Your Most Crucial Weekend #MustReads: October 10

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We sort through quite a bit of the fluff out there on the Internet on a daily basis and we’ve found what we think are the most crucial before you head off for your weekend.

Have something else to share? Feel free to comment with your contribution below.

Gaming Insiders Summit Preview: Don’t leave home without it!

Vine Shows That Video Created for Mobile Gets Higher Engagement: What is created for mobile does well on mobile.

Teens Not So Interested in Wearables After All: Turns out, it’s hard to convince young folks who’ve never worn watches to wear one now.

‘Move 10 to 25 Percent of TV Dollars to Online Video’ Says Omnicom CEO: The digital shift is quickening.

Data Suggests ‘Second Screen’ Might Be A Misnomer: TV is becoming just another screen and is no longer the main content portal propped up by secondary screens.

Why Gaming’s Explosive Growth Continues: Mobile is clearly the best overall growth market for games on a global basis, and any major game company is going to want to have a piece of that action.

Why The Gold Rush for Video Game Kickstarters is Over: Have we moved into a new era of crowd-sourced funding

Are These The 12 Types of Millennials : Since we’re already stereotyping, let’s dig a little deeper.

What Is Gamergate, and Why Is Intel So Afraid Of It : Eric Johnson of Re/Code condenses “Gamergate” into one article.

Microsoft Research Invents A Stylus That Can Read Your Mind: You read that right.

Snapchat’s Big Plan? Untargeted Ads

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At Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit in San Francisco on Wednesday, Snapchat’s 24-year-old CEO, Evan Spiegel, unveiled his plan to bring advertising to the platform.

“We’re cutting through a lot of the new technology stuff around ads to sort of the core of it, which I think has always been telling a story that leaves people with a new feeling,” Spiegel said. “They’re not fancy. You just look at it if you want to look at it, and you don’t if you don’t.”

In other words, these ads won’t be targeted.

Currently the platform is receiving due attention from notable brands like Taco Bell, Karmaloop and others who have gained a sizeable following by creating content that is made specifically for Snapchat and worth the view. As Snapchat doesn’t have a discovery feature still like Instagram, the only way to reach an audience is by pushing out a brand’s Snapchat info on other social channels like say, Twitter.

Reportedly, Snapchat has been in talks with marketers and multiple media companies to roll out Snapchat Discovery at some point this year, which will curate news, ads and other content for the platform.

Some are calling this new ad business plan outright spam, while others are just happy that Snapchat is giving the mobile platform ad units to begin with. The reason for this could possibly be due to how little Snapchat asks of their users when signing up for an account and also the nature of the content on Snapchat itself, as everything created is also destroyed.

Still, it is a wonder why Snapchat isn’t using location-based targeting for this new ad unit.

Now to wait with bated breath to see how users react to this untargeted advertising and stick around for more. In spite of this, Spiegel’s attention to keeping Snapchat’s cool factor alive and well is not an after-thought:

“One of my pet peeves over time has been the technology industry has tried to sell counterculture, sell the revolution, and we have been really resistant to doing that.”

Google’s Street View Comes To The Arabian Desert

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Thanks to Google Maps and Street View, as long as you have a mobile device on you, you are in little trouble of getting seriously lost. Now the same is true for even the Arabian Desert, in particular the Liwa Oasis area in Abu Dhabi, a sea of shifting golden sands where camels are the vehicle of choice.

Of course, let’s be real: where you are more likely to experience this is from where you’re sitting right now, but this might be the push you needed to get out and experience the UAE first hand.

 

CREATIVE: Mercedes Ad Reenacts ‘Dirty Dancing’ For The Vito

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If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like if ‘Dirty Dancing’ was recreated by vehicles, now’s your chance. To the tune of “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” the classic movie’s main theme song, a Mercedes truck and car court each other and… consumate their love. Out pops the Mercedes Vito, truly born from their “boldest genes.”

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YouTube Inches Closer To Hollywood Studio; Structures Content Division

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by Jocelyn Johnson

While the seat of YouTube’s former VP of content operations  Tom Pickett has barely cooled, YouTube has now restructured its content division under the leadership of the site’s Head of YouTube Originals Alex Carloss.

