apps

The social app will grow at a much higher rate among older age groups, but from a much smaller base. Also: It will lose ground to Instagram.

A new study from Fluent, an online marketing platform, finds that 69% of Snapchat users skip the ads that flow into their feeds. What’s more, that number is even higher among adults 18-24, 80% of whom skip through Snapchat ads.

Christopher Mims of The Wall Street Journal draws the parallels, starting with 10 billion video views a day giving it the kind of “lean back” quality associated with television (as opposed to social’s “lean in”). Among other dynamics, there are also business model similarities: “Video ads that appear in the app are more like TV commercials than the pre-roll advertising that has failed to generate profit at YouTube,” Mims writes. WSJ subscribers can read the full story here.

Comcast today is offering a set-top box alternative option to its subscribers who have a Roku device. They can download a beta version of an Xfinity TV app. It will enable them to access all of the live and on-demand programming that they’d see from Comcast’s set top box — including local TV stations and cloud DVR recordings — along with company’s programming guide and user interface.

Janko Roettgers extrapolates the development from a job posting calling for an applicant to manage “the upcoming creation experiences within the YouTube Android and iOS apps.” YouTube’s basic video filters, which debuted in 2015, have begun to look dated against competitors like Snapchat.

NewsON today announced a new way to watch local TV news on Roku devices, making it easier than ever for NewsON customers to find live local news from 175 stations across the country. The […]

The ascent, which leapfrogs Netflix over “Candy Crush Saga,” Pandora and Spotify, comes on the heels of the app allowing downloads on its iOS and Android apps. It also tops the lists in India, Mexico, and Colombia.

CNN has acquired the tech and talent behind Beme, a social sharing app that looked to a “more authentic” form of news sharing among millennials, the company said Monday. The app, which was bought for an undisclosed sum, will shut down with the acquisition and its 12 employees will join CNN. Beme’s ideas will get free rein as a standalone venture modeled after CNN’s Great Big Story.

The station group-backed app that offers live and on-demand local TV station newscasts has grown from 118 participating stations covering 75% of the U.S. to 170 stations covering 83% of the U.S. population. It now has local news broadcasts available in 107 U.S. markets — including 48 of the top 50 and 88 of the top 100.

The addition of Capitol’s WRAL Raleigh, N.C.,increases NewsON’s nationwide local news coverage to 167 stations in 107 markets covering 83% of the U.S., including 48 of the top 50 markets.

Roku is adding new app channel features for developers, underscoring why native apps still have a role to play opposite HTML5 applications, and why the television app market is still so fractured.

Steve Schwaid: “Stations, how do you think of your news and weather app? Chances are, many stations only think of their app as pushing forecasts and weather alerts. Few realize how many folks may actually use the weather or news app to watch the station’s air, especially during breaking events. Are your apps designed to provide a live stream of breaking weather and news? If not, you need to fix this immediately. Here’s how.”

After a bake off that included two other providers, Bob Prather’s budding small-market station group chooses Frankly for web CMS, mobile apps, online video and OTT. Frankly will also supply strategic consulting and support services as part of the four-year deal.

If average users won’t come to Twitter, then Twitter will come to them. That seems to be the reasoning behind the social giant’s decision to launch a new Twitter app for Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Microsoft’s Xbox One.

NewsON’s latest update provides viewers with an enhanced alerting experience and greater coverage with the addition of 14 stations.

The app, which is rolling out now to all U.S. TVs except Apple TV, features a simpler interface with improved categorization to better align with people’s living room use of the platform. Categories are now at the top of the screen with subcategories pointing to more specific genre content.

Users are balking at NBC Sports’ app, which has been so buggy since a July 5 Rio Games reboot that it has required seven bug fixes, including random audio playing with video clips. Other complaints include the necessity of signing in with a cable provider to view content and a deluge of advertising, and more than 19,000 users have given the app a one-star rating in the App Store.

With the Republican and Democratic Conventions right around the corner, ABC News is doubling down on live video. Its website now support eight simultaneous live streams and its apps are pushing video consumption with autoplay, Joseph Lichterman reports. “We have a new [executive producer, Dan Silver] who is focusing heavily on producing more video for our audience,” said ABC’s vice president of product Doug Vance.

Local news video clips are now accessible from NewsON.us, featuring trending, high-profile videos and categories.

The network unveils a slate of original short-form digital series; offers access to full seasons of 38 “throwback” shows; debuts new user interface exclusively on iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Apple TV. In addition, the network’s live stream is now made available in an additional 14 markets.

Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly, a vocal critic of Chairman Tom Wheeler’s set-top box regulation proposal, delivered his most strident support yet for the pay-TV industry’s apps-based proposal.

With the inclusion of Meredith’s KPHO and KTVK in Phoenix and KMOV in St. Louis, the national service providing local news via app has grown to 141 stations in 99 markets covering 48 of the top 50 markets and 80% of the U.S. population. Meredith says more of its stations could come on board in the coming months.

Following the unveiling of the Telemundo Station Group’s newly redesigned digital platforms, the Telemundo-owned stations debut upgraded individual apps for iOS and Android devices that feature features including news and severe weather information in Spanish.

AccuWeather has launched a new AccuWeather app for Apple TV. Apple TV users can now zoom in and out on radar conditions locally or anywhere in the world. The enhanced […]