Thursday, April 29, 2010
Bing Advertises On Farmville, Acquires 400,000 Facebook Fans In One Day
Bing Advertises On Farmville, Acquires 400,000 Facebook Fans In One Day
Posted by Neil Vidyarthi on March 4th, 2010 2:18 PMShare108 8 Comments Microsoft gained over 400,000 Facebook fans on their Bing fan page yesterday thanks to a single advertisement in FarmVille. The fan page, which grew by five times in size from around 100,000 users to now above 500,000 users, was part of a promotion by Bing, where Farmville users could gain virtual currency by becoming a fan of the Bing Facebook page. The ad was a clever integration, and users could join the Bing page without interrupting their game.
The big question is what kind of quality of fans does this attract? What’s the value of someone that just clicks on the “add as fan” button and then goes back to their game? Bing attempted to convince users that Bing should be their choice for finding tips about Farmville, and that Bing could help them succeed in their game, and while that’s true, how does signing up to become a Facebook fan relate to the activity of searching for game tips? Microsoft answers this question pretty strongly:
Microsoft’s social media team has crafted Facebook updates designed to cater to FarmVille users. Today it sent out an update reading, “Any FarmVille fans out there? Try using Bing to get the most out of your crops and animals.” It links to a Bing search result for “FarmVille animals.” The update drew 585 comments in four hours and 20,000 click-throughs.
20,000 click throughs is nothing to scoff at, and this really highlights the power of Facebook fan pages. When a user signs up as a fan, status updates from that fan page are shown on their news feed, so it gives them a directly addressable audience. By making updates related to Farmville, they were able to hit their demographic the correct way, and succeeded in generating a great response from users.
The idea of incentivizing users to participate in actions to gain virtual currency has been a revolutionary one for FB, and the big question remains as to how valuable the actions are to advertisers. A recent discussion I had with Offerpal gave me at least a few answers. Offerpal stated that for their ‘install’ programs, where users are asked to install a different application to get virtual currency, they use special technology to make sure the user who tries the new application stays for a bit before they get the currency. This filters out people that don’t actually care to engage with the new application. A similar technique could help on Facebook fan pages.
While this is only one example of a cost per action technique, the Bing example seems to have been a success, leading us to believe that only more will follow.
Posted by Neil Vidyarthi on March 4th, 2010 2:18 PMShare108 8 Comments Microsoft gained over 400,000 Facebook fans on their Bing fan page yesterday thanks to a single advertisement in FarmVille. The fan page, which grew by five times in size from around 100,000 users to now above 500,000 users, was part of a promotion by Bing, where Farmville users could gain virtual currency by becoming a fan of the Bing Facebook page. The ad was a clever integration, and users could join the Bing page without interrupting their game.
The big question is what kind of quality of fans does this attract? What’s the value of someone that just clicks on the “add as fan” button and then goes back to their game? Bing attempted to convince users that Bing should be their choice for finding tips about Farmville, and that Bing could help them succeed in their game, and while that’s true, how does signing up to become a Facebook fan relate to the activity of searching for game tips? Microsoft answers this question pretty strongly:
Microsoft’s social media team has crafted Facebook updates designed to cater to FarmVille users. Today it sent out an update reading, “Any FarmVille fans out there? Try using Bing to get the most out of your crops and animals.” It links to a Bing search result for “FarmVille animals.” The update drew 585 comments in four hours and 20,000 click-throughs.
20,000 click throughs is nothing to scoff at, and this really highlights the power of Facebook fan pages. When a user signs up as a fan, status updates from that fan page are shown on their news feed, so it gives them a directly addressable audience. By making updates related to Farmville, they were able to hit their demographic the correct way, and succeeded in generating a great response from users.
The idea of incentivizing users to participate in actions to gain virtual currency has been a revolutionary one for FB, and the big question remains as to how valuable the actions are to advertisers. A recent discussion I had with Offerpal gave me at least a few answers. Offerpal stated that for their ‘install’ programs, where users are asked to install a different application to get virtual currency, they use special technology to make sure the user who tries the new application stays for a bit before they get the currency. This filters out people that don’t actually care to engage with the new application. A similar technique could help on Facebook fan pages.
While this is only one example of a cost per action technique, the Bing example seems to have been a success, leading us to believe that only more will follow.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
What Social Media Will Look Like in 2012
What Social Media Will Look Like in 2012
11 Predictions That Will Affect Marketers and the Way They Do Business
It's easy to get caught up in today's trends or even focus on the next six months. Some of 2009's biggest trends included an increased emphasis on real-time search and information distribution, while distribution of marketing content in widgets and other pieces of portable content that worked across devices and social spaces also saw its stake rise. Plus, there were great improvements in social-media monitoring and analytics. And most notably, marketers finally acknowledged that social media was more than just a fad, with almost complete adoption by all major marketers.
Here are the top 11 predictions for what social media will look like in 2012 (based on a full presentation which is available on my blog). Some of these items exist today in their early stages, but this list is about what I believe will become the norm in 2012. Ultimately, share of voice, point of view and community influence will be more important than brand ownership -- and marketers will need to get over it if they want to stay relevant in 2012.
1. Privacy expectations will (have to) change
There will be a cultural shift, whereby people will begin to find it increasingly more acceptable to expose more and more of their personal details on different forms of social media. Sharing your likes, dislikes, opinions, photos, videos and other forms of personal information will be the norm and people will become more accepting of personalized experiences, both corporate and personal, that are reacting to this dearth of personal information.
2. Complete decentralization of social networks
The concept of a friend network will be a portable experience. You'll find most digital experiences will be able to leverage the power of your social networks in a way that leverages your readily available personal information and the relationships you've established. We're already seeing the beginnings of this with Facebook Connect and Google's FriendConnect.
3. Our interaction with search engines will be different
Real-time information in Google search, e.g. from Twitter, blog results and user reviews, will be more prominent. Google's Social Search will change the way we interact with search engines by pushing relevant content from our personal networks to the front of search results, making them more personalized. The importance of digital-influencer marketing will increase significantly.
4. Rise of the content aggregators
The amount of content online is growing at an exponential rate, and most online users have at least three online profiles from social networks to micro-blogging to social news sites. Our ability to manage this influx is challenging, and content aggregators will be the new demi-gods, bringing method to madness (and make a killing). Filtering and managing content will be big business for those who can get it right and provide easy-to-use services.
5. Social media augmented reality
Openly accessible information from the social-media space will be used to enhance everyday experiences. For example: the contacts book in your phone links to Facebook and Twitter to show real-time updates on what the contact is doing before you put in the call, real-time reviews from friends and associates will appear in GPS-based mapping services as a standard feature, and socially enabled CRM will change the way companies manage business relationships forever.