YouTube has confirmed that the company has upped Tim Shey, director of development for YouTube Spaces and former Next New Networks founder, to head of scripted content. We’re also told that YouTube’s current head of investment strategy Ivana Kirkbride, who will take the unscripted title, and head of content strategy Ben Relles, who is now head of comedy, are also part of the division. YouTube is also on the hunt for a Head of Family Entertainment and Learning.

YTOriginalsTeam

So as YouTube makes moves to inch closer to the Hollywood studio model, what kinds of content might we see ?
We’re told that this group will be in charge of overseeing scripted, non-scripted, and special projects that will receive funding from YouTube. In many ways, this could take shape like the “YouTube Nation” deal or similar to the other funding the video site has done to date.

While most of the projects being considered at present are short form, the next 12-to-18 months will be a testing bed for YouTube as it experiments with short-form formats that can also transition to television (i.e. 12 x 11 minute episodes that could be repackaged as 6 x 22 minute episodes). Think season three of “Video Game High School,” which YouTube is also rumored to have partly funded.

Structuring the content rollout in this way would give YouTube a potential windowing and monetization strategy. However, we may also see longer-form short films or feature-length projects being supported, though one source tells us that all content will have to be global and endemic to the platform.

And what of distribution?  Given that YouTube is the largest open platform for video consumption (with Facebook close at its heels), the content would initially run on YouTube for free and not behind a subscription pay wall; however, as YouTube sorts out its windowing and monetization, we may see the company run tests on Google Play, where one model could be rolling out episodes on a weekly basis while charging a fee for super-fans to gain access to full seasons.

Either way, in order for YouTube to make true headway as a digital studio, it’s going to need to match the marketing muscle with the piggy bank, and put a model in place that recoups the investment.

Now that YouTube has officially entered the IP game, it’s going to be a fun next couple years as the company tries to make yet another content initiative successful.

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.

The Hype Is Over For Instagram’s Hyperlapse

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Facebook likes to experiment with new ideas, but after the initial excitement of projects like Slingshot, Paper and others, one barely hesitates to call them failures. The same is true of Instagram’s Hyperlapse app, which garnered a lot of attention and was used by some notable brands (check out our favorites), but now only 6 weeks post-launch has sadly gone the way of the Poke app.

So what is it about Facebook’s ambitious but ultimately abyssmal app experiments? Are they too segmented? Is creating a separate app the wrong thing to do? Did the idea just not have as much staying power? After all, short-form video apps are hot right now (Vine, Snapchat), so why did this flunk?

With new apps and content to pay attention to every day it seems, perhaps on mobile we are becoming spoiled by novelty and Hyperlapse’s 15 seconds literally wore out.

Facebook is not so concerned. “We aren’t focused on downloads and App Store rankings right now,” said a Facebook spokesperson to VentureBeat. Hyperlapse was merely a side project of Facebook’s engineers working on nights and weekends and moreover, Facebook “never expected it to be an everyday app for the mainstream.”

Pinterest Curates Content With New ‘Pin Picks’

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It seems that Pinterest itself has gotten into pinning, stepping into the editorial sphere by curating collections of pins hand-picked by staff. To begin with, they have a timely collection of costume ideas, survival skills, and more.

With their latest Halloween-themed board, Pinterest collaborated with the likes of Michelle Phan, eHow, Jessica Harlow and Funny or Die to create a collection of horror costume mastery.

It’s a great way to get new Pinterest users acquainted with how the site works and a new avenue for more content partnerships and sponsorships beyond promoted pins.

Marketers are using Pinterest in more elaborate and creative ways like the Pinterest account created by the fictional main character in Gone Girl. These ways are going beyond creating snackable content, but integrating them with a story, in much the same way Pinterest is choosing to do here by picking topics for Pin Picks that have oodles of worthy content on the platform to choose from.

 

PewDiePie Hints At Leaving Maker Studios, Starting Own Network

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by Sahil Patel

Felix Kjellberg, known by now as PewDiePie, the biggest star on YouTube, doesn’t seem all that interested in renewing his contract with Maker Studios— in fact, he doesn’t seem all that high on multi-channel networks in general.

This comes via comments the gaming creator made during an interview with Swedish magazine Icon (via The Wall Street Journal). Kjellberg, who has more than 31 million subscribers on YouTube and is an important part of Maker’s pitch as a network of the biggest and best YouTube talent, doesn’t seem all that impressed by the fact that his MCN was acquired by Disney. And that could play a role when his contract runs out in December.

