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Video Accounts For Half Of All Mobile Traffic

2012-02-23T16:33:00.001-08:00

Mobile video now accounts for half of all mobile traffic; and on some networks, that number is as high as 69 percent — a testament to the rise of smartphones and tablets as the mobile devices of choice for consumers, and their growing interest in using these devices to do a lot more than just make phone calls.

The data, from quarterly report on mobile data usage out today from mobile analytics firm Bytemobile, also found that Android is generating more mobile ad volume than iOS devices, and that Google now accounted for 75 percent of ad-generated data across all platforms.

Bytemobile says it has collected this data from a cross-section of its mobile carrier customers. It focuses on usage of two main platforms, Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.

As many have already suspected, tablets are driving significantly more data traffic than smartphones. On Apple’s iOS platform, an iPad user generates three times as much traffic as someone using an iPhone; while on Android, the figure is twice as much when comparing Android tablets and handsets.

This is not too surprising: tablets’ bigger screens are that much more conducive to consuming video and other content than the smaller screen of a smartphone; and in the case of something like video, those tablets will require higher resolutions, which also translates to heavier data use.

The most-used application on iOS, for example, is Safari, accounting for 61 percent of all transactions.

Although users spend slightly more time per session on Facebook than they do YouTube — 9.06 versus 8.51 minutes, respectively — YouTube generates, on average, 40 megabytes per session, compared to 120 kilobytes for Facebook or 170kb for Twitter. Twitter’s average session usage is 4.57 minutes.

Android devices appear to be generating more ad impressions and engagement — collectively called “transactions” by Bytemobile. On Android, some 9 percent of all data transactions were ad-related, while on iOS the proportion was 5 percent.

Why is that? It could be down to the fact that Android generally has fewer paid apps in the Market than Apple’s App Store, and those more popular free apps are pulling more ads down from networks when they get used.

As with online, Google dominates the mobile ad space with its owner of AdMob, AdSense and DoubleClick holdings. Together, these accounted for 75 percent of all ad data. But when it comes to the single-most consuming ad network, that dubious honor goes to Apple’s iAd: its video-rich ad units generate nearly 16 MB of data per transaction, while the lowest were AdMob’s display units, which generated less than 4MB. - TechCrunch

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7 Online Video Marketing Tips

2012-02-16T14:29:00.000-08:00

Video is not a trend it's imperative.
People today demand engaging and interactive content. They expect that content to be highly functional, highly intuitive and highly intelligent. Video delivers all of that. Cheaper than TV, but with editorial and production values just as high. It's an innovative and non-intrusive way of marketing.

Video delivers extraordinary economies of scale
and measurable results.
You can reach more people with more engaging communications 24/7. Produced and distributed effectively, video will increase revenue and decrease costs.

7 online video tips to boost your marketing efforts:
1. Post quality video content on your websites.
2. Upload video content to YouTube to enhance search engine visibility.
3. Build communities with contests and user generated content.
4. Broadcast sales and marketing events — live and on-demand,
5. Educate and train employees, distributors and end-users with demonstrations.
6. Promote your products and services with digital signage.
7. Enable sharing via social networks: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

Traditional sales and marketing approaches are less and less effective.Video marketing offers new ways to connect via search, social media, viral marketing campaigns, and live events.

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Video Plays On Tablets, Mobile Devices & Connected TVs Nearly Doubled in Q4

2012-02-15T18:13:00.000-08:00

Offering consumers video content where and when they want it is no longer just a second thought. Serving content across platforms has become essential for publishers and brands that want to grow their audiences and earn more revenue with online video.

Ooyala, the online video provider, today released its fourth quarter review of web video, in which it analyzes the viewing behavior of 100 million monthly unique users.

As we learned in Q3, the rabid adoption of mobile devices has been leading to increased engagement with online video. Not only that, but connected TVs are really beginning to make waves, Google TV in particular. Ooyala’s report found that video plays on tablets, mobile devices, and connected TVs nearly doubled in the fourth quarter (from Q3).

What’s more, viewers are now twice as likely to complete a video when watching on a tablet or connected TV, as compared to watching video on a desktop. And, unsurprisingly, when viewers plop down on their couch in front of their connected TV, they’re watching four times as many long videos compared to short videos, as videos longer than 10 minutes now account for more than half the hours played on connected TVs.

While the average conversion rate across all devices increased from 35.1 percent in Q3 to 39.6 percent in Q4 (with viewers watching longer on all platforms), it seems that connected TVs saw the biggest growth in Q4, as their viewers proved to be the most engaged of all the platforms, completing videos at a rate of 47 percent (with tablet viewers following close behind at 38 percent.)

Users of connected TV devices and gaming consoles were 70 percent more likely to watch three-quarters of a video. And, in terms of name brands in connected TVs, Google TV’s share of video plays increased by 91 percent this quarter.

Tablet viewers were the most engaged in Q3, and they certainly remained an attentive audience in Q4, proving to be 45 percent more likely to complete three-quarters of a video than those watching on a desktop. Not only that, but tablet viewers watched 21.9 percent longer per video in Q4 than the prior quarter.

Another interesting tidbit from Ooyala: Facebook remains a much more active source of online video sharing than Twitter: For every video shared via Twitter in Q4, more than 10 were shared on Facebook. - Rip Empson, TechCrunch

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Social Recommendations Increase Online Video Ad Performance

2012-02-15T17:42:00.000-08:00

According to the Social Ad Effectiveness study by Unruly, the results of a survey to determine the impact of recommendation on brand metrics among 18-34 year olds found that social recommendations dramatically increased ad performance.

• Video enjoyment increased purchase intent by 97% and brand association by 139%
• Enjoyment of the video rose by 14% among viewers who had viewed following a recommendation
• Brand recall and brand association rose 7% among viewers who had been recommended the video versus viewers who found it by browsing.

The explosion of social networking has opened up a massive opportunity for advertisers to open a dialogue with their audiences, particularly via video campaigns that make brand ambassadors of opinion leaders in social spaces. Social video advertising has grown rapidly, more than doubling in size every year since 2009.

However, there is little granularity around the extent to which social advertising impacts traditional brand metrics. This study sets out to understand the effect of recommendations in online video advertising, determining to what extent social recommendations affect brand metrics such as recall, favorability, message association and purchase intent. It finds that recommendations impact video enjoyment, and so also considers the effect of video enjoyment on the key brand metrics.

Key findings:
14% increase in the number of people who enjoyed the video following a recommendation versus those who had discovered it by browsing. Moreover, a recommendation reduced the number of people who did not enjoy the video by 41%.

Viewer enjoyment of branded video is important because it has a direct impact on key brand metrics. Viewers who enjoyed the video they watched demonstrated 139% higher brand association, 97% higher purchase intent, higher brand favorability, and higher brand recall than their counterparts who did not enjoy the video.

68% of viewers who had browsed to the video correctly recalled the brand when prompted, compared to 73% of viewers who had arrived at the video following a recommendation. This 7% uplift suggests that video viewers are in a more receptive and attentive frame of mind following a recommendation, allowing brands that produce and distribute social content to benefit from closer communication with their audiences.

Recommendations caused a 7% increase in brand association. Agreement with key brand statements increased from 41% among viewers who had browsed to the video to 44% among viewers who seen the video following a recommendation.

Recommendations make viewers more receptive to brand messaging. Recommendations have a large role to play for brands, says the report, in changing off-message perceptions among their audiences as well as in actively cultivating on-message perceptions.

49% of viewers purchased the advertised product within three days of the view. 38% of viewers spoke to someone in person about the video, showing a social video view to stimulate real life conversation. 9% of users searched for the brand, and 4% of users searched for products of that type. Social video viewing is having an effect across all aspects of the purchase funnel.

The power of social video lies in the recommendation to view content. This recommendation comes from peers in social media environments, and from authoritative blogs and news sources covering advertiser content editorially. The impact of the recommendation on consumers is considerable:

• Viewers are more likely to enjoy a video when it has been recommended than when encountered through browsing (14% higher enjoyment)
• Viewers are more likely to recall a brand name when the social video has been recommended than when encountered through browsing (7% higher recall)
• Viewers are more likely to engage with an ad’s messages when the social has been recommended than when encountered through browsing (10% higher brand association)
-Center For Media Research

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Digital Video Ad Spending to Explode by Over 250%

2012-02-06T11:44:00.000-08:00

Consumer packaged goods (CPG) and health brands spend more on video advertising.

Throughout 2011, CPG brands spent more than any other group on video advertising -- making up 24% of alldollars spent, according to new data from YuMe. Health and pharmaceutical brands came in second -- with a 16% share of the video ad market-- despite a 400% year-over-year increase in spending.

The 25-54 consumers were the most-requested demographic -- making up 15% of RFPs -- the video ad network found. Females 25-54 were the most-requested female demographic in 2011, with 39% ofrequested RFPs.

Spending on non-gender-specific campaigns made up 66% of ad dollars in 2011 -- up from 55% in 2010 -- while spending on female-targeted campaigns made up 25% of ad dollars.

While still attractive to advertisers, requests for females 25-54 actually decreased slightly from 42% in 2010 to 37% in 2011, while requests for males 25-54 held steady year-over-year at 22%.
Marketers should note that consumers ages 12-24 experienced the highest average video completion rate at 73%, although they had less spending power.

According to a recent estimate byForrester, domestic digital video ad spending will explode by over 250%, from $2 billion in 2011 to $5.4 billion by 2016. The forecast was largely attributed to a renaissance in quality, brand-safevideo content, a proliferation in video-friendly devices and the maturing of younger, online adept consumers.

Separately, although still in its infancy, the Connected TV market made up over1% of impressions served during the fourth quarter of the year, while mobile impressions nearly doubled quarter-over-quarter to 5% of video ads served. But the dominant video advertising unit,pre-roll’s market share, continued to decline in 2011 from 93% in 2010 to 89% of ads served.

Per Forrester, 37 million U.S. households currently own a connected device that enablesthem to watch digital video on their TV screen -- up from fewer than 25 million in 2010. Among these connected households, younger consumers lead the way, outpacing the overall population in adoptionby nearly 20 percentage points.

Forrester projects that connected device penetration will reach 50% in 2016, further opening the fragmentation floodgates of video consumption options.

In another finding, the majority of ad impressions that YuMe served in 2011 were in California at 11.0% of total volume, followed by New York at 7.9% and Texas at 6.8%.

YuMe bases itsanalysis on average video completion rates, regardless of pre-roll length. Targeted audience demographics are based on the audience targeted by the advertiser, as stated in applicable request forproposals. - Gavin O'Malley, MediaPost

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Social Video Predictions - 2012

2012-01-18T17:44:00.000-08:00

There is no doubt that 2011 has been a record-breaking year for social video.
So what does 2012 hold for online video?
Here are some predictions from Unruly Media's 'What's next for social video?' insight report...

1. Video culture: what will people be watching?

Memes will spring from unexpected places throughout 2012 as they have for years but, as always, momentous events will provide a springboard for meme culture.
The US Election and the Olympics will be meme playgrounds, and memes are also likely to spring from End of the World predictions as December 21 approaches: it’s the end of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar which has been the centre of speculation in certain circles.
Brands will be anticipating the memes, themes and Olympian dreams of 2012, creating video content around key events, and epic ads that use storytelling to engage and build long-term connections with audiences, as with the Heineken content of 2011.
People will be creating and watching more user/community-funded films in 2012, with companies like Kickstarter providing independent film makers with access to funding, and video tools from YouTube and others boosting the quality of user generated content.
Brands will do more to encourage audience participation and interaction both by using their audiences to create content via competitions, and by introducing interactive functionality alongside their video content.
Alongside epic, high quality content, fast/sticky/funny content will persist in video, and extend via GIFs.
Video and images are the key components of meme propagation online and simple GIFs are likely to become fancier and spread more readily as a midpoint between video and images.
GIFs behave as video shorthand and will become a more common form of expression in 2012 thanks to free downloadable and web-based programmes for GIF creation and opportunities to post GIFs on Tumblr, Google+ and new GIF sites.

2. Device proliferation: where will people be watching?

While people will continue to consume social video on PC & desktop computers, and while Connected TVs will gain traction, significant and increasing numbers of people will be watching social video on phone and tablet mobile devices.
Mobile is the fastest growing information & communications technology ever seen (Figure 1) and mobile penetration will continue to grow in 2012.

Figure 1
Source: ITU World Telecommunication / ICT Indicators database. *2011 data is estimated.

Developed economies

Cross-platform consumption of video content will become the norm, and since sharing is intuitive on mobile devices, cross platform social video will reach the mainstream.
A ‘best available device’ culture will emerge, which sees users demanding the content they want, when they want it, on the best screen they happen to have to hand at that moment.
This is already happening, and providers of content by subscription, from the Financial Times to AppleTV are selling cross-platform subscriptions to allow content to be pulled from the cloud onto multiple devices.
This culture is likely to lead to the introduction of a ‘Continuous Client’, a term coined by Joshua Topolsky of Engadget in 2010, which describes full synchronicity between multiple devices so that the work done on a phone, tablet or PC follows a user around as they switch to other devices.
As Topolsky says: "your devices (and their clients) should talk to each other so that you can placeshift your session from screen to screen".
Figure 2 shows that ad campaigns that have been run across two platforms perform better than those that have been run across a single platform: with data like this and users consuming media across multiple devices, brands will increase their cross platform ad spends significantly in 2012.
As brand budgets follow the audiences to mobile, blending of brand video delivery across online, mobile and TV platforms will become commonplace.

Figure 2
Nielsen Cross Platform Behaviour, September 2011
Brands will also start embracing multi-screen consumption, engaging with the companion screen to create content which is designed to complement a TV-type viewing experience.
Users are already using the companion screen while watching TV, and in 2012 more brands, particularly broadcasters, will come out with companion content designed for smartphones and tablets.
Now that smartphones increasingly have 3D and Augmented Reality (AR) delivery capabilities built in, there will be a jump in the amount of commercially produced 3D and AR content in 2012, especially as 3DTV proliferation increases.
Entertainment and top FMCG brands are likely to lead this charge. Juniper Research predicts that AR mobile revenues will jump from $2m in 2010 to $1.5bn in 2015.
As new smartphones and tablets hit the market with increasingly diverse features, from advanced camera technologies to temperature sensors and barometers, new features are likely to become a springboard for innovations from native application developers.
Developing and supporting native applications for multiple devices and operating systems is time consuming and expensive. Brands have a need for quality HTML5 functionality which allows them to support features cross platform.

Emerging economies

Figure 3
Source: ITU World Telecommunication / ICT indicators database. Developed / developing country classifications are based on the UN M49. *2011 data is estimated.
Figure 3 shows that emerging markets are seeing a much faster and wider adoption of mobile devices than of internet connected desktop and laptop devices, and that increasing mobile subscriptions are impacting the growth of web use(slightly but significantly) in those markets.
These trends result from the ability to access connectivity at a much lower cost via mobile devices. For example, Aakash, a tablet device launched in India, is being sold to students at the subsidised price of $35, and are likely to continue in emerging economies over the coming years.
Affordable mobile technology is becoming a work platform and a revenue generator for people in emerging economies.
For global advertisers, this means new markets are opening up: direct-to-consumer channels are becoming available in territories previously difficult to reach, such as India and Africa.
India’s current internet penetration stands at 6.6% of the population but is predicted to reach 29.5%, with the number of Indian smartphones set to top 450, by 2015 .

3. Social platforms: how will people be sharing?

As well as the ‘Big Four’ social platforms of 2012 (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+) social gaming environments will play a larger role in video sharing, as will the already powerful presences of region specific social platforms such as RenRen in China and VKontakte in Russia.
The advent of social video viewing platforms like Shelby.tv and VHX may begin to change the way people discover, consume and share social video content.
These platforms are designed to turn Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr into TV channels, where you can discover and watch all of the videos your friends are sharing and talking about in real time.
They facilitate a dedicated social video experience, and may be more widely used in 2012.

