SPROCKIT and NAB Show announced the first 10 startups selected to participate in SPROCKIT’s 2015 program. Up to 30 emerging companies will be hand-selected by industry leaders to participate in this year’s SPROCKIT program based on their potential to disrupt the market and offer real solutions to challenges in today’s evolving market that many established media and entertainment companies face.
The first 10 startups invited to participate and collaborate with industry leaders represent a variety of sectors with specific solutions for media and entertainment applications in areas such as advertising, analytics, mobile content production and content delivery. The first 10 participating companies in this year’s SPROCKIT program are:
aioTV is an over-the-top (OTT) video platform that enables service providers and content owners to easily aggregate multiple sources of live, on-demand and freely available video content into a single, unified TV experience.
Bcast is a next generation social broadcasting network, platform and application that enables users to instantly broadcast live streaming videos at any time to and from mobile and wearable devices, the web and smart TV’s.
Dataclay provides automation systems that enable content creators to efficiently pipe data streams into video for personalized ads, broadcasts, digital signage, e-commerce, social media and more.
FLUENDO’s technology improves the multimedia experience in the free software environment, empowering devices and consumer desktops. Today, all of FLUENDO’s products are fully compliant with all patent licenses and ready for professional use.
Psychability’s TV Data Management Platform (DMP) brings big data and analytics to TV and helps traditional TV media and programmatic advertisers make more profitable use of TV audience data.
Reveal enables publishers to improve mobile revenue by showing them, and their advertisers, their most valuable audience segments.
Stringr is a mobile and web enabled platform that allows media customers to request, preview, and purchase footage of anything from anywhere under tight deadlines by alerting nearby videographers of custom video requests in real time.
Unruly is a video ad technology company that enables major brand advertisers and content owners to use paid and earned media to distribute their video content in native ad formats across the Open Web.
Videolicious’ patented technology allows broadcasters to create and automatically edit story tease videos for social channels, with station graphics, text, a-roll and b-roll, watermarks, and more, in seconds on mobile devices.
Yottio is a real-time video screening and trafficking platform for media makers.
“The world of media and entertainment is changing rapidly and many of today’s leading companies have to quickly adapt to and leverage new trends and innovations like over-the-top content delivery, programmatic advertising buying and data analytics measurement,” said Harry Glazer, founder and CEO of SPROCKIT. “With SPROCKIT we’re creating a curated forum for these entrepreneurs and industry leaders to collaborate on the solutions that will shape the future of the marketplace.”
Now in its third year, SPROCKIT will showcase industry-vetted emerging companies at NAB Show – held April 11-16, 2015 in Las Vegas – and convene throughout the year at SPROCKIT Sync, a series of private meetings where executives and entrepreneurs meet to collectively discuss and introduce new technologies that will advance the industry. Since its launch in 2013, dozens of emerging companies have participated in SPROCKIT and experienced rapid growth, including successful funding rounds, partnerships and even acquisitions.
“With the momentum gained by participating startups and the positive response from our corporate members, we’re excited to have SPROCKIT be an integral part of NAB Show for a third consecutive year,” said Chris Brown, executive vice president, NAB Conventions and Business Operations. “Bringing the best minds in media and entertainment together is a true win-win situation for the event and these emerging companies.”
SPROCKIT is created in partnership with World Series of Startups, LLC and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). SPROCKIT corporate members include: AARP, Comcast, Cox Media, Disney/ABC Television Group, Gannett Broadcasting, Google, Hearst Television, Univision and more to be announced in the coming weeks. SPROCKIT supporters include: Angel Capital Association, Boston Consulting Group, Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) at USC, Ernst & Young, Interactive Television Alliance, Irving Group, Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, mediaX at Stanford University, National Venture Capital Association, New Amsterdam Media, New Vantage Group, SmithGeiger and Springboard Enterprises.
SPROCKIT is still accepting applications for participation and will be inviting companies on a rolling basis. The application deadline is February 20. For more information about SPROCKIT or to submit an application, visit here.
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More