Audio: New Media Interchange: HBO, Silicon Valley and TwitchTV, Media fragmentation, Meerkat and Periscope and more!
Description
New Media interchange, my new show with 3rd Pass Media, is now available on iTunes.
New Media Interchange is a podcast spotlighting various developments in New Media & focusing on the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. Hosted by Douglas E. Welch , pioneer podcaster, blogger and new media consultant.
[audio http://tracking.feedpress.it/link/10478/997932/nmi_002.mp3]
Listen to HBO, Silicon Valley and TwitchTV, Media fragmentation, Meerkat and Periscope and more!
New Media Interchange is part of the 3rd Pass Media Network which is launching a series of shows this week including Mindul(l) Media, The Render Break Report, New Media Interchange and More. You’ll find more information about 3rd Pass Media at http://3rdPass.Media.
HBO, Silicon Valley and TwitchTV, Media fragmentation, Meerkat and Periscope and more!
This is New Media Interchange where we talk about the media world beyond mainstream television and radio, including podcasting, YouTube, live streaming, gaming and more. I’m your host, Douglas E. Welch, pioneer podcaster, blogger and writer.
In today’ show…
- HBO’s Silicon Valley takes their show directly to the gamer audience via TwitchTV,
- Video Killed The Television Star: Why Total Fragmentation Is The New Norm
- Meerkat and Periscope put live streaming in your hand
I’ll round out the show with a book review of video game storytelling and the next installment of my Subscribed series.
More after this…
Today’s show is brought to you by Audible.com. I love New Media like podcasting and YouTube, but I also love all types of books. If you love audio books you can support New Media Interchange and 3rdPass Media by starting your free 30-day trial with Audible today. Choose from over 100,000 books. Including one of my favorites, The Hobbit. Visit AudibleTrial.com/3rdpass or use the link in the show notes today.
SFX: Silicon Valley Trailer Clip
HBO’s Silicon Valley takes their show directly to the growing gamer audience via TwitchTV
A recent article in The Verge details how HBO is taking their newest comedy, Silicon Valley, directly to an existing audience that is probably predisposed to watch it — the viewers of Amazon’s TwitchTV streaming service that focuses on all types of gaming related content. These TwitchTV viewers likely already understand the joys of “cable-cutting” or freeing themselves from cable television subscriptions in lieu of “over-the-top services” like Twitch, YouTube, Netflix and now, HBO Now..
For me, this move makes a great deal of sense. Through Twitch, HBO can reach an audience that almost directly matches their desired audience. Through HBO, Twitch expands its programming beyond game play and into other aspects of their members’ lives. HBO also gets a chance to give Twitch users a taste of what they might be able to watch if they subscribe to HBO Now — content that was unavailable except via cable television until very recently. As The Verge article states, HBO is using “video games as a trojan horse” and getting their content in front of “roughly 100 million monthly active users” of Twitch. It is my bet that it will prove to be great promotion for everyone involved — HBO, Twitch and the users of both sites.
I imagine we’ll see more and more collaborations like this between all the players in what I call the “alternative TV” market. As the choice of content and services increases, discovery of exciting new content grows more difficult. Users can be overwhelmed with choice, but “giving them a taste” of content has always been a way to gather new viewers and it will continue to be important long into the future. Video content producers still need to find receptive audiences, as HBO has done here, but the opportunities for these collaborations in new and unique ways will continue to grow.
Video Killed The Television Star: Why Total Fragmentation Is The New Norm
All this collaboration, cross-over and cooperation between various content providers continues to push the fragmentation of the television and online video content market and David Armano over at the Logic+Emotion blog has written posts detailing exactly how this is happening and the trends he sees being created. First came DVRs, then YouTube, then other online video services signalled the end of television’s stranglehold on video entertainment. It gave consumers more choice over the type of content they wanted to view and provided the technology to time shift entertainment so viewers could watch what they wanted, when they wanted it. They didn’t need to rely on the curation and control that was wielded by mainstream media anymore.
Once the technology advanced to a certain degree — with relatively easy-to-access high speed Internet and software — content creators and providers immediately saw the opportunities it presented. Once content was available in significant quality and quantity, users quickly began to explore and enjoy the viewing options they had and — despite claims to the contrary — began cutting the cord more and more frequently.
For myself, I haven’t had a cable television subscription for several years now, opting to use broadcast to watch the few mainstream shows I do watch and a combination of YouTube, Netflix and other online video sources for the remainder of my viewing. Even though I am older than the target demographic for cord cutting, I have no problems leaving the “vast wasteland” of mainstream television behind, now that I have plentiful options. I can imagine that younger viewers, who tend be be a bit more tech savvy find it even easier to explore the myriad of options available. For me, the fragmentation of the industry is a welcome change and one I think will provide more unique and diverse content than ever before. There is a whole new entertainment world out there and I plan on taking great advantage of it.
While YouTube, Netflix and the other current “big boys” of online video content will continue to thrive in the coming years, even they are seeing competition and fragmentation in the form of live streaming sites like TwitchTV, and smartphone apps that put streaming in the hands of anyone with a smartphone.
SFX: Music Bed
…and that thought leads us into our last story for this episode…
Meerkat and Periscope put live streaming in your hand
In the last couple of weeks there has been an explosion in the mobile live streaming space with first the indie app, Meerkat, exploding to life during this year’s South by Southwest (SXSW) conference followed closely by recent Twitter acquisition, Periscope. Both of these apps all offer nearly one-touch live streaming from your smartphone or tablet and use Twitter as the main discovery and interaction source, with streams being announced immediately via Twitter and interactive chat messages, in the form of Tweets, overlaid right on the video stream. The release of these two services caused a veritable flood of live streams with everyone testing out the services and how they might be able to use them. Things have settled down considerably since launch, but I am still seeing quite a bit of activity in my Twitter stream.
For me, live streaming is a special use case. While I wouldn’t use it everyday, it can be dramatically useful during special events or breaking news stories to give immediate and alternative views a forum for the event. Other content creators thrive on live streaming. Both they and their audience love the immediate interaction via Twitter or chat room. it does indeed bring a much different feel to a show which is quite different from pre-recorded videos such as those on YouTube and elsewhere.
It will be a while before we see exactly where Meerkat, Periscope and other live streaming options fit into the overall online video market, but I think we can all be certain that we will see other, similar apps in the near future.
You can read more about Meerkat and Periscope in the articles linked in the show notes.
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