Good morning. It’s Monday, April 8, 2019 and this is your first Media Tech Update. Join us every Monday morning!

IN THE NEWS

 

Netflix shut down support for Apple’s content sharing feature, AirPlay, due to what the streamer calls “technical limitations.” “With AirPlay support rolling out to third-party devices, there isn’t a way for us to distinguish between devices (what is an Apple TV vs. what isn’t) or certify these experiences,” said Netflix. “Therefore, we have decided to discontinue Netflix AirPlay support.” Members can continue to access Netflix on the built-in app across Apple TV and other devices.

 

Two college students in Oregon stand accused of a counterfeiting operation that cost Apple almost $900,000. Federal prosecutors allege Yangyang Zhou and Quan Jiang imported knock-off iPhones from China, then filed warranty complaints that almost half the time resulted in their receiving real iPhones as replacements. They shipped the real things to China to be resold. The scheme, which resulted in Apple replacing 1493 fake phones, took place between April 2017 and March 2018. Jang faces charges of trafficking in counterfeit goods and wire fraud charges, while Zhou is being charged with submitting false or misleading information on export declaration, reports NPR.

 

Verizon Digital Media Services is teaming with Microsoft to deliver an easier way for broadcasters, content owners and streaming services to deliver high-quality, personalized viewing experiences on Microsoft Azure. “Verizon Media Services, powered by Azure, the fastest growing cloud service provider, is the ultimate streaming solution to address the growing demand for video content online,” said Ralf Jacob, President of VDMS. “Paired with Azure’s global scale we can now deliver, high performing, simplified video workflows to content creators anywhere.”

 

Deluxe Entertainment announced a multi-year collaboration with Amazon Web Services selecting it as its primary cloud provider. Deluxe fully integrated with AWS services to enable end-to-end content solutions on the Deluxe One platform. Through the partnership, Deluxe is ensuring clients and partners are able to efficiently work and scale across the entire media landscape.

 

New performance updates and innovations for video and audio tools in Adobe Creative Cloud include Content-Aware Fill for video, powered by Adobe Sensei, the company’s artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, along with new capabilities for titles and graphics, crafting animations, refining audio mixing, and organizing and preparing project media. Performance improvements include faster Mask Tracking  for effects and color workflows, dual GPU optimization and improved hardware acceleration for HEVC and H.264 formats in Premiere Pro. In After Effects, enhancements include GPU-accelerated effects, such as Change Color and Roughen Edges.

 

At Snap’s Partner Summit last week, the company that invented Stories announced App Stories, enabling users to share photos and videos from the Snapchat in-app camera to a Stories feature in other companies’ apps. Snap also unveiled augmented reality features beyond the face - developers can now create AR features for a full body, as well as filters for pets.

 

Global media technology company MediaKind announced the launch of its Cygnus 360º as-a-Service solution for live events. The offering provides a cloud-based workflow for live 360º video processing and multi-platform publishing service. Consumers can become immersed in live content through enhanced 360º video coverage, either directly via a head-mounted device or viewed on a multiscreen device as a companion to existing High Definition/ Ultra High Definition broadcast or streamed services.

 

Premium video marketplace Stringr  debuted its livestreaming function, enabling customers to request live video content nationwide from Stringr’s 75,000-plus videographers. As a pilot customer for livestreaming, The Weather Channel is using the function to increase its live severe storm coverage.

 

Slomo.tv, producer of cost-effective high performance video record and instant replay systems, is demonstrating the world’s smallest video broadcast grade replay server and videoReferee system Ripley Plus in the form factor of the replay controller. The new Ripley Plus supports a 6Rec+6Search+2Play channels configuration, and can work as an 8-channel videoReferee-R video judging system that meets the minimum FIFA requirements for VAR. Ripley “got very warm reception in Europe as an affordable and effective solution for small scale broadcasters who strive for high production quality,” said Michael Gilman, CEO of Slomo.tv. “Now, we are introducing a new generation …This opens up a whole new world of opportunities for anybody who wants a broadcast quality slow motion instant replay server for sports and video-judging applications.”

 

Vizrt, provider of visual storytelling tools for media content creators, has acquired NewTek, provider of IP-based, software-driven live video production solutions, to create the largest company in the broadcast space dedicated to enabling IT based video production. “Combining our organizations allow us to pursue our joint vision of software-based video production, leveraging the power and flexibility of computing and IT-based systems,” said Michael Hallén, Vizrt CEO. “The combined business will be very well positioned to deliver turnkey systems that give creative power to any organization that has ambitions of producing content for any output platform.”

