01/10/18: Hulu by the numbers

Good morning. It’s Wednesday January 10, 2018 and this is your your first early morning Digital briefing.

TODAY’S CODEBREAKER

Variable Bitrate: VBR is an MP3 encoding technology used for other encoding systems and codecs, especially video. It’s part of the MPEG standard.

JUST IN

Yes, Hulu is growing, but just how fast over a given period of time isn’t easy to discern, even when the company releases numbers. The last time it did so – back in May of 2016 – Hulu said it had 12 million subscribers. This week, the streaming TV pioneer said the figure is now 17 million. However, that includes both its core, paid-subscription service and its Hulu Live pay offering, which launched in May 2017 and costs $40 monthly. Another big numeral in Hulu’s future is two-thirds. That’s how much Disney will own if its asset acquisition deal with Fox happens. Comcast will own the remaining one-third.

Remember M, Facebook’s experimental virtual assistant? If you answered no you’re not alone. In the test phase since 2015, M was yet another way that the social media giant wished to infiltrate your entire being. Although it will never officially leave the test phase, Facebook’s answer to Google Home and Amazon’s Alexa will still pop up from time to time on Facebook Messenger, for example coming up with suggestions based on user texting.

It looks like competition for Apple’s high-end iPhone 8 won’t be coming from China. AT&T has dropped plans to sell the Huawei Mate 10, which boasts a special artificial intelligence microchip and near-$1,000 price tag, according to The New York Times, following on reporting by The Wall Street Journal. The Times said AT&T’s reasoning isn’t entirely clear but cited a letter from unidentified U.S. lawmakers to the Federal Communications Commission that said Congress had “long been concerned about Chinese espionage in general, and Huawei’s role in that espionage in particular.”

PROGRAMMING

When the inaugural season of Overwatch League kicks off on Wednesday, it won’t be on CBS or ESPN. It can only be seen on Twitch, which said it will broadcast every match of the live-streaming Overwatch League in a two-year deal for exclusive broadcast rights that includes playoffs and championship matches. Wednesday’s matches include the first between the San Francisco Shock and the Los Angeles Valiant.

PROGRAMMATIC

Video ad-serving platform SpotX is linking up with Amazon Web Services, allowing for interoperability on the latter’s cloud platform. AWS recently launched AWS Elemental Media Services, providing media and content companies with a suite of tools to launch streaming video networks. The deal with SpotX allows companies to use SpotX’s cloud-based ad serving platform with AWS Elemental MediaTailor, which allows for targeting advertising into videos.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

It’s Deadline Day!

The 4^th Annual Cynopsis Social Good Awards

Cynopsis Social Good Awards honors those civic-minded professionals who find a way to utilize the media industry as a tool for social good. We’re honoring everything from sustainability partnerships and PSA’s, to diversity campaigns, environmental initiatives, and more (check out our full list of categories here). You’ve already done the hard work to improve our community – the submission process is the easy part!

ENTER BY 11:59 PM

AT CES

China hasn’t been particularly good to Facebook. But now the company is gaining access to the country – not with its social media platform, which is blocked, but via a virtual reality headset partnership with Chinese phone manufacturer Xiaomi. In a deal announced Monday at CES, Facebook’s Oculus will launch a headset in China called Xiaomi Mi VR.

Among the many research findings emerging from CES this week is a study about how consumer usage of in-home digital voice assistants is impacting their cell phone habits. Two-thirds of consumers who own smart speakers were found to use their smartphones for fewer applications in the home since getting their smart speaker, according to a survey of 21,000 consumers in 19 countries conducted by Harris Interactive for Accenture. The majority (64%) of consumers use their smartphones less for entertainment and 58% use them less for online purchasing, with 56% using them less for information searching.

Meanwhile, Ford and chipmaker Qualcomm unveiled a partnership to collaborate on cellular vehicle-to-everything technology. The automaker also revealed a cloud-based, connected, smart-city platform it hopes will become an open standard upon which cites, transportation providers, other automakers and more can collaborate and develop. Speaking of garages, August Home, the smart-lock startup, announced a service dubbed August Access, wherein retailers can work with August and its partner Deliv to open your front door and bring packages directly into your home when you are not there (if you use a smart lock from August, Emtek or Yale).

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Former Hulu and Netflix marketing executive Jenny Wall is joining the growing world of podcasting. Wall has joined Gimlet Media as the podcast network’s first Chief Marketing Officer. Most recently, she was Hulu’s SVP and Head of Marketing and before that VP of Marketing at Netflix.

TRIVIA

This actor plays a CIA agent who is determined to help Jennifer Lawrence in the upcoming Red Sparrow film from 20^th Century Fox. (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and state.)

Our Last Trivia Question: Which actress stars as “Samantha White” in Netflix’s Dear White People? Answer: Logan Browning. Kudos to Andy Pittman-TAMU/TX, Susan Nessanbaum-Goldberg-M and S Entertainment/CA, David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/CA, Christine Browning-McGee Media/NY, Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/CA, Morgan Dukes, Florida A&M University/FL, Gloria L. Price-CBS News/NY, Lorrie Shilling/CA, Mathew Tombers-Intermat/NY

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Registration is open for the 2018 Cynopsis TV Awards!

Wednesday, FEB. 7^th | 4:45pm – 8pm | Espace, NYC

We’re gearing up for the annual Cynopsis TV Awards, saluting excellence in national TV programming, from writing and directing to casting, hosting and more. The awards celebration will include the 2018 Buyers & Planners honorees, awarded for outstanding campaigns that have run on broadcast, cable, and digital platforms. Be sure to register your team before January 23rd as seating tends to fill up quickly!

SHORT FORM SPOTLIGHT

Despite seemingly endless hoopla and hype, self-driving cars are really just getting started. This 2017 recap video from Engadget explains why consumers won’t be seeing them in their neighborhood in the next couple of years.


Roberta Caploe Publisher @robertacaploe	Diane K Schwartz Senior Vice President Media Communications Group	Cynopsis Ad Sales Mike Farina \| 203-218-6480 VP, Sales	Cynopsis Job Listings Sales Trish Pihonak \| 203-899-8459 Director of Operations

CYNOPSISJOBS – For More jobs, please visit Cynopsis.com

JOB OF THE DAY

SR. ANALYST TO DIRECTOR, MARKETING INSIGHTS
Comedy Central
NYC

(Freelance) Analyze linear mktg effectiveness, provide insights/recommendations in campaign plan’g & effective ROI evaluations. Strong knwldg Nielsen data & some exp w/dig & social metrics req’d. 2+ yrs of exp pref TV ntwrk brand

Full details

HERE

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