Facebook

Facebook is already becoming a gatekeeper, having introduced an Advertiser Whitelist, Facebook Credits, and HTTPS support requirements in 2011, and they will continue to control third party access, introducing more third party requirements in 2012 and beyond.
On Facebook for the mobile web or iPad, if you tap on a story that a friend has posted in your newsfeed relating to an app, Facebook will fast-app-switch you over to the app if you already have it, or it will deep link you to the app store to download the app if not.
This functionality tries to be device-appropriate: if you’re viewing from an Android device, it will direct you to the Android app if possible.
HTML5 apps are not mainstream, so it’s essential for Facebook to fully support native applications. However, the current solution takes users out of the site and out of Facebook’s control, so it is unlikely to be a long term fix.
The leaked Project Spartan, a Facebook developer platform designed for mobile apps in HTML5, may be released in 2012 as a longer term play from the company as HTML5 becomes more developed and functional.

Twitter

Twitter will do more with 'Big Data' in 2012. It introduced link shortening in June 2011, meaning that it can now wrap all links shared in Twitter in the ‘t.co’ format to capture data around how popular links are.
Twitter owns a lot of data around the number of clicks in a given time period, and may use this real-time link tracking to introduce real-time targeted ads.

YouTube

YouTube has introduced video tools to make video editing easier for users, which are likely to increase the quality of the video content on the site.
The trend towards live content and on-demand services on YouTube will continue as Connected TV and TV on Demand blur the lines between TV and online.
Also, there are likely to be more pay-per-view partnerships between YouTube and broadcasters. For example, the Ultimate Fighting Championship made all of the main card fights from UFC 135 available live for fans in the U.S. on the UFC YouTube channel for $44.99.

Google+

Google+ is similar to Twitter and Facebook in many respects, but Hangouts are a differentiator.
Hangouts have the potential to become a hub for real-time socialised co-viewing, perhaps particularly around video classes, and Google+ may increase focus on social viewing via hangouts in 2012.

Social gaming

Social gaming will become even more mainstream in 2012. In the early days of social gaming, the common perception of social gamers was that they were all teens and tweens.
A little later, with the rise of Facebook games, the average social gamer was a 43-year-old woman, and by 2011, the largest demographic was 25-34 males, with females not far behind (Figure 4).
By 2012, there will be 68.7m social gamers in the US, and already 92% of smartphone owners play mobile games weekly.
Within social gaming, value exchange advertising will be huge. Value exchange allows brands to reward users for engaging with their content, presenting a positive experience for users at the time that they choose to interact, and freeing them from annoying ‘ads’ during gameplay.
Engaging with users when they are gaming allows advertisers to reach users in their downtime when they have time to engage with content: sharing it, clicking through for more information and commenting on it if they find it interesting.

Figure 4 Figure 5
Popcap Research, September 2011, Mashable, March 2011

Local social platforms

While the Middle East and North Africa will be loyal to Facebook and YouTube, J-BRIC (Japan, Brazil, Russia, India and China) will continue to engage increasingly with local video platforms and social networks, including Mixi in Japan, VKontakte in Russia, and Orkut in Brazil and India.
China’s use of social platforms is increasing and the most popular platforms tend to be homegrown, largely because Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google+ and many other platforms are banned in China.
Youku is the top Chinese video sharing site, Sina runs the biggest blog and microblog community, and China’s various social networks are illustrated in Figure 5.
Global brands will have to start tailoring social plans to make use of these international social platforms, in order to have success around the world.

4. Brands and video in 2012

Social video is emerging as the format of choice for planners and strategists with an eye on the long game.
The honeymoon for the 15-second pre-roll ad is coming to an end as advertisers demand better execution and cut-through and move budgets from push formats towards pull solutions; even pre-roll is starting to morph into an interactive multi-choice medium.
The pioneering brands of 2012 will be looking to brands that have created memes (like Old Spice with “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”), have ridden memes very successfully (like Volkswagen with “The Force”), or have created Epic Ad content that uses storytelling to engage audiences (like Heineken with “The Entrance”) and strive to create similarly resonant content: online video creatives will see higher production and distribution budgets.
As brands spend more time and money on social video, the analytics and insight they need to see around this content will become more and more important.
Brands will be looking for insight into exactly who is watching and sharing their videos, including demographics, real time brand uplift metrics; and benchmarking by category.
Understanding the true sentiment behind comments at scale will also become increasingly important for advertisers as more users engage and interact with branded content.
Social video bridges the gap between content consumption and ad spend.
Social video campaigns generated 820m views in 2009, 2.7bn views in 2010, and over 8bn views in 2011. We are likely to see the number of views delivered from social video campaigns more than double again in 2012. - David Waterhouse, eConsultancy

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2012 Video Trends

2012-01-04T22:16:00.000-08:00

1. Videos become shorter. With new research proving that sub-30-second videos drive higher conversion rates on average, brands and retailers will work harder to deliver product messages in smaller, bite-sized chunks.

2. Interactive video moves from "nice to have" to "must have." With Facebook supporting interactive video and more consumers embracing social networks than ever before, brands that sell directly will increasingly seek to capitalize on interactive video by enabling consumers to share content that enables shopping within the video player. The upside for brands is the ability to track from the initial video all the way to the purchase, yielding insight into what patterns of viewing and interactivity prompt viewers to become buyers.

3. Video SEO grows up. Proper sitemap formatting, ensuring appropriate keywords are included in sitemap submissions, will be at the top of the list for any brand serious about using video to drive commerce moving forward.

4. Industry research starts to drive production trends. In the earliest days of video commerce, production values and formatting decisions were driven more by gut than by data. While each brand's identity will remain central to decisions in these areas, new data that reveals more about what makes video “work” will cause some brands to re-think their tried-and-true approaches.

5. HTML5 takes center stage. In 2011, supporting HTML5 video was a neat feature. In 2012, it is a requirement. With record-breaking sales of iPad 2's and other iOS devices, coupled with Adobe's announcement in November 2011 that it would no longer support development of Flash on mobile platforms following the release of Flash Player 11.1 for Playbook and Android, brands can no longer afford to miss delivering rich, interactive video experiences using Flash alone.

We're also likely to see a few off-the-radar trends driving video adoption among both brands and consumers in this new year. Other wild-card items to watch out for: increased adoption of video in email as another major webmail player enables HTML5 video support (probably Gmail); new techniques and technologies emerging to enable brands or commerce sites to rapidly scale production of real video content; and another major smartphone maker dropping support for Flash video. - MediaPost

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Video Benefits - How to Enhance CRM

2012-01-03T13:05:00.000-08:00

As technology continues to evolve and the number of communication channels increases, there are countless ways to reach your customers. However, more emphasis is being placed on online video communication to drive customer interaction, increase sales and maximize efficiency.

Although businesses are more receptive to the use of video and streaming media, there can be hesitation associated with implementation. Will online video communication be comparable enough to face-to-face meetings? Will a virtual event be as engaging to my clients? How can I ensure that my corporate training program will be successfully completed?

If you are contemplating online video communication to help enhance customer engagement, here are a few benefits to consider:
Broader audience reach
Online video provides an increased flexibility of viewing that traditional meetings, conferences and training do not. Video communication can be held live or on-demand so attendees can participate at their convenience, from any location around the globe. This helps ensure you have a great attendance rate without the scheduling hassle.
Maximize efficiency
Since business video allows viewers to access meetings from any location, at any given time, employees do not have to disrupt their office schedule to travel for face-to-face communication. This saves time and helps accelerate decision-making, while maintaining the collaborative aspects of in-person meetings that traditional conference calls often prohibit.
In addition, video communication helps prevent, or at least reduce, the number of misunderstandings that can occur with simple voice communication. This can be especially helpful when conducting business with companies/clients abroad where cultural inferences are highly important.
Reduce costs
Business travel doesn’t simply consist of a plane/train ticket or cost of gas. When you include hotel stays, car rentals and meal expenses, a travel budget can be quickly exceeded. Plus, time on the road is time and money that could be spent developing new products, meeting with more clients and tending to more urgent client requests in the office. Online video communication helps businesses save money without sacrificing face-to-face engagement with their customers.
Client experience
By offering video as a communication forum for your clients, you are providing them another means to conduct business. This shows that you respect their busy schedules, but that you want to sustain the interactivity that comes with face-to-face meetings and/or bring an engaging, cooperative experience to the “virtual” table. Online video communication also transcends traditional phone customer service offerings and demonstrates to your clients that maintaining clear, consistent interaction is of the utmost importance to you and your organization.

While no communication method can solely replace face-to-face interaction, online video provides a great alternative. Video communication offers an additional opportunity to better serve clients, which provides more chances to gain customer feedback, enhance product innovation, maintain loyal customer relationships, and in turn, increase sales. -MediaPost

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Best Time for Online Video Ad Clicks

2011-12-20T12:12:00.000-08:00

Clicks are still the currency by which many marketers measure success in online advertising, and early evening ranks as the most effective time for generating clicks on online video ads.

That’s the result of a new study by ad platform TubeMogul. While online video is often used as a branding mechanism for marketers, many do still want to drive clicks, which could range from encouraging viewers to share a link on Twitter, have a conversation on a brand’s Facebook fan page, or even buy a product online, TubeMogul said in its report. Clicks are often more quantifiable to measure than increases in brand awareness or word of mouth.

TubeMogul’s study of about 23 million impressions from pre-roll ads bought by top brands in the consumer packaged goods, retail and restaurant industries indicated that the end of the work day and into early TV primetime were the best hours for delivering the most clicks. Specifically, TubeMogul found that nearly 26% of all clicks on video ads fall between 5-9 p.m. — also the time frame when click rates overall are highest, TubeMogul said. One might think completion rates for video ads would also be highest during those hours. However, that’s not the case. Completion rates don’t vary significantly based on the time of day, or on whether the pre-roll ad is 15 seconds or 30 seconds, which suggests that viewers are simply more receptive to ads during those early evening hours.

Advertisers would be wise to serve their ads late in the afternoon and into the early evening in order to achieve the maximum engagement.-MediaPost

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Marketers Slicing from TV Budgets for Online Video

2011-12-15T11:35:00.000-08:00

About two-thirds of marketers say they’ll increase their budgets for online video advertising in 2012, and some of them will be snagging that money from the TV ad budget.

That’s the finding of a study conducted by Break Media, released today. Of course, the big caveat is Break has a huge stake in the online video ad economy since Break Media Network is a large video ad network reaching more than 120 million visitors each month, and also owns Break.com, the popular humor video site. Even so, the study’s findings dovetail with those from marketers and research firms also expecting another robust year for online video ads in 2012.

Specifically, about 32% of advertisers who plan to up their online video ad spend in 2012 will take money from TV budgets, 54% from non-video display budgets, and 38% from organic budget growth, Break found in its survey of more than 300 decision makers at ad agencies and marketers. More than 90% of advertisers plan to use video ad networks in the year ahead and expect to allocate 20% to 41% of total video dollars through ad networks.

Interestingly, marketers may shift away from the cost-per-thousand model that has been the bedrock of TV and video advertising in favor of a cost-per-view model. Break said that model has doubled in use in the past year. The growth in the cost-per-view model likely comes from the increasing use of video ad networks, since that pricing model is most commonly offered by ad networks. Pre-roll is still the most preferred ad format, while mobile will be second, overtaking in-banner in 2012.

The expectations for 2012 stem in part from how video performed this year. Many advertisers plowed more money than originally planned into video this year. About 57% said they spent what they planned, 14% spent less and 29% spent more than they expected to in online video.

But online video will face obstacles in 2012, including difficulty measuring ROI and a lack of standard metrics. The ROI issue has been cited in many studies this year as a major hurdle, including most recently by Casale Media.- MediaPost

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Twitvid Launches Pinterest for Video

2011-12-14T16:21:00.000-08:00

Twitvid, whose name has historically been extremely informative — it’s a host for sharing videos on Twitter — is trying something new. This week, the company launches a section of its site devoted to sharing and discovering the best Web video from sites like YouTube and Vimeo. Twitvid (which raised about $10 million in venture funding) will continue to provide its existing service, and hopes to get some of its 12 million monthly uniques to participate in its “Pinterest for video,” said CEO Mo Adham.-AllThingsD

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Social Video Delivers

2011-12-11T20:37:00.001-08:00

How social video is changing online advertising

Social media is changing the way brands use online advertising. One of the most striking examples of this change is social video, where users opt-in to view videos on their own, and then share them or take other actions. Unlike pre-roll, expanding banners, and other interruptive video units, social video puts users in control. This new structure challenges long-held beliefs about the efficiency of traditional reach-and-frequency spending, and it has made social video one of the hottest new segments of online advertising. Some recently released data that shed light on social video trends and usage patterns. The study was based on a sample of more than 13 million user-initiated video views between January 1, 2011 and September 30, 2011. The views were a result of social video campaigns created for Fortune 500 brands across a number of vertical categories, including consumer packaged goods, apparel, consumer technology, retail, luxury products, fashion and beauty, sports and fitness, and auto.

Key insights from the study:

Humor works
Humorous videos are prominent within the social video space, accounting for four-in-10 campaigns. Those who watch a humorous video are more than three times more likely to click to a brand's Facebook page after viewing than those who watch other types of social video content.

Celebrities don't guarantee engagementOnly one-in-10 social video campaigns feature a TV or movie personality, and they are actually less effective at driving brand interactions than non-celebrity videos. Celebrity videos drive 12 percent fewer visits to brands' Facebook pages than non-celebrity videos. This data may indicate that those who watch celebrity videos are more interested in the famous personas than the brands behind them.

Short and long-form are most effective
Fifteen-second videos produce the best click-through rates, but they are used least. Only 10 percent of videos are 15 seconds or less, yet they are 153 percent more effective than videos between 16 seconds and one minute.

Videos of 60 seconds or more are the second-most effective format, outperforming videos between 16-60 seconds by 70 percent. This may indicate that 16 second-to-one-minute videos are not enough time to tell an engaging story.

Girl power growsAccording to our first study released in January and based on 2010 data, women accounted for nearly 57 percent of social video views. In 2011, that number has grown to 63 percent.

While 18 to 44 year-olds dominate, younger people are gaining interest
Sixty percent of video watchers are between the ages of 18 to 44, while viewers between 12 and 17 years-old increased by 48 percent since the beginning of 2011.

Facebook page trafficThe social video opt-in environment is more effective in driving post-view engagement than interruptive video units, such as pre-roll. Users who opt-in to watch social videos are more than three times as likely to interact with a brand after the view, compared to pre-roll, according to the YuMe Video Advertising Metrics reports in 2010 and 2011. Social videos are notably effective in driving users to a brand's Facebook page. "Join a brand on Facebook" is the single most popular post-view interaction, accounting for 40 percent of all post-view activity.

Social video completionSocial video programs deliver completion rates that are significantly higher than pre-roll. On average, 64 percent of users served a 30-second pre-roll video watch to completion. In contrast, 95 percent of users who opt-in to a social video of the same length watch to the end.
Social video is rewriting the advertising rules of engagement. While the vast majority of online video advertising is still interruptive, the data above illustrate the benefits of respecting consumers and meeting them on their own terms. It will be fascinating to watch the medium evolve in 2012 and beyond.- iMediaConnection

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VMakers - working on the New Chelsea Handler Sitcom

2011-12-02T12:01:00.001-08:00

The video and film pros at VMakers are working on the new Chelsea Handler sitcom.

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YouTube Steps Up Analytics, Drills Into Viewer Stats

2011-12-01T09:24:00.001-08:00

YouTubestill dominates streaming media. As such, tracking a campaign’s performance on Google’s video hub remains a critical component of any marketer’s viral video efforts.
Responding to greater demand for more in-depth reporting and analysis, YouTube has replaced its Insight tracking service with a more thorough Analytics offering.

Analytics attempts to take Insights to another level by giving publishers of any size more information about their content and viewers. It features a new overview section, which prioritizes a publisher’s most relevant information, as well as more detailed statistics.

The new service also hopes to help publishers discover which videos are driving the most views and subscriptions -- and how far viewers are watching through videos in the new audience retention report.

Led by YouTube, Google sites still ranked as the top online video content property in October -- with 161 million unique viewers and a record 20.9 billion videos viewed, per comScore Video Metrix.

Still small by comparison, Facebook.com represents a clear threat to YouTube’s video dominance. According to comScore, the social network ranked second in terms of viewers, with 59.8 million in October.

Overall, with the average viewer now consuming a record 21.1 hours of video a month, a total of 184 million U.S. Web users -- or 86.2% of the country’s online population -- watched more than 42 billion videos in October.

