Weekly Online Video News Round Up - Pilot Shoot Edition

I am so busy my brain is trying to explode out of my head. Still, I am dedicated to the cause and so here's your weekly news round up. While you're reading this I'll be busy shooting the pilot for my web series. Lots of interesting things early this week in the streaming TV content realm backed up by some interesting partnerships and a couple product launches or updates.

CBS TV Library on Hulu Plus

The CBS content will begin to appear on Hulu Plus in January 2013, and over the following months, Hulu Plus subscribers will have access to more than 2,600 episodes from library series such as “Medium,” “Numb3rs” and “CSI: Miami” to classics such as “Star Trek,” “I Love Lucy” and “The Twilight Zone.”  Clips from “Entertainment Tonight” will also be available the day-of broadcast on Hulu and Hulu Plus.  A selection of CBS library shows will also rotate through the free Hulu.com service and additional titles will be announced on a rolling basis in the future.

Amazon Prime Instant Video Expands Share

More people, percentage wise, watched Amazon Prime Instant Video than Netflix in September, according to a new study.

While Netflix again dominated the subscription video-on-demand market with 82% market share in the September survey of 1,115 respondents in North America, that percentage was 2% less than in a similar survey conducted in February by ChangeWave Research.

Source: Home Media Magazine

Ben Heck Start Season 3

Season three of "The Ben Heck Show" kicks off today [Monday] with a revamped look and feel. The show is now weekly, with a run time of approximately 10 minutes. New segments include “Ben’s rants” and “Ask Ben Anything” and overall episodes will be filled with Ben’s tips and tricks, unique perspectives, and informative tutorials.  Ben’s builds will be based on viewer suggestions and will go into much finer detail with tips and lessons.

 Squeeze Server 2.0

New and Enhanced features in Squeeze Server include:

• Unprecedented speed.
• A completely redesigned user interface
• A refined REST-based API
• The broadest variety of input and output options
• Easy-to-use installation configurations
• Dedicated, Gold-Tier maintenance and support

“We challenged ourselves to make our Server product better and faster than ever—and the result was an entirely new user interface which streamlines workflows significantly,” —Eric Quanstrom, COO.

Source: Newsletter

thePlatform and Conviva Bring Advanced Video Analytics to Customers

thePlatform, the leading white-label video publishing company, and Conviva Inc., the leader in real-time viewer experience optimization and advanced analytics, today announced a partnership to provide Conviva’s patented video analytics capabilities to customers of thePlatform. Conviva Viewer Insights(SM) will be offered as an integrated component of thePlatform’s award-winning mpx video publishing system, providing an additional layer of dynamic reporting within the mpx console.

With this new capability, publishers can quickly access real-time statistics related to the consumer experience, engagement, and the relationship between high quality viewing and audiences within players and across devices. Streaming quality, content trending, and video player performance are just some of the enhanced reports available. This new analytics component is fully integrated and available, at no additional cost, for customers of mpx and mpx Essentials. Customers can also work with Conviva to seamlessly incorporate additional analytics and stream optimization services from Conviva.

Source: Press Release

Online Video Plays An Increasing Role In Voters’ Decisions

With more than 1 million spots aired to date during the 2012 political advertising season, according to a report released last week by the Wesleyan Media Project, much of the political media analysis has been focused on the impact of television. But online video is also playing a greater role in influencing the views of American voters.

More than half (55%) of registered voters have watched political videos online during the presidential campaign season, according to an analysis released Friday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Among registered voters who utilize online media, the percentage was even higher (66%) with a slight edge going to Democrats (69%) versus Republicans (64%) and independents (65%).

Source: MediaPost

Samsung Gets Yahoo! Content Recognition for Interactivity

At the heart of the deal, Yahoo’s Broadcast Interactivity service powered by SoundPrint (automatic content recognition technology) will be integrated into Samsung’s SyncPlus platform with the hope of “enabling new opportunities” for content discovery and adding new levels of interactivity between shows, advertisers and viewers.

More specifically, Yahoo says this agreement will provide Smart TV users with “actionable content that runs alongside and complements TV shows and commercials.” For example, if you’re watching a boxing match, you’ll see a little message at the bottom of the screen saying “Who will win the fight tonight? Vote now!”

Source: The News Web

 Drift Innovation Debuts the Drift HD Ghost

Drift Innovation, the award-winning action sports technology company specializing in the capture and sharing of digital imagery, launched the most feature-rich and intuitive action camera yet – the Drift HD Ghost. Building upon a unique feature set, which includes an industry-first two-way LED remote control with on/off indicator light, video recording/tagging capabilities in continuous loop mode, and an integrated 2-inch Gorilla Glass LCD screen, the Drift HD Ghost is the best all-in-one solution on the market.

Unlike other point of view cameras that require aftermarket accessories and peripherals for functionality, the Drift HD Ghost includes everything action sports enthusiasts need to capture professional quality video immediately. Plus, the intuitive interface is easy to use, easy to navigate and easy to set up, so users everywhere can begin recording moments after opening the box.

Intercall CorporateTube Organizes Biz Video

InterCall CorporateTube leverages Kaltura’s industry-leading open source video technology, making it easier for users to store, manage and distribute all of their rich-media content, including InterCall webcast and virtual environment products. New capabilities include:

• Central channel-based video portal, with full support for employee-generated content
• Seamless integration with the InterCall Webcast Studio and InterCall Virtual Environment platforms for instant archiving, eliminating the need to store that content separately from other enterprise video and rich media content
• One-click publishing from any video-capable applications
• Advanced video analytics and measurement/tracking to help organizations determine the effectiveness of their internal video strategies
• A single platform for storing and managing all video and rich media the organization produces, including education/training, corporate communications, employee engagement and knowledge sharing, regardless of application used
• Private enterprise social networking tools to collaborate securely across departments, geographies, content and business applications