Upfront Update: VEVO's Grand Newfront Slam

amp160Presentation No replay of the nearend panel that zapped the life out of last year39s showcase Instead in one of the gutsiest moves so far this season Vevo bookended their affair with openingclosing performances by Poetry Slam champion Sekou Andrews His presence musical imagery language and selfexpression was extraordinary holding the audience on every word Made me remember Spoken the wonderful TV showcase for intimate poetry standup on the late Black Family Channel In between Vevo showed its penchant for momentumbuilding content was no fluke deftly mixing executive comments program and viewer feedback clips and live performances by Carly Rae Jepsen yes she did two minutes worth of quotCall Me Maybequot Jessie Ware watch out for her and rapper Kendrick Lamar Grade 5 JacksNews Univision has a deal to codevelop a number of series that will play on that network and Vevo in Spanish Beyond that no developments on upcoming series premieres or cablesatellite carriage of Vevo TV the venture39s new 24hour music video network Grade 2 JacksHost Rio Caraeff the company39s chief executive lets his charming side out when in front of an audience quotWe39re thrilled to share our passion of music with all of youquot he said off the bat quotIn the future music may be an addressable and personalized mediumquot An interactive one as well he added Grade 45 JacksOverall Grade 45 Jacks Comeback of the year among the NewFronts and one of the year39s best efforts upfront or Newfront Only the lack of series premiere news due to timingat least two series launched late April got in the way of a perfect grade5 Jacks Excellent4 Jacks Very Good3 Jacks Good2 Jacks Fair1 Jack Poor0 Jacks Worse than badObservations from the passing parade mostly off other events in NY last weekJust like NY Tech Day the week before TechCrunch Disrupt at Manhattan Center featured a wonderful array of new Web sites and mobile apps from local entrepreneurs Many of them could easilyand should easilybecome smart TV apps Bet if they did the public would use them regularlyMost telling TechCrunch Disrupt comment on stage came from eBay chief executive John Donahoe last Tuesday quotWe see a world where people will shop and use retail on multiple screens TV included That39s an area we39re investing inquot he said In fact eBay39s PayPal unit just launched an app on LG39s smart TV sets last month Donahue39s statement cried out for a followup question from the conductor of this fireside chatand didn39t get it Later PayPal39s recent move didn39t come up in a panel featuring one of their top executives UnbelievableThe assortment of people TechCrunch Disrupt had on its stage for oneonone interviews and panels was terrific Incredible that with one exception I witnessed Union Square Ventures senior executive Fred Wilson none got the opportunity to answer audience questions TechCrunch39s team of editors and writers get a no pass on this For that matter another no pass goes their way for not one word of discussion on smart TVs or the growing crowd funding movementGoogle went twofortwo in blowing opportunities in NY to advance YouTube and Google TV At TechCrunch where Google TV could have made a deep impression and introduced its first transactional service with online consumer electronics retailer Newegg a hohum new Google Plus feature got a star turn last Tuesday A day later YouTube did its splashy NewFront presentation and judging from coverage by the few reporters able to get in there was no new programming meat accompanying the splash Hard to comprehend there was nothing new YouTube could unveil Repeat nothingAnother notable quote this one from Newsweek Daily Beast Co founder Tina Brown at Digital39s annual NewFront gathering last Thursday quotThere39s a reason why bingeviewing is happening People want to escape into something more immersivequot Runnerup notable quote there comes from Huffington Post editorinchief Arianna Huffington quotNow we are all publishers We39re moving from the information era to the participation era in media where selfexpression is the new entertainment and you have to be live and part of the global conversation The only thing that matters is qualityquotKeep your eye on what transpires from a NY meetup this week staged by Verizon and MIT Enterprise Forum The purpose invite application developers to channel their creations for smart TVs as well as the Web and mobile Which reminds me to ask Google where and when are you going to do another Google TV hackathon more than a year after you staged two successful events in Silicon Valley and London 200 developers eachUntil 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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Upfront Update: VEVO's Grand Newfront Slam

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