Also worth noting, video ads accounted for 14.9% of all videos viewed -- and 1.4% of all minutes spent viewing video online -- in October. Across the board, video ads reached 53% of the total U.S. population an average of 47 times during the month, while Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 46.5. - Gavin O-Malley, MediaPost

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2012 Trends: Video Leads Online Ad Growth

2011-11-30T17:55:00.001-08:00

US online video ad spending to grow 43.1% in 2012

Whether they think of it as magnetic content or advertising, marketers are increasingly focused on creating video assets. This type of media reproduces the richness consumers associate with TV, often at a lower cost. And if online venues tend to fall short of TV when it comes to reach, they make up the difference by engaging viewers in an active, lean-forward mode.

The virtuous circle of content and technology adoption that consumers are experiencing is also fueling this trend. eMarketer estimates that US online video ad spending will grow by a compound annual rate of 38% in a five-year span ending in 2015, making this by far the fastest-rising category of online spending.

By 2015, video ad spending will reach $7.11 billion, up from $2.16 billion in 2011. In the past year alone, growth was 52.1%.

Similarly, in the UK video advertising will lead the pack, growing by a compound annual rate of 65% over five years. By 2015, UK video online ad spending will reach $850 million, compared with $150 million in 2011. As a percentage of total online advertising, video will grow to 8.2% in 2015 from 2.1% in 2011.
Still, challenges remain, including the high price of online video ads and the need for better reach and measurement. Several factors will mitigate these problems, making the upward course for video ad spending strong in 2012 and beyond. These factors include better filtering technologies for user-generated content, so publishers can better monetize it with ads; the emergence of cost per view and cost per engagement pricing structures; the increased use of interactive ad units and magnetic content; and personalization and targeting of video ads. For more information on marketing developments expected next year, stay tuned for the forthcoming eMarketer report “Top Trends for 2012.”-eMarketer
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Why Music Matters in Videos

2011-11-30T13:47:00.001-08:00

When it comes to online video, music is the single biggest lost opportunity for brands.

It baffles me how a brand can spend $30,000 to $300,000 on product marketing and consumer outreach videos, then not spend another 5% for professional music from either established or unknown artists. After all, in 1928, Warner Bros. saw 5000% profit margins from its first “talkies” -- films that were primarily musical in nature. More recently, Apple turned the tech industry on its ear through music.

Music affects people. The Pied Piper is a parable -- but it’s also grounded in truth. It’s not just mice that respond to music. People do, too.

And brands aren’t forced to license music from well-established artists.
- While it is difficult to assign an exact number, it’s consensus that several million (that’s million) artists and bands are on MySpace.
- Even Michelangelo was paid for the Sistine Chapel.

Finding credible artists without high costs isn’t as daunting as it might seem:
- Check out the lesser-known artists at music festivals like Outside Lands and Coachella.
- Roam the sidewalks of 6th Street in Austin at SXSW.
- Or simply watch for who’s coming through town at your smaller music venues.
Here’s the best part: pick the right music, and brands have the opportunity to be labeled as “cool” and “relevant” when the artists make it big. Your brand might even get credit for breaking the band to a wider audience.

Maybe you should pay a little more attention to that band on the street corner or in the farmer’s market. They could be your ticket to video success.-Bryan Boettger, MediaPost

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comScore Releases October 2011 US Online Video Rankings

2011-11-29T18:46:00.000-08:00

Record 20 Billion Content Videos Viewed on Google Sites

comScore Video Metrix service shows that 184 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in October for an average of 21.1 hours per viewer. The total U.S. Internet audience viewed 42.6 billion videos, representing an all-time high.

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 October with 161 million unique viewers and reached a record high of 20.9 billion videos viewed. Facebook.com ranked second with 59.8 million viewers, followed by VEVO with 57 million, Microsoft Sites with 49.1 million and Viacom Digital with 48.2 million. More than 42 billion videos were viewed during the month, with the average viewer watching a record 21.1 hours. Google Sites demonstrated the highest engagement with 7.1 hours per viewer.

*A video is defined as any streamed segment of audiovisual content, (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.

Top 10 Video Ad Properties by Video Ads Viewed
Americans viewed 7.5 billion video ads in October, with Hulu generating the highest number of video ad impressions at more than 1.3 billion. Tremor Video ranked second overall (and highest among video ad exchanges/networks) crossing the 1 billion mark for the first time. BrightRoll Video Network ranked third with 756 million, followed by Specific Media with 512 million and CBS Interactive with 415 million. Time spent watching video ads totaled more than 3.2 billion minutes during the month, with Tremor Video delivering the highest duration of video ads at 614 million minutes. Video ads reached 53 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 47 times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 46.5.

Note: Adap.tv has been excluded from this list due to a technological issue with its video census tags, affecting data for October 2011.
*Video ads include streaming-video advertising only and do not include other types of video monetization, such as overlays, branded players, matching banner ads, homepage ads, etc.
**Indicates video ad network

Top 10 YouTube Partner Channels by Unique Viewers
The October 2011 YouTube partner data revealed that video music channels VEVO (54.2 million viewers) and Warner Music (30.4 million viewers) maintained the top two positions. Gaming channel Machinima ranked third with 17.7 million viewers, followed by Schmooru with 9.9 million, Maker Studios with 9.4 million and Demand Media with 7.4 million. Within the top 10 partners, Machinima demonstrated the highest engagement with 65.1 minutes per viewer on average, while accounting for the second highest number of videos viewed (277 million) after VEVO.

*YouTube Partner Reporting based on online video content viewing and does not include claimed user-generated content

Other notable findings from October 2011 include:

86.2 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
The duration of the average online content video was 5.5 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.
Video ads accounted for 14.9 percent of all videos viewed and 1.4 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online. More.

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Video - A Must Have for Marketers

2011-11-25T10:43:00.001-08:00

SmartBrief on Social Media tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues. This week, marketers were asked: Do you incorporate video elements into your social media presence?

The results:
Yes, and they have been very successful: 42.16%
We’d like to create videos, but we’re not sure how: 28.43%
No, we have no plans to produce videos: 17.65%
Yes, but the results have been disappointing: 11.76%

Video as a form of content for your social media and content-marketing efforts has reached must-have status.
According to a survey in May by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, “71% of online Americans use video-sharing sites such as YouTube and Vimeo, up from 66% a year earlier.” Further, in The State of Online Video presentation in January, comScore’s Dan Piech said “89 million people in the U.S. are going to watch 1.2 billion videos … today.” So, if I were to say that online video has grown in popularity, it would be such a ridiculous understatement.

The growth of broadband Internet access combined with increased computing power in smartphones and mobile devices makes watching online video possible just about anywhere — literally. You can watch video when standing in an aisle at Costco Wholesale, sitting in a doctor’s office waiting for a flu shot or lying on a couch during a commercial break. Simply put, online video has become omnipresent, only a click and a second or two away from our viewing pleasure.

Why? For some, such as busy executives, watching video is simply easier. Consider this finding from Forbes Insights study “Video in the C-Suite: Executives Embrace the Non-Text Web”: “Three-quarters (75%) of executives surveyed said they watch work-related videos on business-related websites at least weekly.” Also, “65% have visited a vendor’s website after watching a video.”

So not only are we seeing increased frequency of viewing but also that video is effectively influencing our online behavior. And, as SmartPulse results show, 42% of you are seeing that success. For the 28% that are not sure how to get started, If you need help contact VMakers.com at 888.712.8211 or info@VMakers.com. For those not planning video, the resources in this article should convince you of your need to get started.
-Jeremy Victor, SmartBrief

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New IAB Guidelines Bring More Transparency To Video Advertising

2011-11-23T09:53:00.000-08:00

Networks & Exchanges Quality Assurance Guidelines

The current ad networks and ad exchanges marketplace is complex and confusing. Over 1 million web sites carry advertising, and there are reports of 300+ ad networks and ad exchanges. Web page content can change constantly and dynamically. The IAB Quality Assurance Guidelines are intended to demystify ad networks and ad exchanges. These guidelines are designed specifically for networks & exchanges who are principals in transactions with marketers and agencies. However, these guidelines do not apply to ad exchanges that are technology platforms only, providing tools to enable direct media buying and selling between participants.

2 key objectives for the buying community:
- Provide detailed information for:
- Acquiring Inventory
- Contextual Taxonomy & Targeting
- Inventory Vetting
- Data Disclosure

Eliminate confusion through a common vocabulary for:
- Targeting
- Data

Networks & Exchanges that voluntarily agree to be certified against these guidelines are providing marketers & agencies with a standardized approach that is designed to make buying easier and to give increased control over where ads are placed. Marketers & Agencies will have greater brand safety assurances that ads will not appear next to content that they decide is inappropriate. For the first time, the US ad networks and ad exchanges market will be giving advertisers consistent and standardized information, serving to build greater marketplace trust.

Download Guidelines.

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Video is Imperative, Don't Get Left Behind!

2011-11-18T11:43:00.000-08:00

Consumer and business usage of video is increasing at an astonishing rate. Cisco has estimated that video will increase from 30% of Internet traffic in 2010 to 90% by 2013. Online retailers are already using video, and service companies, manufacturing, and many others are also hopping on board. The scope of businesses that employ video and the different uses for video are expanding.   The message is clear: people expect online video as a central element of a company’s communications strategy. No matter what sector of business you are in, incorporating video is an essential step in preparing yourself for the future of marketing.

73% of online retailers use video on product pages, which means that if you’re a retailer and you don’t have video on your site, you are officially in the minority, according to eMarketer. A recent survey by Industrial Marketing Today found that 50% of B2B manufacturers use YouTube as a channel to connect with their customers. Even service companies such as Charles Schwab are starting to include videos on their websites.

Video can be used in various ways, which explains why more companies are using video to achieve business objectives. It is clearly beneficial for online retailers to demonstrate a product to their consumers. But what about answering potential questions about your company through video on a FAQ page? This way, you can efficiently inform your customer with a personal touch. Dell credits video with reducing service call volumes by 5%, and Virgin Mobile expects video to reduce call volumes by 14% in 2011(The Australian, December 2010).

Promotional videos can be placed on a landing page to endorse new products and services. Background video on a Web site can make the page feel interactive and exciting. The list of possibilities goes on. Companies are using video on more platforms as well. YouTube is a common channel that companies use, and it is the second most popular web site with 790 million unique monthly visitors, per ReelSEO. Other social media tools, such as Facebook and Twitter, integrate video into their systems and make it easier than ever for users to share videos with each other.

The use of video in emails is gaining in popularity and has been shown to increase click-through rates by over 96%, in an Implix survey. Newsletters or other subscriber-based system could benefit from video, too. Video is even extending beyond the computer, to mobile phone apps or at on-site locations. Imagine going to a restaurant, using your phone to scan a QR code next to a menu item, and watching a clip on what the dish looks like and how it is made. This is just one example on how video can be employed inthe hospitality industry.

Increasing consumption of video makes it clear that consumers prefer to take information in as video over other forms of content. That’s true no matter what business you may be in. Companies that respond by deploying video more broadly will be speaking in their customers’ preferred language.-VideoInsider

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Your Brand's Website and Facebook Page are Hungry, Feed Them Video!

2011-11-15T12:05:00.000-08:00

Online video, branding and social media have become inextricably linked. Facebook and Twitter are among the first places online video viewers hear about a new video, and traffic referred to videos from those sources is often the most engaged of a brand’s video viewers. Online video technology provider Brightcove recently released a report analyzing trends in the first two quarters of 2011, underscoring just how vital social media is for discovery and interest in a video whether from a broadcaster, a news source or a brand.

This should not be surprising. On social channels, we often hear about videos from friends or colleagues whose opinion we trust, making us more likely to both tune in and to finish watching. We also may follow brands in those venues, and therefore will be more interested and keen on the videos that are shared by a brand. That’s why Facebook and Twitter powered the longest viewing times in the first half of the year for most videos. Facebook took the lead in all categories of video except broadcast video in terms of driving viewing time among discovery sources for video. Brands also saw a higher engagement level on Facebook compared to other sources. By and large, Facebook users watched more video regardless of whether the video came from a broadcaster, magazine, brand, newspaper or online media than consumers who found video through Google, Yahoo, Bing or Twitter.

The upshot is that video clearly powers engagement for a brand. As such, marketers should take advantage of the feedback loop that exists between social channels and video. Brands need to make sure video is feeding social media and social media is feeding video. Make sure your two channels are tightly connected and serving each other, with each one bolstering the other. - Daisy Whitney, MediaPost

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6 YouTube Marketing Tips

2011-10-31T14:30:00.000-07:00

YouTube is the biggest social media site. It's bigger than Facebook or Twitter." YouTube is still a great place to launch or grow a brand.

Here are some tips from entrepreneurs, plus some from Lane Shackleton, product manager for YouTube.

1. Don't expect your video to go viral
Are you ready to become the next Orabrush? Maybe it's time to reset your expectations. 48 hours of video are loaded to YouTube every minute, so you're probably better off playing Powerball than waiting for your clip to take off.

Anyone who thinks they're going to have a video go crazy on YouTube is dreaming. Raw numbers aren't as important as reaching the right customers, so don't freak if you're nowhere near a million views.

2. Buy some ads
Since your video's probably not going to go viral on its own (or at all), you should consider buying some ads on YouTube. Fortunately, rates are pretty good compared to AdWords. Search ads on YouTube are going for 50 cents per click vs. $1.50 per click on AdWords. So you don't have to sink a fortune into it. You can do pretty well today buying "promoted videos," the ads that pop up when you do a YouTube search. However, no matter what you spend on ads, make sure the content is relevant to the search term. Google will base the ad's position on that relevance.

3. Use comments, hot spots and A/B testing as your focus group
If you hire an agency to run a TV spot, they're likely going to want to subject the ad to focus group testing. But if you're a small DIY advertiser, your best approximation of a focus group—aside from your wife and her Rotary Club friends—are the comments below your video. Many will be insipid and/or obscene, but some just may have some insight.

Beyond that, YouTube has some other tools to help you gauge how your video is being received. Chief among these is Hot Spots, a technology that lets you see when people are tuning in and out of your video.

Another option is A/B testing. Big ad firms do this, as well, but you can do it on a smaller scale by running two different versions of your clip as an unlisted video backed by search ads and then watching to see which one gets the better response. Then, you choose the winner.

Finally, there's Google Analytics, which will at least tell you how much referral traffic you're getting from YouTube. Shackleton says on average, people who come to your site from YouTube spend more time there than if they came from somewhere else.

4. Watch a lot of YouTube
If you're serious about using YouTube as a marketing platform, then do your research. Forget about watching TV ads, and spend a few hours discovering what's hot on YouTube. The goal is to begin to "recognize good ideas."

5. Track that ROI
If you're spending money on YouTube ads, you will likely want to know what you have to show for it. The fact that people have clicked through your ads is great, but the novelty will wear off quickly if they're not actually buying anything.

Now here's the surprising part: Despite the fact that Google owns YouTube and marketing on YouTube is, by definition, 21st century digital and cutting edge, you still have to rely on a fairly improvisational, analog form of ROI tracking.

6. Find your niche
If you followed step 4 and watched copious amounts of YouTube programming, you should be getting a sense of what will and won't fly on YouTube. Guess what? No one wants to watch an ad unless it's really, really good. But rather than try to crack the code on a spectacular ad, either position yourself as an expert in your particular field or attach your brand to a particular lifestyle. Pick an interesting part of your brand and focus on it.

But what if you sell something really boring, like plumbing supplies? Chances are this is interesting to someone, perhaps someone who has to fix their toilet in a hurry. Get inside their head and make a video directed to their likely concerns. Whatever you do, don't think like a traditional advertiser.
The key is creating stuff that helps people, that people connect to, and allows them to explore. It's not about advertising. - OpenForum

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How to Sell Merchandise on YouTube - NEW Merch Store

2011-10-25T17:33:00.000-07:00

YouTube has long been a friend to independent musicians and bands trying to build an audience, and now it can help them raise money through merchandising, as well. The video sharing site has announced a new feature called the Merch Store, which lets YouTube partners sell merchandise to their fans. They can list song downloads, clothing, tickets, a meeting with the band, and more.

