Virtual advertising is making its way into re-runs.
An episode of “How I Met Your Mother” (that originally ran on CBS in March 2007) recently aired in syndication featuring a magazine cover that mentions a new movie, “Zookeeper.”
The Kevin James comedy that appears in the four-year-old episode premieres today.
The digital ad is an example of “virtual advertising” that inserts messages into video that wasn’t originally there — not a new technology, but perhaps an interesting approach for repurposed content.
The article includes links to images before and after the digital insertion.
New allegations have emerged that News of the World, a British paper owned by News Corp., illegally hacked into and tampered with the voicemails of crime victims, including a kidnapped 13-year-old girl.
The allegations arrive just as News Corp. was poised to acquire BSkyB, the largest pay TV service in Britain.
British regulators have yet to give final approval to the deal, which has already taken 13 months due to complicated regulatory hurdles.
It is unclear whether the growing scandal will affect its fate. However, Prime Minister David Cameron said the allegations are a “separate issue” from the regulatory process.
“Almost everyone interested in seeing 3D on a home TV would be much happier if they didn’t have to wear those awkward glasses to do it,” writes TVTechnology.
While autostereoscopic 3D is available for small screens such as the Nintendo 3DS, it is not yet practical for large flat screen displays.
Both lenticular and parallax technologies exhibit sweet spots where the illusion is best.
Phil Lelyveld, ETC’s Consumer 3D Experience Lab program manager, says we’re many years away from a marketable product.
“3D is the one of the first art forms that impacts your visual system and can have a health response on it,” says Lelyveld. “Some autostereoscopic display technologies can be very age-dependent, and market research has found that people in their early 20’s and younger can more readily accept the AS3D effect, but people in their 20’s and older find it very annoying.”
A collection of Hollywood studios and guilds this week announced the formation of “Creative America,” a non-profit grassroots organization intended to fight piracy that threatens creative jobs.
Creative America intends to provide a unified voice for some 2 million Americans who work in film, television, and other creative fields and believe, “that halting the looting of America’s creative works and protecting jobs must be a national priority.”
Members of the coalition include: AFTRA, CBS, DGA, IATSE International, NBC Universal, SAG, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox, Viacom, Disney and Warner Bros.
The coalition supports a new bill before the U.S. Senate, which would allow the Department of Justice to pursue pirates overseas.
The group aims to provide IP protection and related information through its website and social networking entities such as Facebook and Twitter.
Only 2 percent of U.S. homes will have a 3D TV by year’s end, and the market is expected to only improve slightly to 5 percent penetration in 2012.
However, SNL Kagan reports that these figures will jump to 21 percent in 2015.
Internet-enabled TVs are currently more popular, projected to go from 14 percent penetration this year to 51 percent in 2015.
The report also concludes that a lack of 3D content has been a problem thus far, but growing interest in 3D sports and films should help sustain the technology in the future.
WESH-TV, the NBC affiliate in Orlando, launched a 99-cent iPhone app for updates in the Casey Anthony trial (involving the Florida mother accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter).
The app recently reached the #1 spot in paid iPhone news apps, and is currently holding the #2 position.
The app features liveblog, breaking updates, court documents, photos, video recaps, courtroom footage and packages produced by the station.
A major surprise has been the public interest in more than 20,000 pages of court documents.
Since the app is targeting national and international audiences, the branding focuses on Hearst Television (not the local TV station).
Microsoft’s ad division has created a research partnership with Nielsen dubbed the Television Online Effect program.
The project’s primary goal is to better learn how consumers are influenced by TV and the Web in terms of engagement with marketing messages.
The research, which begins in August, will use Nielsen’s TV/Internet Fusion panel and customized research Microsoft will develop.
The pilot will initially launch with entertainment advertisers, but will most likely expand in the future.
“If advertisers are looking to capture food enthusiasts for the launch of a new cooking show or networks are looking to drive Moms to primetime programming, they can leverage our exciting new service,” commented Microsoft’s Joslyn Moore in a blog post.
At the Elevate Video Advertising Summit in New York earlier this month, executives from Comcast Interactive Media, Turner, Disney and ESPN agreed that in two years 75 percent of television content will be available online and on mobile devices.
For an increasing number of consumers, the line between traditional TV content and Web video is blurring.
The immediate hurdles involve negotiating broadcast rights across platforms and addressing the threat of broadband usage caps and fees.
Regardless, it seems the concept of “TV Everywhere” is inevitable.
“It’s interesting to think of what the definition of a TV is,” said Comcast’s Matt Strauss. “My kids think an iPad is a TV. People don’t think of TV anymore, they just think of video. For us, in the broader context of what we’re doing, we’re beginning to migrate everything to Internet video.”
According to research and consulting firm Parks Associates, global pay TV providers are expected to have nearly 50 TV Everywhere initiatives underway by July, marking a major increase since the initiatives began in 2009.
Home Media Magazine reports that the ability of new tablets and smartphones to handle streaming video – in addition to the emerging growth of connected devices in the home – is helping to drive the trend.
“What’s remarkable is the pace of the growth,” said Brett Sappington, a senior analyst with Parks Associates. “Traditionally, operators are not quick to invest in this type of thing.”
It is projected that by next month, 81 percent of U.S. pay TV subscribers will have access to content on multiple devices.
In terms of how consumers are using TV Everywhere initiatives so far, Sappington reports that VOD is clearly outpacing live TV streaming (most likely due to the clear-cut rights operators have with VOD).
Discovery has launched a compelling new website designed to complement the network’s upcoming Curiosity TV series (August 2011).
Curiosity.com is a Q&A platform that presents interesting thoughts from some of the most talented people across a wide range of professions and areas of study.
Current contributors include Google’s Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf and Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel.
Cerf shares his ideas on what “friendship” means in the age of social media in addition to answering an array of tech-related questions. (Recent questions answered: Does misinformation on the Internet force us to think more critically? Is this the best time to be interested in science? What pieces of the Internet need to be fixed? What are some persistent threats to innovation?)
Wiesel addresses human rights, forgiveness and the power of the media. (Recent questions answered: Will future generations ever end discrimination? How can young people make change? What is your advice for future generations? What does the election of President Obama represent?)
Video interviews featuring new luminaries and innovators will be introduced each week.
Discovery plans to add social sharing functionality that will allow users to create their own profile pages and spark their own discussions.