6. Influencer marketing will be redefined
As social media continues to permeate more and more aspects of not only the way we interact with digital media but also other channels such as digital outdoor, commerce or online TV, we will see the significance of influencer marketing grow dramatically. As a basic example, the inclusion of Twitter in Google search results or Google's soon-to-be-released Social Search will permeate search results with content that will not be managed by Google's infamous PageRank but by social influence and relevance to your social network. Discovering people that can help you to reach your desired consumer will become exponentially more effective and important.
7. Ratings everywhere
In today's world, having a commerce site that doesn't have user ratings could actually prove to be a detriment to sales. In the near future, brands and businesses will more frequently place user ratings and accept open feedback on their actual websites. User ratings will become so common that marketers should expect to find them woven into most digital experiences.
8. Social media agents
Managing the customer experience offline and online is already a key concern for marketers and customer-experience advocates. As businesses continue to support customers by monitoring and engaging in the social media space, tools to optimize this experience will become more important. Expect to see a certain percentage of responses handled by natural language engines that can respond to basic commentary such as "my service is down" or "I never received my package."
9. Riding the (Google) wave
It's still early days as Google Wave is still primarily limited to developers but it has the potential to revolutionize collaboration and engagement. Wave offers marketers a unique way, at minimal cost, to allow consumers to engage with each other in way that is miles beyond anything we're currently using. Savvy marketers will develop extensions for Wave that evolve its unique communication toolset into a rich brand experience that is immersive but allows for new levels of interaction from crowdsourced storytelling to crowdsourced product design.
10. Thinking beyond "nowness"
In 2009 we became very focused on the real-time nature of social media. The implications behind consumer feedback and interaction around brands using tools like Twitter or Facebook's news stream caused marketers to re-evaluate the power of social media tools in parallel to "traditional" digital-media channels such as search. Looking into the future we'll need to try and evaluate what's next and the likely answer is based on the next evolution of the web as we know it: the semantic web. In a semantic web world, search engines, for example, will anticipate the best search results we're looking for based on what they know about us (such as all our public social networking profiles). There will be an opportunity for marketers who push the limits of their imagination to anticipate what marketing will look like in this next stage of the web and creating new and compelling experiences that we're only touching the surface of now.
11. Social media everything and the return of digital media
Social functions will become so commonplace in digital experiences that the thought of not having socially-enhanced experiences will seem illogical. Digital media by its very nature is inherently social. I hope we're not talking about social media in 2012, and we just refer to everything as digital media again
11 Predictions That Will Affect Marketers and the Way They Do Business
It's easy to get caught up in today's trends or even focus on the next six months. Some of 2009's biggest trends included an increased emphasis on real-time search and information distribution, while distribution of marketing content in widgets and other pieces of portable content that worked across devices and social spaces also saw its stake rise. Plus, there were great improvements in social-media monitoring and analytics. And most notably, marketers finally acknowledged that social media was more than just a fad, with almost complete adoption by all major marketers.
Here are the top 11 predictions for what social media will look like in 2012 (based on a full presentation which is available on my blog). Some of these items exist today in their early stages, but this list is about what I believe will become the norm in 2012. Ultimately, share of voice, point of view and community influence will be more important than brand ownership -- and marketers will need to get over it if they want to stay relevant in 2012.
1. Privacy expectations will (have to) change
There will be a cultural shift, whereby people will begin to find it increasingly more acceptable to expose more and more of their personal details on different forms of social media. Sharing your likes, dislikes, opinions, photos, videos and other forms of personal information will be the norm and people will become more accepting of personalized experiences, both corporate and personal, that are reacting to this dearth of personal information.
2. Complete decentralization of social networks
The concept of a friend network will be a portable experience. You'll find most digital experiences will be able to leverage the power of your social networks in a way that leverages your readily available personal information and the relationships you've established. We're already seeing the beginnings of this with Facebook Connect and Google's FriendConnect.
3. Our interaction with search engines will be different
Real-time information in Google search, e.g. from Twitter, blog results and user reviews, will be more prominent. Google's Social Search will change the way we interact with search engines by pushing relevant content from our personal networks to the front of search results, making them more personalized. The importance of digital-influencer marketing will increase significantly.
4. Rise of the content aggregators
The amount of content online is growing at an exponential rate, and most online users have at least three online profiles from social networks to micro-blogging to social news sites. Our ability to manage this influx is challenging, and content aggregators will be the new demi-gods, bringing method to madness (and make a killing). Filtering and managing content will be big business for those who can get it right and provide easy-to-use services.
5. Social media augmented reality
Openly accessible information from the social-media space will be used to enhance everyday experiences. For example: the contacts book in your phone links to Facebook and Twitter to show real-time updates on what the contact is doing before you put in the call, real-time reviews from friends and associates will appear in GPS-based mapping services as a standard feature, and socially enabled CRM will change the way companies manage business relationships forever.
6. Influencer marketing will be redefined
As social media continues to permeate more and more aspects of not only the way we interact with digital media but also other channels such as digital outdoor, commerce or online TV, we will see the significance of influencer marketing grow dramatically. As a basic example, the inclusion of Twitter in Google search results or Google's soon-to-be-released Social Search will permeate search results with content that will not be managed by Google's infamous PageRank but by social influence and relevance to your social network. Discovering people that can help you to reach your desired consumer will become exponentially more effective and important.
7. Ratings everywhere
In today's world, having a commerce site that doesn't have user ratings could actually prove to be a detriment to sales. In the near future, brands and businesses will more frequently place user ratings and accept open feedback on their actual websites. User ratings will become so common that marketers should expect to find them woven into most digital experiences.
8. Social media agents
Managing the customer experience offline and online is already a key concern for marketers and customer-experience advocates. As businesses continue to support customers by monitoring and engaging in the social media space, tools to optimize this experience will become more important. Expect to see a certain percentage of responses handled by natural language engines that can respond to basic commentary such as "my service is down" or "I never received my package."
9. Riding the (Google) wave
It's still early days as Google Wave is still primarily limited to developers but it has the potential to revolutionize collaboration and engagement. Wave offers marketers a unique way, at minimal cost, to allow consumers to engage with each other in way that is miles beyond anything we're currently using. Savvy marketers will develop extensions for Wave that evolve its unique communication toolset into a rich brand experience that is immersive but allows for new levels of interaction from crowdsourced storytelling to crowdsourced product design.
10. Thinking beyond "nowness"
In 2009 we became very focused on the real-time nature of social media. The implications behind consumer feedback and interaction around brands using tools like Twitter or Facebook's news stream caused marketers to re-evaluate the power of social media tools in parallel to "traditional" digital-media channels such as search. Looking into the future we'll need to try and evaluate what's next and the likely answer is based on the next evolution of the web as we know it: the semantic web. In a semantic web world, search engines, for example, will anticipate the best search results we're looking for based on what they know about us (such as all our public social networking profiles). There will be an opportunity for marketers who push the limits of their imagination to anticipate what marketing will look like in this next stage of the web and creating new and compelling experiences that we're only touching the surface of now.
