Category: entertainment

The Future of Entertainment: YouTube and Hulu?

admin / / entertainment, EWelling, Television, Uncategorized

imagesThe 2009-2010 economic downturn has without a doubt impacted virtually every sector of the entertainment marketplace, it has also accelerated and intensified the digital migration among both providers and consumers of content. Direct digital distribution is beginning to surface as a major way of providing movies to audiences online. According to the Houston Chronicle:

“a survey conducted by consumer electronics shopping site Retrevo, 64 percent of Americans watch at least some of their television online. Twenty-three percent of respondents under 25 said they watch most of their TV online.”

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Online video viewing is more ubiquitous than ever. Consider the results from Nielsen’s Three Screen Report:

“138 million people watching video Internet spent on average three hours, 22 minutes during the month doing so”

As prices for devices like the iPhone or the new iPad drop, as online video quality improves, and more premium content becomes available on the internet, both broadband and mobile video will continue to grow.

But what about the number of consumers who actually paid for the online video content? The convergence of the television and the computer makes sense, but will online-viewers be willing to pay for content that they originally watched for free?

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As the computer-using and wireless hand-held segment of the entertainment consuming population continues to increase, as digital cable lines, DSL, wireless, satellite, and other systems continue to converge, and as delivery technology continues to improve, one can expect that delivery of motion pictures online or wirelessly will rapidly expand over the next few years.

The digital vs. TV discourse will continue to accelerate. While the economy will have (hopefully) recovered by 2011, the broadcast networks will soon be fighting for every dollar side by side YouTube, Hulu, the digital video networks, and the rest of the video providers out there knocking on the door.

From Ray-Ban Glasses to Reese’s Pieces: Product Placement on the Big Screen

admin / / advertising, entertainment, EWelling, product placement, Television, Uncategorized

Could it be the end of the long held relationship between marketers and entertainment producers? Advertisers are shifting from television to digital media. An increasing number of marketers are using social and digital media to reach certain demographics and raise brand awareness.

“Many media and entertainment subsectors have been hurt by the fall in spending for advertising, which has been driven by advertisers’ financial distress as well as viewership declines in traditional distribution channels.” – Plus Media Solutions

The Financial Times reported that online advertising spending in the US “rose sharply in the 4th quarter of 2009” and “the strong uptick from the third to fourth quarters points to the increasing prominence of online advertising.” But this isn’t the end of the long business relationship between marketers/branders and entertainment producers.

Though social media, tighter budgets, and new technological tools have influenced the shift in advertising, one advertising trend remains the same among brands and entertainment producers: product placement.
Product placement has been an integral source of revenue and business for the entertainment industry for a long time:

  • 1982 Ray-Ban signed a contract with a product placement company for $50 thousand a year to put Ray-Ban in movies and television, a year later Tom Cruise wore a pair of Ray-Bans in Risky Business and Ray-Ban sales skyrocketed
  • 1982 Hershey agreed to spend $1 million promoting E.T. in the exchange for the right to use E.T. in it’s adds
  • 1995 BMW paid $3 million for Agent 007 to drive a BMW Z3 Roadster in Golden Eye
  • 1996 Reebok provided more than $1.5 million in merchandise, ads and promotional materials to be featured in the movie Jerry Maguire

Yet, just the other day I came across an article in the New York Times that called product placement a new shift in advertising. The reporter, Stephanie Clifford, wrote: “For the moviegoer, the shift will mean that advertising will become more integral to the movie. The change may not be obvious at first, but the devil is going to wear a lot more Prada.” I found it odd that Clifford would refer to product placement as a new shift for moviegoers, seeing as how product placement has been an advertising tactic moviegoers have dealt with for the past 28 years.

