaign changes its bottom line or pushes them toward a more consumer product push remains to be seen. 

When Spokespeople Get Fired

The world of advertising with celebrity endorsements, funny catch phrases, and ordinary spokespeople, all try to capture the attention of the public and convince us that the product or service offered is the best one.  Over the years, a large number have become quite memorable, from Tony the Tiger for Frosted Flakes to Jared for Subway, some good and some bad.  And of course some great catchphrases too, from "Where's the Beef" to "Can You Hear Me Now?"

Yet advertising is a tricky business and nothing ever goes as planned.  Who would know that Jared would go from losing weight on Subway sandwiches to child porn.  But once a connection is made between performer and endorsement, managing that relationship, even when the campaign is stopped for a new direction, is a tricky business.  So I wonder why Verizon, who made their name on their spokesperson saying the phrase "Can You Hear Me Now", one that truly resonated in the annuls of advertising, would not have kept their young spokesperson on some kind of exclusive retainer.  Instead Verizon got a slap in the face.

The original...



And now...



Does AT&T have to worry about their young spokesperson "Lily, does Activia have to worry about Jamie Lee Curtis, or does it pay to keep them under some exclusivity?  Verizon certainly will find out if Sprint has caught them napping or not.

Goodbye Cablevision, Hello Altice

I started my ad sales career at Cablevision of Boston, a Charles Dolan business that was a part of the Cablevision Systems empire.  I left and rejoined Rainbow Media, a subsidiary of Cablevision and the network side of the business.  There I worked with cable networks like Bravo and IFC; eventually, more networks and responsibilities were added to my job description.  I watched the industry move from start up to mature and was sad when the Boston system was sold to Comcast and especially when Bravo and half the team I worked with was sold to NBC.  Eventually I was downsized too and left the Cablevision team.  Since then, Rainbow left Cablevision to become a standalone business AMC Networks, just as MSG did the same.  And today, Cablevision itself has officially sold itself.

The cable industry continues to mature.  Where once it was the upstart competing with broadcast; today, it is grouped with broadcast and competes with streaming.  Those early days were quite special and money flowed freely.  Business trips, management conferences to amazing locales, turkeys at Thanksgiving, stock options and more.  But as accountability tightened up and profit margin mattered more than employees (or even customers), many of those perks were dropped. 

I look at my career as I look at my life as chapters in a book still being written.  Those early chapters with Cablevision and Bravo/IFC were amazing.  I think back to them at times and smile.  To see the company that I spent more than 15 years with become no more does make me feel a little sad.  No regrets though as one must continue to keep writing the new chapters in living one's life.  Who knows what the next story will look like.