 

AMC Networks has turned to Arris Intertnational and its video compression and transcoding solutions to serve as the foundation for the media company’s satellite distribution architecture. The ARRIS ME-7000 leverages the latest HEVC compression technologies to increase video capacity over satellite transmission channels, enabling next-generation entertainment experiences for viewers, while the ARRIS DSR-7400 family of transcoders allows AMC Networks to efficiently deliver services through its existing QAM networks and transcode HEVC services to MPEG-2/4 HD and SD in support of legacy set-tops. Its multi-tuner capability can simultaneously receive and process up to four input satellite transponder multiplexes enabling flexibility in service selection across networks.

 

Independent video technology company JW Player announced the launch of OTT apps aimed at empowering brands to create customized viewing experiences as well as maximize reach and revenue with monetization and audience engagement tools. The OTT product “will get clients up and running in weeks, not months, while also supplying media companies with better reporting and monetization,” said Neil Deiter, VP Global Partner & Product Alliances. “Over the next few years, there will be a massive opportunity for media companies to get their content into audiences’ living rooms while controlling their brand and revenue streams.”

 

Cynopsis Sports Media Awards

April 25 | 8:30AM – 10:30AM | NYC

Please join us on Thursday, April 25, for the Cynopsis Sports Media Awards breakfast. This awards program is dedicated to celebrating the work of talented producers, hosts, sponsors, executives and the initiatives that drove audiences and viewers over the past year. Register before April 11 ^th to save $100/ticket. You do not want to miss out on the most anticipated event in the industry!

REGISTER BY 4/11

ADVERTISING

 

The Advertising Research Foundation has adopted a code of conduct governing ethical research and related data collection by member companies. The code addresses industry conduct in relation to research participants, internal and external clients, the profession and the public. The ARF will look to enforce the code through a cooperative industry system titled the “Chain of Trust,” with members agreeing to use suppliers, agencies and other ad tech third parties who have made commitments to the values expressed in the code of conduct, whenever possible. “For an ecosystem such as ours built upon research, data and analytics, the need to ensure that all are conducting themselves in an ethical and responsible manner, based upon agreed guidelines of behavior, is not only morally correct, it is good business,” said Scott McDonald, CEO and President of the ARF. For details, go here.

 

Imagine Communications’ ad inventory optimization platform has been updated to ease the transition to impression-based ad buys. Launched in 2017, xG GamePlan  offered improved efficiency to audience-based campaigns to reach target goals with less inventory; the latest update gives customers the ability to blend both spot and audience-based campaigns so they can gradually ease brands toward impression-based buying. “We know that our broadcaster and MVPD customers globally want to move to impression-based ad models to more strategically optimize their inventory, but most markets are built so heavily around ‘the spot’ that it’s not as easy as flipping a switch,” said Ronnie Bell, VP of Global Product Management, Imagine Communications Ad Tech. “xG GamePlan helps start to solve that problem by making it simple for our customers to transition to audience-based strategies at a pace that’s right for them and the brands they work with.”

 

Among the announcements at Snap’s Partner Summit was the plan for Snap Audience Network, calling for Snap to sell ads that will appear inside other companies’ apps.

 

Verizon Media  announced the release of Digital Out-of-Home inventory for its omnichannel DSP, allowing customers to programmatically serve ads on digital screens in public spaces. The feature offers advertisers a new inventory source, reaching consumers who are off-device.

 

 

MEASUREMENT

 

Digital advertising technology company Amobee announced an agreement with Univision Communications to be the linear television optimization platform of record. The Amobee platform sets the foundation to support Univision across linear, digital and social channels. “Bringing data to the top of the marketing funnel provides better targeting and addressability to television investments, with overall television advertising spending slated to surpass $200 billion by 2020,” said Kim Perell, CEO of Amobee. “

 

The National Association of Broadcasters announced the successful transmission of a Nielsen audience measurement watermark, using the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard. The transmission is part of an ongoing collaboration preparing broadcasters and manufacturers for the transition to the Next Gen TV standard. The installation and transmission of Nielsen watermarks, inaudible signals in a program’s audio that help identify the program for audience measure purposes, was completed at the NAB/Consumer Technology Association ATSC 3.0 test station located in Cleveland, OH, hosted as Tribune Media’s WJW. “Broadcasters are eager to deliver interactive benefits and dazzling features through Next Gen TV to our millions of viewers, and this milestone brings us another step closer towards the deployment and adoption of Next Gen TV,” said NAB Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Sam Matheny. “We thanks Nielsen for their hard work, and we will continue working with them and others to bring Next Gen TV to the market.”

