Ouya Keynote - Kind of disruptive

Julie Uhrman, founder and CEO of Ouya sat down with The Verge Editor-in-Chief Joshua Topolsky to discuss the company’s enormously successful Kickstarter campaign (raising $8.5M) and their vision to disrupt the video game industry, with crazy affordable prices and an Android-based OS that lowers the barriers for development. 

Ouya promises to make gaming in the living room as accessible as smartphones have made it everywhere else. Ouya isn’t just a console, it’s a platform that is based on the Android OS, which means it’s much easier for independent developers to make games for than Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo consoles. Less barriers for development mean more titles for casual to hardcore gamers, at cheaper price points. 

By expanding types of games beyond hardcore blockbuster titles like Modern Warfare 3 at a $60 a pop, Ouya hopes to bring casual gaming back to the living room for gamers of all skill levels.  This was a point that Uhrman stressed most throughout the discussion. Casual, light hearted games, like Angry Birds, should not be relegated to tiny screens. We should bring it back to the days where we all played Tetris in the living room together. 

Ouya isn’t trying to dethrone the 3 major consoles, yet. They position themselves as an additive device with games that major consoles won’t have, but you’ll still need the majors for the blockbuster titles that require more powerful hardware. 

The device will be distributed to Kickstarter backers in May and be in big box stores this summer for $99. 

That said, with that kind of vision and accessibility, one would think that the talk would have been a smash hit with the crowd of developers, gamers, and futurists. But reviews were definitely mixed as Uhrman didn’t go much beyond their vision in the Kickstarter campaign and some updates on product development. 

Still regardless of how the talk went, you’d be hard pressed to find any person who played a pre-PS2 console, who isn’t excited for Ouya. 

The gaming industry has matured, and like the film and music business, it’s time to lower the barriers for distribution and discovery of great content. 

Mythbusting Viral Videos

Let’s be real here people. There’s no such thing as a viral video. The only things that go viral are viruses.

Videos get popular or they don’t. And popularity is measured by views, which are earned in 2 ways: people think they’re interesting and worth sharing to a point when someone with a lot of influence (like the Biebs or NY Times, not my mom) shares it , and with the help of paid distribution. The reality is that earned views simply are’t as high as people think they are.

True “viral” videos are the exception, not the norm, and the marketers who are honest with themselves will admit when they’ve had a fluke.

A case in point, provided by Bettina Hein, Founder and CEO of Pixability inc. Is this spot by Heineken with 9.9 million views. 84% of those views were paid.

Still, that doesn’t mean we can’t optimize the programing of content to generate the most earned views possible.

Below are tenets Hein abides by at Pixable.

• Be Relevant – Build content that connects with the consumer, don’t jump on trends. But it’s not just studying up on demos, psychs, and interests. Dig deep in the consumer’s online video universe. Don’t try to produce the most beautiful sexy content, focus on creating something that resonates, is useful, worth sharing, and worth coming back for.
• Size the audience - how many people are watching content relevant to your space?
• Study the space - How long are those videos? What else are the consumers watching and how can you expand on it? What is the sentiment around those videos? When do people talk about the videos, where do they share them, how do they discover them?
• Then clone those videos. Mimic content, timing, titles, tags, descriptions, target links, annotations. Then optimize.
• Tap Passionate enthusiasts - Lobby tastemakers and find passionate enthusiasts who can evangelize on your behalf
• Subscribers – promote amongst your existing subscribers
• Cross pollination – use other channels in your ecosystem to drive awareness of the video – social channels, email, and other videos that can be annotated.

Seeding is also needed to drive views, however be cautious of when and where your content is being distributed to avoid scams like having views generated out of your market, on off brand sites, in places that incentives views yet have no synergies with your brand, and flat out robots making the views (yes, that exists). Be smart about where the videos are distributed and work with transparent partners.

Lastly, don’t forget that there’s a certain amount of luck involved.

Most importantly, don’t set out to make a viral video, just make the best content for your consumer and you’ll have the best odds at creating a steady view and leads earner.  

TMZ’s POV on the Internet’s impact on TV

You’ve either seen him on TV or seen a story from his celebrity news site come up on your Facebook news stream.  Harvey Levin’s TMZ is everyone’s guilty pleasure. Don’t deny it.

As a news company that started online, he gave his thoughts on where the media landscape is going. Buzzword alert: Convergence.