11. Social media everything and the return of digital media
Social functions will become so commonplace in digital experiences that the thought of not having socially-enhanced experiences will seem illogical. Digital media by its very nature is inherently social. I hope we're not talking about social media in 2012, and we just refer to everything as digital media again
BRAVO TO OFFER WEEKLY "VIRTUAL VIEWING PARTIES" AROUND "REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NEW YORK CITY"
BRAVO TO OFFER WEEKLY "VIRTUAL VIEWING PARTIES" AROUND "REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NEW YORK CITY"
--Channel's Social TV Offering Branded as "Bravo Talk Bubble"
NBC Universal-owned cable channel, Bravo, has announced plans to offer a live, social TV experience around each week's episode of its reality series, "The Real Housewives of New York City" (airs Thursdays at 10:00PM Eastern/Pacific). The social TV offering, which Bravo has branded as "Talk Bubble," builds on the apparent success of one-off so-called "virtual viewing parties" that the channel previously offered in association with the May 5th finale of the prior season of "Real Housewives of New York City" and the December 9th finale of the series, "Top Chef." By going to www.bravotalkbubble.com or texting "PARTY" to 27286, Bravo says, viewers will be able to engage directly with their favorite housewives (the first participating New York housewife will be Jill Zarin), and will be able to react to the show through Twitter, Facebook or mobile while watching it live. "Thousands of fans participated in the last two virtual viewing parties, and we had such a great response that we decided to implement this weekly for a more dynamic experience for our highly engaged audience," Lisa Hsia, Bravo's SVP of digital media, said in a prepared statement. "The Bravo Talk Bubble is a real-time watercooler event that allows us to grow our audience through social media, and to have a two-way conversation with fans as they experience Bravo in a more personal, intimate way than ever before."
Each week during the "Real Housewives" Talk Bubble, Bravo says, different housewives will interact with fans on Twitter, as well as "Watch What Happens: Live" host Andy Cohen and some of his weekly guests. The Talk Bubble will offer a video widget, featuring highlights from that night's episode, that viewers can share with friends via Twitter, Facebook, email and their mobile phones. These selected videos will also be available in the Talk Bubble video player, Bravo says. In addition, during the show's broadcast, "Tweet Spots" will show a selection of viewer comments in real time. Viewers will also be able to take part in nightly polls and the "Tweet Heat" sentiment meter, which tracks how they are feeling about the housewives during the show.
--Channel's Social TV Offering Branded as "Bravo Talk Bubble"
NBC Universal-owned cable channel, Bravo, has announced plans to offer a live, social TV experience around each week's episode of its reality series, "The Real Housewives of New York City" (airs Thursdays at 10:00PM Eastern/Pacific). The social TV offering, which Bravo has branded as "Talk Bubble," builds on the apparent success of one-off so-called "virtual viewing parties" that the channel previously offered in association with the May 5th finale of the prior season of "Real Housewives of New York City" and the December 9th finale of the series, "Top Chef." By going to www.bravotalkbubble.com or texting "PARTY" to 27286, Bravo says, viewers will be able to engage directly with their favorite housewives (the first participating New York housewife will be Jill Zarin), and will be able to react to the show through Twitter, Facebook or mobile while watching it live. "Thousands of fans participated in the last two virtual viewing parties, and we had such a great response that we decided to implement this weekly for a more dynamic experience for our highly engaged audience," Lisa Hsia, Bravo's SVP of digital media, said in a prepared statement. "The Bravo Talk Bubble is a real-time watercooler event that allows us to grow our audience through social media, and to have a two-way conversation with fans as they experience Bravo in a more personal, intimate way than ever before."
Each week during the "Real Housewives" Talk Bubble, Bravo says, different housewives will interact with fans on Twitter, as well as "Watch What Happens: Live" host Andy Cohen and some of his weekly guests. The Talk Bubble will offer a video widget, featuring highlights from that night's episode, that viewers can share with friends via Twitter, Facebook, email and their mobile phones. These selected videos will also be available in the Talk Bubble video player, Bravo says. In addition, during the show's broadcast, "Tweet Spots" will show a selection of viewer comments in real time. Viewers will also be able to take part in nightly polls and the "Tweet Heat" sentiment meter, which tracks how they are feeling about the housewives during the show.
Comscore Study: Social Gamers Want Marketing Offers For Currency
Comscore Study: Social Gamers Want Marketing Offers For Currency
Posted: 09 Mar 2010 10:44 PM PST
A new study by Comscore will be released on Wednesday that may give hope to social gaming startups trying to monetize users. 35% of the survey respondents said that they engage in “marketing actions” to earn virtual currency (such as watching a video, filling out a survey, etc.), and 53% said they be willing to consider marketing action for currency if given the choice.
The study was conducted by Comscore, sponsored by Offerpal, and included responses from 799 Comscore panelists who play games on social networks at least once per month. 54% of panelists play games at least daily.
This is good news for game developers who’ve had their monetization choices somewhat fenced in over the last few months. Gamers 25-34 are the most likely to earn virtual currency for marketing actions, according to the study – 71% of panelists in that age group said they are “very likely” to consider this.
The study also showed that about 30% of panelists don’t have the ability to pay cash for virtual currency. But more than half of all panelists, including a majority of those that can pay cash and a majority of those that cannot pay cash, were willing to consider marketing actions.
The bottom line of the study is that even users who have the ability to pull out their wallet want options when it comes to social games. And as long as they don’t get scammed along the way, we’re just fine with it. Watch a video in exchange for Zynga points? That’s a better deal than the credit card.
Posted: 09 Mar 2010 10:44 PM PST
A new study by Comscore will be released on Wednesday that may give hope to social gaming startups trying to monetize users. 35% of the survey respondents said that they engage in “marketing actions” to earn virtual currency (such as watching a video, filling out a survey, etc.), and 53% said they be willing to consider marketing action for currency if given the choice.
The study was conducted by Comscore, sponsored by Offerpal, and included responses from 799 Comscore panelists who play games on social networks at least once per month. 54% of panelists play games at least daily.
This is good news for game developers who’ve had their monetization choices somewhat fenced in over the last few months. Gamers 25-34 are the most likely to earn virtual currency for marketing actions, according to the study – 71% of panelists in that age group said they are “very likely” to consider this.
The study also showed that about 30% of panelists don’t have the ability to pay cash for virtual currency. But more than half of all panelists, including a majority of those that can pay cash and a majority of those that cannot pay cash, were willing to consider marketing actions.
