Sony Debuts PlayStation Vue

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No doubt with an eye towards how viewing habits are changing, Sony has announced that it’s bringing some choice to cable-cutters with the forthcoming PlayStation Vue service. It’s a combination of live TV channels, including local broadcast networks. On-demand content will be part of the service, with the previous three days of “popular programming” available at all times, plus the ability for viewers to save episodes of their favorite shows to the cloud and retain access for up to 28 days.

This subscription-based cloud TV service will launch into a closed beta this month for select PlayStation console owners, before arriving in 2015 and spreading compatibility to other devices, including Sony-compatible televisions and iPads.

“PlayStation Vue reinvents the traditional viewing experience so your programming effortlessly finds you, enabling you to watch much more of what you want and search a lot less,” said Andrew House, president and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, in a press release. “PlayStation Vue brings the best of live TV and a robust catalog of the latest content, always keeping you connected to what’s popular, new and trending. Today’s announcement builds on the historic success of PlayStation 4 and demonstrates what our company is capable of when we embrace disruption and stay true to gamers.”

The service will launch with approximately “around 75 channels per market,” including local broadcast networks, along with popular cable channels from such partners as Viacom, NBC Universal and Fox. On-demand will play a part along with live television, providing plenty of bang for subscriber’s bucks.  PlayStation Vue will launch in an invite-only beta later this month on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, first in New York and then in Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

Sony didn’t mention a monthly rate for the service just yet, but it’s expected to be announced over the next few weeks – maybe even at the company’s PlayStation Experience event, which kicks off in Las Vegas on December 6. The company has promised it will be set at a “fair and competitive price.”

A variety of partners are already on board with the project, including the above-mentioned companies, along with Discovery Communications, Scripps Networks Interactive and CBS. There are some noticeable omissions, such as Disney, Turner and HBO, but Sony insists it’s in “active discussions” with new partners.

Sony still has an uphill battle ahead of it with its service, considering the tough competition from more popular opponents, as well as its own troubles with the PlayStation Now game streaming service. However, if it plays all its cards right, there’s no reason why PlayStation Vue can’t be a hit.

 

Facebook Changing Its Privacy Policy

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While not all changes has been happily accepted by its users, Facebook insists that little bits and pieces that are tinkered with on its site are for the better – and that’s including the needs of marketers as well.

Re/code has reported that the company has once again made some changes to the site’s privacy policies, detailing how such changes involve users’ information when it comes to location-based ads and purchases made on the site, including in games and other applications.

The company detailed some of the changes to its policy, per an official blog post: “If you use our Services for purchases or financial transactions (like when you buy something on Facebook, make a purchase in a game, or make a donation), we collect information about the purchase or transaction. This includes your payment information, such as your credit or debit card number and other card information, and other account and authentication information, as well as billing, shipping and contact details.”

It continued, clarifying the new policy: “We’re updating our policies to explain how we get location information depending on the features you decide to use. Millions of people check into their favorite places and use optional features like Nearby Friends. We’re working on ways to show you the most relevant information based on where you are and what your friends are up to. For example, in the future, if you decide to share where you are, you might see menus from restaurants nearby or updates from friends in the area.”

The company hasn’t finalized any plans for its commerce just yet, as it’s still working on a few features with it. However, it probably just “cleared the air” with the above statements, so users know exactly what information the company has access to, for better or for worse. Now it’s just a question of how many users these new policies may scare off, even if their information is secure in the long run…

 

Meet The Titans Of Digital Commerce

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This infographic from Statista shows just how big online shopping as become and who the major players are within it. Unsurprisingly, Amazon is the one to rule them all, with 164 million monthly visitors in the first quarter of 2014. As the number of digital shoppers continues to grow, different products tend to favor different commerce platforms. For example, video game purchases are much more popular on smartphones than say, home and garden and computer hardware products, and digital content is much more popular on tablets than video games are.

While the desktop is still the most dominant force in ecommerce, that is clearly bound to change. Social commerce, interestingly enough, is one sector that has reached its peak, as it is predicted to shrink by 26 percent by 2018.

