Monday, July 29, 2013

How Video in Email Marketing Can Increase Revenue by 40%+ [study]



YouTube has more than 1 billion unique users a month who watch over 6 billion hours of video. Not only are consumers watching a lot of video, but they are also sharing it. At least seven hundred YouTube links are shared on Twitter every minute and 100 million people take a social action on YouTube each week.  Sounds like a golden opportunity for marketers, right?

A recent study done by The Relevancy Group and sponsored by StreamSend looked at the effectiveness of video in email marketing. The Relevancy Group interviewed 266 marketing executives, and out of those 266, only 25% are using video in their email marketing efforts, while 80% responded that they were somewhat or very likely to begin using video.

The study found that including video in email marketing campaigns increased email marketing revenue by 40%.

It may come as a bit of a shock, then, that so few marketing execs are currently using video when the ROI is so high. The study did find a couple of reasons for the lack of participation in video marketing:
  • 43% responded that they didn’t have enough content
  • 27% cited increased costs of video production
  • 24% said they had other email marketing priorities. (Hmm…sounds like a cop out. Are those “other email marketing priorities” giving you 40% higher ROI?)
While the production of video content offers new challenges, this doesn’t mean that marketers and SMBs should shy away from it; in fact, the reverse is true. If you’re not sure where to start, here are three tips to get that video content pumping and driving higher conversion rates on your email marketing campaigns:

1. Repurpose Content for Video. So you don’t have any content for videos? Start by taking a stroll through your past content pieces, like blog posts, eBooks, tip sheets, etc, and think about how you can repurpose them as video content. Different media allow you to highlight information in different ways, so don’t feel like you’re being redundant by repurposing content. Video lets you be more conversational, taking a “show-don’t-tell” approach. Remember, too, that shorter-form videos tend to play better (given the general busyness/ADD-ness of the digital media consumer), especially if they are confined to a single, focused topic.

2. Start Small. When you start doing video, don’t come at it as a huge production with special effects, dramatic lighting and the like. Think of a camera, a simple background, some microphones and one or two people talking about a topic of relevance to your consumer. Even the most stripped down (authentic) types of video marketing take some initial monetary investment, but it shouldn’t take too much time; it should be simple. Your goal is to get your message in front of your audience in an easily digestible manner. You can accomplish as much without a huge production.

3. Look forward. As the stats show, consumers love and share video. So while video may be intimidating, it’s the future for connecting with your audience. Think about video marketing as a chance to sit down one-on-one with your consumer and answer their questions and address their concerns. Remember, marketing is about getting the right message in front of the right audience at the right time. If your consumers are loving video, shouldn’t you be giving them video?-SocialMediaToday

Engaging in video marketing now will position you ahead of the competition. Don’t be the late one to the party – invest now and reap the benefits sooner rather than later.

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Thursday, July 18, 2013

June 2013 U.S. Online Video Rankings - Over 20 Billion Ad Impressions [comScore]

comScore, Inc. released data from the comScore Video Metrix service showing that 183 million Americans watched more than 44 billion online content videos in June, while the number of video ad views surpassed 20 billion.

Top 10 Video Content Properties by Unique Viewers
Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in June with 158.3 million unique viewers, followed by Facebook with 61.6 million, AOL, Inc. with 51 million, VEVO with 49.3 million and Microsoft Sites with 46.8 million. More than 44 billion video content views occurred during the month, with Google Sites generating the highest number at nearly 15.7 billion, followed by AOL, Inc. with 775 million and Facebook with 730 million. Google Sites had the highest average engagement among the top ten properties.

Top U.S. Online Video Content Properties Ranked by Unique Video Viewers
June 2013, Total U.S. – Home and Work Locations
Content Videos Only (Ad Videos Not Included)
Property Total Unique Viewers (000) Videos (000)* Minutes per Viewer
Total Internet : Total Audience  183,308 44,693,710 1,299.3
Google Sites 158,337 15,719,544 500.1
Facebook 61,646 729,548 24.7
AOL, Inc. 51,014 774,641 58.5
VEVO 49,293 562,445 38.9
Microsoft Sites 46,801 615,005 33.3
NDN 46,605 517,871 86.6
Yahoo! Sites 41,391 304,598 73.6
Viacom Digital 40,457 421,490 45.3
Amazon Sites 33,784 135,099 19.1
Turner Digital 27,587 255,590 40.5
*A video is defined as any streamed segment of audiovisual content, including both progressive downloads and live streams. For long-form, segmented content, (e.g. television episodes with ad pods in the middle) each segment of the content is counted as a distinct video stream.Video views are inclusive of both user-initiated and auto-played videos that are viewed for longer than 3 seconds.

