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Taking foods and remixing them in creative ways has become a thing for foodies on the Internet and Oreo is embracing that with #OreoSnackHack. Check out these recipes from Roy Choi, Michael Voltaggio and Starry Kitchen.
Source: AdWeek.com
YouTube has gone from ‘how will they make money ‘ to investing $100 million a year into creating channels in advertising rich verticals. Now, the company is embarking on a major marketing push to make the world aware of the content that’s on YouTube – and help Google conquer the $212 billion global TV ad market.
In an AdAge interview, Wojcicki said “Think of the last TV show you watched — it was probably marketed to you in some way. If you look at our top creators, they have a lot of subscribers; it’s all categories like entertainment, health and beauty, food, cooking, and yet I think a lot of times advertisers and users don’t know about these channels.”
YouTube is spending millions of dollars to boost awareness for its shows, figuring that if TV builds awareness through mass-market campaigns YouTube can, too. Major YouTube stars will be highlighted in TV ads on ABC Family and The CW, billboards, and even on the NYC subway.
YouTube is also changing the way it packages content to advertisers, taking the top 5 percent of content in 14 categories and offering that up front on a guaranteed basis to advertisers, calling it ‘Google Preferred.’ YouTube is this creating scarcity and asking for TV-like CPMs (cost-per-thousand viewers) and a significant commitment.
There’s pressure on YouTube, as various providers like Maker Studios get acquired, and Yahoo! Is rumored to be ready to poach YouTube stars unhappy with YouTube taking 45 percent of ad revenues. Regardless of YouTube’s moves, the interest in short-form video continues to grow, and the market will continue to change.
Source: AdAge
Nintendo is getting serious about boosting sales, hauling out the big gun – dropping the retail price. Nintendo announced yesterday that five of its best-selling first-party games for the 3DS would be reduced to an MSRP of $30, down from the $40 initial price.
As of April 22, Mario Kart 7, Super Mario 3D Land, New Super Mario Bros. 2, Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D will see their suggested U.S. prices drop to $30. The first three titles on that list are the three best-selling 3DS games of all time, in order, having each sold more than 2.15 million copies in the U.S. alone. All together, the five games have sold more than 9 million copies in the U.S., either through retail or the Nintendo eShop. The discounts apply to both physical and digital copies of the games.
Source: GamesIndustry International
Facebook is probably feeling the excitement is still building for virtual reality, as Oculus VR announced that they have sold more than 25,000 of their second-generation Oculus Rift developer kits since the order page went up on March 19. The company sold more than 60,000 first-generation developer kits before a component shortage halted sales.
The new version of the dev kit is expected to ship this July, and based on the current rate of sales it should handily outsell the first-generation kit. There’s still no word on when exactly a consumer version might ship, or exactly how much it might cost… or how eagerly customers will embrace it when it’s actually for sale.
Source: TechCrunch
Coming off of a successful PAX East show, Penny Arcade has announced a new addition to the PAX family: PAX South, debuting in San Antonio, Texas early in 2015. This consumer show will follow the pattern established by its older siblings, combining video games, tabletop games, game-inspired music, competitions and insight from leaders in gaming.
PAX South joins PAX Prime in Seattle, PAX East in Boston, and PAX Australia in Melbourne. “We’ve been hearing for years that those in the south had a tough time making it to the northern corners of the country; PAX South has always been a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if,'” said Robert Khoo, president of Penny Arcade.
Source: Shack News
If you had any doubts about how much the public trusts advertisers and marketers when it comes to the security of personal data, put them to rest. The public places very little trust on marketers and advertisers when it comes to personal data security, below even the government and social networks.
More than half of the 1,000 consumers surveyed by research firm GfK in March said they’d like to see marketers and advertisers change their personal data policies and activities. Interestingly, the attitudes were strongly different between older respondents and the younger generation, with younger ones not as concerned about data privacy as older consumers.
Source: AdAge
While Twitter may have 982 million accounts, hundreds of millions are not being used – and have never been used. The numbers come from Twopcharts, a site that measures and monitors Twitter usage. More than 433 million sites have never sent a tweet, according to the site.
Twitter claims to have 241 million active monthly users, but of course much depends on how you define ‘active.’ Twitter acknowledges that by its definition, some 741 million users are inactive. The company also says that 5 percent of Twitter users are ‘fake’ according ot the company’s SEC filings.
Source: CruxialCIO
Azubu is a global broadcast network that focuses on streaming eSports action, programming, news and analysis. The network was founded in 2012 to capitalize on the rapid growth of eSports, and earlier this year Azubu announced a $34.5 million funding round from Sapinda Group, an international investment firm. Azubu has embarked on a total transformation of the site, its technology and the company with that investment, and the [a]list daily caught up with Azubu CEO Ian Sharpe to discuss Azubu’s progress. The new version of Azubu’s web site is relaunching soon with a new interface, new technology and new talent, and Sharpe gives us some insight into Azubu’s vision for eSports.
