Weekly Online Video News Round up - Doomday Edition

Well, if you're reading this, it's Saturday December 22nd, 2012 and the world didn't end like many predicted. Yah us! Then again, if you're reading this it might mean that you're huddled in your home hiding from the alien invaders that landed yesterday. Either way, there was still some news this past week in the online video industry. Of course, the magnetic poles might have flipped and no one may ever read this as it could wipe out all electronics and storage media. Ah well, such is life.

SEE ALSO: Weekly Online Video News Round Up - December Blues Edition

If the poles didn't flip, aliens didn't invade and society hasn't collapsed as we know it, then you might be interested in reading the rest of this.

Yahoo Partners With Jack Black On Web Series

Two months after renewing the comedy series "Burning Love" for two more seasons, Yahoo is doubling down on the genre with "Ghost Ghirls," a new scripted comedy backed by Jack Black.

Black's Electric Dynamite Productions brought the idea to Shine America, which sold the digital distribution rights in the U.S. to the first 12 episodes of the series to Yahoo. Yahoo and Elisabeth Murdoch’s Shine America are each funding the production of these episodes, while Yahoo takes the lead on bringing in an advertiser to sponsor the series. Both sides would share in that advertiser revenue, according to Vivi Zigler, president of Shine 360° & Digital at Shine America.

The comedy is about two young female ghostbusters — actresses Amanda Lund and Maria Blasucci — who investigate a variety of cases involving paranormal activity. Black is not starring in the show, but will make at least one cameo appearance.
Advertising Age

Nickelodeon Plans TV Show As A Mobile Product

In 2014, the preschool cable network Nick Jr. plans to introduce a television show featuring a little boy, his miniature pet dragon and a magic stick.

But the show, “Wallykazam,” will not be new to users of smartphones and tablets. Educational applications built around it will start appearing in app stores late next year, making “Wallykazam” Nickelodeon’s first major show to be introduced as a mobile product first.

Driving the change, at Nickelodeon and other preschool television brands, are parents who are increasingly putting mobile devices into preschoolers’ hands and laps.
New York Times

Amazon Signs Prime Instant Video Deal With Turner

Less than a week after Amazon announced that its Prime Instant Video service was arriving for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch, the Internet giant has revealed it has inked exclusive licensing deals with Turner Broadcasting and Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution for two TNT’s series (“Falling Skies,” “The Closer”).

Amazon Instant Video is a digital video streaming and download service that lets users rent, buy or subscribe to a range of video content. Launched in April last year, Prime Instant Video is its video subscription service which makes tens of thousands of movies and TV shows available to stream.
The Next Web

Partners and Features of Smart Workflow

thePlatform’s open and flexible architecture enables customers to choose from a wide range of integrated partners in order to design a tailored video solution for their unique business needs. The new smart workflow capabilities are made possible by integrations with leading companies such as: Elemental and Harmonic for next-generation transcoding; Aspera for fast file transfer, and Akamai for its latest HTTP ingest technology supported as part of Akamai’s new Sola Media Solutions. Benefits of mpx’s smart workflow include:

* Scale & Smart Delivery:
- Simultaneously create multiple transcoded files from one source file, increasing efficiency and speed;
- Provides smart multi-file transcoding, so if one file fails, only that file is transcoded again;
- Automatically analyze the number of files that have been, or need to be, generated for all formats or devices in order to eliminate duplications, and reduce the number of managed files.

* Simpler Administrative Control:
- Encoding profiles can be configured quickly to reach new devices and outlets;
- Create new publishing profiles within the mpx console, without needing to contact thePlatform for support.

Source: Press Release

Boxee Teams With Opera To Bring Apps To Set-Top Boxes

Opera Software has deepened its links to the living room after it announced a partnership with Boxee. The Opera Devices SDK will now power Boxee’s new streaming media player, bringing a range of HTML5 apps for Facebook, YouTube, Spotify, Vimeo, and more to its set-top boxes.

Opera is best known for its mobile and desktop browsers — which have more than 275 million users — but its smart TV business is developing too. The company linked up with Dune to power its set-top boxes in August, and it touts Boxee’s technology as the world’s first ‘cloud enabled’ DVR.
The Next Web

Facebook Plans Video Ads For New Feeds

Facebook is set to unveil a new video-ad product in the first half of next year in its largest attempt to date to attract big swaths of ad dollars from TV advertisers, according to several industry executives who have been briefed on the company's plans over the past few weeks.

Facebook is still debating several product features, but has decided on this much to date, these executives said: By April at the latest, it will offer video advertisers the chance to target video ads to large numbers of Facebook users in their news feeds on both the desktop version of Facebook as well as on Facebook apps on mobile phones and tablets.

Facebook is leaning toward capping the length of these video ads at 15 seconds — a move that could push ad agencies normally reluctant to cut down their 30-second commercials to do so. That decision could also mean that 15-second video ads would become more prevalent elsewhere on the web.
Advertising Age

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