Top 10 Video Ad Properties by Video Ads Viewed
Americans viewed a record 20 billion video ads in June, with Google Sites ranking #1 with 3.3 billion ad impressions. LiveRail.com came in second with 2.4 billion ads, followed by BrightRoll Platform with 2.4 billion, Adap.tv with 2.2 billion and Specific Media with 1.5 billion. Time spent watching video ads totaled 7.5 billion minutes, with BrightRoll Platform delivering the highest duration of video ads at 1.2 billion minutes. Video ads reached nearly 54 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 121 times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 73.

Top U.S. Online Video Ad Properties Ranked by Video Ads* Viewed June 2013
Total U.S. – Home and Work Locations
Ad Videos Only (Content Videos Not Included)
Property Video Ads (000) Total Ad Minutes (MM) Frequency (Ads per Viewer) % Reach Total U.S. Population
Total Internet : Total Audience  20,090,763 7,487 121.1 53.6
Google Sites 3,260,119 300 29.7 35.5
LIVERAIL.COM† 2,390,027 800 29.4 26.3
BrightRoll Platform**† 2,384,810 1,155 15.3 50.2
ADAP.TV† 2,208,488 1,048 18.1 39.4
Specific Media** 1,482,259 567 13.1 36.7
TubeMogul Video Ad Platform† 1,442,628 438 15.3 30.4
Hulu 1,395,987 533 73.4 6.1
Tremor Video** 772,829 358 12.5 20.1
AOL, Inc. 670,437 314 12.6 17.2
Videology† 598,124 238 9.3 20.8
*Video ads include streaming-video advertising only and do not include other types of video monetization, such as overlays, branded players, matching banner ads, etc.
**Indicates video ad network
†Indicates video ad exchange/DSP/SSP

Top 10 YouTube Partner Channels by Unique Viewers
The June 2013 YouTube partner data revealed that video music channel VEVO maintained the top position in the ranking with 47.5 million viewers. Fullscreen held on to the #2 position with 34.3 million viewers, followed by Maker Studios Inc. with 28.8 million, Warner Music with 28.4 million and ZEFR (formerly MovieClips) with 26.5 million. Among the top 10 YouTube partners, Machinima demonstrated the highest engagement (76 minutes per viewer), followed by Maker Studios Inc. (62 minutes per viewer). VEVO streamed the greatest number of videos (534 million), followed by Maker Studios Inc. (477 million).

Top YouTube Partner Channels* Ranked by Unique Video Viewers June 2013
Total U.S. – Home and Work Locations
Content Videos Only (Ad Videos Not Included)
Property Total Unique Viewers (000) Videos (000) Minutes per Viewer
VEVO @ YouTube 47,452 533,916 37.7
Fullscreen @ YouTube 34,287 309,216 28.2
Maker Studios Inc. @ YouTube 28,758 476,838 62.3
Warner Music @ YouTube 28,375 160,236 18.4
ZEFR @ YouTube 26,530 137,230 14.4
The Orchard @ YouTube 22,564 85,294 10.6
Machinima @ YouTube 20,380 389,548 75.8
UMG @ YouTube 17,907 60,096 9.8
BroadbandTV @ YouTube 16,759 127,043 24.5
E! Entertainment Television @ YouTube 15,634 39,251 4.1

Other findings from June 2013 include:
  • 85.2 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
  • The duration of the average online content video was 5.3 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.
  • Video ads accounted for 31 percent of all videos viewed and 3 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online.

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Tuesday, July 9, 2013

80% of Marketers Consider Video Content Difficult - VMakers Makes Video Easy!

Images were the easiest content to produce for marketers, with 73% considering images to be "not difficult." Interestingly enough, images were also the only type of content listed that do not require words or writer.

When we looked at what content was most difficult for marketers, two trends emerged.

Technology and production was considered a challenge, with 26% of marketers saying online video and mobile apps are both very difficult, and 80% of marketers considered these tactics to be somewhat or very difficult. Both tactics require heavy non-content inputs. In the case of mobile apps, that is IT resources. In the case of online video, video production resources.