“The fact that Disney bought Maker Studios doesn’t really change anything for me. If I ask for help, they reply, but that’s all the contact we have,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.”

Instead, it appears Kjellberg is set to start a network of his own. “I’d rather not talk too much about it. I’m in touch with a couple of people who I think would be so right for this. I’m eager to get it all up and running. So far, all the networks have been managed in such an incredibly poor way, it’s embarrassing really. I’d like to help other YouTubers.”

Perhaps Kjellberg’s opinions of MCNs stem from a less-than-stellar experience with the network he has been associated with prior to Maker Studios. Before Maker, PewDiePie belonged to Machinima. That relationship did not end well, as Kjellberg had to go to court to get out of his lifetime contract with the gaming-focused MCN.

“It was managed in such a terrible way. During the time I was a member of their network, I grew into the world’s biggest YouTuber — and they didn’t even know I was with them! They didn’t get in touch a single time, except when I wanted to leave — then their CEO* e-mailed me once,” Kjellberg said to Icon.

Earlier this year, it was reported that Kjellberg makes $4 million a year from YouTube ad sales. That number should only grow as his subscriber count grows, and if there isn’t an MCN he has to share some of that revenue with.

Because PewDiePie also doesn’t seem to be interested in sponsored or branded content, at least if his anecdote about a recent video shoot involving Disney-owned Star Wars characters is to be believed.

“Disney recently sent over a bunch of people dressed as Stormtroopers to make a video together with me, for charity. First of all, they got upset when they found out that there was no specific room for them to change clothes. And then, they didn’t agree to do basically anything in the video because it was not OK with ‘The Star Wars Universe.’ It all turned into chaos and it took a very long time. Finally, we ended up with something that they were going to edit but it was so bad I had to do it over and edit it myself. Furthermore, I don’t want PewDiePie to be some kind of trademark that I lose control over.”

December should be an interesting month.

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* At that time, Machinima’s CEO was Allen DeBevoise, who is an investor in VideoInk.

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.

This Week’s #MustReads: October 3

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We sort through quite a bit of the fluff out there on the Internet on a daily basis and we’ve found what we think are the most crucial before you head off for your weekend.

Have something else to share Feel free to comment with your contribution below.

Apple To Hold iPad Event on October 16: According to Re/Code, Apple’s planning a special event in a few weeks for the iPad.

The World’s Top 10 Gaming Companies: New data from NewZoo shows just how much Tencent is killing it. See who made the list.

A Massive Hit Game Is An Existential Threat: Writer Steve Peterson examines the danger of a hit product in the wake of news about Rovio.

BuzzFeed Will Keynote the 10th [a]list summit: BuzzFeed’s Terry City will be talking about the future of mobile at [a]list summit on December 3rd. For more info, go to alistsummit.com.

Facebook’s Atlas: The Ad Network Utilizing Facebook User Data Everywhere: Facebook’s newest ad network is going to use the wonders of Facebook user targeting data all over the web.

Study Shows Consumers Prefer Non-Aggressive Marketing: Turns out, people really don’t like the hard sell.

A Marketer’s Thoughts on the “Anti-Advertising” Social Platform, Ello: Is Ello comparable to early Facebook Does Ello actually deter advertisers

Millennials Buy What They Share on Social Media: Millennials put their money where their posts are.

Win Tickets to Game Connection! You have until Monday, October 6th to enter for a chance to win a ticket to Game Connection Europe by liking our LinkedIn page. See article for rules.

5 Myths About Millennial Consumers: There’s a lot of bad information going around about millennial identity. Get it straight.

A Mixed Bag On Apps: What The New York Times Learned With NYT Opinion and NYT Now: With increasing attention to digital, The New York Times bet on 2 apps that targeted key audiences, perhaps too acutely.

 

‘Annabelle’ Haunts Horror Fans On Twitter

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What better way to ramp up excitement for a horror film than to deliver the jitters on Twitter Annabelle, the prequel to popular horror film The Conjuring is set to release in the United States October 3 and has been gearing up by bringing Twitter users something that… will help them stay awake.

The campaign has inspired fans to create fake accounts for grassroots promotion. Scope some creative .gif use and check out more on the official account here.