Tag: apple tv

Amazon Brings Shopping To TV For Prime Members With Apple TV App

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Amazon has released an Apple TV app to let Prime members browse and shop from the comfort of their living room couches. By logging into their tvOS app via the four-digit code generated by their mobile app, Apple TV users can browse and search for products, see product details, and read reviews for millions of products available on Amazon. Prime membership is required to make a purchase on the Apple TV app. The home page of the app features a carousel of Amazon-curated collections, including holiday gift guides and other various packs.

What Brands Should Do
Amazon enjoys some unique advantages in transforming TV into a direct sales channel, given its massive scale and the ability to seamlessly integrate ecommerce functionality into the TV streaming devices by syncing up users’ Prime accounts and enabling one-click purchases. And the latest Apple TV model enables ecommerce brands to reach viewers via dedicated apps. For brands that are currently selling on Amazon, it may be worthwhile to tap into these new TV shopping initiatives to get a better understanding of the emerging shoppable TV experience. To read more on how brands can reach shoppers on OTT platforms with shopping apps and branded content, please check out the Appified TV section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: TechCrunch

AT&T To Give Free Apple TV To DirecTV Now Subscribers

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
AT&T is reportedly planning to give away streaming devices for free to incentivize customers to sign up for its upcoming OTT live TV streaming service DirecTV Now. Subscribers who agree to pay for three months of the service will receive a fourth-gen Apple TV, whereas those who pay for one month will get an Amazon Fire TV stick. The service is set to release before the end of the month.  

Why Brands Should Care
While this not exactly a new tactic for enticing sign-ups (Sling TV had a similar giveaway of Fire TV and Roku devices last year), the potential scale and cost of AT&T’s plan far exceeds its precedents. Gradually, we are seeing some ISPs jumping on the cord-cutting bandwagon to court customers either by launching their own streaming services like AT&T and Verizon, or integrating popular streaming services into their own set-top devices, such as the case with Comcast and Netflix. Such a trend will no doubt propel more customers to cut the cord and switch to OTT services.

As more and more consumers choose time-shifted streaming over linear TV, brands should follow the viewers and start to explore new TV ad formats on connected TV devices to engage with the audience in their living rooms. To read more on how brands can reach viewers on OTT platforms with ads and branded content, please check out the Appified TV section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: Apple Insider

The Washington Post Creates Interactive Apple TV Ad For Jaguar

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
The Washington Post has created its first interactive TV ad for Jaguar that appears in its Apple TV app. Working with video ad firm Velocity Made Good, the Post created a 30-second video ad that comes with an interactive gallery panel that viewers can flip through with their remote control to check out the interior and exterior of Jaguar’s F-Pace model. This spot is built to stop running at 15 seconds if there’s no sign of viewer interaction. The publisher says the ad, which has been live for two weeks, has seen higher engagement rates than pre-roll ads that run on its website.

What Brands Need To Do
With the fourth-generation Apple TV introduced last year, Apple made it easier for publishers and brands to surface their content on Apple TV and reach consumers in the living room. This interactive ad spot for Jaguar provides an example of how brands can work with content creators to take advantage of the interactivity of connected TV devices, explore new TV ad formats, and engage with the audience on a deeper level.

To read more on how brands can reach viewers on OTT platforms with branded content, please check out the Appified TV section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: Digiday

 

Now You Can Order Papa John’s Pizza On Apple TV

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Papa John has introduced an Apple TV app for people to order pizza straight from their couches, beating its rival Domino’s to become the first pizza delivery brand to bring online ordering to Apple TV. Users are encouraged to log into their Papa John’s accounts to facilitate a seamless checkout experience. To celebrate the launch, the company is applying a 25% discount automatically to all orders made through its Apple TV app.

What Brands Need To Do
When Apple debuted the 4th generation Apple TV last fall, its ecommerce feature was one of the key highlights we suggested brands to look into. At the moment, Papa John’s Apple TV app lacks integration with its loyalty program and Apple Pay, leaving some room for improvement. For brands that wish to reach customers across all digital sales channels, Apple TV is one of the new frontiers for brands to explore as ecommerce evolves.

To read more on how brands can reach shoppers on OTT platforms with shopping apps and branded content, please check out the Appified TV section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: 9to5Mac

Nielsen To Report OTT Viewing By Streaming Device

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Nielsen already counts over-the-top viewing via streaming devices in its TV audience measurement. Starting April 25, the company will start breaking out those viewing stats by device to give media owners and brand marketers a better understanding of the attention distribution across various popular OTT streaming devices such as Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and even game consoles like Xbox and PlayStation.

What Brands Need To Do
This new device-specific viewing data will enable brand advertisers to figure out how much time people spend watching Nielsen-measured content on each device and link viewing of specific programs to these specific devices. This should provide brands with new insights on where they should prioritize their ad buying or which streaming device or game console they should  focus their resources for developing branded apps.