Long-form, in-depth content was also a challenge — 26% of marketers considered white papers very difficult, and 78% considered white papers very or somewhat difficult. Other long-form, in-depth content — case studies, e-books, and webinars/webcasts — rounded out the most difficult tactics.

No significant differences between primary sales channels

While we found differences between primary sales channels concerning the effectiveness of content — for example, B2C marketers favor webpages, while B2B marketers favor webinars — marketers were fairly unanimous on their content challenges, or lack thereof.

When we broke down the data, marketers who identified themselves as B2C, B2B and/or B2G, as well as both B2C and B2B all ranked images as the least difficult content, and online video as the most difficult.

For B2B and/or B2G marketers, white papers and case studies ranked right up there for difficulty with online video, with 28% of marketers finding white papers very difficult (80% somewhat or very difficult) and 31% of marketers finding case studies very difficult (74% somewhat or very difficult).

Too few B2C marketers responded about the difficulty of these efforts to constitute a valid sample size, so an apples-to-apples comparison is difficult to make. Of course, that is a significant piece of data in and of itself. When we asked B2C marketers about usage of different content types, only 10% used white papers and just 9% used case studies. Since B2C marketers tend to have a more direct sales path, versus the complex sales path for many B2B marketers, less usage of long-form, complex content makes logical sense.

Are there any content diamonds in the rough?

When we compare this week's chart about content difficulty to previous charts about usage and effectiveness, we see that webpages are considered both quite effective and not too difficult, and they are, not surprisingly, also the most used type of content.

It should also be noted there are many types of content, like case studies for example, that are considered effective, but also difficult, so their usage rate is lower.

But, where is the low-hanging fruit? Are there effective, easy-to-execute types of content marketers are overlooking?

Customer reviews stick out as one possible diamond. While 43% of marketers consider this tactic to be very effective, and 92% of marketers consider it to be very or somewhat effective, only 35% of marketers are using customer reviews. And yet, as you look at the difficulty data in the chart above, you'll see that 54% of marketers consider customer reviews to be not difficult, with only 12% of marketers rating this tactic as very difficult.

This could be a worthy survey to conduct within your own marketing department or agency. Survey your team, and perhaps your client's team, about the most used, difficult, and effective content types they are using. Then look for your own diamonds in the rough. What type of content is effective, not too difficult, but for whatever reason, has been overlooked?-MarketingCharts

No Time? No Resources? Not sure where to start?
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Top Ten Ads On YouTube - June 2013

YouTube has released their top 10 ads for June. Included is Samsung's collaborations with Usher and Jay-Z, two ads featuring Despicable Me 2, Pepsi's levitation stunt, and fantastically, Dollar Shave Club's "One Wipe Charlies" ad. - More




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Monday, July 1, 2013

Live Video Keeps Viewers Attention Longer Than Video On Demand [study]

Smartphones and tablets increasingly used to watch content

Digital video continues to work its way into the content-viewing habits of consumers around the world. No longer willing to have digital video habits dictated by programmers, networks and cable companies, viewers have shown a fondness for on-demand content. But is video-on-demand (VOD) the most popular form of online video?

Research from video publisher Ooyala suggests otherwise. A March 2013 analysis by the company of its customer and partner database found that digital video viewers were spending substantially longer periods of time watching live video than they were VOD content. In fact, those on PCs spent an average of 40 minutes watching live video on a per-play basis, compared with 3.15 minutes for VOD. Those on tablets spent an average of 16 minutes with live content, and only 3.6 minutes with VOD. A gap also existed among those watching on a mobile device.



Digital video viewers are also spreading their habit across an increasing number of devices, with smart mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets continuing to grow in popularity. Ooyala found that mobile and tablet views, when added together, accounted for 10% of the total number of online video plays.

Interestingly, tablets showed a higher video completion rate than either PCs or other mobile devices, underscoring how quickly viewers have taken to these portable devices for online video. Ooyala reported that 41.5% of tablet viewers in their database watched videos until their end on the devices, compared with 38.3% on a PC and 33.4% on a mobile device.



Marketers have been quick to follow audiences to these new platforms. A survey by AOL Networks conducted in April 2013 found that a majority of marketing professionals worldwide believed that digital video was better at engaging viewers than traditional television. Almost half thought online video was an improvement over television in creating awareness.-emarketer

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