NewFront Reviews: AOL, Crackle and YouTube

AOLVenue Digital Greenhouse in the midst of the Brooklyn Navy Yard complex For the only NewFront or Upfront event happening in this borough AOL divided this facility into two rooms one for the presentation the other for pre and postcocktails and appetizers which were served on racks with room for pita bread and several flavors of hummus for example AOL employees huddled in the center of that room inside a circular bar to assist in serving drinks and show off programming The presentation room was part planetarium part fashion runway with wide semicircular screens on each side and a stage in the center With more than 2000 people attending the room was SRO and overflow was guided into quotThe Fish Housequot a nearby hangarsized building with sofas screen and bar on the side Grade 4 JacksPresentation Devoted in large part to AOL39s expanding lineup of original shortform content available on any screen smart TVs included The point was accented by video president Ran Harnevo under the theme quotConnectedquot TV and digital programming quotwill become onequot Harnevo noted quotWe39re not here to bash TV or cable They are going nowhere TV is not dying We want to connect it allquot A year ago the celebrities involved in AOL series couldn39t make the connection with this crowd in pointed fashion All but a few rambled on about their lives and the creation of their series before introducing 30second clips This goround each notable from Zoe Saldana to Mike Epps made their case in a minute or less followed by their clips One exception Transgender punk rocker Laura Jane Grace offering a powerful solo performance on guitar Grade 45 JacksNews Twelve new series will launch in the coming months and four of the series launched last spring including City Ballet spearheaded by Sarah Jessica Parker will return for second seasons Among the notable Grace39s So Much More about the transgender community That39s Racist Epps39 people on the street exploration of common stereotypes and Making A Scene With James Franco in which actors discuss then irreverently act out famous moments from classic films worth expanding into a halfhour series somewhere and Park Bench Boardwalk Empire star Steve Buscemi hangs out with average New Yorkers Also AOL will present its first halfhour or hourlong series amp8211 Connected where five NYC residents of different backgrounds tape and share their special family moments Grade 45 JacksHost Spirited display by all the AOL executives and talent involved although CEO Tim Armstrong39s monologue over why his company39s event came to Brooklyn went overboard We did appreciate the TV history lesson Grade 4 JacksOverall Grade 4 Jacks Of AOL39s three NewFront efforts to date this one was the best in staging visuals and brevity However AOL continues to withhold information on premiere dates for their content And for one project In Short the fact that it launched the day beforeSpecial note There was a big transportation breakdown getting subway riders to and from AOL39s Brooklyn location Signs advising people where to go from two Brooklyn stops into shuttle buses were late to the scene the buses were walking distance from both stops on a rainy evening and going back there were extensive delays due to a truck blocking a narrow Navy Yard street O Jacks for how this was handled all aroundCrackleVenue Cedar Lake Dance39s performance space on W 26th St another location near the famed HighLine walkway Classic brick structure with screens all over the stage and hamcheese croissants the only lunch item Grade 4 JacksPresentation With quotTV That Strikes A Cordquot as the theme Sony39s digital programming service embraced the notion of the Internet becoming more prominent on smart TV sets Theirs and other connected TV projects are quotbecoming the standard mainstay of living around the globequot declared Crackle general manager Eric Berger What39s more viewers are more apt to stream the content they view if they can39t watch it live as opposed to going ondemand or setting their DVRs Berger added From there Crackle let their original programs and celebrities associated with them do the talking Grade 5 JacksNews Look for three new halfhourhour series in the year ahead Sequestered combo jury and mystery drama Sports Jeopardy weekly spinoff of the popular game hosted by Dan Patrick and Tightrope bringing back the 1950s blackandwhite Screen Gems undercover drama with a twist Star Mike Connors gets replaced by another actor who takes modern liberties with that role John O39Hurley did the honors via a hilarious short video and Crackle should consider no one else but him to take it on As designed by executive producer Bryan Cranston yes the Breaking Bad star both real and fake commercials can be incorporated into the series Another ad development Crackle will create interactive quotCRollquot messages for all of its original series One letdown no premiere dates Grade 45 JacksHost Berger made his case in a smooth naturally likeable manner He was one of the more engaging executives in front of a NewFront audience so far Cranston made a personal appeal for Tightrope sponsors quotI39ve always had a thing for dicks as in undercover operativesquot he said quotHope we can count on some dough so we can get this show on the roadquot Grade 5 JacksOverall Grade 45 Jacks Great attitude flow and fun Declare when the content premieres and you land a cool 5 JacksGoogleYouTube BrandcastVenue Madison Square Garden Theater once home to The CW39s annual upfront and will be the new home to next Wednesday39s TBSTNT event Brighter than ever thanks to the recent billiondollar makeover of the entire MSG complex visitors were treated to a long lobby with pix of YouTube personalities in action on either side followed by a food court with all the edibles supplied by Tastemade and other YT content suppliers You couldn39t get enough of the veggie gyozas pizza pie cupcakes or Japanese fried chicken nuggets The stage was flanked by large craggy structures with neon lines separating them Grade 5 JacksPresentation Sure nominee for the most spectacular opening of any 2014 Upfront or NewFront Against a mashup of YouTube videos music and spoken word erupted literally from a variety of performers Mike Reim offered sounds to the Oscarwinning song quotLet It Goquot beat box flutist Greg Patillo let loose along with a dance group and tall crooner Puddles the Clown sevenfeet tall Spectacle personified A few minutes later choreographer Travis Wall joined dancer Jaime Goodwin for a pasdedeux as sketches came to vivid life on a backdrop Along the way to more performances YouTube executives including new CEO Susan Wojoicki discussed the impact their service makes nonstop on world culture quotI believe in the power of video and the opportunity to change the way that people connect learn advertise share and interactquot she said quotAnd I believe we39re just getting startedquot In another special and impromptu amp8211 moment personality Bethany Mota shared how at age 13 creating YouTube videos was her escape from being a victim of bullying Grammy nominee Janelle Monae rocked the house down the stretch and after the majority of UpfrontNewFront events played his hit ad infinitum Pharrell Williams arrived in person to do quotHappyquot Grade 5 JacksNews After leaving last year39s audience newsless as in no details on forthcoming content or initiatives YouTube offered two programming tidbits and one advertiser morsel this time First the proposed Dreamworks TV service planned for cablesatellite distribution will take a detour to YouTube launching there this summer exact date TBA Familytargeted the service will mix liveaction and animated programming DanceOn another YouTube channel attraction will launch Dance School Diaries and Every Single Step two short subject series from So You Think You Can Dance executive producer and judge Nigel Lythgoe On the ad front YouTube introduced Google Preferred where sponsors can buy time and features on the top five percent of YT material by audience size grouped into 14 categories Early advertisers include Heineken and Johnson ampamp Johnson Grade 4 JacksHost X GamesOlympics commentator Sal Masekela anchored the affair in crisp fashion and all the YouTube executives held up their portions well Grade 4 Jacksamp160Overall Grade 5 Jacks on style 4 Jacks on substance The wide world nature of YouTube comes through loud and clear Now let39s get more specific on where that world is headed in the nearterm Bring on more content announcements5 Jacks Excellent4 Jacks Very Good3 Jacks Good2 Jacks Fair1 Jack Poor0 Jacks Worse than badNext up NewFronts season wraps with PBS National Geographic and Maker StudiosUntil the next time stay well and stay tunedThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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NewFront Reviews: AOL, Crackle and YouTube

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NewFront Reviews: AOL, Crackle and YouTube

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