Infographic: Online Shopping By The Numbers | Statista

 

Churchill Downs To Buy Big Fish for $885 Million

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“They have never had the mega-hit game, and we actually like that,” Churchill Downs CEO William Carstanjen said in a conference call in reference to the famous race track-owning company about buying tech company Big Fish Games.

Is this as odd a fit as it sounds Looking at Churchill Downs’ other holdings, no. The company owns six casinos, a video poker business, as well as an online wagering system among other things. Based in Seattle, Big Fish Games has grown to be one of the largest privately-held technology companies in its area.

Paul Thelen, founder and CEO of Big Fish is calling the aquisition a “great cultural fit for us.” He went on to say more about the growth of Big Fish and what this purchase would mean.

“We are extremely proud of the company we have built over the last twelve years. Churchill Downs is a company with a commitment to interactive entertainment and a track record of growth and performance. We believe Big Fish is now positioned to become an even greater force in the casual, mid-core and social casino mobile and online games industry,” said Thelen.

According to a report from Eilers Research, casino games is big business — worth about $2.7 billion worldwide and Big Fish is the 5th largest social casino games maker.

 

Vice And Live Nation To Form New Digital Platform For Live Music

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By: Sahil Patel

Vice Media is partnering with Live Nation Entertainment to create a new digital platform for live music content.

Available sometime in 2015, the joint venture will look to produce and distribute live music programming across platforms, including online, mobile, TV, and in some cases even theatrically. Eventually, the platform will be the home to “hundreds of hours” of original music content, the companies said.

Formats will range from long- and short-form video series and feature-length documentary films to “premium” editorial franchises and daily editorial content. The platform will also offer e-commerce and ticketing options.

The goal is to launch the platform globally, supporting nine languages across all platforms.

Read more…

This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.

SuperData: October Digital Game Sales

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Analysis from SuperData CEO, Joost van Dreunen, follows:

  • Zynga gets pummeled after alienating its poker fans
  • Destiny sells 1 in 5 copies via digital download on console
  • Games industry seeks to better connect with mobile gamers
  • Electronic Arts discontinues Dawngate, as MOBA market slows.

With a combined total of $957 million in sales in October, up 12 percent from the same month a year earlier, the digital games market is growing stronger. The adoption by next-gen console gamers of full-game downloads presents an important driver to the overall market, as digital console sales reached $96 million. A slew of new title releases stalled spending in the free-to-play segment, but both mobile and downloadable games on PC thrived, totaling $327 million and $212 million, respectively. Activision especially made its presence felt this month, as Destiny accumulated 9.5 million registered users, roughly one-fifth of which downloaded the game directly to their console hard drives.

Zynga gets pummeled after alienating its poker fans

Now under new management, Zynga likely expected different results when its re-released Zynga Texas Hold ’em Poker dropped from 8.1 million daily active users in September to 7.1 million in October. Losses were especially heavy on mobile. The company managed to offset some of its losses by posting higher revenues at its quarterly earnings report, but this may prove to be only a temporary relief from prying eyes. Critics of the publisher have become increasingly vocal about the absence of a concrete release schedule following the $527 million acquisition of Natural Motion at the beginning of this year. While Zynga is clearly gearing up to service all types of audiences, combining social casino games with its well-known Ville-type games and recently entering both the racing and sports market, delaying a strong release may provide a big enough window for competitors to steal Zynga’s thunder. The overall social games market was up slightly month-over-month, reaching $168 million, but with a 2 percent decline compared to the same month last year, it has certainly lost some of its shine.

Destiny sells 1 in 5 copies via digital download on console

As the interactive entertainment market prepares to end 2014 on a high note, bets made earlier in the year are already starting to pay off as publishers observe a growing percentage of sales via digital channels. With major publishers now fully behind digital distribution, this year’s big titles so far sold, on average, 12 percent of total units via digital downloads on consoles. Notably, in its first two months since launch, Activision’s Destiny sold roughly twenty percent of full game downloads on consoles, driven by the combination of a growing install base of next gen devices and aggressive pre-order incentives at retail. For the holiday season we conservatively forecast the share of direct-to-consoles downloads of full games to double, as consumers seek to avoid the inconvenience of having to wait for delivery or stand in line. That said, GameStop has so far proved to be well-positioned to capture a piece of this uptick in digital games revenue. We do, however, anticipate lower-than-expected game sales over the winter break for online retailers like Amazon.