YouTube isn’t selling the goods directly. Instead, it partnered with sites like Topspin (for clothing and other merchandise), Apple and Amazon (for song downloads), and Songkick (for concerts).
Artists who want to take part will need to become YouTube partners first. YouTube wrote on its blog that becoming a partner is now easier than before.
The page you’ll need is called Content Identification Application, and the purpose is to prove to YouTube that you own the copyright for the material you’re uploading. Once that’s cleared, you’ll be able to serve ads on your videos and sell merchandise.
If you don’t get access to the Merch Store immediately, don’t despair: YouTube is rolling out access to the store gradually over the coming weeks. Prepare your posters and t-shirts, and eventually you’ll get a chance.
By the way, if you’re in the New York City area, YouTube is hosting a panel discussion with artists who have advanced their careers using the site. Go to the Mercury Lounge October 20 at noon ET to listen in.

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How to Use Zoom, Moving Camera, & Moving Zoom:

2011-10-25T17:29:00.000-07:00

Check out the video!

Magnification vs. Movement
Moving camera shots, such as a dolly or tracking shot, physically advance or change the position of the camera. A zoom lens, however, makes the subject larger or smaller within the frame simply by shifting the lens elements inside to change focal lengths. This magnifies the view of the subject while the camera itself remains stationary.

How do I tell the difference?
In a zoom shot, as the subject gets bigger within the frame, the spacial relationship between the subject and the objects or people around the subject will not change. This is the first technique used by the crew in the video above. It looks artificial because there is no shift in perspective.
However, when there is a movement of the camera, the relative position of everything within the frame changes constantly. The crew tried this method second, and were more pleased with the results. This method replicates closely our expectations of movement. For this reason, most motion pictures favor a tracking shot over zoom.

But that doesn’t mean that zooms and dollies can’t coexist together.
In cinematic situations of suspense or fear, a zoom paired with strategic camera movement can create a dramatic effect. The subject in the foreground stays a consistent size within the frame, but the background grows bigger and bigger. The unnaturalness of a shot like this is a powerful mood enhancing tool. The Vimeo crew tried this method last and liked it best for their video.
While the growing background is perfect for expressing a negative emotion, the trick can be reversed, creating a background which recedes. This shrinking background is perfect for positive moments of realization or clarity.

What’s the trick?
In order to get the background to grow, a zoom lens is used to shift between a short focal length and a long focal length. The problem is that the foreground also grows. So, to offset this, the camera must move as it zooms to compensate for the magnification, keeping the foreground subject at a stable size within the shot.

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NEW Google AdWords For Video

2011-09-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

YouTube will launch Google AdWords for video in beta on Wednesday. The tool aims to simplify online video ad campaigns and allow advertisers to use a dynamic, auction-based platform to place and manage ads on YouTube and the Google Display Network.

The platform, built on top of AdWords technology, uses the same pipeline to serve ads. It's the same product, but presents video first. In the platform, advertisers will have an option to create one campaign from a selection of video assets and pay only for a video views, rather than impressions using a series of four TrueView video ads.

With the launch, YouTube rebranded Promoted Videos to TrueView in-search and TrueView in-display. Aside from in-search and in-display, YouTube also added in-slate and in-stream.
It turns out that in-stream video ads boost brand recall. eMarketer points to a study by Break Media that finds viewers not only remember seeing in-stream ads, but also recall the subject. Forty-seven percent said they remembered the brand or product advertised after viewing a pre-, mid- or post-roll video ad.

Lane Shackleton, product manager, YouTube, said the new formats simplify the ad-buying process. In the display format, advertisers will have an option to run click-to-play ads. The in-stream option does not require advertisers to pay for the ad unless the viewer watches more than 30 seconds before skipping through.

A dashboard in the Google AdWords for video platform allows advertisers to set budgets, as well as monitor impressions, views, average cost per views, total costs, and Web site clicks. Advertisers enter a headline, description and thumbnails, display URLs, destinations and more. A preview window gives advertisers a view into where and how the video will run.

Advertisers can now define a target group, set bid amounts for each of the four formats, and search and set target suggestions by keywords. For example, the targets include topics like Art & Entertainment; Audiences, males from 18-24; and Interests, hiking & Camping. The targeting capability uses logged-in user data provided by the users in YouTube accounts and some inference data. Advertisers also can target by content, such as Spanish-speaking content or sports.

A call-to-action overlay makes an offer to viewers, shares more information about businesses and drives traffic to Web sites. The overlay appears as a display ad over the TrueView in-search and in-display videos that play on YouTube.

Similar to an analytics platform for paid-search ads on google.com, Google AdWords for video offers reporting capabilities such as monitoring length of time for views. Advertisers can see who views the videos, how long they watch and what other actions they take. For advertisers, it aims to improve the campaign's performance.

Some use information on view-through rate for campaign-split testing, where they can test multiple ads to determine the one that resonates best with their audience.
-Laurie Sullivan, MediaPost

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Our peeps are working on the new Whitney Sitcom!

2011-09-22T11:15:00.000-07:00

Watch the premiere on NBC tonight!

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Video Viewers Use Tablets, Not Smartphones

2011-09-19T14:09:00.000-07:00

When it comes to viewing premium video, consumers have more options than ever, from TVs to PCs, tablets and game consoles. How are people dealing with all these choices? A new PwC study finds that while traditional TV is still king, consumers are more receptive to new video platforms than they were a year ago, especially tablets.

But the willingness to embrace alternative screens does not appear to extend to mobile phones, whose small screens and slower network connections limit their appeal for watching TV shows and movies. The large screen of the home TV remains the favored way to watch video, with two-thirds of those surveyed indicating interest in tuning in the TV set.

Still, more than half (58%) said they spend more time now viewing movies and TV shows online than they did a year ago. "This was further validated in qualitative discussions, where consumers confirmed that they spend more time using their Internet-connected devices, especially iPads," stated the PwC report.

The study emphasized that people considered tablets a "wholly different mobile viewing experience" compared to smartphones, given screen size. Less than one-quarter (23%) had an interest in watching premium video on smartphones. PwC said the lack of enthusiasm for mobile video is consistent with research it has done over the last 18 months.

The PwC findings were based on a survey of 312 U.S. adults ages 18 to 59 conducted in spring 2011.
-Mark Walsh, MediaPost

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Social video builds awareness for luxury brands.

2011-08-12T10:59:00.000-07:00

Luxury brands that are looking to implement social video into their marketing campaigns need to keep the creative engaging and provide a reason for the content to be shared.

Luxury brands can increase awareness and attention and drive people in-store or to branded Web sites through online video. However, this content needs to be shared and highlighted by influential people for the video to be found by consumers.

For luxury brands, video is an amazing way to build an emotional connection. With traditional online banners, it is difficult to build a proper connection.

For luxury brands building a relationship with consumers, it is necessary to engage and make consumers be loyal to certain brands.

The four A’s
There are four major goals that luxury brands can aim to accomplish through social video.
1. Spread brand awareness, which can be accomplished by having the video on as many platforms worldwide as possible.
2. Advocacy, which is created when consumers endorse the brand by liking them on Facebook, following them on Twitter or sharing the video through blogs and email.
3. Get attention. To do so, they need to increase the amount of time consumers spend with a their video.
4. A call-to-action, such as getting consumers in-store or ordering from a branded Web site.
However, a brand should not attempt to do all four things in one video.
The video gets too confusing for the viewer and nothing is achieved.

Sharing is caring
After choosing a goal for the video, a brand needs to ensure that the video content is distributed to its target audience.
Many people think that if they just create good content they can just post it on YouTube, but that won’t work because there is too much content on YouTube.
Luxury brands already using social media video:
- Audi is upping its social media presence and building the hype surrounding its latest limited-edition model through a week-long video series that it released via Facebook and Twitter handles (see story).
-,Jimmy Choo launched its Catherine handbag line with a behind-the-scenes documentary released on its Facebook page and branded blog (see story).
- Chanel released a video on its Facebook page for its pre-Fall/Winter 2011 campaign that highlighted the campaign’s androgynous theme (see story).
There are a few ways brands can ensure that the video content gets distributed.
First and foremost is to make the content creative and engaging.
Online video should not be a longer version of a brand’s television ad since that it will be too advertorial and not engaging enough to be shared among a viewer’s network.
A brand should be aiming to hit social triggers that will make people inclined to spread the content among their networks.
Some of the biggest triggers are things that are dubbed as funny or cute.
A great way besides Facebook and Twitter for brands to spread video content is to have it picked up by an influential blogger that creates a discussion around the video content.

Overall, keeping things simple and engaging is what brands need to keep in mind when designing videos.
And, when combined with social media, the value is unequivocal.
Video consumption is rocketing and Internet users are increasingly looking to video to inform, educate and entertain.
Social media makes it easier than ever before for brands to target niche audiences such as high net worth individuals and to do so at speed and scale, with very little media wastage.
-Kayla Hutzler, Luxury Daily, New York

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178 million U.S. Internet users watched online video in June

2011-07-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

According to comScore Video Metrix, 178 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in June for an average of 16.8 hours per viewer. The total U.S. Internet audience engaged in more than 6.2 billion viewing sessions during the course of the month, an all-time high.

Top 10 Video Content Properties by Unique ViewersGoogle Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in June with 149.3 million unique viewers, followed by VEVO with 63.0 million viewers and Yahoo! Sites with 52.7 million viewers. Microsoft Sites came in fourth with 50.7 million viewers, while Viacom Digital ranked fifth with 49.5 million viewers. Total viewing sessions surpassed the 6 billion mark for the first time, with Google Sites generating the highest number of viewing sessions (2.3 billion) and highest time spent per viewer (324 minutes, or 5.4 hours).

Top 10 Video Ad Properties by Video Ads Viewed
Americans viewed nearly 5.3 billion video ads in June, with Hulu generating the highest number of video ad impressions at more than 1.0 billion. Tremor Media Video Network ranked second overall (and highest among video ad networks) with 753 million ad views, followed by Adap.tv (678 million) and BrightRoll Video Network (629 million). Time spent watching videos ads totaled more than 2.2 billion minutes during the month, with Tremor Media Video Network delivering the highest duration of video ads at 429 million minutes. Video ads reached 49 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 35.6 times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 38.8 over the course of the month.
-comScore

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Social Video Marketing Tips for Brands & Businesses

2011-07-15T14:08:00.000-07:00

New research from Brightcove shows that videos shared through social media perform better than other videos, with higher engagement and completion rates.

Social Video Stats & Trends (per Brightcove)

Videos shared through social media perform better than other videos. For example:

Every auto-share Tweet from YouTube results in roughly 6 new YouTube viewing sessions.
Videos shared via Facebook are driving traffic for brands and media companies.
Viewers that find new videos to watch via friends or influencers on social networks are more likely to view or even complete watching an entire video.
Web pages with video and text are 60% more likely to show up on the first page of Google.

Social Video Marketing Tips

How do you enhance the social effect of video for your brand or business?

Video gets you ranked higher on Google.
Video can drive traffic to your site.
Include Facebook and other sharing buttons on your videos and on the video player to simplify sharing.
A clickable call-to-action in the video can boost engagement with your video and website.
Monitor, assess and measure how your videos are being shared, and where referrals are coming from.

Put the power of video to work for your brand and business.

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Q and A Site Quora Adds YouTube Video Embeds

2011-07-13T17:18:00.000-07:00

Q&A services are all the rage right now, with sites like Quora and formspring adding tons of new users and piling up the archives of content. And now Quora is taking a huge leap forward in engaging content by adding the ability to embed YouTube videos inside of their Q&A pages.

But the addition of video is huge. Surely I don’t need to preach to this audience about the power of video to convey thoughts and emotions in a way that is vastly superior to simple text.

Consider the sample Question thrown out by Mark Bodnick, who is part of the Quora product marketing team. He points to the recent submission of “What’s are the best storytelling songs?” as a perfect example of how video can make the Q&A experience richer:

A video of a song embedded as an answer to that question is a far more engaging response than someone typing the name of a song and the artist. With video, readers can actually experience each suggested answer

It’s also another sign of video’s pending world domination. It’s showing up everywhere. Bloggers are now vlogging. E-commerce sites are adding product videos. There will always be plenty of products and services on the web that are not video-based, but soon enough, they’ll all at least be using video in some way: for promotion, for internal communication, for richer content offerings, or as a core product.- Jeremy Scott, ReelSEO

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Kelloggs Drives Thousands from Cereal Box to Mobile Video

2011-06-24T08:51:00.000-07:00

The power of Mobile Video!

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2011-06-08T17:04:00.000-07:00

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D. Crudeli & Associates Video Created by VMakers.com

2011-06-08T16:33:00.001-07:00

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Video: A Direct Effect on Sales.

2011-05-26T22:12:00.000-07:00

According to a quarterly survey of video presence at major online retailers, e-commerce video is becoming an increasingly important part of the sales process at many sites. The number of retailers using 1,000 or more clips has increased 50%, now comprising 32% of retailers, up from 22% the previous quarter. Leading the way is Overstock.com, which carries approx. 95,000 product-oriented clips. Close behind is Amazon.com with 72,636 videos. Also deep into video are the online extensions of the shopping channels, HSN (29,6220 videos) and QVC (17,687). The most impressive shift is not the higher volume of videos being used by retailers so much as the number of companies now recognizing the power of video to sell the goods.

In addition to leveraging video on site, retailers have been upping their presence and acceptance on YouTube. Subscribers to retailer video channels increased 21% in the quarter. The number of retailer videos posted to YouTube in the quarter rose 9% to 96,000, and the 420 million views of these videos represented a 13% quarterly increase. Nike and Systemax (TigerDirect, CompUSA, CircuitCity) enjoy the most video views on YouTube.

Another key area for tying video to sales is search visibility. The number of retailer videos popping up in search results has also increased substantially, he says. In this respect HSN is a search SEO leader, with 12,500 videos being indexed, compared to Overstock with 6,310. Interestingly, high profile brand Nike also does well in search, even better than Apple or Victoria's Secret. Bing has been drilling more effectively into retailer video recently.

The metrics around video in search and on retail sites is starting to prove what many marketers felt in their gut - that video has a direct effect on buying decisions and its value can be mapped and measured.
Steve Smith, MediaPost
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New VMakers Video Just Uploaded!

2011-05-18T16:38:00.000-07:00

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Blip.tv now video content curator.

2011-05-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

If you think professional video shows created exclusively for the Web are difficult to find, you’re not alone. Blip.tv, a video site that specializes in Web-created shows, has heard the same complaint from its users too. To fix this problem, the company reintroduced its Web site on Tuesday with a focus on curating the best video shows for its users.
“The goal of the redesign was to figure a way to help people discover new and original series on our site,” said Dina Kaplan, a co-founder of Blip.tv. “People have no idea where to go and where to find original Web video online — which can be a daunting task — and our redesign definitely solves that problem.”
The new Web site, which is built using HTML5 and CSS, aims to highlight the top 5 percent of content on the Blip.tv site. Damien Bruno, the general manager of Blip.tv, said the site hosted over 50,000 video series. Finding the best content in this haystack can be a formidable task for anyone, Mr. Bruno said.
To help narrow down interesting content, Blip.tv producers will start picking videos with the best-quality content and then highlighting them on the site.
The new site also offers users a way to dive through content through a series of new portals. These include popular videos, which display the most watched content on the site, and trending videos, which highlights the most viewed video series, week to week, as they grow in popularity.
Blip.tv has grown rapidly over the years as a Web site dedicated to popular video series. Blip.tv has also grown a large following with its content creators as it is one of the few sites that shares advertising revenue with the producers.
“Last year we had producers of shows making $500,000 a year on their Web series,” said Mike Hudack, chief executive and co-founder of Blip.tv. “In 2011 we expect that number to hit $1 million for some producers.”
The new site design will soon be followed by an updated iPad and iPhone application and more integration into devices that hook up to a standard television.
-Nick Bilton, New York Times
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New video just created by VMakers!

2011-05-11T08:45:00.000-07:00

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Brand Ad Dollars Continue Migration From TV to Online Video

2011-05-11T08:20:00.001-07:00

Brand advertisers are continuing to divert ad spend away from broadcast TV and toward online video, advertising agencies say. Despite that fact, most prefer to acquire inventory direct from publishers and networks rather than exchanges and demand-side platforms.

Speaking at Streaming Media East panel in New York City today, representatives from Zenith Media and Aegis Media said their brand-focused clients - particularly those in the consumer packaged goods sector - are growing their investment in online video consistently, as audiences continue to diversify their content consumption habits.

"CPG clients will continue to spend a lot on video to replace the erosion of audiences for TV," said Gina Smilyansky, digital strategy director at Aegis-owned Carat, in reference to users' increased use of devices such as laptops and tablets. Carat currently works with CPG giant Procter & Gamble, with Smilyansky focusing on the Gillette brand.

