Youtube's New App Makes You Want To Watch More

Youtube redesigns its current app to catch your eye

The main source of Youtube revenue for both artists and the site itself is its ad revenue. The only way to receive ad revenues is if people watch your ads. But if no one is watching your videos, no one is going to see your ads. The aim of Youtube's newly redesigned app for iPhone and android is to put the videos right in your face and make you keep wanting to watch.

The redesigned home section's main goal is for the viewer to be enticed into watching more videos more frequently. By making the homepage full of videos and recommendations, the consumers are naturally drawn to watch more youtube videos.

As well as a redesigned homepage, there is a new under the hood system for recommendations. The system automatically puts recommended videos on the homepage so that consumers are constantly looking at more and more recommended videos, keeping the consumers there.

This move was in part due to a huge movement for video streaming to mobile devices driving traffic away from youtube. This is a good move from youtube in order to ensure that their product is the number one choice for videos as well as improve the under the hood mechanics to the video service.

Amazon's Cloud Brings Savings Sky-High

As more and more retailers turn to online services, Amazon continues to lead the pack.

Amazon is known worldwide for quick and correct deliveries to your home of almost any product you can think of. The infrastructure and way that amazon does this has propelled its savings and revenues to report ints most profitable quarter on April 28. Amazon has been known to miss its profit mark but this time Amazon has surpassed estimates. This caused more than a 12% increase in their stock share price in the after hours of its report. 

The biggest reason for this increase is Amazons AWS, providing computer servers for companies such as Netflix and even the CIA.:

"Chief Executive Jeff Bezos has said he expects AWS to reach $10 billion in sales this year, even as Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc. and others ramp up pressure. AWS’s operating margin was 28%.

“AWS is having its iPhone moment,” said Colin Gillis, a BGC Partners analyst. “Adoption is spreading, margin is expanding.”"

However, AWS is not expected to reach heavy numbers in its coming years. Although amazon has primarily been a ship to consumer company, the cloud services offered have been a big part of Amazon's revenue this quarter. Amazon has steadily been branching into new territory with these services as well as other cloud based services such as movie and music streaming. 

This is a good example of companies focusing on diversifying their product portfolio to bring in the most revenue possible. The product here is cloud hosting for popular websites; relieving the websites of this burden for a fee which Amazon has gained much revenue from. 

 Netflix and Chill?

 It looks like Amazon is catering to a different market than its typical online shoppers these days. Amazon’s most recent addition includes an $8.99 monthly video streaming service with the same concept as Netflix. Amazon’s video streaming is simply labeled, “Amazon Prime Streaming Services,” because of the attractive Prime offer that comes along with a subscription to Amazon’s monthly streaming services. With an Amazon Prime Streaming subscription comes the option of having full access to an Amazon Prime’s regular services for only $10.99 a month, which is an amazing deal considering the previous Prime membership was $99 annually. With the discounted Prime membership that is offered with Amazon’s streaming services, comes the option to turn on and off the membership on a month-to-month basis. Amazon has actually offered streaming services for a while now, but it was only available as an exclusive perk for Prime members. Now that Amazon is offering streaming as a stand-alone service, anybody can purchase a monthly subscription.             

Amazon’s main competitors are Netflix and Hulu, and each site has benefits, which is why it is difficult to say that one service is the best because it just depends on what you are looking for (old shows, new shows, documentaries, independent films, etc.) and which benefits seem worth it to you.  Amazon is without a doubt sending a clear message to Netflix seeing as Amazon’s monthly video streaming subscription of $8.99 is just $1.00 less than Netflix’s monthly subscription. Not to mention, Amazon announced their new video-streaming option on April 18^th, the eve of Netflix’s first-quarter earnings report. Amazon video streaming features an assortment of TV shows, movies, and videos that is equally as powerful as Netflix’s movie and TV show assortment. Amazon has already made agreements concerning HBO’s older content, an exclusive TV series with director Woody Allen, and TV networks, such as Epix whose catalogs include an impressive list of popular movies including The Hunger Games. So the question is will Netflix users stay loyal to their “Netflix and chill,” or switch to more of a bargain like Amazon Prime?

       OR

By Anna LeJeune
http://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-ups-the-ante-on-streaming-video-1460944802

Kim Kardashian Charges $500,000 for a single TWEET.

The article “Putting a price on celebrity plugs”, written by Anne Kadet, discusses Thuzio, a new startup company that aims to calculate the price of celebrity appearances. Thuzio mission is to help companies in order to find the perfect superstar to promote their brand. They say there is an influencer for any occasions. If you want Kim Kardashian to tweet about your book? She is estimated to charge a fee of $500,000.

Social media is influencing how culture works, and constantly creates new ideologies. We are no longer isolated by Geographic’s. By a few clicks, I can access a totally different world and experience a new kind of crowd without even actually being there.

Not long ago, movies were only shown in local theaters and companies could easily buy their way into the local market because people were not globalized.

In the era of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, we can reach a larger circle of people in order to promote a brand, but it’s more demanding to stand out and differentiate. Companies must brand with meaning and target a specific culture in order to start a digital discussion on social media. This will create awareness about their brand.

The Under Armour advertisement to the right is a great example of how it's possible to target gender equality by using a female celebrity in order to create awareness about their brand on this overstuffed social media. 

Branding trough social media is now about targeting people’s point of view and reaching cultures trough sources with access to a large crowd. This will lead to digital discussions and create awareness about the specific brand.

By, Marius Roeine

“Putting a price on celebrity plugs”, Published April 22, by Anne Kadet.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/putting-a-price-on-celebrity-plugs-1461319201

"What Could We Build With Extra-Strong, See-Through Wood?"

          A team of scientists in Sweden "came up with a hybrid of wood and acrylic that retains some of the advantages of each material". It is supposed to be stronger than acrylic and and lighter than normal wood. "Previous research in this vein has yielded fold[-]able transparent paper, and in 2012, a member of the transparent-wood team, Lars Berglund, was part of a group that managed to create a transparent crab shell. They did it by extracting calcium carbonate, protein, lipids and pigments, replacing them with an acrylic resin while preserving the shell’s shape". I think that this is a really cool invention that has been made.

          Scientists think that it will be used in construction so that there can be more natural light into buildings, instead of whereas windows are completely transparent. The transparent wood isn’t as clear as glass, so that it can be used to trap light longer in a solar cell. 

 http://www.wsj.com/articles/what-could-we-build-with-extra-strong-see-through-wood-1461254815