Mark Cuban believes TV will be around indefinitely.  But as much as Levin respects Cuban, he disagrees. He believes that both TV and the internet, existing as separate entities, will come to an end. Down the line there shouldn’t be a distinction between TV and internet because people just want to be entertained and informed. He believes in 5-10 years the entertainment consumption experience is going to be far less confined.  

It has to. Consumers want it to. They just want to be entertained and informed in the most frictionless way possible. 

In order to produce content for this less linier media world, you have to break the model.

Fortunately for them, TMZ is an unorthodox news organization, without editorial deadlines and publishing cycles. This enables his team to focus on what he believes the most important: assets (photos, videos, soundbites, texts, leads, etc). From that you can orchestrate the story, and when and how it’s published. It keeps TMZ nimble, relevant, and scalable for new communications channels in the future.  As long as the assets make a good story, the consumer will be happy where ever they get it.

With this philosophy he’s been able to scale TMZ from a website to a TV show, radio show, and a bus Tour. All working in orchestration to cross promote each other and the brand.

While it seems like a straightforward approach to producing content, that’s not how Hollywood and the rest of the media world works. Few networks do both TV and Internet content right, and most opt for TV.

He believes that those who figure out how to see content as assets and build from the ground up, without thinking of TV or other boxes first, are the future of Hollywood.

His assessment of Hollywood is a good metaphor for where the advertising landscape is today. We’re no longer marketing to customers in bucketed media channels on linear timelines. We also rethink branded content and distribution strategies to orchestrate the best ways to entertain and inform consumers, on whatever box or screen they’re using at the moment.  

Come at me bro. Everyone Games.

Since the 80’s, video games have increasingly become a major form of entertainment and are now deeply engrained in popular culture. Games like Call of Duty are outselling major blockbusters, Wreck it Ralph was an Oscar nominated animated film about video games, playing to the nostalgic heartstrings of Sonic and Street Fighter fans, and everyone knows someone who played Farmville (no one admits they did themselves).

So why do many of us still think about “gamers” as young/teen boys who play in their rooms, alone, on consoles?

Bill Hopkins (The Nielsen Company), David Berkowitz (360i), and Susan Borst (IAB), discussed the ubiquity of games today and how brands can use them for marketing. 

We all play games – The increased interest in games is largely due to the increase of casual, social, and mobile games that appeal to nearly every demographic.

• 70% of adults and 95% of teens play. Demos are stretching both younger and older
• The historically male skewed audience is sliding more female. 10% shift in the last 2 years.
• Consumption is up: games share of leisure time is up 15% is 2 years. Represents 10% of all leisure time
• Driven by new platforms, but additive rather than cannibalistic

We play everywhere all the time

Because of mobile, gaming is now anytime and everywhere. It’s no longer a single player experience in the teen boy’s bedroom. It’s communal, taking over the living room, and always with us in our pockets. 

• From 2012 to current, smartphone and tablet share moved from 5% total gaming time to 15%
• Gaming apps make up ~ 20% of all app usage and are the most frequently Downloaded App Category
• Traditional game consoles are also evolving – migration to living room, by delivering more content options (like Netflix Apps, Blue Ray Players, and web browsers), and getting more social integration
• A big trend that is impacting how often we play is multitasking and the usage of multiple devices. 60% of gamers play on at least 2 devices, and there’s been a 125% increase in three platforms versus a few years ago.
• Half of all console gamers also play on a tablet
• We’re playing games on mobile devices while watching TV and on the go as we kill time in lines, commuting, and even at work

Cool man. Everyone’s a geek now. So how should we think about that?

Games are powerful content experiences that drive long exposures with consumers, positive sentiment, and sales. And the engagement isn’t solely confined in the game. When consumers get really into it, they talk about the game, they share it, and they even search the web about how to get better at it.

Brands who leverage games effectively focus less on “cracking a new technology”, and more on the consumer needs and consumption habits. What’s old is new again!

Berkowitz believes there is no category of consumer brands that could not benefit from using games as marketing vehicles. It’s just a matter of finding the right way in; in game integration, sponsoring a game, or branding your own game. Which approach to go with depends on who you’re targeting, their gaming behavior, their gaming options, your objectives and budget. 

All that said, brands are still skittish about the format, likely due to being burned when they tried it five years ago. But today’s a new day and the landscape has evolved and matured significantly, increasing opportunities and efficacy of marketing with games.

It’s time to step your game up!