Meanwhile, Zenith Media's Integrated Planning SVP John Nitti described a similar trend among his firm's clients, many of which "are looking to make up for falling audiences in broadcast." He too suggested online video ad investment would continue to grow, especially as agencies and brands become more familiar with identifying key performance indicators and return on investment from those campaigns. Zenith works with clients including General Mills and Nestle in the online video space.

As with online display media, increasing amounts of video inventory are now being made available through demand-side platforms and exchanges, which - in theory - enables advertisers to buy media targeted to niche audiences. Despite that fact, Nitti and Smilyansky suggested the majority of video inventory is still being acquired through direct relationships with publishers or through networks.
"Most clients are comfortable with moving into online with premium, professionally produced content," Nitti said, suggesting the majority of inventory currently available through exchanges doesn't necessarily meet those criteria. "It's also a question of long-form versus short-form. There's a difference between sitting down and opting in to watch a 27-minute show versus a five-minute video," he added.

Likewise, Smilyansky admitted her agency buys relatively little video inventory for brand clients on a data-driven or behaviorally targeted basis. "We're used to doing so in display, but not so much in video yet," she said, adding that it is something "clients like P&G would definitely be interested in" if it could be achieved across well-lit environments at scale - criteria on which she said the space currently under-delivers.

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Check out our new video!

2011-05-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

Online Video Ads Growing Faster Than Other Online Ad Categories

2011-05-04T10:05:00.000-07:00

A new survey from BrightRoll finds online video edging out mobile video and social media as the fastest-growing type of online advertising.

Online video advertising spending is growing faster than all other web advertising categories, according to the results of a survey released today by online video ad services provider BrightRoll. The biggest driver behind the growth appears to be ad dollars being moved from display and television to online video.

Of the buyers surveyed, 28% said they expected to see the greatest increase in spending in online video, with mobile video a close second at 27% and social media following at 25%. 86% of the survey respondents are moving display dollars to online video, while 64% are moving TV spend to online video. Notably, respondents are also moving search, social media, and direct response dollars to video, at numbers of 28%, 27%, and 26%, respectively. More than 60% of respondents said they felt online video advertising was at least as effective or more effective than TV.

Ad agencies are finding more and more that their clients value online video's ability to target very specific audiences, with more than 40% saying it was the feature that clients found most valuable, an increase of 9% over last year. Unfortunately, 10% of those same clients ranked "ability to reuse creative" as the most important feature, the same number as last year. It's a small percentage, relative to the other features, but still disheartening that a tenth of ad clients see online video advertising as nothing more than a way to repurpose what they've done for TV.

Within the types of targeting—behavioral, contextual, content, and demographic—behavioral targeting was ranked most important, and the majority of agencies said that at least 40% of their campaigns will include some sort of behavioral targeting in the next year. -Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen, Streaming Media

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Eyeview Offers New Way Of Looking At Video Ads

2011-05-03T12:57:00.000-07:00

Tech for Customized Video Spots Online, on Mobile and TV -- on the Cheap

It's no secret that most of the biggest online video advertisers are simply finding another place to run their 15- and 30-second TV ads. They do this because there often is no budget for new online creative, and the online buy is just an extension of what they're already doing on TV.

But what if you could change those ads and make them interactive and customized -- on the cheap? That's the promise of Israeli startup Eyeview Digital, which, after more than three years in development, is starting to implement its technology for advertisers such as Johnson & Johnson and Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Here's how it works: Eyeview's technology allows advertisers to customize video ads in real time, targeting different demographics and geographies with various creative. So for example, a retailer could customize for the weather, a movie studio for a local megaplex, a local auto dealer for different local markets.

Eyeview charges on a cost-per-thousand basis, a percentage of the total cost of the media buy (around 10%). CEO Oren Harnevo -- brother of Ran Harnevo, CEO of another video startup acquired by AOL, 5min -- says the technology works in online video, mobile and, theoretically, on TV, provided the video can be delivered over an IP network. So far the company has distribution deals with AOL (natch), AdapTV, TidalTV and Collective Media.

Mr. Harnevo said when he started developing the tech, he was most interested in merging his two career interests: computer science and film. "I always wanted to combine the two," he said. "The basis of technology is, how do we use computer science to make media better?" The ad application was the opportunity he saw in the marketplace.

Eyeview has raised $6 million over three years from Google exec chairman Eric Schmidt's investment vehicle Innovation Endeavors, as well as Lightspeed Partners and Gemini Israel Funds. The company has 15 developers in Israel and an office of several sales execs in New York.
-Michael Learmonth, AdAge Digital

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Marketers to Fuel Growth of Fourth Screen - OOH

2011-04-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

Marketers to Fuel Growth of Fourth Screen

Just when ad industry experts and observers have grown accustomed to talking about the effects of 3 screens – TV, PC and mobile phone – on consumers, things change. The Nielsen Company is now reporting on the fourth screen – the video exposure that occurs in out of home locations. These screens are increasingly prominent in restaurants, grocery stores and doctors’ offices and their rate of exposure is growing. Earlier this month, I reported that digital out of home ad spending will exceed $2 billion in the U.S. this year. In 2010, total out of home ad spending increased 5% to $6.1 billion.
Nielsen’s latest figures show the total numbers of exposures realized by specific marketers and where these exposures are occurring. In 2010, according to Nielsen, over 500 million gross minute exposures occurred for consumers over the age of 18. Top locations and ad networks were as follows:

Bars/Restaurants – TouchTunes Interactive 228 million
Bars/Restaurants – TargetCast 51 million
Bars/Restaurants – AMI 42 million
Health Clubs – Zoom Fitness – 30 million
Retail – Best Buy – 29 million
Hotels – Hotel Networks – 29 million

In the last quarter of 2010, a 250% growth rate occurred for the “average minute audience for adults 18+ across 12 participating location-based networks.” According to Nielsen numbers, the audience skews male (58%) and between the ages of 18-49 (73%).
Mike DiFranza, President of Captivate and Chairman of the Digital Place-based Advertising Association (DPAA) says “Quality audience metrics are the foundation of every media investment. Over the past two years the digital place based industry has transformed itself through the use of trusted measurement.” As the audience increases and marketer trust in measurement grows, more merchants will turn to the fourth screen of advertising.
[Source: Report: On-the-Go Ad Exposures are On the Rise. Blog.Nielsen.com. 14 Apr. 2011. Web. 28 Apr. 2011] Kathy Crosett, Ad-ology

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Online Video: Low-Cost Marketing For Your Company

2011-03-17T21:57:00.000-07:00

Ed Davis, center, president of Ceilume, a maker of plastic ceiling tiles, discusses a marketing video with his creative team in Graton, Calif.

Have You Tried Marketing With Online Video?

Look for creative ways to use video, such as demonstrating products or improving customer service.

Embed videos in your Web site so customers can find them without going to YouTube.

Use metrics to analyze the effectiveness of your videos.

Look for other platforms beyond YouTube where you can spread your content.

He was shepherding his small California manufacturing company, Ceilume, through a transition from a custom job shop to a maker of vinyl ceiling tiles, and he needed to begin selling directly to consumers. That raised a perception problem: many people associate ceiling tiles with the ugly, dusty and stained mineral-fiber tiles that have loomed over offices for generations. Mr. Davis, Ceilume’s president, wanted to tell consumers his company’s vinyl products were different. He decided to try online video.
Over the last several years, Ceilume has produced dozens of YouTube videos for product demonstrations, advertisements and how-to instruction. These videos are embedded in the company Web site or show up in results when customers search for keywords. As a result, Ceilume has reached tens of thousands of customers at a very low cost.
Online video is becoming a first stop for many customers. It is akin to what the Web page was a decade ago — something that can give early adopters an edge over competitors. It gives them a channel to talk directly to customers in ways previously accessible only to large companies that could afford TV advertisements.
This guide to using online video focuses on YouTube, which is by far the dominant player with two billion views per day — but many of the principles also apply to the other hosting services, including Vimeo, MetaCafe, Facebook, Viddler, Brightcove and Blip.tv.
SHOW YOUR PRODUCTS Short of getting a customer in the door or sending a salesperson on the road, online video may be the best way to demonstrate a product. According to Mr. Davis, more Ceilume customers place orders without requesting samples because video helps them find what they want.
At Ceilume, video helps customers choose among 30 different styles of ceiling tiles. Ceilume, a 40-person company that has about $5 million a year in sales, produces its “Ask the Ceiling Tile Guy” videos for little expense with internal tech staff and Mr. Davis as narrator. The videos have attracted more than 500,000 views, and Mr. Davis says he believes that video has been a crucial factor in increasing sales 15 percent a year.
CREATE A DESTINATION It is easier to win customers if you give them a reason to tune in. For BBQguys.com, the reason is food sizzling on the grill.
BBQguys.com began as a traditional brick-and-mortar store (The Grill Store and More) in Baton Rouge, La. In 2001, the company went online, which allowed it to reach legions of new customers but also reduced its ability to provide personalized service. Online video has helped the company recover its human touch virtually.
In 2006, it started posting informal YouTube videos featuring new grills, narrated by its customer service manager and chief executive. The channel grew so much that the company recruited a local chef, Tony Matassa, to be its on-camera personality.
It now has nearly 400 videos on YouTube, which have collectively been viewed 1.4 million times. Video has become so essential that the company has built a small studio in one of its warehouses. “We see the video almost like a TV commercial,” said Troy Olson, digital advertising manager for ShoppersChoice.com, the parent company of BBQguys.com. “We’re planting our brand name in their minds.”
The company does not just pitch products. Rather, the goal is to establish its people as customer-friendly experts and provide a channel full of useful information about how to fry a turkey, grill a pizza or smoke a beef brisket. The hope is that the information will draw viewers — many of whom will become customers — and increase the site’s conversion rate. According to Mr. Olson, a person who comes to the site and watches a video is twice as likely to make a purchase as a visitor who does not watch a video.
USE ANALYTICS AND TOOLS YouTube offers tools that allow you to measure the effect of your videos. BBQguys has used this data to make its videos more compelling — shortening them, for example, to two or three minutes after discovering that customers tend to stop watching the longer ones. The company also discovered “hot spots” that viewers rewind to and rewatch — particularly images of food sizzling on the grill — and it now makes sure to include more such scenes.
“Video has to be evolving,” Mr. Olson said. “You have to always be willing to change everything you’re doing.”
BUILD A BRAND CHANNEL One way to get the attention of customers is invite them to become your video producers — especially if they jump off cliffs, ski down steep powder ridges or do somersaults on BMX bikes.
GoPro.com, a maker of small high-definition cameras that can be worn during adventure sports, has built a thriving YouTube presence with customer videos. YouTube allows businesses to establish channels, or a home page that lists videos, playlists and contact information. The GoPro channel features more than 100 videos — including surfing, skiing, motocross, auto sports and flight — which have been viewed more than 24 million times.
“It is the No. 1 most convenient way for us to validate our product to customers,” said Nick Woodman, founder and chief executive. He said business was growing 300 percent a year. “Viral word-of-mouth marketing for GoPro is massive. Video is really the conduit.”
ADVERTISE WITH VIDEO YouTube is the second-largest search engine after Google (which owns YouTube) and represents a huge audience of potential customers. It offers a dozen advertising options, including banner ads, promoted videos that appear on top and beside search results, and “preroll ads” that appear during other YouTube videos much like a conventional TV commercial. YouTube recently announced that it was displaying more than three billion ads per week.
Like Google, YouTube generally follows a cost-per-click or cost-per-view model so advertisers pay only when users click on ads or watch ad videos. Advertisers can view metrics such as number of impressions, conversions and viewer demographics via their Google AdWords or YouTube Insights accounts.
Ads can be aimed at customers based on demographics, keywords or interests. For example, a person who searches for “ceiling tiles” might see a Ceilume video titled “make an ugly ceiling elegant” highlighted as a promoted video atop the YouTube page. Ceilume devotes about 10 percent of its advertising budget to YouTube.
OFFER INSTRUCTION Online video makes it easy to follow the adage “Show, don’t tell.” Many businesses have turned to video for instruction manuals and how-to guides.
Directfix.com sells replacement parts and accessories for smartphones and other electronics. The business faces a constant customer service challenge: showing lay people how to take apart electronic gadgets and install fragile components.
In the early days, the company used pictures and text, said Robert Stanley, founder and chief executive. Inevitably, those instructions left customers with questions that placed a burden on the company’s customer service department. In 2007, the company began posting how-to videos on YouTube. That summer, it released one of the first videos showing how to take apart an iPhone, a video that has been viewed more than two million times.
The company has compiled a library of instructional videos that have reduced customer questions by half, allowed the company to eliminate phone support and cut its customer service budget about 40 percent. Without video, Mr. Stanley said, he would have to hire four or five additional employees.
“You can tell somebody over the phone to turn the screw in the top right corner,” he said, “and they might understand what you mean and they might not. If you show them on a video, they get the point.”

-By Kermit Patterson, New York Times

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Google to Help Broker Video Ads

2011-03-14T20:41:00.000-07:00

Google Inc., trying to become a middleman for selling video ads on the Internet, will soon test a service that matches advertisers with website publishers, including Google's own YouTube video site.

The Silicon Valley company is creating the video marketplace within its DoubleClick Ad Exchange, Neal Mohan, a Google vice president for product management, said in an interview. It resembles existing exchanges used to sell graphical and interactive ads, a category known as display.

Such exchanges allow companies to bid to place ads across different websites in real time, or right at the moment a user has called up a particular Web page.

If the experience in display ads "is any indication, the promise of video for publishers is pretty tremendous," Mr. Mohan said.

Many ads are still purchased ahead of time through negotiations between individual websites and advertisers. But the real-time exchanges, which are growing in prominence, help publishers avoid having unsold space, particularly for the less-valuable areas of their sites.

The move by Google, which was widely anticipated, comes amid activity by several smaller companies, including Adap.tv Inc. and Brightroll Inc., to establish similar real-time-bidding marketplaces for video ads and take a cut from each transaction.

Online video advertising, which includes commercials that run before a video is played as well as text ads that appear on the video while it is playing, is a nascent but growing market, reaching nearly $1.5 billion in the U.S. last year, said research firm eMarketer. This year video ad spending in the U.S. will be about $2 billion, the firm said, while the overall U.S. display-advertising market—which includes graphical, interactive and video ads—will be $10 billion.

The growth of the online video-ad market is constrained by the fact that there aren't enough high-quality online videos to satisfy advertiser demands, said Terence Kawaja of LUMA Partners, a boutique investment bank.

Google's YouTube and online video site Hulu LLC are among the leaders in terms generating revenue from video ads in the U.S., industry experts say.

Google's exchange for graphical ads is used by companies such as Demand Media Inc. and Time Inc. Demand Media, which produces video content, currently sells video ads directly to advertisers as well as through exchanges run by Adap.tv and Adconion. Steven Kydd, a Demand Media executive vice president, said he was enthusiastic about trying the forthcoming Google video-ad marketplace.

At Cadreon, a unit of InterPublic Group of Cos. that helps advertisers such as Microsoft Corp. and MasterCard Inc. buy ads on the Web, less than 10% of clients' current spending involves video ads, said Cadreon Chief Executive Brendan Moorcroft. But that slice is expected to grow to around 25% within the next couple of years, he said.

Cadreon is currently using technology from Adap.tv to buy online video ads on that company's marketplace and other exchanges. Advertisers can target the ads to specific groups of viewers on sites such as USAToday.com, based on data about the viewers' demographics and interests.

"In the future most of the $70 billion spent on television advertising today will be traded on exchanges like ours," said Amir Ashkenazi, Adap.tv's chief executive.

David Karnstedt, chief executive of online marketing firm Efficient Frontier, is a strong proponent of Google's ad exchange, which he uses to help advertisers buy display ads. But Mr. Karnstedt added that Adap.tv "is in a good spot" as a "strong alternative for publishers who might not want to work with Google and share data" about their users.

Google's Mr. Mohan said the company has "incredibly strong relationships with publishers" and already helps them generate billions of dollars in revenue through the sale of display ads.
-Amir Efrati, Wall Street Journal

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YouTube to Boost Short-Form Video

2011-03-08T19:11:00.000-08:00

If YouTube is to thrive, it has to help a micro-industry of professional web producers, the kind who create two- and three-minute webisodes like Barely Political's "Auto-Tune the News" have to thrive, too.

