(FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 3/30/15)
Startup Allows Users
To Share TV Clips
Does anything have more potential to go viral than a clip of
comedians making fun of Justin Bieber while he sits there and takes
it?
That is what the team behind Whipclip is betting on. The new
app, which made its debut last week, is designed to let people
quickly, easily and legally share clips of TV shows while they are
watching live.
Whipclip is the brainchild of Internet entrepreneur Richard
Rosenblatt. Besides Comedy Central, Whipclip has joined with
broadcast and cable networks, including Fox, ABC, CBS, VH1, A&E
and Lifetime, as well as the music companies Universal Music Group
and Sony Music. The startup has short-term deals with its partners
that allow it to collect and feature TV content within the app.
The company isn't generating revenue just yet. For now, the TV
networks are viewing Whipclip as a promotional tool, while Whipclip
is trying to build out its user base. Eventually, Whipclip may
explore traditional ads or branded entertainment clips that can be
shared.
Here's how Whipclip works: The company constantly records TV
content broadcast by its partners. Whipclip then feeds the most
recent content into the app in real time. While they are watching
TV, people can open up Whipclip and sift through a menu featuring
various shows and networks, backtrack to a scene or snippet they
want to share, and then instantly fire off a clip to all their
friends via Twitter, Facebook and other social networks.
Whipclip is trying to solve two big problems for TV networks
looking to capitalize on social-media buzz around their shows.
People want to share clips of their favorite shows, and either
don't have the ability to do so during live shows or events, or
they end up doing it illegally by posting pirated clips that end up
getting taken down. With Whipclip, the TV partners have full
control over which clips can and can't be shared, and for how long
the content stays available.
"That [control] was clearly an important consideration for us,"
said Walter Levitt, Comedy Central's chief marketing officer.
All of the partners are looking for rights-cleared video, said
Mr. Rosenblatt. "For some of these content providers, it can take
them 48 hours to make that available," he said. "Imagine doing this
in real time. This will be the first time people will be able to
share these moments on their phones across their social networks as
fast as a TV executive can."
-- Mike Shields
Kraft-Heinz Merger
Could Hit Ad Agencies
The merger of Kraft Food Groups Inc. and H.J. Heinz Co. will
bring together some of the world's most recognizable brands from
Heinz Ketchup to Maxwell House coffee and Jell-O.
Integrating the two packaged food giants will likely mean
consolidating brands and trimming expenses to justify the more than
$40 billion deal.
The deal, if it closes, would create the world's fifth-largest
food and beverage company that together spent about $583 million on
measured-media advertising in the U.S. last year, according to data
from Kantar Media, an ad-tracking research firm owned by WPP.
Despite the decent ad budget, ad agency executives are concerned
about the notorious cost-cutting ways of 3G Capital Partners LP,
parent of Heinz, and what it could mean for how many brands will
survive, how many agencies will be needed to market those labels
and how much additional pressure it could place on the fees
agencies charge.
There will likely be an evaluation of the agencies on both
companies' rosters but, first, Kraft and Heinz need to figure out
the organizational structure of the new company and decide if
brands will be consolidated, said Ann Billock, a partner at Ark
Advisors, a consulting firm that helps marketers select
agencies.
"It will probably take a year before the fallout really
happens," Ms. Billock said. "A lot of it will depend on how
autonomous the two companies stay under this."
-- Suzanne Vranica
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