Games industry seeks to better connect with mobile gamers

With the mobile games market reaching $328 million in monthly sales, up 24 percent from the same month last year, game developers are becoming increasingly cautious of the market’s volatility. As development and marketing costs continue to rise, a growing number of small and medium-sized development studios, often the source of innovative content, increasingly focus their attention on sustainability. According to a detailed study among 41 UK-based game studios, 34 percent of respondents recently changed their business model, hoping to increase the overall efficiency of their production processes, and emphasized the importance of strategic relationships in mitigating risk. Results of the study were first presented at GDC Next and are available for download here.

MOBA segment plays musical chairs and EA bows out

Following the announcement of EA’s discontinuation of Dawngate, its contender to the immensely popular MOBA category, it appears that League of Legends and Dota 2 have the market to themselves. Despite the growing success of SMITE (Hi-Rez Studios) in key markets, the title is a distant third, followed by slew of promising contenders that are currently still in beta like Arena of Fate (Crytek). EA’s exit from this market removes a credible potential competitor. All eyes are now on the tablet market where a band of former Riot developers are about to launch Vainglory on November 18. Overall, the free-to-play MMO segment slowed, declining to $116 million, following a growth period that coincided with a flurry of tournaments.

Mobile Game Earnings Roundup: Q3 2014

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As the mobile games business continues its upward trajectory, it’s useful to examine the growing number of companies that actually report their financial results on a regular basis — the publicly traded mobile game companies. It’s true that private companies generate the majority of the revenues in the mobile games business, but observing the public results can help us judge the health of the sector.

Overall, the results are encouraging, as most of the companies reported making good profits from mobile games. Still, Tencent did show a slowdown in its mobile games revenue in the huge China market, and the game giant will be redoubling its efforts as well-funded competitors like Alibaba (which recently teamed up with Kabam) attack its market share. Zynga is still making the transition to a mobile game company from social games, and it’s still losing money on that journey. King Digital is still hauling cash to the bank, but the company is coming off the sugar rush induced by Candy Crush Saga.

It looks like the companies that have managed to build themselves a huge audience for mobile games are increasingly able to come up with revenue from that audience. While hits are still unpredictable, building regular release schedules of solid titles is a sound business strategy if you can keep your costs in line. When the occasional huge hit comes along, like Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, results will look great for a time. Companies that can resist the temptation to expand too much on the basis of such a hit have a good future ahead of them.

King Digital reported lower revenues as Candy Crush Saga continues to lose its sweetness, but the company still generated $144 million in cash, and non-Candy Crush games were responsible for 49 percent of the company’s revenue. Non-GAAP revenues of $543.9 million were down from last year’s $648.2 million, and the profit of $177.4 million was down from $229.2 million last year.

“With the launch of two new mobile games during the third quarter as well as the Facebook version of Candy Crush Soda Saga last month, we are continuing to execute on our strategy to develop a portfolio of games for our massive network of players,” said King CEO, Riccardo Zacconi. “We have a consistent track record of developing successive hit games and as a result, have increased our non-Candy Crush Saga gross bookings to $264 million in third quarter 2014. If annualized, this represents more than a $1 billion run rate, and makes our non-Candy Crush Saga business larger than most every other mobile gaming company.”

Glu Mobile, riding high on the success of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, reported record revenues for the third quarter. Non-GAAP revenues hit $83.6 million, up 270 percent from last year and 138 percent from the previous quarter, with earnings of $15.4 million.