YouTube has known this for years, but is now taking a bigger role in cultivating that industry, acquiring Next New Networks, which has built a track record of building and promoting web series since it was founded in 2007. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the purchase price was less than $50 million, according to a person familiar with the terms.

YouTube execs stressed this doesn't mean the video-sharing site is becoming a media company; indeed Next New Networks hasn't produced or owned content in several years. Rather, it promotes, distributes and sells ads against web shows that are part of their "networks" like Barely Political, Indy Mogul and Hungry Nation.

"We are not good at creating content," said Tom Pickett, director of content at YouTube. "If we wanted to create content, we wouldn't buy Next New Networks. Over the past few years they've transformed their business model to help others create content."

Next New Networks has become very good at building audiences for web series and cross-promoting them. Its entire full-time staff of 17 will join YouTube as part of the deal, except for co-founder Fred Siebert, who will consult on a temporary basis. The startup will operate within YouTube as two separate units: YouTube Next Lab and Audience Development Group. Chairman Lance Podell will join YouTube Next Lab global director.

YouTube is focused on this segment of content because it does not involve paying rights fees to Hollywood studios, but it does have loyal audiences and is attractive to advertisers. It's a niche between studio-produced content, the domain of Hulu, Netflix and Apple TV, but above random user-generated video, which doesn't command premium ad rates. YouTube's biggest problem is that there simply isn't enough professional content to scale the business in the way Google hopes.

YouTube has been giving grants to content creators since last summer, in one case giving producers coupons to buy new video cameras. Mr. Pickett said YouTube would continue or even accelerate that program, offering advances against future ad sales for cash-strapped filmmakers.

"I would look at this again as helping our partners get the tools they need to build bigger audiences and more successful programming," Mr. Pickett said.

Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney estimated YouTube revenue just shy of $1 billion in 2010, but a big percentage of that comes from big display campaigns on YouTube's home page. But video will be advertising's biggest category over at least the next few years. EMarketer estimates the market -- including in-video ads, prerolls and text overlays -- will be a little under $2 billion in 2011, up from $1.42 billion in 2010.

Founded in 2007, Next New Networks has raised $26 million from Spark Capital, Fuse Capital and Goldman Sachs. While it didn't scale the way its investors hoped, YouTube became dependent on the genre of content that it produced and later distributed, rather than high-priced TV and films.
-Michael Learmonth, AdAge Digital
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How To Optimize Videos For Search Engines

2011-03-02T14:03:00.000-08:00

Based on a study released at OMMA Global in San Francisco Monday, looking at 978 keywords across 24 categories in Google, Bing, Yahoo Video, YouTube, Daily Motion, Vimeo, and Blip.tv, among other channels.

Getting videos to serve up on the first page of Google and Bing isn't easy, but Weintraub believes he has found the secret. For starters, he had to determine where the videos that serve up on Bing and Google originated. On Google, videos from YouTube comprised 82%, followed by DailyMotion, 3%; MetaCafe, 2%; Google Video, 1%; and other, 10%. About 100 sites contribute to the "other" category, many of which support self-hosted videos. On Bing, YouTube contributed 38%; Bing, 37%; Vevo, 9%; Fox News, 4%; CNN, 3%; Blastro, 2%; Reuters, 2%; and other, 5%.

The study determines that transactional keywords only work in rare cases such as "buy snowboards" or "cheap skis." When it comes to optimizing videos, Weintraub suggests relying on keywords that provide information. "Tell your customers how to solve their problems," he says. "Take your FAQs and put them online with a talking head because that's what the search engines emphasize for users."

For instance, informational keywords that convert well include "congenital disorder," "snowboard comparison," diy oil change," "history of beer," and "how to ride a horse." That's because Google looks for content that informs. The universal SERPs' intent query results shook out as follows: Informational, 74 keywords, 62 videos, 84% with videos; Navigational, 73 keywords, 13 videos, 18% with videos; and transactional, 74 keywords, nine videos, and 12% with videos. One hundred percent of the videos returned in universal SERPs ranked on page one of a monitored platform if they weren't self-hosted.

Aside from publishing a site map and optimizing videos, Manny Rivas, online marketing account manager at aimClear, suggests doing keyword research in the YouTube Ajax search box. He says marketers should put in core keywords and look at the suggestions. It won't show volume of search frequency, but will reveal the popularity of a search against another. Put in a core keyword and run an alpha pattern with it, he says.

Getting on the first page of YouTube requires marketers to begin with keyword research and then use the Ajax suggest box. Start with informational searches -- the ones that work -- and then fill them in with product names to see what people look for on YouTube. Marketers also can use Scrape Box to mine the Ajax suggest box to see what works. Use it to optimize the title tag. Put a link in the description of the title tag, as well as in the tags and separate phrases with commas.

The goal to get specific keywords to serve up related videos on the first page of YouTube required Weintraub and company to conduct demographic research in the Ajax suggest box. It helped to find the keywords and optimize the tagging. The test consisted of 33 videos and 105 keywords that ended up returning 192 videos serving up on the first page of YouTube. Getting the videos to serve up on Bing or Google means they must also show up on the first page of YouTube.

Believe it or not, the study also reveals a need for engagement, finding users that actively post to the community page. Subscribers count. Similar to comments and reviews on product pages, YouTube looks favorably on a high number of comments, favorites and likes. It's about building the community.
Engagement matters. "If you want to maximize your chances for getting on the first page of Google and universal search engine page results, you have to actively participate," Weintraub says.
—Laurie Sullivan, MediaPost

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Three Ways Brands Can Act More Like Partners On YouTube

2011-02-15T12:10:00.000-08:00

Videos made by YouTube Partners have been completely trouncing those made by brands and posted on YouTube. That's right -- I said trouncing. Last year, TubeMogul reported that 43% of YouTube's top 100 videos were from YouTube Partners. Only 4% were uploaded ads. YouTube opened its Partner Program to its most popular users back in 2007, allowing them to share in the revenue generated by ads placed on their videos. Today, an ever-growing number of YouTube partners make their livings through this program, and because their livelihoods depend on expanding the size of their audiences and getting views, partners have found new and innovative ways to gain exposure. As an experiment, I took a look at the YouTube Charts to see if I could find any brand videos in the top 20 this month (Spoiler alert: I didn't.) Other than music videos, Partner videos were the only other videos on the list. In fact, one partner alone, Ray William Johnson (with a channel of the same name) had six of the top 20 spots. So what are these top YouTube Partners doing so much better than brands? I took a look at the most subscribed-to channels of all time and found three things that brands can start incorporating into their YouTube strategies right away. Asking for Comments and Ratings. Comments and ratings are forms of engagement in YouTube's eyes, and videos that get consistent comments and ratings will generally rank better. Partners understand the value of comments and "likes" so they ask for them in their videos. It's a simple thing to do; however, too many brands treat the end of their videos like the end of a TV commercial: Flash the logo and get out. Top YouTube Partners don't just ask viewers to comment, they provide specific questions for their audiences to answer. A fine example of this comes from YouTube's third most-subscribed-to channel, ShaneDawsonTV. Shane asks a specific question at the end of each of his videos, and viewers flock to the comments section. By just asking for people's opinions, Shane has elicited more than 70,000 comments for each video. When was the last time a brand video asked for your opinion? Incorporating Viewer Feedback. As a kid, I loved "Sesame Street." My favorite part was when a character would talk directly to you and ask you to yell out an answer (usually a letter or a number). I foolishly thought the characters could see directly into my living room and hear my response. At one point I remember yelling out an obviously wrong answer only to have Elmo say, "That's right! Good job." It was at that moment I realized that Elmo couldn't actually hear me. While you're still not able to peer into viewers' living rooms, you can respond to and use viewer feedback in ways that were never possible before. As you engage your audience, you will get posted comments and video responses, sometimes in the form of parodies that can help shape and guide the types of videos you create in the future. One partner who has this down to a science is YouTube's second most-subscribed-to channel, RayWilliamJohnson. Ray not only asks his viewers questions, he features his favorite comments at the end of every video. Viewers commonly send videos to Ray to be featured on his show, and when he does, he gives the senders credit. Viewers subscribe to Ray's channel not only because he showcases funny videos, but also because their comments and responses may end up being part of the show. Drive Engagement with Hotspots and Annotations. What happens after a viewer watches one of your videos? Odds are they leave YouTube, hit up the search bar, or watch a related video. What if there was a way to showcase other videos you've made and direct viewers to those instead? Enter YouTube annotations and hotspots. You've probably seen YouTube annotations before. They are the sometimes colorful boxes that pop up over your video with text in them (think VH1's Pop Up Video). These annotations and hotspots can also act as links, and many YouTube Partners have found new and innovative ways to use these to keep their audiences engaged. Another YouTube Partner, MysteryGuitarMan, creates amazingly edited musical videos that regularly get millions of views. If you watch one of his videos, odds are you're going to watch another thanks to his clever use of annotations and hotspots. Joe Penna (the Mystery Guitar Man) uses the last minute or so of his videos to feature viewer comments, ask questions, and link to past videos. For his last video of 2010 he created a clickable menu of all the videos he created in the past year organized by category. All using annotations. A handful of brands have used annotations to create fun, interactive video experiences, but in general I have not seen brands embrace annotations the way that YouTube Partners have. All three of these tactics boil down to one thing: engagement. YouTube Partners don't usually start with any fame, notoriety or large advertising budgets. Instead, they use the tools and equipment available to them to create a community where every video is a touch point. - Matt Ballek, Video InsiderGet started today! Call the video experts at VMakers.VMakers.com888.712.8211info@VMakers.comCustom Video Solutions From The "Hollywood" Pros. The team behind your favorite TV shows and movies, including: Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, The Disney Channel and more.

How to Profit From Online Video - 6 Tips

2011-02-14T16:13:00.000-08:00

Customers want to know more about you, your company and the brands and services they purchase. Video is the perfect tool to educate and build relationships between you and your customers. It enables viewers to get a sense of who you are, your personality, and what makes you and your firm/product(s) unique. What's more, video helps build a sense of trust between you and your customers, and people buy from those they trust.

Did you know?
YouTube is the No. 2 search engine, according to comScore.
And 75% of C-level executives said they watched work-related videos on business websites at least once a week, Forbes/Google survey.

To foster relationships, build trust, increase your position on Google, and grow sales, make sure to include your videos on your website, YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Twitter, your blog and more.

Before you dive in, consider these tips:
1. Develop a plan. Know your target audience, what you want to say and what your objectives and goals are.
2. Create a professional quality video. It's better not to use video than to risk damaging your brand with unprofessional videos.
3. Offer unique content viewers can't get elsewhere. Something valuable and useful.
4. Use a simple branded format. Use reviews, Q&A or Tips and Tricks, etc.
5. Be authentic and use your personality.
6. Promote your videos online and offline. Optimize tags and headlines for search.

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Growth Rate of Online Video Skyrockets

2011-02-09T12:02:00.001-08:00

The trajectory of online video use has been on a hockey stick path for years, but the latest year-end review of 2010 from comScore duly underscores just how firmly the medium has taken hold as a digital mainstay. The comScore 2010 U.S. Digital Year in review finds that the average number of people in our market who watched video online each day skyrocketed 32% to 88.6 million between December 2009 and December 2010. All other key metrics grew as well: number of viewing sessions per person (+13%), hours spent (+12% or 14 hours in December 2010), and number of streams per person (+8%).
Time-shifted TV viewing online continues to be a key driver of these metrics, with both Hulu and individual on-air brands being the main beneficiaries. ComScore finds that in the last quarter of 2010 Hulu accounted for 323 million hours of viewing (+17%, year-over-year) while the combined viewing at the major network sites (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CW) attracted about half of that (162 million hours). But it was the rate of growth among the individual networks that proves most interesting. Direct viewing of TV from the TV brands' own sites had increased at a much higher rate than Hulu, up 82%. In other words, the networks are succeeding in pulling viewers over to their online hubs.
One can imagine how this migration works, although it doesn't necessarily mean a disaffection from Hulu, per se. The fresh and new online brand of Hulu may well have been more appealing and familiar to time-shifting early adopters, who drove the early spikes in Hulu growth. As online video audiences grow to embrace a broader market of viewers who are more familiar with the tried and true TV brands, they may tend to consult the networks online rather than a third party. Or something like that. But clearly the online TV re-viewing habit has taken hold.
The monetization of online video appears to be on a healthy growth curve as well. ComScore has been pushing its argument that online video has an unusually low ad load compared to TV. Ads comprise only 1.6% of all time spent with video (but up from 1.2% in June). But when it comes to overall numbers of total streams viewed, 16.4% of videos are now ad content. This increase in the share of videos comprised of advertising increased substantially just in recent months, from 9.8% in June.
Bottom line: ever so slowly, consumers are starting to treat the Web like a DVR and publishers and advertisers are starting to apply successfully similar business models. -Steve Smith, Media Post
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Social Video and Sharing: Why You Need Online Video

2011-02-02T15:44:00.000-08:00

An online video share is one of the highest compliments a consumer can pay an advertiser. The thought of someone selecting, viewing, and then recommending an advertising message to friends is intoxicating brands and agencies alike.

By now it is understood that popular "viral videos" such as the Evian Babies and the Old Spice Man are the result of sophisticated and well-funded media strategies, not alchemic word-of-mouth. But the siren's lure of sharing has not waned.

Social video (video that users actively seek out and share) is a hot sector in online advertising. Millions of opt-in video views are happening every month for major brands on social networks, mobile devices, P2P and YouTube. Every one of these campaigns generates social activity (Facebook "Likes," shares, tweets, comments, ratings, etc.) all of which is tracked. But how much sharing should a brand expect?

Obviously, the answer depends on the content. A special effects-laden celebrity extravaganza may be expected to outperform a side-by-side kitchen demonstration, but since more and more brands are creating videos specifically for online distribution, we thought it would be useful to create sharing benchmarks.

We ran a study that examined six million U.S.-based social video views of ad campaigns for Fortune 500 brands in the latter part of 2010. Each view was initiated by a consumer who actively selected the video.

More than 90% of those who selected a social video watched it to completion and between 3% and 5% went on to share them. This sharing was dominated by Facebook. In fact, people share videos on Facebook 218% more than through Twitter and e-mail combined.

And content wasn't the only factor that affected sharing. Social video ads of 15 seconds or less are shared nearly 37% more than those between 30 seconds and one minute, and 18% more than videos over a minute. This finding is consistent with video completions rates that we've tracked for more than five years. Videos of :15 seconds or less have consistently delivered higher completion rates than longer videos. When it comes to social video, clearly, shorter is better!

The average social video viewer is 27 years old. Women account for nearly 57% of social video views, and they share social video 30% more than men. More than half of all social video is viewed and, subsequently, shared by 18-34 year olds.

From a geographic standpoint, Midwesterners watch the least amount of social video, but they share at a higher rate than any other part of the country by nearly a quarter (23%).

Social video is a new and rapidly evolving medium that holds tremendous promise. For the first time, advertisers can reliably reach millions of consumers without interrupting them or forcing them to watch. This self-selection is one of the biggest reasons we see such strong and consistent sharing. It won't fulfill dreams of viral fame and glory, but the underlying value of millions of consumer-initiated interactions should more than compensate.
-VideoInsider

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Video Sitemaps For Vimeo - How To Get Your Vimeo Embeds Into Google Search

2011-01-02T17:59:00.000-08:00

Google is pushing hard to let people know that video sitemaps are the way to go when looking to get video into Google’s search results. And I am happy to report to you that video sitemaps DO work for Vimeo videos.

Greg Funk, Product Manager at YouTube/Google stated the following in a comment posted to a previous article of ours.

“Video sitemaps are useful to Google regardless of how video gets onto your site. If you post …on any other site and then embed that player onto your site, a video sitemap will help us ‘find’ that embed. Think of it as a way to cue us where to look.” – Greg Funk Product Manager, Google

What does this mean? Well, according to Google, they want sitemaps for any and all videos on your website, regardless of whether they are published to your site using a video sharing site, self-hosted, or using a video hosting platform. With regard to YouTube videos, Im working on an answer for all of those who are interested in getting YouTube embeds indexed. For now, let’s start with videos from Vimeo.