It will be interesting to see how product placement companies react to brands’ growing interests in the new opportunities and low-cost options provided by digital media. As Randall Rothenberg, president of the Interacting Advertising Bureau (IAB.) explained: “Today, faced with myriad new opportunities, cheap tools, a global distribution medium with lowcost scale…marketers find themselves forced to find new processes or organization constructs to help.”  Using digital media seems to be a lot more financially feasible than paying over $1.5 million to be in a movie (whose box office success can never be certain) considering the current economy.

But with all that said and even though low-cost financial incentives make the internet a safe-haven for marketers during the negative economy, I think product placement will continue to be a powerful marketing tool for a long time….I mean did anyone else notice all the VitaminWater cups, towels, and logos during the March Madness Tournament?

Is Buying a 3-D TV Worth the Dent in Your Wallet?

admin / / entertainment, EWelling, Television

3-D TV is back! And electronic manufacturers are pumping millions into marketing the new technology.

The New York Times reported:

“Samsung is spending about $100 million this year on marketing and advertising its 3-D products. That included promoting its 3-D line with a Black Eyed Peas concert in Times Square on March 10.”

I guess Samsung and other television manufacturers think the more money they spend on advertising the 3-d technology, the more consumers will be willing to spend on the three dimensional television sets.

You don’t need 3-D glasses to see the zeros on the price tags for the new 3-D TVs. Initially, at least, going 3-D will cost a U.S. household $3,000 or more, and thats not including the $150 glasses and the estimated $400 blue ray dvd player to play 3-D DVDs.

3-D Television Manufacturers

  • Samsung
  • Sony
  • Vizio
  • Panasonic
  • LG
  • Toshiba

Research Alert reported that consumer spending on technology slumped in 2009…. which leads me to one question: Have television manufacturers forgotten we are in a recession?

If consumers are slow to pull out their wallets for groceries and other necessities, why would Samsung think they are going to spring to the closest Best Buy and invest their cash in a television that shows images in three dimensions? It seems like states are having enough problems trying to implement the digital tv transition!

I’ll leave you with a clip from Samsung’s first commercial advertising the new 3-D TV: [kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/JwI_8WPerWM" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

Rediscovering Going to the Movies

admin / / entertainment, EWelling

“From box office records to digital expansion to growing success in the fight against movie theft, theatrical exhibition is thriving.” – John Fithian, president and CEO of NATO

In an economy weighed down by sagging sales, struggling markets, and a growing unemployment rate, movie theaters all across America seem to be doing just fine. USA Today reports that movie theaters raked in $10.6 billion in box office sales in 2009. In fact, to say movie theaters are “doing just fine” is probably a huge understatement on my part. Unlike in many previous years, the increase is not being driven by rising ticket prices alone. “Attendance is up 4.5% over 2008,” reports Hollywood.com.

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In an article in the  L.A. Times,  Ben Fritz examines whether booming box office and increased attendance are economically-driven or if something fundamental is underway in the way people want to watch the movies.

The box-office boom has not only surprised many in Hollywood, but provided a much-needed source of revenue growth as DVD sales have plunged more than 13% so far this year. And it has proved that despite a digital revolution in the ways audiences consume content, one of the oldest methods has not lost its appeal. “When the economy is down, people start cutting back, but after a while they want to go out and be entertained,” said Ed Mintz, the president of market research firm CinemaScore. “Even at $10, or $15 for IMAX or 3-D, going to the movies is still a cheaper night out than almost anything else.”

The economy is clearly part of the equation, but perhaps something else is happening. I’ll leave Sony’s Jeff Blake with the final word:

There was a feeling that the business was recession-proof, but this is more than that,’ said Jeff Blake, vice chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment. This is people rediscovering going to the movies.

This is a great 5 minute video clip I found on YouTube that describes the current transition to 3D in movie theaters and the new interactive seating exhibitionists are installing in their theaters. Beyond the transition to 3D and an interactive seat that moves with the movie, the video clip points to numerous other new amenities offered by movie theaters. The video clip makes it clear that, only are people rediscovering going to the movies, exhibitionists are giving them a reason to keep coming back for more.


[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/dDkJ2H7bOTk” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]