“Glu’s third quarter was the strongest in the company’s history as non-GAAP revenue and Adjusted EBITDA set all time records,†stated Niccolo de Masi, Chief Executive Officer of Glu. “The record quarter was driven by the strength of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, our new releases Dino Hunter: Deadly Shores and Tap Sports: Baseball, ongoing traction with Deer Hunter 2014 and Eternity Warriors 3 and the addition of Racing Rivals to our product portfolio.”

Zynga, in the midst of its transition to a mobile game company, reported non-GAAP bookings of $175.5 million, and a non-GAAP loss of $6.7 million. Compared to the prior year, Zynga has reduced its losses and halted the erosion in its user base, while mobile bookings represented 55 percent of the total. Zynga’s stock jumped nearly 11 percent in one day after analyst firm Jefferies changed the stock from “hold” to “buy” based on the new release of Words With Friends and the company’s upcoming slate of titles.

“I am encouraged by the results of the quarter as we navigate through this time of transition. In Q3, we reported bookings at the high end of our guidance range and Adjusted EBITDA near the midpoint of our guidance range. Our teams have been working hard over the last year to reshape our business and we are seeing that work show up in two important areas – our franchise bookings and mobile bookings growth. Last quarter, our core franchises — Casino, Words With Friends and FarmVille — grew 30 percent year over year in terms of bookings, and we achieved meaningful growth in mobile with a 111 percent increase in mobile bookings annually,” said Don Mattrick, CEO of Zynga.

Chinese giant Tencent, which derives the majority of its revenues from games, reported a 28 percent rise in revenues ($3.2 billion from all sources) and a 46 percent rise in profits (to $923 million), though both numbers disappointed investors by missing the estimates, due largely to slowing revenue from mobile games (which generates more than half the company’s sales). Revenue from its mobile-gaming business declined to 2.6 billion RMB, compared 3 billion RMB in the previous quarter. Furthermore, WeChat’s monthly active users rose just 6.8 percent during the quarter to 468 million monthly active users, its most sluggish growth since Tencent first started releasing user numbers. Tencent had warned investors back in August that it expected its mobile gaming revenue growth to level out temporarily as it works on adding more titles and integrating e-commerce services.

Korean mobile game publisher Gamevil reported revenues of $38.9 million (over 100 percent growth) with a net profit of $8.9 million (almost 450 percent growth). The publisher cited the success of titles like Dragon Blaze domestically and globally pointed to MLB Perfect Inning and Monster Warlord. It should be noted that about a year ago, Gamevil acquired one of its earliest competitors Com2uS, which is still reporting its own earnings separately. Just yesterday, Com2uS announced a record quarter with $40 million in profit, partially thanks to Summoners War.

Gameloft reported sales dipped by 10 percent in the third quarter to $69.3 million. Despite the sales decline in Q3, Gameloft boasted that it was the worldwide number one developer and publisher on iOS and Google Play by downloads according to App Annie’s worldwide index for games.

“After several quarters with a low number of releases, Gameloft has returned to launching new games at a more regular pace. While this is not yet apparent in the quarterly sales, we believe it will progressively start showing in the coming quarters and accelerate throughout 2015,” stated Michel Guillemot, CEO of Gameloft.

 

Rovio To Open 9 Angry Birds Theme Parks In China

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Mobile gaming is booming in China. The market is expected to grow an astonishing 93 percent in 2014 to reach $2.9 billion in revenue and is slated to have similar growth through to 2018, where it’s projected to hit $7.7 billion. Mobile gaming is a fast-growing sector set to outpace console gaming and this is a marketing push of Disneyland-like proportions.

Rovio knows what it stands to gain by taking their popular franchise (both online and offline), Angry Birds, and creating 9 family entertainment parks in the next 4 years.

‘‘China is an extremely important market for us and we’re constantly looking for ways to provide innovative fan experiences by bridging the digital with the physical. Through this partnership, we not only achieve that, but we set a strong foot in one of the worlds fastest growing theme park markets with a key player in the industry,” said Pekka Rantala, chief commercial officer at Rovio Entertainment. “We are delighted at the prospect of bringing Angry Birds closer to our fans in China, in spaces where all members of the family can engage.’’