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Web Video Production Advice For Aspiring Filmmakers

2011-01-02T17:47:00.000-08:00

Web Video Production Advice For Aspiring Filmmakers

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2011-01-02T17:25:00.000-08:00

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2011-01-02T16:51:00.000-08:00

Custom Video Solutions From The "Hollywood" Pros.

The team behind your favorite TV shows and movies, including: Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, The Disney Channel and more.

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Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T16:16:00.000-08:00

Looking forward to an exciting debut of our amazing new online video service in 2011!

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Online Video Marketing Tips

2010-12-22T21:06:00.000-08:00

Producing, distributing and sharing video content isn't as quick or simple as we'd like it to be...until now. The "Hollywood" pros at VMakers has made producing quality custom videos easy!

Online video tips:
- Determine your objectives, prepare your creative brief, budget, time-line and plan all the details.

- Keep your videos short. Under 1 minute is perfect. The shorter the better, especially with everyones short attention span on the web. If you have a long video, make sure to break it up into individual chapters.

- Include your branding on all communications. A call to action is recommended also.

- Include your web address in your video description. When uploading content to YouTube, Vimeo and other video sharing sites include your url before your description copy. This will help generate leads and increase your visibility on Google's search ranking.

- Include a text summary when posting your video to blogs and/or websites. It can be as simple as a list of key points or a short descriptive paragraph. Again, this will help with search engine visibility.

- Enable sharing with links and embed code for others to distribute for viral opportunities.

- Make sure your video represents your business and brand properly.

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Social Media ROI: Socialnomics

2010-12-22T13:48:00.000-08:00

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comScore Announces Video Rankings for November - StreamingMedia.com

2010-12-22T13:06:00.000-08:00

comScore Announces Video Rankings for November - StreamingMedia.com

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10 Reasons Facebook Video Marketing Is Valuable For Business

2010-12-22T12:48:00.000-08:00

Here’s 10 reasons you should definitely consider Facebook as part of your online marketing mix

Audience – Facebook is the 2nd largest trafficked website, with over 500 million active users.
Referrals – Facebook is the 2nd largest referral source for video.
Mobile – 150 million active users take Facebook with them everywhere they go.
Time – Many people spend a lot more time on Facebook than on Google
Versatility – Many video formats are supported for uploading
Length – Facebook allows up to 20 minutes, 5 minutes more than YouTube
Connectivity – A wide range of sharing features and engagement opportunities. While Facebook doesn’t let you share it’s content onto other social networks (like YouTube and Twitter), because of its large member base, you will certainly have many more connections from the onset that may lead to better sharing potential.
Search Engine Visibility – Facebook videos are visible within Google Search.
SMO (Social Media Optimization) – Excellent keyword encoding (aka, “tagging”) capabilities.
Conversions – Hot triggers around the video for taking an intended action.

Facebook Value Vs. YouTube?

If you’re only going by video alone, we could probably mention 50 reasons why YouTube is a more robust and valuable platform for video than Facebook. However, as an overall marketing platform, Facebook is arguably more valuable than YouTube for many businesses. So while we would not treat Facebook video as an equivalent business value to YouTube – we completely agree that it should be a place for businesses to upload videos. At ReelSEO, we try to upload all of ours because they do show in search engine listings.

Video Marketing In Facebook – Better Business Opportunity?

Michael Stelzner, founder of SocialMediaExaminer.com explains the power of Facebook.

One of the things that most people don’t realize is how much time people spend on Facebook. According to the traffic ranking information service Alexa, Facebook is the second largest website in the world, with over 500 million active users; also, Facebook is the 2nd largest referral source for online video – just behind Google.

If you think about it, people today spend a lot more time on Facebook than they do on Google. Some of the Nielsen studies I’ve seen show that people are spending an average of seven hours a month on Facebook; that’s a lot of time spent.

Also, According to recent findings by market researcher Morpace, U.S. Facebook users are on the site for 1 of every 3 minutes of time spent online. Users 18 to 34 years old spend the most time on the site per week (8.5 hours out of 22.4 spent online). Users 55 and older spend an average of 4.6 hours per week on Facebook.

So if you think about the fact that people are on there that much, it opens up an incredible opportunity for a business to try to get in front of these 500 million active users; and what’s even more exciting is that about 150 million of them take Facebook with them everywhere they go – on a mobile device like an iPhone, iPad, or an Android device.

Facebook is one of the top sources for consumed video (and photography as well). We also know that many people on Facebook are constantly checking out what’s going on with their favorite friends, and also their favorite brands. This represents a huge opportunity to capture eye-share with videos in particular on Facebook. One of the hottest ways to just get your business noticed today is to use Facebook, and of course to leverage video marketing in there as well.

Recording Video Directly In Facebook – Good Or Bad?

The first thing is how video is integrated directly into the interface of Facebook. When you put in an update on Facebook, there’s an option to click to record a video. The downside of it is most people don’t use it, and those who have used it have had kind of a mixed response. Facebook can capture the video directly from your computer’s webcam, but doing that results in very poor technical quality; somehow they’re running the video through algorithms that makes it look just hideous. But the upside is it does allow people to record spontaneous video responses to comments on Facebook, and that’s kind of an exciting thing.

Linking YouTube Videos In Facebook Vs. Uploading

Mike: The other confusing thing about video with Facebook is whether or not to use YouTube links or whether or not to actually upload video directly into Facebook. Facebook has done something kind of interesting: If you go ahead and embed a link to YouTube, it will embed the player directly into the Facebook feed. Somebody can actually watch that video through Facebook, force-fed from YouTube just like if you were putting it up on a blog.

But the more powerful aspect is actually uploading the video directly to Facebook. Facebook has the ability to support a lot more formats and has a lot longer formats where YouTube is I think it’s now up to about 15 minutes, Facebook can go significantly longer. (20 minutes.)

The other cool thing about Facebook video is that people can easily share Facebook videos, where they cannot easily share YouTube videos. And in Facebook, others can not only comment on a video, they can also “like” a video (which will then show up in their own Wall page, aka Facebook home page), and can tag a video with their own keywords; and there’s a lot of other cool stuff.

Embedding Video In Your Facebook Page – “Secret Sauce”

Another powerful Facebook business strategy with video. Let’s say you have a business with a Facebook “fan” page, with a video uploaded to that page. Now, someone on Facebook – who is not yet one of your fans – can still watch that video’ and if they hover their mouse over the video there’s a button that says “like”, and they can become a fan of your Facebook page, just by clicking that button inline while they’re watching the video. It’s kind of the secret sauce to gaining fans. Intel corporation does this quite a bit on it’s own Facebook site. It’s really a very easy way to gain fans because if they really like a video, they can click on it; and they think they’re just liking the video, but they actually now become fans of your fan page, and that future engagement opportunity is there.

Tagging Videos In Facebook – SMO “Social Media Optimization”

The good news about Facebook video is you do have a lot of encoding keyword encoding capabilities, just like you do with YouTube. When you have a video with other people in it, if you’re friends with them you can tag them just like you can do with a photograph. Most people don’t realize that in the videos on Facebook, you can tag people in the videos as keywords, and add your own keywords.

What’s really cool about that is when you do tag someone in your video, then that video actually shows up on their wall for their friends. And it’s not just for videos of people. I believe you can also tag videos of businesses as well, which is another powerful thing.

Powerful Facebook Video Marketing Tip: Video Landing Pages

If you have a Facebook page you can set up what’s called a landing page on Facebook. What I’ve seen a lot of businesses do is record a welcome video, where it’s usually a talking head of the company welcoming them to the actual fan page, and sometimes pointing up and saying, “if you like our page please click the like button.” So the Facebook landing page is actually encouraging the viewer to act through the spoken talking heads in the video telling them what to do.

We found the engagement and conversion to be very, very high because you’re actually telling people what to do in video. That’s a little but powerful tip with video on Facebook, that most people don’t realize you can do.
-Grant Cowell, ReelSEO and Social Media Examiner

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Tutorial: How-to Add/Embed Video On A LinkedIn Profile Page

2010-12-21T13:20:00.000-08:00

Tutorial: How-to Add/Embed Video On A LinkedIn Profile Page

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How Businesses Can Overcome Fear of Video Syndrome - Video Psychology 101

2010-12-21T13:09:00.000-08:00

How Businesses Can Overcome Fear of Video Syndrome - Video Psychology 101

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How Technology & Social Media Helps Drive The Rise Of Online Video

2010-12-21T13:05:00.000-08:00

How Technology & Social Media Helps Drive The Rise Of Online Video

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Need Help Creating Professional Videos?

2010-12-21T11:35:00.000-08:00

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VMakers Official Debut 2011

2010-12-20T22:11:00.000-08:00

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"SuperHero" Video Produced by VMakers Now Online!

2010-12-19T20:35:00.001-08:00

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"I'm Back in the Game" Video Produced by VMakers Now Online

2010-12-19T20:34:00.000-08:00

5 Tips for Successful Online Videos

2010-12-19T20:19:00.000-08:00

Online professional videos are great for educational, informational and promotional purposes. The videos you publish must represent your business properly and enhance your brand and message. Don't risk your company's reputation. Make sure to keep these 5 essential tips in mind:

1. Prepare
- Project Description
- Background
- Communication Objective(s), Primary and Secondary
- Target Audience
- Audience Current Behavior
- Audience Desired Behavior
- Positioning
- Tonality
- Features and Benefis
- Timing
- Executional Guidelines
What equipment, locations and talent are needed?
- Support, i.e. other marketing initiatives, follow-up, etc.

2. Plan
- Concept Development
- Formats
- Script Writing
- Directing
- On-Screen Talent
- Voice Over
- Graphics, Animation/Motion
- Music
- Editing

3. Publish
- Host the video on your website and/or blog for optimum SEO visibility.
- Upload to the online video sharing sites including YouTube, Blip.tv, Vimeo, eHow and others. TubeMogul is a great resource for submissions to multiple video sharing sites.
- Be consistent and publish new videos regularly to build and maintain your audience.

4. Promote
- Make your videos "share" friendly with the right video player.
- Email the video to others.
- Offer code so others can embed or link to your video from their website or blog.
- Optimize the content, i.e. description, tags, keywords, etc.
- Encourage audience participation. Mention your videos on social sharing sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr. Encourage people to comment on your videos.
- Comment on other blogs and social networking sites on topics or discussions that relate to your own video. Include a URL to the video on your website.
- Submit news releases. Online services such as PRWeb.com will embed your video in the release, which gets picked up in the search engines.

5. Performance Tracking
- Measure what's working.
- Check your website analytics.
- Check YouTube's Insights.
- Check Facebook's Insights.
- Measure audience engagement levels and feedback.
There are many companies that offer performance metrics, both fee and free. Contact us for a list.

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Social Video Advertising Soars In 2010, Study Shows

2010-12-16T13:01:00.000-08:00

2010 was the year social video advertising officially arrived, according to new research from Web video analytics firm Visible Measures.

Indeed, categories that produced millions of views in 2009 generated hundreds of millions in 2010, while the number of active brands in social video advertising more than doubled.

In particular, campaigns like Old Spice's The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, Nike's Write the Future, and Pepsi's Oh Africa captured the attention of audiences across the world.

Overall, the number of brands participating in social video advertising exploded. In 2009, fewer than 450 brands launched social video ad campaigns, while that number more than doubled this year to reach nearly 1,000 brands.

In 2009, the industry saw less than 700 social video campaigns, including Evian's Roller Babies, T-Mobile's Dance, Cadbury's Eyebrow Dance, and Volkswagen's Fun Theory.

In 2010, however, social video advertising was home to 1,800+ campaigns -- a 180% increase year-over-year.

What's more, social video campaigns generated 820+ million views and 1.5 million comments in 2009, while in 2010, these numbers increased to 2.7 billion views -- a jump of over 3.3X -- and 4.4 million comments.

In 2010, other participating brands included McDonald's, Burger King, Coke, Nike, Adidas, Walmart, Target, Verizon, AT&T, Ford and Volkswagen, to name a few.

The most-watched category of the year was health and beauty, which collected over 390 million views -- 14% of all social video advertising in 2010.

This is in large part thanks to Old Spice, which inspired over 180 million views for the year. Nearly 70 million of these views come from their revolutionary Responses campaign. By comparison, the entire health and beauty category attracted just 44 million views in 2009.

Yet, as more brands incorporate social video advertising into their marketing mix, the competition only continues to escalate, making it more difficult for brands to separate themselves from the pack and stand out to their target audiences, according to Visible Measures.

These trends are likely to continue into 2011, according to the firm. As more audiences come online and watch social video, we'll see more brands, more campaigns, and more competition, all in efforts to influence consumer choice. -Gavin O'Malley, MediaPost

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How to Promote Your VMakers Videos on Twitter

2010-12-15T21:37:00.000-08:00

-Add a Hashtag
Hashtags are Twitter’s way of organizing or tagging tweets. Simply add a “#” before your tag. To tag your tweet as “hair stylist” type “#hairstylist.” Remove all spaces. After your VMakers video is on your website, tweet a link to it with a hashtag.
-Add Your Name/Business to WeFollow
WeFollow is a directory of Twitter users organized by interests. Add your Twitter account to WeFollow and get discovered.
-Upload Your Video to TwitVid
TwitVid lets you to upload your videos and tweet them.
- Shorten Links
Twitter allows 140 characters. Use tiny.url or Bit.ly to shorten links.
-Follow Us @VMakersLA
Get tips, industry trends and ask questions. Include “@VMakersLA” in your tweets to keep us posted.

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How to Hire a Video Production Company and Increase Profits

2010-12-15T20:36:00.000-08:00

VMakers.com - Custom.Web.Videos

It may seem overwhelming with so many video companies claiming to offer all sorts of features, pricing packages and the "best" productions. Not only do you need a video production company with skilled technicians, state-of-the-art equipment, technology and experience, but it's important to have a team who knows how to craft a compelling and engaging message to motivate prospective customers. Don't be lured by price alone. You get what you pay. The videos you distribute must represent your business properly and enhance your brand and message. Don't risk your company's reputation.

Where to start:
- Get referrals from business associates, advertising agencies, and friends.
- Research referrals and video production companies online:
review samples/reels, experience, testimonials and contact their clients.
- Contact a select few candidates. Meet in person or contact them via email or phone.
- Discuss your ideas with these candidates. Tell them your objectives and what you have in mind.
- Get rate and payment information, time-lines and deliverables.
- Inquire about ancillary services, i.e. distribution, web site integration, social media, advertising, etc.

Make sure your video production company:
- Has marketing and advertising experience.
- Provides sound strategic solutions.
- Is creative.
- Employs a variety of visual techniques.
- Provides excellent audio and visual effects, graphics and voice-over and/or on-screen talent.
- Knows how to prepare and distribute your video to multiple channels-online and offline.
- Has a reel/portfolio.
- Fits with all your requirements.
- Adds value to your business.

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New Video Posted! The Virtual Revolution.