Azubu CEO Ian Sharpe
Azubu’s transformation results from a recognition of eSports’ potential by investors outside of the gaming market. “The starting point is Sapinda Investment Group,” said Sharpe. “They’re involved in agriculture, mining, they’re involved anywhere they think there is investment to be placed in something that has a huge potential to change people’s lives. There is a keen belief and a generational commitment to the future of eSports. The reason I was excited to helm this project is that they recognize that eSports has reached a tipping point.”
That tipping point has been fueled by many things, Sharpe believes. The technology for streaming, the trail blazed by Twitch and others, the changing attitudes of publishers towards eSports, and of course it was all “accelerated by the fantastic success of Riot Games,” Sharpe notes. “Much more than any other publisher they have willed this space into existence.”
Azubu is headquartered in Los Angeles, and has established offices in Vancouver, Seoul, and Berlin. Sharpe feels that Azubu needs a worldwide presence to capitalize on the worldwide popularity of eSports as it transitions into a huge industry. The pattern is akin to the way professional sports became huge on the strength of broadcast TV starting in the 1960’s, according to Sharpe. “We all think we’re about to see that in eSports,” said Sharpe. “eSports has been middling along for 10 years now. The technology, the attitude of publishers, the catapulting to stardom enhanced by Riot, all of those things have set up eSports for pre-eminence of the world stage. We now have an opportunity with Azubu 2.0 to create a premium eSports platform, a network that broadcasts the very best talent, leagues, competitive gaming activity to a global audience.”
Azubu plans to set itself apart from other ways to stream eSports with technology and premium content. On the technology side, Azubu has teamed up with a leading company experienced with providing content. “We have a strategic alliance with Brightcove,” Sharpe said. “They power all sorts of solutions like ESPN’s mobile solution, Rogers, Time-Warner, Macys and provision of video around those big brands. They really are a global powerhouse with 400 engineers devoted to making the best possible video experience that there is. They see as well that there is a phenomenon here, and they have a strategic alliance with us to build out a technology road map and a feature set that is custom designed to our broadcast.”
The talent side is just as important as the technology. “We are a premium network that is talent first,” said Sharpe. “We have designed our road map hand-in-hand with the broadcasters and the eSports talent that are going to be using it and watching it. We know what Riot Games wants for their perfect player for their fans and the huge fan base that they have.” Sharpe also notes the global reach of their streaming. “We don’t lag outside of North America,” Sharpe said. “We can broadcast effectively into Australia, Brazil, China and more places. In effect, we can create the modern version of the medieval Silk Road where the cross-fertilization and trade between East and West was lucrative, we can recreate that on a global eSports basis.”
Azubu plans to work with brands. “It’s important to recognize we want to create an experience with our brand partners,” said Sharpe. “If you think about the life journey of the young Tiger Woods, his upward trajectory from a young age was such that ‘if I attach my brand to this guy I’m attaching my brand to his triumph, his emotional highs.’ That’s a great thing for brands to be associated with. If you want to attach yourself to a role model who is winning, who is showing what good competition looks like, Azubu can help with that and deliver a window to that world. We can broadcast that triumph and associate your brand with it.”
The comprehensive offering by Azubu provides a great value to brands, in Sharpe’s view. “If you get an endorsement by a talented member of the community, that endorsement resonates with the captive audience that we have,” Sharpe noted. “If you think about Azubu providing the streaming platform, when you go to an ad break the very same guys who are winning the trophies are endorsing your particular product straight to an audience that is lapping up all of this activity. Not only that, the way our technology works there’s all manner of calls to action within the video player, you can not only capitalize on awareness but deliver more than intent to purchase, deliver actual purchase. All of those things come together very well within Azubu. We can deliver a unique combination of talent, brand and platform that will really help our brand partners have effective campaigns.”
The future looks like a broad landscape to Azubu, not only in terms of its global reach but in the breadth of platforms for streaming eSports. Sharpe wants to make eSports accessible to everyone. “We talk about leaving no screen behind,” said Sharpe. “People watch things at all times and places, and it’s very important that we can deliver whatever they are passionate about straight to their eyeballs.”
“One of the things we’re seeing universally is people playing on a variety of different devices,” Sharpe said. “We hear huge amounts of buzz on Blizzard’s Hearthstone game coming out on PC and coming to iPad soon. That’s an exciting thing. There’s an explosion of MOBAs and related games with everyone attempting to capitalize on the success of League of Legends, there are a range of games and IPs that are coming into this space.”
“Not all of those will succeed,” Sharpe continued. “Some of them will be classics, some of them will last for a long time, and some of them will fizzle without an audience. Some of them will be undiscovered games. I’d like to find some of those undiscovered gems, shine a spotlight on them and help give them the plaudits that they deserve. There’s a lot of great potential here, there’s a lot of people are interested in the scene. Talent is helping make or break new games with their endorsement or with their pure enthusiasm. If you can get the right talent, the right broadcaster, the right format of content and get that working in favor of your game, then you can build an audience on the back of that advocacy.”