For more information on how brands can reach viewers on OTT platforms with ads or branded content, please check out the Appified TV section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: Variety

SXSW 2016: Shopgate Offers Retailers A New Way To Sell On Apple TV

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Mobile commerce platform Shopgate debuted its new tools for building tvOS apps, which allow retailers using Shopgate’s SaaS platform to create shopping apps designed for the new Apple TV. At the launch party it hosted on March 12 during SXSW Interactive, the company partnered with sports apparel retailer Gameday Merchandising for a demo that showcased a TV shopping experience with the Team Store app it created for the Golden State Warriors.

What Retailers Need To Do
The new Apple TV presents new opportunities for retailers to reach consumers with branded content and their apps. Retailers can use Shopgate to develop branded apps that leverage Apple TV’s large format interface to entice shoppers and turn online shopping into a group activity. As TV commerce evolves, retailers with video content would be smart to use the new tools available to create their own content portal apps for streaming platforms.

To read more on how retailers can reach shoppers on OTT platforms with shopping apps and branded content, please check out the Appified TV section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: Business Insider

Header image courtesy of Shopgate’s YouTube

Two New Tools To Help Brands Build Their Own Apple TV Apps

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
The launch of the new Apple TV created a new channel for brands to reach consumers in their living rooms with content marketing. Now, two companies have come out with tools to help brands build their own OTT streaming portals. Earlier today, video distribution platform VHX opened its API to let developers create their own streaming apps for Apple TV or Roku set-top boxes.

Similarly, brands hosting video content on JW Player’s platform will be able to use its newly released open-source tvOS app framework to create their own version of Netflix with ease, which Tasting Table, a food website, used to build and submit an Apple TV app for review in less than 24 hours.

What Brands Need To Do
As consumer eyeballs shift away from a rigid programming grid to time-shifted viewing due to the increasing availability and variety of streaming content, there are new opportunities for brands to reach consumers with branded content, which can live alongside traditional media content and is equally discoverable through universal search on advanced TV interfaces. Therefore, brands with video content would be smart to use the new tools available to create their own content portal apps for streaming platforms.

To read more on how brands can reach viewers on OTT platforms with branded content, please check out the Appified TV section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Sources: The Next Web & 9to5 Mac

Apple TV Extends Universal Search To 3 New Apps

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Apple launched the 4th generation Apple TV last October, which allows viewers to search for keywords across content channels using Siri. At launch, only iTunes, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and Showtime had universal search compatibility, and PBS was added to the list last month. Now, three new apps has joined the roster as the tvOS apps from FOX, FX, and National Geographic added support for this crucial discovery feature.

In related news, Apple is reportedly in talks with the NFL for the streaming rights of its “Thursday Night Football’ games. While earlier reports indicated that Apple had been “frustrated” by the difficult negotiations with media owners to get live TV content, the latest news suggest that Apple is still actively trying to get content for its own rumored OTT service.

What Brands Need To Do
As new TV interfaces shift away from a rigid programming grid to time-shifted, on-demand viewing, universal search becomes a crucial feature that makes it possible for viewers to discover content on channels (aka apps) that they weren’t typically looking at. As Apple continues to build out its Apple TV ecosystem, brands should take the initiative to properly index their content to prepare for its expanding universal search support.

For more information on how brands can reach viewers on digital platforms with branded content, check out the Appified TV section in our Outlook 2016.

 

Source: Wall Street Journal

Apple Extends App Analytics To Apple TV

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Apple announced on Monday that it has extended App Analytics feature to support tvOS apps, allowing developers to get detailed feedback on how users are using their apps on the new Apple TV. Now developers and brand marketers can granularly measure marketing campaign, get app usage information, and track in-app purchases for their tvOS apps.

What Brands Need To Do
With its App Store and Universal Search, the new Apple TV offers a great platform for branded content to live alongside with traditional media content. This new analytic feature can help brands closely measure how their apps are doing and better understand which piece of content is working, and adjust their app design or update their in-app content accordingly. For more actionable suggestions on how brands can market on Apple TV, check out our Fast Forward here.

 

Source: 9to5Mac

 

Facebook To Expand The Reach Of Its Content With New API And SDKs

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
On Monday, Facebook introduced a new video embedding API and SDKs for Apple Watch and Apple TV, aiming to push content that currently lives on its platform into new places. The video embedding API will allow for third-party apps to use Facebook’s video player, which comes with an interactive drop-down sidebar and an autoplay option, further expanding the reach of Facebook videos. The two new SDKs, on the other hand, aim to help developers better incorporate Facebook services into the apps they are building for the new Apple TV and Apple Watch.

What Brands Need To Do
Facebook videos have been gaining momentum with brand advertisers in recent years, as Facebook’s vast amount of user data makes it as a more targeted and effective alternative to YouTube. With these new API and SDKs, brands should consider using them to expand the branded content that already lives on Facebook’s platform to reach more users across devices.

Source: The Next Web