Nielsen: TV Viewership Hits Four-Year High Led by YouTube

The NFL playoffs coupled with heavy streaming and the return of scripted broadcast programming sent January television viewership to a four-year high, according to Nielsen’s The Gauge, which charted a 1.4 percent viewership increase year-over-year — described as noteworthy in a month in which the NFL playoffs typically drive viewership higher. January 2024 included three of the top 10 highest-viewership TV days since The Gauge debuted in May 2021. YouTube continued its streaming dominance for the twelfth consecutive month, with 8.6 percent of January TV streaming viewership, according to The Gauge. Netflix was number two at 7.9 percent. Continue reading Nielsen: TV Viewership Hits Four-Year High Led by YouTube

TikTok on the Rise as News Source, Facebook and X Decline

More U.S. adults say they regularly get news from TikTok, according to a Pew Research study that says this bucks the general trend of news consumption declining or remaining flat at other social media sites over the past few years. Since 2020, regular TikTok news consumption among American adults has more than quadrupled to 14 percent, from 3 percent, Pew finds. Among younger adults, news consumption is even higher, with 32 percent of those ages 18 to 29 claiming to regularly get news on TikTok. This compares with 15 percent of those 30 to 49. Continue reading TikTok on the Rise as News Source, Facebook and X Decline

Startup Kaiber Launches Mobile GenAI App for Music Videos

Kaiber, the AI-powered creative studio whose credits include music video collaborations with artists such as Kid Cudi and Linkin Park, has launched a mobile version of its creator tools designed to give musicians and graphic artists on-the-go access to its suite of GenAI tools offering text-to-video, image-to-video and video-to-video, “now with curated music to reimagine the music video creation process.” Users can select artist tracks to accompany visuals to build a music video “with as much or little AI collaboration as they wish.” Users can also upload their own music or audio and tap Kaiber for visuals. Continue reading Startup Kaiber Launches Mobile GenAI App for Music Videos

Disney Celebrates 100 Years with Launch of TikTok Content

The Walt Disney Company is hosting a centennial bash on ByteDance-owned social video platform TikTok featuring custom content touching 48 of the studio’s iconic brands. Fans will be able to watch videos from across the Disney library, as well as create their own videos with Disney music and effects, play daily Disney trivia, and collect and trade “Character Cards” that will allow them to win unique profile frames. “We’re giving the passionate community of Disney enthusiasts on our platform a first-of-its-kind destination,” TikTok said of the celebratory “interactive experience.” Continue reading Disney Celebrates 100 Years with Launch of TikTok Content

NBC Streamer SportsEngine Play Targets $37B Youth Market

NBC Sports Next has launched a subscription amateur sports streaming service geared toward the youth market. SportsEngine Play will also offer a free tier for live and on-demand content centered on its target audience. The service leverages the technology acquired with Rapid Replay, a streaming startup purchased by NBC in September 2022. The new service is among a dozen related brands NBC has purchased over the years, including a specialty software company called Sports Ngin that the company bought in 2016 to make apps for youth sports organizations and leagues. Continue reading NBC Streamer SportsEngine Play Targets $37B Youth Market

Streaming Giants Form Trade Group as New Regulations Loom

Some of the nation’s biggest streaming services have banded together to form a trade group, the Streaming Innovation Alliance, that will lobby at federal and state levels for policies that support their goals. Early members include Max, Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock, The Walt Disney Company, TelevisaUnivision, ViX, BET+ and the MPA. Signing on as advisors are Washington D.C. veterans Fred Upton, who headed the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Mignon Clyburn, once acting chair of the FCC. The creation of the trade group comes as new online regulations loom. Continue reading Streaming Giants Form Trade Group as New Regulations Loom

YouTube Debuts AI Creator Tools for Shorts and Mobile Video

YouTube announced a new AI-powered creator tool called Dream Screen and hinted at things to come at its annual Made on YouTube event last week. Rolling out on a test basis to select YouTube Shorts creators later this year, Dream Screen will generate “fantastic settings” for video backgrounds. YouTube says it will “eventually” allow creators to “instantly reimagine” their videos by typing an idea prompt that results in new content created with AI tools. The company also announced it will have AI-generated recommendations for video ideas and machine learning assistance with music track search. Continue reading YouTube Debuts AI Creator Tools for Shorts and Mobile Video

Study: Streaming Viewers Are Interested in Hubs for Discovery

Content hubs are gaining traction with streaming platforms as a search and discovery tool, according to a new study by Horowitz Research, which notes eight in 10 consumers indicating they watch content from a collection or hub occasionally. Multicultural audiences are turning to using hub resources in significant numbers, with African American streamers engaging at the 80 percent rate, and Asian viewers at 65 percent. The number trends higher — at 77 percent — among less acculturated Asian streamers. Among Latinx streamers, nearly 59 percent say they’ve turned to Latinx content collections, with less acculturated doing so at higher rates (78 percent). Continue reading Study: Streaming Viewers Are Interested in Hubs for Discovery