The bottom line of the study is that even users who have the ability to pull out their wallet want options when it comes to social games. And as long as they don’t get scammed along the way, we’re just fine with it. Watch a video in exchange for Zynga points? That’s a better deal than the credit card.
Mobile App Directory Mplayit Adds Recommendations From App Gurus
Mobile App Directory Mplayit Adds Recommendations From App Gurus
Posted: 10 Mar 2010 08:56 AM PST
Facebook-based mobile app directory Mplayit is launching a new way to discover mobile apps today: App Gurus. The new feature draws recommendations from experts in the mobile space. The experts, which include blogs and technology writers, will rate and comment on apps in Mplayit’s catalogs.
Last year, Mplayit launched its Facebook app that allows users to discover, share and recommend a variety of mobile apps back in November and covers apps available for the iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Mobile (Java) devices. Mplayit’s directory of apps includes a dedicated page for each app where Mplayit will post videos of the app (created either by the developer or pulled from YouTube), a detailed description of the app and reviews. You can also click to buy the app from various app markets, including Apple’s App Store and the Android Market. Once you start clicking on various app and downloading apps, Mplayit will begin to recommend apps to you based on your behavior on the site.
With the feature, consumers on Mplayit will be able to see a feed of real-time activity of the Gurus within the app. Guru’s can also rank apps on a scale of one to five and apps rated by at least two Gurus with ratings or four or five stars get the top accolade, a “Guru Approved” badge. App Gurus include IntoMobile, iPhone Arcade, Androidandme and Stuart Dredge. The feature is similar in some ways to competitor Appolicious’ curated lists of recommended mobile apps. Mplayit also faces competition from AppsFire, 16Apps and others.
Posted: 10 Mar 2010 08:56 AM PST
Facebook-based mobile app directory Mplayit is launching a new way to discover mobile apps today: App Gurus. The new feature draws recommendations from experts in the mobile space. The experts, which include blogs and technology writers, will rate and comment on apps in Mplayit’s catalogs.
Last year, Mplayit launched its Facebook app that allows users to discover, share and recommend a variety of mobile apps back in November and covers apps available for the iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Mobile (Java) devices. Mplayit’s directory of apps includes a dedicated page for each app where Mplayit will post videos of the app (created either by the developer or pulled from YouTube), a detailed description of the app and reviews. You can also click to buy the app from various app markets, including Apple’s App Store and the Android Market. Once you start clicking on various app and downloading apps, Mplayit will begin to recommend apps to you based on your behavior on the site.
With the feature, consumers on Mplayit will be able to see a feed of real-time activity of the Gurus within the app. Guru’s can also rank apps on a scale of one to five and apps rated by at least two Gurus with ratings or four or five stars get the top accolade, a “Guru Approved” badge. App Gurus include IntoMobile, iPhone Arcade, Androidandme and Stuart Dredge. The feature is similar in some ways to competitor Appolicious’ curated lists of recommended mobile apps. Mplayit also faces competition from AppsFire, 16Apps and others.
Social DIY cartoon to spawn crowdsourcing book
Regular Springwise readers may recall food52, the year-long series of weekly recipe contests we wrote about last autumn that will ultimately culminate in a published cookbook highlighting the winners. That project is still under way—it's nearing week 40 now—but recently we came across an Australian venture that brings much the same concept to the world of cartoons.
Billed as "the world's first social cartoon character", Eric the Circle is the story of—sure enough—a circle named Eric. Eric is not just any circle: he lives a full and active life, as evidenced by the hundreds of cartoons contributed so far that depict some of its highlights. Participants simply sign on to Eric's web page and then begin creating their own cartoons about him. A drawing tool on the site makes drawing and adding captions easy. Those cartoons can then be published on the site gallery; they can also be publicised using Twitter, Facebook, web pages and blogs. Viewers can vote on the submitted cartoons, and those that fare the best will be published in a book and syndicated to other web pages. The creators of those winners, meanwhile, will be rewarded financially, the site's founders say.
There are few things we love more here at Springwise than to see the prolific members of Generation Cash get compensated for their efforts. When was the last time your brand tapped the creative crowds—and rewarded them? (Related: Crowdsourcing site helps publishers find new authors — Greeting-card maker pays for top crowdsourced designs — Author's next thriller will be cowritten by the crowds.)
Billed as "the world's first social cartoon character", Eric the Circle is the story of—sure enough—a circle named Eric. Eric is not just any circle: he lives a full and active life, as evidenced by the hundreds of cartoons contributed so far that depict some of its highlights. Participants simply sign on to Eric's web page and then begin creating their own cartoons about him. A drawing tool on the site makes drawing and adding captions easy. Those cartoons can then be published on the site gallery; they can also be publicised using Twitter, Facebook, web pages and blogs. Viewers can vote on the submitted cartoons, and those that fare the best will be published in a book and syndicated to other web pages. The creators of those winners, meanwhile, will be rewarded financially, the site's founders say.
There are few things we love more here at Springwise than to see the prolific members of Generation Cash get compensated for their efforts. When was the last time your brand tapped the creative crowds—and rewarded them? (Related: Crowdsourcing site helps publishers find new authors — Greeting-card maker pays for top crowdsourced designs — Author's next thriller will be cowritten by the crowds.)
Smartphones Key to Mobile Gaming Growth
Smartphones Key to Mobile Gaming Growth
Rising smartphone adoption rates show promise for the mobile gaming industry to reverse declining participation rates, according to data from comScore.
Feature Phone Users Drive Overall Mobile Gaming Decline
In the three months ending February 2010, an average of 50.9 million mobile subscribers had played at least one game in the past month, a 13% drop from the average of 58.6 million who had done so in the three months ending February 2009. However, a 35% annual decline in the number of non-smartphone subscribers who had played a game in the past month (45.2 million to 29.5 million) created this decline. Mobile gaming showed a 60% increase among smartphone subscribers (13.4 million to 21.4 million).
Smartphone Subscribers Heavier Mobile Gamers
Smartphone subscribers (47.1%) are three times more likely than feature phone subscribers (15.7%) to play games on their device at least once a month. They are more than five times as likely to play games almost every day and far surpass their feature phone counterparts across various methods of game play.
Smartphone subscribers also install significantly more games on their devices, with 27.3% having installed at least one game, compared to just 5.6% of feature phone subscribers. One-third of smartphone subscribers with games have more than five games installed on their phones, while less than 1% of feature phone subscribers have that many games installed.
Smartphone Subscribers Play More Hardcore Games
Smartphone subscribers are more likely to play mobile games than feature phone subscribers across every gaming genre. The genre with the highest penetration among smartphone subscribers is arcade puzzle games at 12.9%, followed by card games (11.9 %), word/number games (11.4%) and casino games (7.6%).
