Hello and welcome to your weekly FWD! This week we say goodbye to summer and hello to a new harvest of autumnal updates from the tech world. With a new season comes a new wardrobe and this year you could not only get your hands on the Nike x NBA Connected Jersey that connects wearers to exclusive content, but it’s also rumoured Amazon is working on Alexa-powered smart glasses. Still feeling end-of-Summer blues? Sing them away with the now most streamed song on Spotify!
HEADLINES
- What does $1.1bn allow you to buy? Enter Google, who have purchased HTC’s Pixel mobile division
- OK, well what does $16bn get you? Enter Intel, who have acquired a computer vision software (for autonomous driving purposes)
- Slightly smaller yet no less significant, Apple have changed the Siri IOS browser from Bing to Google
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This week the remnants of last week’s global cyber attack has continued to hold news. A security blogger known as ‘MalwareTech’, managed to halt the global attack by accidentally finding a hole in the software code. The blogger found the web address attached to the malware unregistered and bought it for eight pounds! This allowed him to see where the computers were accessing it from, instantly triggering a code to halt the spread. Elsewhere, AI maintains a strong position in media news, particularly on the subject of Chatbots and voice-activated devices. Juniper Research predicts Chatbots will save UK businesses £6 billion every year until 2022, the areas of predicted savings are in the healthcare and banking industries. Whilst in connection to voice-activated devices, Amazon remains dominant as American Express has launched payment using Alexa and the new ‘Echo Show’ starts shipping next month.
HEADLINES
INSIGHTS
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As always, please share anything you find interesting at #OMDFWD
Amazon Go is a bricks-and-mortar grocery shop due to open to the public in 2017. The Seattle-based store will enable people with an Amazon Go app ‘just to walk’ out of the store without the need to wait in line to pay or check out. Amazon said that it started working on the concept four years ago by bringing together technologies found in self-driving cars (such as computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning) to create a store. The technology used in-store is able to detect when products are taken or returned to the shelves, keeping a track of them in your virtual cart. After picking up what you want in the store, your Amazon account will automatically be charged and receive a receipt. Powered by artificial intelligence this is a huge development for the future of retail and in-store experiences, which have been struggling to compete with e-commerce. It will be interesting to see how other high street brands react to this development in 2017.
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And finally, if you’re feeling ambitious but stuck for inspiration for Christmas…
As ever, please tag and share anything you spot with #OMDFWD.
It has been a significant couple of weeks for our understanding of the developing TV landscape. The convergence of TV and Internet technologies has been spoken of as some kind of future event for the past 15 years or so. Now, more than ever, we can understand it as something that has happened and will continue to develop.
The over the top global TV platforms continue to scale.
Netflix announced a global partnership with Liberty Global giving access to a further 30m homes worldwide driving growth beyond the current 29m subscriptions outside the USA. Additionally, RBC Capital Markets reported that 42% of UK internet users used Netflix to watch TV/Movie content in the past 12 months, compared to 54% for YouTube and 62% for the BBC iPlayer.
In terms of high-profile content, Amazon announced a launch date of November 18 for ‘The Grand Tour’ maybe the most prominent global reach show to date for an OTT platform. Twitter streamed their first live NFL Thursday night football match between the NY Jets and Buffalo Bills. In the VR space, the first VR Emmy went to the Oculus Story Studio. We are now witnessing premium content propositions, in virtually every genre, being made available through these new platforms being launched every few weeks.
On the other side of the convergence coin, the traditional broadcasters and platforms have been taking advantage of new technology led opportunities. At IBC in Amsterdam, Sky recently discussed the launch of Sky Go UK inventory sold via the Videology platform on a programmatic basis enabling brands to access content such as live English Premier League outside of traditional broadcast.
At IBC a range of new TV screens were launched that go beyond 4K into High Dynamic Range, Wide Colour Gamut and Ultra HD. Content in these cutting edge formats is more likely to be initially delivered over IP rather than broadcast.
It is not just a zero-sum game, these platforms drive each other.
Nielsen in the US report that increased viewing of related content on YouTube drives viewing of a TV show. Consumers are happy to bounce between platforms, especially on the same device, to create a more personalised experience. Measurement of this behaviour is now a global scale challenge requiring new methodologies for TV measurement, in-store attribution and cross-device targeting.
We can now see a path to better monetisation of video impacts delivered over IP. No longer are they something that is hard to measure, scale and trade. Consumers have taken to new platforms and formats, especially younger and more affluent consumers. Global platforms are creating and distributing some of the most high profile and sought after inventory. Brands can now also access that high-quality content through a range of new buying mechanisms.
Convergence has positive impacts on TV, we just need to frame the opportunity a little differently.
This was very much the focus of discussion amongst the media and advertising community at IBC. It is now especially relevant to have a deep understanding of many audience segments. Through conditional insight, testing different hypotheses and experimental design, we can recognise brand differentiators through value creation mechanisms. A clear measurement framework that operates across devices, platforms and approaches is now the most critical challenge to deliver on the opportunity of the post convergence TV/AV landscape.
Google has launched an artificial intelligence app called Allo, rejoining the messaging app war. While Apple (iMessage) and Facebook (WhatsApp and Messenger) have massive head starts, Nick Fox, Google’s VP of Communication Products isn’t stressing about Google rejoining the race. Fox said that “while messaging has been around for a while, smart messaging is much newer”. Google’s AI assistant and search functionality are built into Allo, offering a new level of service which other messaging apps do not offer. For example, if you are making dinner plans, Allo will scan nearby restaurants and cinema timings, helping you plan your night. You can even find out football scores and directions to your destination so you won’t be late. While Google+ or Hangouts may not have dented the messaging or social media scene, Allo represents Google’s persistence and commitment to foray back into mobile communication.
HEADLINES
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Deliveroo unveiled telepathic food ordering, Honda introduced emoji registration plates, Carlsberg moved into gourmet burgers with The Carlsburger and Virgin Trains offered a 25% discount to customers who were willing to shovel coal. With brands vying for headlines this April’s Fools day, a time when brands are rewarded for being deceptive, impractical and hopefully funny, the million dollar question is, were you fooled? As ever, share anything interesting you spot with #OMDFWD
Headlines
- Hot off the press, Twitter has won the rights to stream live NFL Thursday night games
- It was a poor year for April Fools, but here are the best and worst including this news grabbing one from Google
- Speaking of Google, you can now search for animal sounds and have the results delivered in audio
Insights
Cool
Deep reads
Fed up of sitting on hold? New app Hero lets users message questions and queries directly to restaurants, shops, cinemas, gyms and hotels. Next time you want to check if your favourite restaurant has a free table; whether that stylish shop has those shoes in stock; or what time the latest blockbuster hit is screening at the cinema, you won’t have to spend valuable minutes of your life listening to Coldplay on hold. Read, learn and share away….!!! #OMDFWD
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