Trends and Opportunies in Online Video
June 8, 2007 at 3:33 pm
First off on day 2 of FOOA is Jeremy Allaire from Brightcove
Fragment or be fragmented – allow micro markets for content and programming to flourish. Small publishers, producers benefit. Forcing a lot of traditional media companies to re-think linear production and launch more focussed niche micro channels.
Eg. Discovery Channel with traditional networks. Have launched new micro channels (eg. turbo channel all about boats). Were able to take their vast catalogue of content and bring it to a niche audience. It wouldn’t have been possible as traditional broadcast channel, but viable in online context.
Eg. Shipwreck Central. A video site all about wreck diving. Comes from a professional TV company that produces professional shows distributed through national geographic. On web can take their own programming without having to deal with distributor. Can access national TV advertising – allows advertisers to really target.
Targeting becomes even more critical. Allows you to buy a user segment across hundreds of channels that meet your needs.
Explosion in distribution options – ‘reach consumers where they are, not where you want them to be’. It’s not about driving people to a destination where you control that user in some fixed form. But now consumers are everywhere – social networks, portals, video aggregators, etc.
Strategies for content owners to pursue – launch a branded destination site. Brand, rich programing, sell sponsorships. Allow end users to grab that content and place on the blogosphere. Target other sites that match te content and develop managed syndication. And put in place portal distribution relationships.
Result is a blended distribution strategy. Have to chart out programmes and policies to reach . . . like Web 1 ecommerce merchants. Access touchpoints and bring into transactions. Same kind of approaches beginning to enter b’band video world. Advertising and sponsorship being applied to this new world is bound to the content, wherever it goes. Advertisers must be comfortable that their advertising will exist in many different places to what they originally bought.
Eg. embracing blended distribution – Dow Jones. Branded channel Wall Street Journal with advertising. Embracing viral distribution – can copy the code from the videos like in Youtube. A smart tactic for professional companies to adopt. Can contextulise and talk about it. Dow Jones can wrap their brand around it, have ads at the beginning of it. So the sponsor’s message follows the programming wherever it goes.
Regional newspapers can apply to syndicate news from Sony, Wall St Journal, etc. Can distribute video content and even a commission for the views brought against their content.
A New Type Of Media Buy
Re-frames how buyers think about video content – targeting becomes critical. Must gain understanding of the structure – diverse contexts for the consumption. New measurement tactics need to be employed. Existing ones are built around domains. Wall St Journal Video is a content package, needs to be represented from a buyer perspective.
Introduces complexity also where you might have a Visa ad running in video content and Mastercard banner on the site??
Starting to see opportunities for brand marketers for syndicating content across sites that might be relevant for their brand objectives.
Driving demand for more integrated sponsorhsp rather an spot buys
Ad Formats And Policies
People are tired of ads. But yet it doesn’t have any effect on performance. They’ve measured it – with and without 15 second pre-rolls isn’t affecting performance. Pre-rolls with companion banner attached to 2-4 minute videos run in every other clip have limited opportunity for brand engagement.
Creative fatigue is developing due to insufficient inventory and too heavy rotation within video properties, limiting the value to all parties. Not well suited to support mid form and long form content.
How to overcome?
- Format innovaton. Overlays – text or video on video, takeovers on user click will take over the entire screen with deep experience, bumper sponsosships – brought to you by. . . and within the video.
- Proposal watch this space (they’re trialing this) – 3 second bumper ads, followed by 5-10 second mid-roll over the bottom third of the video overlay (brand impression and call to action) and post roll sponsorship takeover, also triggered by cliick on overlay.
- Policies – time based advertising, mid-roll implementation of advertising, strict adherence to creative rotation guidelines by buyer or through 3rd party networks.
Publishers will rely on a combo of these working together to drive the highest drive and value for their content. Mktplaces are going to become a highly important and viable way to serve this inventory.
Buyers and advertisers must get comfortable with the content moving between content owner controlled sales and market place owner fulfillment.
Role of Consumer Participation in Media
Embrace end users as:
•
- Fans
- Critics
- Programmers
- Producers
Support media and brand exposure in their online ‘home’s:
• Blogs
• Social networks
• Communities of interest
• RSS readers
Allow end users to become programmers
• Favourites
• Playlists
• Viral sharing/embedding
• Social bookmarking
End users as producers
• Simple – allow them to upload media to you
• Powerful – allow end users to remix and refactor your content and brand. New product from Brightcove called Aftermix. Currently in private beta. Youv’e got a piece of video, grab a clip, insert it, record some adutio, add effects, tap into rights cleared media (photography, audio, etc) Really powerful tool for brand engagement. Can create new artifacts that the marketer can use, becomes an asset and distribute…
Questions and Answers were interesting
Q. Is Youtube’s business at risk due to the lawsuits?
A. It’s difficult to build a business on pirated content.
Start with the rightsholders and let them define. Create the avenues in a manner that respects the copyright holder’s interests.
Q. Is there evidence of a business case for thousands and thousands of channels?
A. They’ve only started to emerge in any meaningful form in the last 6 months. Economics suggests it could be a very good business. Will always be quality issues. Creative issues – must be compelling. Marketing and brand must be developed. No magic formula, but they are emerging and accessing national audiences and at CPM’s they previously couldn’t have afforded. Early supportive evidence.
Q. Cost of creative talent?
A. Rights of talent in royaltys in these new forms of distribution. Network rights very different to TV rights. Increasingly we’re seeing the content owner/distributor trying to outline what those rights are and tie those to the talent contracts, so it’s very clear renumeration. Aggregated price.
Next up on Day 2 FOOA was Heather Luttrell from Indieclick – she gave a really good presentation on the advertising that works for Leading Edge, Bleeding Edge and Arrived Sites. But I’m not posting about that just yet because coffee and cookies are being served!
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