While casual game genres have higher penetration than hardcore genres (sports, racing, action/adventure, first-person shooter), the hardcore genres exhibit significantly higher adoption among smartphone subscribers. This finding highlights the importance of the smartphone medium in driving adoption of higher quality gaming experiences, according to comScore analysis.
iPhone, iPod Touch Games: 24% of Market by 2014
The worldwide market for portable and mobile games is expected to grow to $11.7 billion by 2014, driven - in large part - by Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch systems, which will account for 24% of total portable game software sales within five years, according to a forecast from DFC Intelligence.
Though DFC estimates that dedicated portable game systems from top game makers Nintendo and Sony will still lead the market during the forecast period, it now appears that growth for these devices has peaked.
In contrast, “the platforms from Apple are expected to be responsible for the bulk of market growth over the next few years,” said DFC analyst David Cole.
Related topics: Signs of What's to Come, Research, Online Networks, Telecom, Wireless (Sponsored by Neustar) , Mobile, Videogames, Online, New Tech, Media Department, Demographics, Behavioral Marketing, Interactive, E-Commerce, Entertainment, Measurement/Analytics, Integrated/Cross-Media/Convergence, Direct,
Rising smartphone adoption rates show promise for the mobile gaming industry to reverse declining participation rates, according to data from comScore.
Feature Phone Users Drive Overall Mobile Gaming Decline
In the three months ending February 2010, an average of 50.9 million mobile subscribers had played at least one game in the past month, a 13% drop from the average of 58.6 million who had done so in the three months ending February 2009. However, a 35% annual decline in the number of non-smartphone subscribers who had played a game in the past month (45.2 million to 29.5 million) created this decline. Mobile gaming showed a 60% increase among smartphone subscribers (13.4 million to 21.4 million).
Smartphone Subscribers Heavier Mobile Gamers
Smartphone subscribers (47.1%) are three times more likely than feature phone subscribers (15.7%) to play games on their device at least once a month. They are more than five times as likely to play games almost every day and far surpass their feature phone counterparts across various methods of game play.
Smartphone subscribers also install significantly more games on their devices, with 27.3% having installed at least one game, compared to just 5.6% of feature phone subscribers. One-third of smartphone subscribers with games have more than five games installed on their phones, while less than 1% of feature phone subscribers have that many games installed.
Smartphone Subscribers Play More Hardcore Games
Smartphone subscribers are more likely to play mobile games than feature phone subscribers across every gaming genre. The genre with the highest penetration among smartphone subscribers is arcade puzzle games at 12.9%, followed by card games (11.9 %), word/number games (11.4%) and casino games (7.6%).
While casual game genres have higher penetration than hardcore genres (sports, racing, action/adventure, first-person shooter), the hardcore genres exhibit significantly higher adoption among smartphone subscribers. This finding highlights the importance of the smartphone medium in driving adoption of higher quality gaming experiences, according to comScore analysis.
iPhone, iPod Touch Games: 24% of Market by 2014
The worldwide market for portable and mobile games is expected to grow to $11.7 billion by 2014, driven - in large part - by Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch systems, which will account for 24% of total portable game software sales within five years, according to a forecast from DFC Intelligence.
Though DFC estimates that dedicated portable game systems from top game makers Nintendo and Sony will still lead the market during the forecast period, it now appears that growth for these devices has peaked.
In contrast, “the platforms from Apple are expected to be responsible for the bulk of market growth over the next few years,” said DFC analyst David Cole.
Related topics: Signs of What's to Come, Research, Online Networks, Telecom, Wireless (Sponsored by Neustar) , Mobile, Videogames, Online, New Tech, Media Department, Demographics, Behavioral Marketing, Interactive, E-Commerce, Entertainment, Measurement/Analytics, Integrated/Cross-Media/Convergence, Direct,
Value of a 'Fan' on Social Media: $3.60
The findings are based on impressions generated in Facebook's news feed
April 13, 2010
- Brian Morrissey
Brands have rushed to Facebook to build fan bases, with some amassing millions of connections. The nagging question has been: What is the monetary value of these fans?
Social media specialist Vitrue, which aids brands in building their customer bases on social networks, tried to put a media value on such communities.
The firm has determined that, on average, a fan base of 1 million translates into at least $3.6 million in equivalent media over a year.
The company's findings are based on impressions generated in the Facebook news feed, the stream of recent updates from users' networks.
Vitrue analyzed Facebook data from its clients -- with a combined 41 million fans -- and found that most fans yielded an extra impression. That means a marketer posting twice a day can expect about 60 million impressions per month through the news feed.
"It's important to understand that once you build that fan base, you want to make sure you're leveraging it," said Michael Strutton, chief product officer at Vitrue.
Not all brands are created equal. Vitrue found wildly divergent impression-to-fan ratios. Some marketers generated just .44 impressions per fan, while another saw 3.6 impressions. Strutton chalked that up to sexier brands having more engaged connections, giving them access to the news feed more often. The impressions are not unique.
Vitrue arrived at its $3.6 million figure by working off a $5 CPM, meaning a brand's 1 million fans generate about $300,000 in media value each month. Using Vitrue's calculation, Starbucks' 6.5 million fan base -- acquired in part with several big ad buys -- is worth $23.4 million in media annually.
"It helps [marketers] justify the spend they're making, especially in acquiring a fan base and engaging that fan base," Strutton said.
Of course, the figures don't include perhaps the most powerful incentive for brands building fan bases: social customer-relationship management. Marketers often use their Facebook hubs to inform fans of new products, services and promotions.
"When you start to [add] engagement value, it goes higher," said Strutton. "We were trying to get an easy-to-understand valuation terminology."
The findings are based on impressions generated in Facebook's news feed
April 13, 2010
- Brian Morrissey
Brands have rushed to Facebook to build fan bases, with some amassing millions of connections. The nagging question has been: What is the monetary value of these fans?
Social media specialist Vitrue, which aids brands in building their customer bases on social networks, tried to put a media value on such communities.
The firm has determined that, on average, a fan base of 1 million translates into at least $3.6 million in equivalent media over a year.
The company's findings are based on impressions generated in the Facebook news feed, the stream of recent updates from users' networks.
Vitrue analyzed Facebook data from its clients -- with a combined 41 million fans -- and found that most fans yielded an extra impression. That means a marketer posting twice a day can expect about 60 million impressions per month through the news feed.
"It's important to understand that once you build that fan base, you want to make sure you're leveraging it," said Michael Strutton, chief product officer at Vitrue.
Not all brands are created equal. Vitrue found wildly divergent impression-to-fan ratios. Some marketers generated just .44 impressions per fan, while another saw 3.6 impressions. Strutton chalked that up to sexier brands having more engaged connections, giving them access to the news feed more often. The impressions are not unique.
