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Christopher Slaughter
CEO
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| Old hacks rule of thumb (now apparently codified into “law” ): If the headline ends in a question mark, the answer to the question it asks is “No.” With that in mind, the New York Times Magazine rehashes the six-month-old “Netflix goes global” story this week with “Can Netflix Survive in the New World It Created?” Unfortunately, to get to the meat of that premise, you have to wade through the first 4000 words of the article, by which time you’ve forgotten the question. Contrast that with last weekend, when The Guardian cut straight to the chase: “Will Netflix Really Steal Traditional TV’s Crown?” (And it’s a much shorter piece, too.) |
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John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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| There’s a reason that POLIcy and POLItics start with the same syllables…….The Washington-based Court of Appeals has given a boost to the FCC’s Net Neutrality stance, ruling that the agency acted appropriately in deciding to regulate internet service providers as common utilities. The cable industry and the cellular industry had both sued to block the action. Reactions differed, of course. Silicon Valley companies loved the decision, but others complained the FCC and the court had both ignored good economics and made political decisions. Don’t you dare think this is even close to being resolved: AT&T said they’d take the case to the Supreme Court, and on the pure POLItics side, the Republican majority in the House of Representatives will try to legislate against the Democratic majority on the FCC. |
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Mark Lay
Vice President, Singapore
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| REDEF has another well thought out “Original” this week. Mathew Ball takes a look at The Impending Fall of TV Ad spend…Brightest Before the Dark. “No matter how you define consumption, the industry is experiencing a dramatic flight from ad-supported television (whether linear or over the top). And though counter-intuitive, the severity of this trend has actually benefited the major network groups. The loss of audiences (especially young audiences) has created ad impression scarcity that has driven up primetime CPMs significantly over the past 18 months, even though the core product (a TV ad) remains the same and its efficacy continues to erode.” Definitely worth the full read. |
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Anjan Mitra
Executive Director, India
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| The censors at the CBFC have been getting a roasting in the Indian press. “Is (CBFC chair) Pahlaj Nihalani out to bury the Indian film industry?” and “Film Industry vs Pahlaj Nihalani” were typical headlines. Commentators noted that if films are cut, audiences increasingly go online to find uncensored versions. And this is equally true for TV, said one writer. The proximate cause of all the criticism was a court case about the film “Udta Punjab“, and that was finally resolved with the CBFC being order to rescind most of its cuts. But the systemic problem seen by some writers endures. |
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Kevin Jennings
Vice President, Programme
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| It has been announced that Microsoft, Google and Facebook are to work with the Bangladesh government to remove ‘inappropriate content’ form the internet. The State Minister for Telecoms said that the companies had agreed that they will respond to requests within 48 hours. China’s Xinhua News said the three companies had agreed to share information related to any “unexpected incidents” with the Bangladeshi government. Whilst it’s not entirely clear what content would be targeted, Google has already cooperated with Bangladeshi authorities and agreed to remove certain videos from YouTube. Some critics are already crying foul, although Bangladesh has experienced a string of brutal attacks against bloggers and foreign nationals in the last 12 months. |
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Jane Buckthought
Advertising Consultant
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| Television will still be the dominant medium for the foreseeable future, data from media agency Zenith is predicting, however the sharp rise of mobile internet consumption is eating into how much all other media is consumed globally, particularly in Asia Pacific. In another study by EGTA, Television still dominates video viewing around the world. Figures from international television trade bodies put online viewing into perspective. Even among younger adults, television accounts for the majority of their viewing. |
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Mark Lay
Vice President, Singapore
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If you are making decisions based on how video consumption will change, the first indicator you will want to look at is broadband roll-out. There may be no better source for this than the Cisco Visual Networking Index. A few key findings: a) Global IP traffic will nearly triple at a compound annual growth rate of 22 percent over the next five years, b) new Internet users will grow from 3.0 billion in 2015 to 4.1 billion by 2020 and c) Internet video will account for 79 percent of global Internet traffic by 2020—up from 63 percent in 2015. Cisco will have a live webcast specifically for Asian-based participants on June 22, 2016 from 10: 30AM – 11:30AM. Pre-registration is required through this link. |
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Christopher Slaughter
CEO
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| E3 — shorthand for the Electronic Entertainment Expo — has wrapped in LA, and apparently, Sony was the winner, again. There were lots of announcements that could have significant impact on the future of the console gaming market, but also plenty of other news about all aspects of games and gaming. And in case you wondered, yes, eSports really are starting to become an even more serious thing (the CEO of Electronic Arts told Bloomberg that eSports are “here to stay”). Equally importantly, brands are starting to pay even more attention to the whole world of competitive gaming. Oh, and VR, that’s definitely a gaming thing, too. |
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John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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| Speaking of games, the upcoming Olympic Games have been generating heat in some Asian markets, because of difficulties over broadcasting rights. In Thailand, Dentsu (the rights holder) has been playing hardball, refusing to let the government Universal Service fund decide that the coverage would be available to all 25 digital TV channels, as the rights were actually bought by a pool of only six ex-analog channel operators. (I doubt they were pushing hard to let their competitors in, either.)
