Pattison Media has introduced Kelowna10, a new local news app targeted at smartphone users. The mobile app features short, text-narrated video, coupled with web articles. Ten items are viewable at any one time. The app uses full screen vertical video, including preview videos to help users with content discoverability. Kelowna10 Sales Manager Bryan Ford says the ad-supported app was built with the advertiser in mind, featuring short video advertisements and a screen designed to take on the colour scheme of the advertiser for enhanced brand integration. Only one advertiser is ever featured on the app at a time. Read more here.
Cinessance, “the Netflix of French film,” has launched in Canada and the U.S. The French-film streaming platform gives subscribers access to a curated catalogue of classic and modern movies with subtitles in French and English for $6.99/month as well as pay-per-view options. France is the second largest exporter of movies in the world, but only 3% of Netflix’s catalogue features French films, according to a recent study from Unifrance. Cinessance is launching with a wide array of movies acquired from studios like TF1 Studio, StudioCanal and EuropaCorp, with plans to expand the catalogue to 500 movies as early as mid-2022. Cinessance’s founder & CEO is French expat entrepreneur Clément Monnet, who previously co-founded Voom, the “Uber for helicopters,” incubated by Airbus.
Amazon Prime Video has rolled out a native macOS app allowing customers to stream and download Prime Video content on Macs for offline viewing. Prime Video customers worldwide with Big Sur 11.4 and above can download the app for free in the App Store. The Prime Video macOS app streaming experience will also include: picture-in-picture (allows viewers to play video content in a resizable floating window that isn’t blocked by other windows); search/browse functionality; and in-app transactions (TVOD purchases/rentals).