Vitrue arrived at its $3.6 million figure by working off a $5 CPM, meaning a brand's 1 million fans generate about $300,000 in media value each month. Using Vitrue's calculation, Starbucks' 6.5 million fan base -- acquired in part with several big ad buys -- is worth $23.4 million in media annually.
"It helps [marketers] justify the spend they're making, especially in acquiring a fan base and engaging that fan base," Strutton said.
Of course, the figures don't include perhaps the most powerful incentive for brands building fan bases: social customer-relationship management. Marketers often use their Facebook hubs to inform fans of new products, services and promotions.
"When you start to [add] engagement value, it goes higher," said Strutton. "We were trying to get an easy-to-understand valuation terminology."
Guest Q&A with comScore's Gian Fulgoni
By Steve Donohue
With the rapid growth of digital cable networks and the development of new “TV Everywhere” Internet video sites, it’s vital for programmers, distributors and advertisers to be able to measure how viewers are consuming content on multiple platforms. Gian Fulgoni, the co-founder and executive chairman of comScore Inc., is at the forefront of cross-platform measurement. In a recent interview with cable industry reporter and CTAM contributor Steve Donohue, Fulgoni discussed comScore’s multiplatform measurement strategy, and the potential he sees from using data collected from digital cable set-tops to improve the measurement of video content and advertising.
Many cable companies and networks are working on TV Everywhere sites that would allow subscribers to view content from their cable subscriptions on the Web. What role would you like to see comScore play in TV Everywhere distribution?
Fulgoni: We are already significant providers of measurement and data for the Internet, and that’s true of both the fixed access Web as well as mobile. For us, the TV is the third screen, and we believe that it’s critical that we be in the business of measuring viewing behavior on that screen in addition to the others. So as the TV viewing databases become available – whether that’s from an MSO or a DVR provider or a satellite company – we would hope to be able to establish relationships with them to obtain access to that data, integrate it with our other databases, and build additional value into it using comScore assets and knowledge.
Nielsen Media Research doesn’t measure digital cable networks, which is a challenge for cable MSOs that want to increase local advertising revenue. Is that something comScore would look to offer the cable industry?
Fulgoni: Yeah, for sure. Again, I think it’s the difference between [set-top box data] and if you have to build out your own sample with your own proprietary devices that you’re going to put into people’s homes, which is the way that television ratings have historically been obtained. It’s a really expensive, complicated system to build, and you’re limited by that complexity and the cost, in terms of the sample size that you can offer.
One of the beauties of all of this data becoming available from the supply side is you won’t have these constraints of sample size. I think that was one of the big issues in terms of measuring all of the digital channels that are available. If your sample size isn’t big enough, you’re just not going to be able to do it. The more set-top boxes of data you have, the better the job you’ll be able to do. I think that’s definitely one of the benefits that is going to be coming to the industry down the road.
What are the most important metrics for programmers and advertisers to focus on when it comes to Web video content: Unique visitors or time spent on each video?
Fulgoni: I think those are two important measures. You need to know the unduplicated count of unique viewers, you need to know time [spent], you need to know the ads that were running. That’s another huge positive about the availability of all of the digital TV data. Remember the ad measurement can come along with it. That’s very, very different from the challenge of measurement in the broadcast world with a small sample of households.
In the digital world, the ad measurement is there. To us it’s directly analogous with what we do today with the fixed Internet. We capture not only people’s viewing of the content, or reading of the content, but we capture the ads as they are delivered to the Internet user. It’s very easy to run a whole set of analysis of the impact of advertising on behavior. And I think that’s one of the key benefits that will come out of these digital TV databases. It will be measurement at a much finer level of granularity, it will be very fast measurement, and the viewing will be completely integrated with the delivery of ads, allowing a whole range of improved understanding about how advertising is changing consumer behavior.
Nielsen has said that 99 percent of the viewing of TV programming is done on an actual TV, with less than 1 percent of video being consumed through online and mobile platforms. Do you agree with those numbers, and how do you see it changing over time?
Fulgoni: If you look at the total amount of video that’s consumed on the Internet today, and you look at it relative to the amount of time spent watching television, it’s growing very, very rapidly, but low single digits. One of the reasons is [that] the video being watched, for the most part until recently, has been short-form. Longer form video, from the likes of Hulu, has been a relatively recent phenomenon, but it’s growing very rapidly. So I would expect that it will continue to grow, and the viewing of television content on the Internet will become a bigger and bigger percentage.
That said, I think the question that nobody yet knows the answer to is to what degree will people be willing to watch television content on a small computer screen versus a big TV screen? I personally think it’s a generation issue. People my age are going to watch it on a large TV screen, whereas a significant proportion of younger people are used to watching it on a computer screen and will continue to do so. I would expect the Internet viewing percentage to continue to climb, but I would expect that the vast majority of viewing will remain on the television screen.
What will you talk about at the CTAM Research + Insights conference?
Fulgoni: What I’m going to try to do is show what have we learned from looking at Internet behavior through the comScore databases that could be applied to this new digital cable television world. I hope to be able to also show a study that we’re in the process of conducting where we have integrated a digital television viewing database with a comScore database. We’re going to be able to look at the relationship between television viewing and Internet viewing, and I hope to be able to show some results that will demonstrate that a television ad can drive traffic and commerce on a Website, which I think will be pretty interesting for the audience.
(Gian Fulgoni will give a keynote address at the CTAM Research + Insights conference on May 12 in Los Angeles. If you comment or ask a question below, he’ll address as many as
By Steve Donohue
With the rapid growth of digital cable networks and the development of new “TV Everywhere” Internet video sites, it’s vital for programmers, distributors and advertisers to be able to measure how viewers are consuming content on multiple platforms. Gian Fulgoni, the co-founder and executive chairman of comScore Inc., is at the forefront of cross-platform measurement. In a recent interview with cable industry reporter and CTAM contributor Steve Donohue, Fulgoni discussed comScore’s multiplatform measurement strategy, and the potential he sees from using data collected from digital cable set-tops to improve the measurement of video content and advertising.
Many cable companies and networks are working on TV Everywhere sites that would allow subscribers to view content from their cable subscriptions on the Web. What role would you like to see comScore play in TV Everywhere distribution?
Fulgoni: We are already significant providers of measurement and data for the Internet, and that’s true of both the fixed access Web as well as mobile. For us, the TV is the third screen, and we believe that it’s critical that we be in the business of measuring viewing behavior on that screen in addition to the others. So as the TV viewing databases become available – whether that’s from an MSO or a DVR provider or a satellite company – we would hope to be able to establish relationships with them to obtain access to that data, integrate it with our other databases, and build additional value into it using comScore assets and knowledge.