An interesting move considering just one month ago, Rovio had planned to cut almost 130 jobs at its Finland headquarters.

The parks will be created in partnership with Guogoi business group and will be quite large, covering a total area of “tens of thousands” of square meters to take the mobile game brand to the next level.

 

Yahoo! Acquires BrightRoll

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When it comes to increasing its outreach into the field of programmatic video, Yahoo! is certainly making moves.

The web company has announced that it has invested $640 million in ad-tech firm BrightRoll, with an expectation to close in early 2015. That’s the second largest investment that the service has made, right behind purchasing Tumblr for an estimated $1.1 billion, according to Ad Age.

This could mark a shift for Yahoo!’s advertising means, as it previously relied heavily on display advertising. Now, with BrightRoll under its belt, it could easily make a shift into programmatic video, which should please investors who aren’t too fond of buying into the company’s “premium” ad service.

BrightRoll is already coming off a highly successful year in business, with $100 million in revenue projected for this year (not including money paid to advertisers, of course).

The main feature that Yahoo! will look to take advantage of is its programmatic ad auctions, as well as its outreach in ad formatting. According to Ad Age, it provides these services at a greater scale than even the likes of Google and Facebook, which will certainly serve Yahoo! in the long run.

“Video, along with mobile, social, and native, is driving a surge in digital advertising. Here at Yahoo, video is one of the largest growth opportunities, and BrightRoll is a terrific, strategic and financially compelling fit for our video advertising business,” said Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer in a prepared statement. “As with every acquisition, we have been extremely thoughtful about our approach to the video advertising space.”

So far, programmatic video has an advertising total of $710 million for this year, but estimates from eMarketer indicate that it will get as high as $3.84 billion in just a couple of years’ time, fueled by digital video advertising. This is due to most adults consuming 55 minutes of video daily, whether it’s on their PC’s, tablets or smartphones.

So, certainly, this deal will pay off in Yahoo!’s favor, provided it can have the right business strategy moving forward. BrightRoll should certainly help with that.

Celtra: Display Ads Can Get Game

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Display ads have come a long way when it comes to certain devices, but Celtra believes that they can go even further.

Lena Hofman, a product analyst for the group, has provided a few tips on how marketers can make their ads more interactive, according to Native Mobile. It has posted a new infographic that breaks down how display ads don’t just have to sit there, as they can be turned into game-based experiences, allowing users a unique way to interact with them.

Titled A Marketer’s Guide To Gaming In Display Ads, the piece breaks down how marketers can take advantage of the format. “In a market increasingly carved up into smaller and smaller pieces along demographic lines, marketers are hungry for techniques with more universal appeal,” Hofman says. “And one thing is pretty true for all of us: From the cradle to the grave, we all love to play games.”

With the help of this new format, Hofman believes engagement can rise to a new high with display ads. “It follows that display ads that include games should take advantage of this natural affinity by translating it into brand engagement,” she advises. “In a recent study, we put this theory to the test by comparing the performance of AdCreator 4-powered standard HTML5 display ads with minigames against standard HTML5 display ads without gaming elements. Here’s what we learned. Games significantly enhance ad engagement rates.”

By allowing users to play along (rather than just opt out of the ads), the “fun feature” can relate better to them, and particularly get them more directly involved with the product. “(Our) results show that gamifying the creative — whether it’s to introduce different versions of the product, create a positive memorable experience with the brand or simply take advantage of a fun feature — leads to higher overall engagement rates,” Hofman explained. “Users are more likely to engage with the ad’s content when a call-to-action comes in the form of an invitation to play, to wipe the surface to reveal what’s beneath, or solve a puzzle.”

Of course, it all comes down to how much consumers like games – and judging by the success of certain apps in the market, that’s definitely the case. “Including a game in an ad can be a powerful way to set the stage for more interaction, from watching a video to clicking through to a mobile destination,” Hofman concludes. “In fact, click-through rates are nearly seven times higher in ads with gaming features, while video play rate is over three times higher in gaming ads.”

More information can be found here, on Celtra’s site.