"Essentially, Lionsgate wants to ensure that people interested in its film - which had a disappointing box office return - know that it is coming out on Blu-Ray. And so the studio is investing a sum into sponsoring a Starcraft 2 tournament, which will be watched by tens of thousands of individuals interested in futuristic combat, and who are often young and male.
Ender's Game, naturally, features a young male winning weightless combat in the future."
NPD claims that revenue from US sales of 3D TVs and standalone 3D-capable Blu-ray players has exceeded $55 million in the first three months of availability.
Do people even care about Blu-rays (aside from me)? With HD streaming, there seem to be few compelling reasons for most consumers to go physical, will only continue, but this is another example (though I guess you could argue that the Wii sort of sent the same message, but I think it's clearer now).
"This is a story about devices: NPD figures that 10 percent of homes now have at least one Internet-enabled TV (though I bet that only a minority of them are actually plugged into the Web), and we're seeing a steady increase in the use of Web-video peripherals, like Blu-ray players, Apple TVs, Microsoft Xbox 360s.
And it's also about content: NPD says the most popular service for Web on TV viewers is Netflix, with 40 percent of connected TV watchers using the service."
"Target's private marketplace operates similarly to others that retailers like Best Buy and Amazon have developed recently. For example, a user may visit Target.com and check out its high-def TVs. As that user navigates to other parts of Target's site, a brand like Sony or Samsung could run ads aimed at that user promoting their TVs-provided they are sold by Target.
But the ads don't have to pertain so closely to a specific product category. Adweek encountered a Subaru ad running on Target's DVD and Blu-ray players page; a peek at the page's site code revealed that the ad was sourced through PubMatic."
"Sony has announced that it will be launching the first 4K video distribution service for consumers, giving 4K TV buyers their first real source of content. We don't have much information about the service, but it will be launching in the US this summer, both potentially creating a 4K market and giving Sony an edge. It's something Sony originally tried with 3D, trying to handle all facets of the feature from content creation to distribution and playback. "We intend to expand the world of 4K content from beyond the cinema to TV dramas and commercials," Sony's Kaz Hirai said during the conference at CES.
Sony has already announced a series of remastered 4K Blu-rays, and as with 3D, the company is trying to sell studios on the benefits of 4K. Meanwhile, it's announced the first-ever 4K OLED prototype TV and new models of its consumer-ready 4K TVs. In the US, though, super high-def digital distribution could be hampered by ISPs, which aren't likely to look kindly on the stress this will cause their pipes."