Nielsen Media Research doesn’t measure digital cable networks, which is a challenge for cable MSOs that want to increase local advertising revenue. Is that something comScore would look to offer the cable industry?
Fulgoni: Yeah, for sure. Again, I think it’s the difference between [set-top box data] and if you have to build out your own sample with your own proprietary devices that you’re going to put into people’s homes, which is the way that television ratings have historically been obtained. It’s a really expensive, complicated system to build, and you’re limited by that complexity and the cost, in terms of the sample size that you can offer.
One of the beauties of all of this data becoming available from the supply side is you won’t have these constraints of sample size. I think that was one of the big issues in terms of measuring all of the digital channels that are available. If your sample size isn’t big enough, you’re just not going to be able to do it. The more set-top boxes of data you have, the better the job you’ll be able to do. I think that’s definitely one of the benefits that is going to be coming to the industry down the road.
What are the most important metrics for programmers and advertisers to focus on when it comes to Web video content: Unique visitors or time spent on each video?
Fulgoni: I think those are two important measures. You need to know the unduplicated count of unique viewers, you need to know time [spent], you need to know the ads that were running. That’s another huge positive about the availability of all of the digital TV data. Remember the ad measurement can come along with it. That’s very, very different from the challenge of measurement in the broadcast world with a small sample of households.
In the digital world, the ad measurement is there. To us it’s directly analogous with what we do today with the fixed Internet. We capture not only people’s viewing of the content, or reading of the content, but we capture the ads as they are delivered to the Internet user. It’s very easy to run a whole set of analysis of the impact of advertising on behavior. And I think that’s one of the key benefits that will come out of these digital TV databases. It will be measurement at a much finer level of granularity, it will be very fast measurement, and the viewing will be completely integrated with the delivery of ads, allowing a whole range of improved understanding about how advertising is changing consumer behavior.
Nielsen has said that 99 percent of the viewing of TV programming is done on an actual TV, with less than 1 percent of video being consumed through online and mobile platforms. Do you agree with those numbers, and how do you see it changing over time?
Fulgoni: If you look at the total amount of video that’s consumed on the Internet today, and you look at it relative to the amount of time spent watching television, it’s growing very, very rapidly, but low single digits. One of the reasons is [that] the video being watched, for the most part until recently, has been short-form. Longer form video, from the likes of Hulu, has been a relatively recent phenomenon, but it’s growing very rapidly. So I would expect that it will continue to grow, and the viewing of television content on the Internet will become a bigger and bigger percentage.
That said, I think the question that nobody yet knows the answer to is to what degree will people be willing to watch television content on a small computer screen versus a big TV screen? I personally think it’s a generation issue. People my age are going to watch it on a large TV screen, whereas a significant proportion of younger people are used to watching it on a computer screen and will continue to do so. I would expect the Internet viewing percentage to continue to climb, but I would expect that the vast majority of viewing will remain on the television screen.
What will you talk about at the CTAM Research + Insights conference?
Fulgoni: What I’m going to try to do is show what have we learned from looking at Internet behavior through the comScore databases that could be applied to this new digital cable television world. I hope to be able to also show a study that we’re in the process of conducting where we have integrated a digital television viewing database with a comScore database. We’re going to be able to look at the relationship between television viewing and Internet viewing, and I hope to be able to show some results that will demonstrate that a television ad can drive traffic and commerce on a Website, which I think will be pretty interesting for the audience.
(Gian Fulgoni will give a keynote address at the CTAM Research + Insights conference on May 12 in Los Angeles. If you comment or ask a question below, he’ll address as many as
Comcast Courts Early 3DTV Adopters
Comcast Courts Early 3DTV Adopters
March 31, 2010 | Steve Donohue | Post a comment
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NEW YORK -- While new 3DTVs may only be available in a few thousand US homes, Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) is gearing up to distribute 3D programming and to appeal to early adopters of the technology.
"It's clearly early in the adoption curve. What's important here is to be innovative and drive the technology and demonstrate to our customers that this is available to them," Comcast SVP and GM of video and entertainment services Derek Harrar said today at an event put on by the MSO to demonstrate how it will deliver 3DTV programming from The Masters golf tournament. (See Masters 3DTV Coverage Exclusive to Cable .)
Asked how many subscribers he expected would be able to view Comcast's 3DTV coverage of The Masters, Harrar said "thousands," which offers an indication on the small fraction of consumers that so far have actually purchased 3D-capable TV sets from manufacturers such as Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE), Panasonic , and (soon) LG Electronics Inc. (London: LGLD; Korea: 6657.KS) . (See TV Makers: 3D Is Not a Fad.)
But with CE firms bundling 3DTV technology and glasses in new, high-end HDTVs, about 1 million US homes should have 3DTVs by the end of the year, Comcast executives noted, citing recent statistics from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) .
Major programmers are starting to ramp up investments in 3DTV. ESPN plans to launch ESPN 3D in June, timing its debut with the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. And Discovery Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) is teaming up with Sony and IMAX Corp. to launch a general entertainment 3DTVchannel in 2011. (See ESPN Jumps Into the 3DTV Game and Discovery Prez: New 3D Net Will Need 6MHz .)
DirecTV Group Inc. (NYSE: DTV) is the first distributor to announce a carriage deal for ESPN 3D. Comcast hasn't announced deals to carry ESPN 3D or any other linear 3DTV programming, other than what it will offer from The Masters next month. But Harrar hinted Wednesday that the nation's largest cable MSO would carry new 3DTV networks that are already under development. (See DirecTV Gets More 3DTV Game .)
"We're talking with all of the people that DirecTV talks to," Harrar said. "We’ll all have the same content."
Asked if Comcast would consider charging a premium for 3DTV programming, Harrar said the MSO is still studying distribution models. But he noted that Comcast hasn't previously charged a premium for 3DTV programming, pointing to the 3D movies and events Comcast has offered subscribers using more traditional anaglyphic 3D technology. (See Comcast Tries On 3D VoD .)
New 3DTVs can display programming produced in both side-by-side and top-bottom formats. Comcast's 3D Masters coverage will be produced in side-by-side format. Augusta National contracted ESPN to produce the 3D version.
"We’ve chosen side-by-side here because of the availability of multiplex and transmission equipment," said Comcast fellow Mark Francisco.
The 3D Masters will run in 1080i side-by-side format. But Francisco said Comcast is also looking at other 3D formats, including content that's delivered in 720p.
In its 3D demo today in SportsNet New York's Manhattan studios, Comcast had 3D video that Augusta National Golf Club supplied for The Masters production running on 3DTVs and a laptop computer connected to a 3D display. A pre-production Panasonic 3DTV required passive RealD glasses that cost $1 each to view images in the three-dimensional format. And it had an LG 3DTV that required active shutter glasses, which cost about $150.