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Jane Buckthought
Advertising Consultant
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| Kantar Media’s new Dutch measurement service will deliver a complete view of TV and video consumption which will allow advertisers, agencies and broadcasters to monetise beyond the main TV set and analyse viewing across smartphones, tablets and PCs for the first time |
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Christopher Slaughter
CEO
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Kevin Jennings
Vice President, Programme
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| In New Zealand SKY and Vodafone have announced a plan to merge. The two companies say the merger will create a combined entity that will have the ability to offer New Zealand’s best entertainment content across all platforms and devices in a rapidly evolving media and telecommunications market. Critics say the move has come as a response to fundamental shifts in the market, with internet –based operators such as Netflix posing a serious threat to the PayTV model. The directors of SKY New Zealand have unanimously recommended its shareholders to vote in favour of the merger which is expected to complete by December at the earliest. |
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John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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| There were piracy arrests in the UK and also in Japan. (I love the Japanese crook’s excuse: it was “troublesome” to get a legitimate pay-TV card.) In the UK, copyright federation FACT used the opportunity to get out the message that “set-top boxes with apps and add-ons allowing the streaming of pirated TV, sports and films are very much illegal” There, as in Asia, the piracy peddlers tell people “oh yes, these are perfectly legal…..you know, grey market goods.” Wink, wink….. |
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Christopher Slaughter
CEO
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| And now, the fun begins… the first round of nomination voting for the Emmys is underway, with some 20,000 members of the TV Academy voting on more than 8000 shows entered in 100 categories. The voting will go on for two weeks, and the final list of nominations will be announced on July 14. Part of the reason for the overwhelming amount of shows and categories is the inclusion of digital short form series, among other changes (including the order in which names appear on ballots). Final voting will take place in late August, and the 68th Emmy Awards extravaganza will be held on September 18. |
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Kevin Jennings
Vice President, Programme
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| Unilever has appointed a new boss for Southeast Asia and Australasia. Pier Luigi Sigismondi, who was previously the London-based chief supply chain officer, steps into the role as president for one of the company’s fastest growing operations. Pier will be based in Singapore and likely to be very popular amongst adsales teams across the region for the foreseeable future. |
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John Medeiros
Chief Policy Officer
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| CASBAA’s conference last October on “Making Online Advertising Click” pointed out that the cost of ad fraud – frequently but not exclusively linked to online piracy sites – is rising rapidly. Now a new study by the World Federation of Advertisers says ad fraud “is endemic across the internet,” and says “until the industry can prove that it has the capability to effectively deal with ad fraud, advertisers should use caution in relation to increasing their digital media investment…” I particularly like the WFA’s recommendation that marketers “should avoid run of exchange buys in favor of databases of safe sites” – because piracy sites by definition are not safe sites. The attention to this issue may be one reason that big online ad agencies, including Google, have signed up to the TAG initiative in the USA that does anti-fraud and anti-piracy work. |