 

Back by popular demand, the Upfront/NewFronts Navigator is here to provide you with a convenient, easy-to-use resource center for the busiest time of the year. Sponsored by The Weather Channel Television Network, we provide coverage + access to the following:

 

-Network resource guides detailing programs, demo info, and more

-Calendar of the Upfront/NewFronts schedules

-Updates from the presentations, road shows & meetings

 

If you haven’t checked it out yet, what are you waiting for? Click here

GAMES

Fortnite is taking a page from competitor Apex Legends with a new feature Epic Games calls “reboot vans,” where players can bring their teammates back to life. A similar feature was introduced on Apex Legends two months ago.

  

Snap launched its HTML5-based gaming platform last week, allowing users to play games within Snapchat. Games are accessible from a rocket button within Snapchat’s group chat, and players can chat with each other in real-time via text chat and voice. Six-second ads will be integrated on an opt-in basis, in return for bonuses like coins of power-ups.

 

 

FUN FACT

 

More than one in five people use voice commands to interact with their TVs or streaming devices, according to a survey from IHS Markit, and 30% more are interested in the technology. But age matters – while 33% of 25- to 34-year-olds use voice assistants for TV viewing, the number dips to 4% for viewers 55+.

 

ACCOUNT SERVICE REP/Crown Media Family Networks/NY: Train/mentor sales planners & sales assts. Present new prgrmng & mktg opps to clients & new bus. prospects. Negotiate scatter deals & build targeted sales pitches. Min 2 yrs sales plan’g or buying exp. Ability to create flowcharts & PP pres. BA/BS req. Full info/apply HERE (4/18)

SALES PLANNER/Crown Media Family Networks/ATL: Provide sales and support to the Ad Sales team for Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries & Hallmark Drama. Maintain media schedules, build sales plans, manage added value. BA/BS & min 1 yr exp. req. Apply HERE (4/18)  

DIGITAL RESEARCH ANALYST/Crown Media Family Networks/LA: Analyze subscriber behavior for SVOD, Hallmark Movies Now.  Create, maintain & present daily, wkly &monthly reports. Track/analyze Hallmark Channel Podcast data. BA/BS & min 1 yr exp. translating complex data into bus. insights req. Apply HERE (4/18)

MGR, AD SALES PARTNERSHIPS/A+E Networks/NY: Serve as ad sales partnerships resource & thought leader in the sales dept, managing ideation & response to RFPs, creating prod knwldg one sheets based on assigned network & disciplines, knowledgeable in digital/social mktg products & tools, effectively demonstrating how they can be leveraged in strategic 360 campaigns. Full info HERE (4/18)

 

SOCIAL MEDIA PRODUCER/Fox News Channel/NYC: Help produce content for all of our social media platforms. Team player with a positive attitude a must & comfortable working under pressure in a fast-paced envir. Your passion for news is bar none! Exc writing skills & 3+ yrs of exp in news, TV or web. Full info HERE (4/17)

ACCOUNT SERVICES REP /Weigel NTWRKS/CHI - Responsible for maintaining all aspects of account management for the Chicago advertising sales team and providing timely and accurate info to the sales team and to the client. BA deg or previous media exp pref’d.  MS PP, Excel, word exp a must. Full info HERE (4/16)

ACCT EXEC, SALES DEVELOPMENT (Consumer Tech)/ION MEDIA/NY: Seeking sales professional to generate new advrtg accts and revenue for ION’s linear television platform.  Dedicated category focus on companies which specialize in consumer technology, social media, e-commerce and OTT. Self-starter with 8-10yrs of TV selling or related adv sales exp. Full info HERE (4/13)

SALES-MARKETING COORD/AMERICAN TARGET NETWORK/NY: Ideal Candidate will work closely with sales managing client relationships and processing requests, inputting order and traffic. Be able to create mktg sales decks and promotional materials. Manage internal process for credit applications, monthly billing and weekly budget reports. Full info HERE Send resume and salary requirements to info@americantargetnetwork.com (4/13)