Music Publishers Take On Twitter for Copyright Infringements

Twitter is being sued for more than $250 million in damages by a coalition of music publishers alleging copyright violations. More than a dozen plaintiffs — including Universal Music, EMI, Kobalt and Sony — are captioned on the complaint, which was coordinated by the National Music Publishers’ Association and filed last week in federal court in Tennessee listing Elon Musk’s X Corp. and Twitter as defendants. The complaint claims songwriters are owed compensation for music-backed videos posted to the platform. The litigation is the latest financial woe for Twitter, which Musk purchased for $44 billion last year. Continue reading Music Publishers Take On Twitter for Copyright Infringements

Character.AI Lets Users Chat with Wide Variety of Characters

Character.AI is a new chatbot that generates facsimiles of conversations with famous personages or original creations. Napoleon Bonaparte, Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande are among the  historical or contemporary characters the site recreates using a neural network. Anyone can use the free app to create a character, whether fictional or real, dead or alive, but a paid offering called c.ai+ provides perks including faster response times, priority access and early previews of new features. In addition to a website, the app launched on iOS and Android this month, triggering 700,000 Android installs within 48 hours. Continue reading Character.AI Lets Users Chat with Wide Variety of Characters

Almost Half of YouTube Viewers Watch Video on TV Screens

Google appears to be in control of a major television network. According to internal data obtained by The Information, nearly half the time spent viewing the Alphabet company’s YouTube platform — 45 percent — now takes place on TV screens. That’s a significant increase from the 30 percent viewership the company reportedly logged for 2020. Coming on the heels of the IAB NewFronts, where digital platforms including Meta, TikTok and Snap were among those vying for advertiser attention, the story is well timed to help YouTube distinguish itself from competitors that seem focused largely on reaching mobile viewers. Continue reading Almost Half of YouTube Viewers Watch Video on TV Screens

Use of AI to Build Video Games is Popular, But Controversial

Generative AI is expected to play a big role in video game production, increasing development speed, reducing costs, and helping to come up with new ways for players to interact with characters. Major firms including Epic Games, Unity, Ubisoft and Roblox have all announced generative AI integrations for their development kits. Nonplayable characters — foils that act and speak independently — are soon to be wholly AI-powered rather than preprogrammed options. Publicly available AI tools are already commonly used by players creating user-generated game content. However, use of AI to create commercial games is not without controversy. Continue reading Use of AI to Build Video Games is Popular, But Controversial

Fortnite Challenges Roblox in User-Generated Games Space

User-generated content is surging on a new front: gaming. Epic Games is teed-up to challenge Roblox in the race to become what one media outlet called “the YouTube of gaming” as they lay the groundwork to empower individual creators. While Roblox is all about user-generated games, Epic is inviting creators in to riff on its popular Fortnite world. Roblox, which draws a younger crowd, is said to have about 400 registered users, while battleground Fortnite has about 300 million. Meanwhile, with the growing popularity of UGC gaming, these giants now have game platforms dot big bang and CliCli nipping at their heels. Continue reading Fortnite Challenges Roblox in User-Generated Games Space

YouTube Expands Analytics for Artists Tool, Adds Shorts Data

YouTube is expanding its Analytics for Artists feature with a new Total Reach metric that will include data for fan-uploaded YouTube Shorts. In addition to official content uploaded by the artist as well as user-generated long-form videos, YouTube says Total Reach represents “the most comprehensive snapshot of the size of an artist’s audience on YouTube,” showing how many viewers are experiencing content across all formats. The company is also launching a new Songs section in Analytics “to help artists see how fans are listening to their music or creating with it, across all video formats, all in one place.” Continue reading YouTube Expands Analytics for Artists Tool, Adds Shorts Data

Changes Ahead for Big Tech When EU Regulations Enforced

The European Union’s implementation of the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) is poised to trigger worldwide changes on familiar platforms like Google, Instagram, Wikipedia and YouTube. The DSA addresses consumer safety while the DMA deals with antitrust issues. Proponents say the new laws will help end the era of self-regulating tech companies. Although as in the U.S., the DSA makes clear that platforms aren’t liable for illegal user-generated content. Unlike U.S. law, the DSA does allow users to sue when tech firms are made aware of harmful content but fail to remove it. Continue reading Changes Ahead for Big Tech When EU Regulations Enforced