Asked if Comcast would consider leasing the more expensive active 3D glasses to consumers, since CE vendors only include one pair with each new 3DTV that relies on those glasses, Harrar said, "I never even thought about it. It's a challenging thing because people lose them."
While Harrar said live sports programming such as The Masters would work well with linear 3D channels, he was bullish on the prospects of distributing video-on-demand 3D programming. Comcast plans to offer subscribers video-on-demand (VoD) highlights in 3D each day from The Masters.
"The most likely viewership pattern is going to be on-demand. You're going to want to get the family together and hit play. It's a natural for on-demand," Harrar said.
Also worth noting from Comcast’s 3DTV presentation Wednesday:
Comcast executives anticipate 3D networks occupying half of a 6MHz channel, noting that it expects 3D to use the same amount of bandwidth as 2D-HDTV networks. "It will be exactly the same as carrying another HD channel," Harrar said.
Francisco said Comcast is developing a 3D interactive program guide, which displays program listings that appear to jump off the screen.
Comcast SVP of video product management Mark Hess said the Denver-based Comcast Media Center (CMC) will also distribute 3D coverage of The Masters via fiber to Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC) and Canadian MSO Shaw Communications Inc. . Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) and Cox Communications Inc. are also on board, and Comcast plans to offer the feed to other cable MSOs.
Francisco said Web surfers with new 3D computer displays will need a 4.5-Mbit/s connection to view the 3D programming at its best quality level via Masters.com. There will also be a version available for users with connections running 2 Mbit/s and slower, he added.
Comcast, Augusta, and their technology partners plan to host several VIP viewing receptions at venues nationwide. Consumers will also be able to check out the return of Tiger Woods and other competition from the tournament at Sony Style retail stores.
March 31, 2010 | Steve Donohue | Post a comment
Post a CommentPrint | Reprint | Share | Email This | RSS
no ratings
Login to Rate
NEW YORK -- While new 3DTVs may only be available in a few thousand US homes, Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) is gearing up to distribute 3D programming and to appeal to early adopters of the technology.
"It's clearly early in the adoption curve. What's important here is to be innovative and drive the technology and demonstrate to our customers that this is available to them," Comcast SVP and GM of video and entertainment services Derek Harrar said today at an event put on by the MSO to demonstrate how it will deliver 3DTV programming from The Masters golf tournament. (See Masters 3DTV Coverage Exclusive to Cable .)
Asked how many subscribers he expected would be able to view Comcast's 3DTV coverage of The Masters, Harrar said "thousands," which offers an indication on the small fraction of consumers that so far have actually purchased 3D-capable TV sets from manufacturers such as Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE), Panasonic , and (soon) LG Electronics Inc. (London: LGLD; Korea: 6657.KS) . (See TV Makers: 3D Is Not a Fad.)
But with CE firms bundling 3DTV technology and glasses in new, high-end HDTVs, about 1 million US homes should have 3DTVs by the end of the year, Comcast executives noted, citing recent statistics from the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) .
Major programmers are starting to ramp up investments in 3DTV. ESPN plans to launch ESPN 3D in June, timing its debut with the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. And Discovery Communications Inc. (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) is teaming up with Sony and IMAX Corp. to launch a general entertainment 3DTVchannel in 2011. (See ESPN Jumps Into the 3DTV Game and Discovery Prez: New 3D Net Will Need 6MHz .)
DirecTV Group Inc. (NYSE: DTV) is the first distributor to announce a carriage deal for ESPN 3D. Comcast hasn't announced deals to carry ESPN 3D or any other linear 3DTV programming, other than what it will offer from The Masters next month. But Harrar hinted Wednesday that the nation's largest cable MSO would carry new 3DTV networks that are already under development. (See DirecTV Gets More 3DTV Game .)
"We're talking with all of the people that DirecTV talks to," Harrar said. "We’ll all have the same content."
Asked if Comcast would consider charging a premium for 3DTV programming, Harrar said the MSO is still studying distribution models. But he noted that Comcast hasn't previously charged a premium for 3DTV programming, pointing to the 3D movies and events Comcast has offered subscribers using more traditional anaglyphic 3D technology. (See Comcast Tries On 3D VoD .)
New 3DTVs can display programming produced in both side-by-side and top-bottom formats. Comcast's 3D Masters coverage will be produced in side-by-side format. Augusta National contracted ESPN to produce the 3D version.
"We’ve chosen side-by-side here because of the availability of multiplex and transmission equipment," said Comcast fellow Mark Francisco.
The 3D Masters will run in 1080i side-by-side format. But Francisco said Comcast is also looking at other 3D formats, including content that's delivered in 720p.
In its 3D demo today in SportsNet New York's Manhattan studios, Comcast had 3D video that Augusta National Golf Club supplied for The Masters production running on 3DTVs and a laptop computer connected to a 3D display. A pre-production Panasonic 3DTV required passive RealD glasses that cost $1 each to view images in the three-dimensional format. And it had an LG 3DTV that required active shutter glasses, which cost about $150.
Asked if Comcast would consider leasing the more expensive active 3D glasses to consumers, since CE vendors only include one pair with each new 3DTV that relies on those glasses, Harrar said, "I never even thought about it. It's a challenging thing because people lose them."
While Harrar said live sports programming such as The Masters would work well with linear 3D channels, he was bullish on the prospects of distributing video-on-demand 3D programming. Comcast plans to offer subscribers video-on-demand (VoD) highlights in 3D each day from The Masters.
"The most likely viewership pattern is going to be on-demand. You're going to want to get the family together and hit play. It's a natural for on-demand," Harrar said.
Also worth noting from Comcast’s 3DTV presentation Wednesday:
Comcast executives anticipate 3D networks occupying half of a 6MHz channel, noting that it expects 3D to use the same amount of bandwidth as 2D-HDTV networks. "It will be exactly the same as carrying another HD channel," Harrar said.
Francisco said Comcast is developing a 3D interactive program guide, which displays program listings that appear to jump off the screen.
Comcast SVP of video product management Mark Hess said the Denver-based Comcast Media Center (CMC) will also distribute 3D coverage of The Masters via fiber to Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC) and Canadian MSO Shaw Communications Inc. . Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC) and Cox Communications Inc. are also on board, and Comcast plans to offer the feed to other cable MSOs.
Francisco said Web surfers with new 3D computer displays will need a 4.5-Mbit/s connection to view the 3D programming at its best quality level via Masters.com. There will also be a version available for users with connections running 2 Mbit/s and slower, he added.
Comcast, Augusta, and their technology partners plan to host several VIP viewing receptions at venues nationwide. Consumers will also be able to check out the return of Tiger Woods and other competition from the tournament at Sony Style retail stores.
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