2010-12-15T19:35:00.000-08:00

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Mobile Video Users Grows

2010-12-09T18:24:00.000-08:00

Users of mobile video continue to grow -- as does the time spent watching video -- but it's still a small piece of the overall mobile phone user population. In the second quarter, Nielsen says there was a 43% increase in people who have watched video on mobile device -- some 22 million. This represents about 10% of all mobile phone users, which stood at 229.4 million in the second quarter of this year -- a number that has climbed 4% over a year ago.
Monthly time spent among mobile subscribers watching video was three hours thirty-seven minutes, a 11.3% gain over the year before. That amounts to 22 more minutes in the second quarter 2010 versus the same period the year before.
The biggest users of mobile subscribers were teens 13-17, taking in some seven hours and 13 minutes a month of video; 18-24 users were next, with 4:20; followed by 25-34 users, at 3:37; 35-49 users at 2:53; adults 50-64 at 2:10; those 65 and older, 1:48; and persons 13 years and older (the entire mobile population) at 3:37.
Looking at overall share among each group, 25-54 users comprised 30% of all video usage; 35-49 was next, at 25%; then 13-17 users, 18%; 18-24 users, 15%; 50- to-64-year-olds, 11%; and 65-plus, 2%.
Overall, men use mobile video more than women -- 55% to 45%.
-Wayne Friedman, MediaDailyNews
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2011 - Top 7 Online Video Trends

2010-12-07T23:54:00.000-08:00

1.     Branded entertainment will see even more explosive growth. It's no secret - it's becoming increasingly difficult to reach the consumer via a 30-second advertisement. Even YouTube is now giving the consumer the option to skip a commercial in certain cases. As consumers are given these options, advertisers are going to have to become more nimble in their approach to advertising their products. That's why in 2011, branded entertainment will see even more explosive growth. Advertisers will realize that seamlessly integrating their message into online video in a way that adds value to the content will become the ideal way to generate brand awareness amongst consumers.
2.     Low-end Web advertising will die. Somewhere along the way, advertisers forgot that integrating quality content into every online ad will likely drive significantly higher return metrics and deepen engagement. In 2011, look for more Web publishers to follow the lead of cutting-edge publishers like Gawker to provide advertisers with larger avenues to deliver relevant ads.
3.     More celebrities will find their way to the Web. Celebrities looking for more freedom than afforded by the traditional broadcast television model will turn to online video to make their dream projects happen. Keep an eye out for some major A-list celebrities to make the move in 2011, perhaps finally bringing about the "I Love Lucy" moment we discussed last month.
4.     "Smart reach" will make its way into every forward-thinking agency's RFPs. Agencies will finally realize in 2011 that it's not all about demographics anymore -- it's about "smart reach." Getting to consumers with engaging, relevant content at the right time and in the right places will be a priority for agencies looking to get the most out of their ad spend.
5.     "Snackable" video content will find even more competition from quality long-form content. Snackable, use- generated videos are not dead by any means, but they're going to find significant competition from well-made, long-form original online Web content. We learned this year that when excellent content is broadcast over the Web, viewers will watch. For example, DBG-produced ControlTV enjoyed record engagement numbers, with viewers sticking around for over 25 minutes at a time. Expect these numbers to rise in 2011 as more entertaining and engaging long-form content finds its way to the Web.
6.    The average TV viewer will increasingly become screen-agnostic. TV viewers won't care where they get their video fix in 2011. The introduction of Hulu PLUS and the increasing popularity of streaming services such as Netflix will give rise to a TV viewer more concerned about what they're watching as opposed to what they're watching it on.
7.     Expect mobile video to grow. As mobile networks continue to improve their networks and video networks expand to include mobile, the amount of high quality video content that can be transmitted to mobile phones will increase exponentially. As this happens, look for marketers to target mobile users specifically with exclusive content.
-Chris Young, MediaPost

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Google - The Early Years

2010-12-06T22:58:00.001-08:00

An interview with Marissa Mayer.
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Why Use Video on Your Website?

2010-12-01T22:31:00.000-08:00

People look for moving images when they come to your website, and video is a mark of professionalism as well as customer integration. Differentiating your business in the marketplace is crucial.

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Video or Print? What Sells?

2010-12-01T22:24:00.000-08:00

How effective are you at generating leads and converting them into sales?
Have you been relying on white-papers, webinars and collateral for lead acquisition? These are all fine, but there’s a way to get more for your marketing dollars.

Did you know video posted to your company site and your YouTube channel can convert prospects and bring in new leads more effectively than the seminar you’re thinking of doing?
Your web site reaches more customers than any other medium, but it can be hard making your business come to life with only words and still images. Online video is the best way to captivate your audience because it conveys emotion, story and visual beauty.

Why video:
- Video sells. 21% of video viewers make a purchase. (BIA/Kelsey User View Study, February 2010).
- Your website is 50x more likely to appear on the first page of Google with video on your web page (Forrester Research, January 2010).
- Video features the qualities that differentiate your business – capturing the attention of current and potential customers.
It’s time to reassess what marketing channels you are using, how effective they are and what market leaders are doing. Go beyond collateral and use the power of video to engage and sell.
First make sure you address the following:
- Listen to your customers, competitors and industry leaders.
- Monitoring your brand.
- Address your customers’ pain points and challenges.
- Engage in a two way dialogue with your customers.
- Put your content in the right channels.
-Make sure your message reaches the right audience.
Test and measure to determine the most effective content and marketing channels. Then devote your time, money and effort to reap the rewards.

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The Virtual Revolution A History of The Internet

2010-11-30T21:57:00.002-08:00

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The Tracey Fragments Trailer Just Posted!

2010-11-30T21:57:00.000-08:00

Check it out.

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New Video Posted!

2010-11-30T21:55:00.000-08:00

Business to Business Product Promotion

Why Video Should Be a Major Part of Your Marketing Mix

2010-11-22T22:14:00.000-08:00

We are in the midst of a fundamental shift in which everything we know about content sites is changing. Just as television rose to rapid dominance in the traditional media world, online video is now rising to dominance in the digital media world. Increasingly, the Web is about video -- not text, not pictures.
Video is an inherently powerful way to tell a story. This, of course, also makes it an effective way to communicate an advertising message. It's about entertainment value and emotional appeal.
Online video is, in fact, rapidly becoming an entertainment genre in its own right. One of the indicators of this phenomenon is that young adults have dramatically increased their consumption of online video, especially short-form premium content, in the past year. They are now relying on this medium as a primary source for information about and access to the entertainment content they've long been passionate about: movies, video games, music, sports and TV.
This audience, which we refer to as "Entertainment Drivers," is composed of 18- to 34-year-olds who are early adopters, enthusiasts and influencers. Their tastes and preferences typically have a dramatic impact on entertainment choices, media consumption patterns and consumer purchasing trends across demographic groups. They define pop culture and determine breakout hits. Their consumption of online video today has immediate and long-range implications for brand advertisers.
The new 2010 Magid Media Futures study, conducted by Frank N. Magid Associates, reveals some important insights into today's Entertainment Drivers, consumer behavior and preferences in online video, and the reasons brand marketers should consider online video an important part of their media mix.
WHO: Viewers aged 18 to 24 have the most voracious appetite for online video, with 85% of males and 68% of females now watching online video weekly (representing a 15% and 27% increase over 2009 respectively).
WHAT: Three out of four Internet users watch some type of short professionally produced videos online regularly, with the highest percentage among 18- to 34-year-olds (83% of males and 75% of females).
WHEN: Half of Internet users now watch online video weekly or more frequently, up from 43% in 2009.
WHERE: 38% of respondents are interested in connecting their computer to a TV to watch online videos, with young men far outpacing this average (56% of 18- to 24-year-olds and 49% of 25- to 34-year-olds).
WHY: Short professional online videos rival TV shows in entertainment value, with 31% of respondents finding them equally or more entertaining than watching full-length TV shows on a television.
So what does this all add up to for today's marketers? An important shift in the way they connect with the influential consumers who define pop culture, and impact media consumption patterns across demographic groups. Today's Entertainment Drivers consider online video a primary form of entertainment, making it an integral part of the marketing mix for brand advertisers.
-Erick Hachenburg, Video Insider

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The Secret to Boosting Sales

2010-11-22T22:00:00.000-08:00

The secret ingredient to improving your chances of getting noticed and giving your sales a boost is video production!

Savvy companies are leveraging the power of video production.
But what makes video so effective?

Videos are engaging, eye-catching and can grab your visitor's attention like no other medium. As an additional benefit, uploading a video on your website will increase visibility on the major search engines, improving your site's SEO.

If your website had a powerful video that allowed visitors (and potential customers) to just sit back and watch all the benefits your business offers, wouldn't that differentiate you from you competitors?

Implementing a well thought out promotional video can get you noticed faster than the written word.

Video production gives your visitors what they want - visual stimulus, graphics, easy-to-understand dialogue and motion... a very powerful sensory combination. However, it is important to make sure that you remember to include the details about your business, the offer(s) and how your products or services can help the viewer. Make sure your visitors know they need you and they need your products and/or services.

Video production is a highly effective marketing tool that will bring your business to the forefront of the internet, and will engage your potential customers by giving them the information they want in an easy to digest format. Why would anyone want to go through loads of websites and read page after page of content when they can just watch your video? It's a no-brainer.

VMakers provides creative digital communications from the "Hollywood" experts. The pros behind Ellen, Seinfeld, $#*! My Dad Says, How I Met Your Mother, Better With You, The Disney Channel and more. From video production to motion design, animation, web development and branding, VMakers produces unique content designed to engage viewers and boost sales.

For more information on how video will enhance your online business performance, visit http://www.VMakers.com.

VMakers
888.712.8211
info@Vmakers.com

Where do you rank on the Search Engines and SERPs?

2010-11-19T20:17:00.000-08:00

Discover how video can get you better results on Google, Yahoo and Bing.
Call VMakers 888.712.8211 or info@Vmakers.com

How to Increase Video Views

2010-11-19T19:08:00.000-08:00

Video CPMs are the one of the highest revenue sources for Web publishers (versus display and BT ads), and for the first time in many years, advertiser demand is higher than publisher supply. This year the video advertising market is estimated to cross $1 billion, and consolidation is well underway. Clearly there is a lot of movement into the video space, and one of the key questions is: "How can publishers generate more supply and tap into this exploding market?"

Two things publishers should focus on:
(1) Promote, promote, promote videos across your site. If you look at comScore and Google Analytics, most of the sites on the Web have many more page views (articles, homepage, images, etc) than they have video views -- usually a ratio of at least 20 to1. Converting even 2% from non-video to video content can create a 40% increase in your video views, which provide higher revenue. Promoting videos across your site will help you get users to watch the very first video (the "anchor video) where you can then encourage users to watch more videos. It is not easy to get users to click on a video recommendation from a non-video page, but some sites are doing a good job of it, like Bloomberg or About.com, both article-oriented sites, among others.

(2) Build viewership outside of your site ASAP. There is much you can do to increase viewership leveraging your own site traffic. Let's say you're able to even triple your views by promoting videos across your site -- which can be rewarding, but what if you could increase them 5x-10x over what you have today? The only way is to transition from leveraging not only your own site traffic, but also leveraging the entire Web. You can do that by promoting your videos to sites that don't have videos but have massive traffic. Some users on those third-party sites would convert through your video content, creating a secondary type of "anchor videos" on another site. Start as soon as you can. Here are different ways to do this:

Syndication platforms: This usually means you will upload your videos to third-party platforms or sites, which will generate views on your content using their video player. They will sell ads against your videos and share some of that revenue with you. Examples are AOL, YouTube, CineSports and others. Some minuses are that in most cases you are not selling the ads, hence are losing a direct relationship with your advertisers, and if you have aspiration to have users relate to your player experience, it will not happen. However, you will win video views you don't have access to today.

Distribution platforms: This is essentially the next generation of embedded videos as you know them. In this case you will offer third-party sites, from blogs to large traffic sites, the opportunity to embed your video player so that they can match their articles to relevant videos of yours in real time. For example, ,a third-party site featuring an article about fixing a tire will automatically offer videos about the same topic from your inventory. When people watch your videos on a third-party site they will watch it using your homegrown player, and with your ads. One minus is that you will need to promote this service/widget to third-party bloggers and sites that don't have videos, much as you offer sites to embed your videos today.

In summary, the Web is becoming heavily distributed, and users are consuming content wherever they are -- not necessarily on your video section or even your site. As a video content owner, you want to develop the awareness across your site that you have good videos, as well as partner with syndication/distribution platforms to offer users who don't know about your videos, ones they "might like" from your inventory.

Do that and you will build competitive advantage, and increase your business.
- Adam Singolda, MediaPost

Online Video Leads Online Advertising

2010-11-19T18:43:00.000-08:00

According to the results of its inaugural survey of leading U.S.-based online publishers by BrightRoll, video advertising is outpacing other forms of online advertising by at least 25%, say two-thirds of the respondents. Citing the medium's interactivity and ability to engage online audiences, 63% of publishers expressed optimism about the category's future, predicting higher CPMs leading into 2011.
BrightRoll CEO Tod Sacerdoti, says "As consumers continue to... engage with video online, advertisers are being forced to respond in kind and to shift campaign dollars... online video... offers interactivity, targeting and verifiable reporting that print and broadcast do not... "
Additional key findings from the report include:
    •    Pre-roll is still viewed as the most effective video ad unit: 94% of publishers who had used the unit said it met or exceeded their expectations.
    •    32% of respondents indicate targeting as online video's most valuable trait.
    •    Standardization (45%), interruption of user experience (33%) and lack of advertisers (29%) were among publishers' primary concerns.
    •    According to publishers, the most acceptable forms of targeting are content (73%), demographic (71%) and deep geographical (61%). Retargeting (41%) received the least support among publishers.
Publishers voiced some concerns about working with online video ad networks including standardization concerns, difficulty of integration and higher implementation times than those associated with display networks. However, many of these are reflective of the general concerns with the online video advertising industry as whole. Some general industry concerns also include interruption to the user experience (33%), integration with third parties (29%), lack of advertisers (29%), metrics (20%) and cost (10%).
According to the publishers specific concerns, voiced by their brand partners, 33% said reach, and 26% think targeting capabilities, are the most significant concerns held by brands, highlighting room for improvement in these areas.
Pre-roll continues to be viewed as the most effective means to reach consumers with 94% reporting preroll units with companion banners either met or exceeded their expectations. Removing the companion banner had some effect on performance, with 85% reporting met or exceeded expectations using preroll alone. Expandable, in-banner and overlay video trailed slightly, with 81%, 76% and 60% of respondents rating them as meeting or exceeding expectations, respectively.
88% percent of those surveyed indicated that their clients would be more likely to increase spending on online video if they had research demonstrating its efficacy. Additionally, 52% of respondents from BrightRoll's agency survey said that their clients had previously asked about research into the effectiveness of online video advertising. These findings further emphasize the need for credible research particularly pertaining to individual campaigns as a means to help advertisers optimize future campaign spend for maximum impact.
As online video advertising continues to mature, standardization is becoming increasingly important for the success of the industry's growth and development. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), along with publishers, advertisers, ad networks and other industry stakeholders have answered the calls for video standards with two initiatives: Digital Video Ad Serving Template (VAST) and Digital Video Player-Ad Interface Definitions (VPAID).
According to the IAB, VAST is designed to standardize communication protocol between video players and servers, while the VPAID standard is intended to meet the needs of emerging in-stream ad formats such as both non-linear video ads and interactive video ads, aiming to address the known interoperability issues between a publisher's video player and different ad technology.
The major players in online video have responded by largely accepting standardization efforts. BrightRoll's publisher survey shows nearly 78% of publishers claim to be VAST compliant, and 69% said their systems are VPAID compliant. Of the publishers surveyed, 77% responded that their sites were compliant with both VAST 1.0 and 2.0, 14% said they are VAST 1.0 compliant only, with 8% VAST 2.0 compliant only.
The majority of survey respondents (63%) predicted that CPMs would be higher in the second half of 2010 leading into 2011. Such forecasts are a testament to online video advertising's growing viability, but respondents also suggested that search would reign supreme, possibly generating the highest revenue in 2011. Respondents pinpointed several other areas of anticipated revenue generation, including mobile, rich interactive media and in-game video, highlighting video's trend toward monetizing non-video content. Survey respondents feel in-banner display will edge out both in-banner video and in-stream video (pre-roll and mid-roll) as revenue generators in 2011.
The report concludes by noting that although 2010 began with falling CPMs and economic uncertainty, publishers have expressed optimism for the future, predicting CPMs will rise in 2011 and online video will outpace all other forms of online advertising by nearly 25%. Looking at both the agency side and publisher side survey results, it becomes clear that both sides agree: standardization efforts, technology innovation, effective targeting capabilities, verifiable reporting tools and mobile applications will be the factors that drive growth for 2011 in the online video advertising industry.
-Jack Loechner, MediaPost

How to Get Found Online with Videos

2010-11-19T18:36:00.000-08:00

Confused about video?
Good news, you aren't the only one.

Why Video is Important
Videos help you rank higher in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) on Google and YouTube (the second largest search engine in the world behind Google-the parent company). YouTube has over 2 billion videos watched per day with tons more uploaded daily!

Not only do you show up better in the search results page, more and more people are viewing video content from computers, mobile devices and television. Your business has a much better chance of getting found if it has a video on YouTube as well as other web site, i.e. Vimeo, your website.

Make Video a Priority
It will increase business and build a competitive advantage. It's easier than you think. Do it yourself with a camcorder or hire professionals like VMakers.

How to Get Started
- Research. Search for videos and related products and/or services online. Look for ideas and trends.
- Get creative and generate ideas for content.
- Establish the format and length. Make sure your video isn't too long. Most videos lose viewers after 10 seconds.
- Create a channel on YouTube and Vimeo - they're easy and free. Upload your videos (instructions are provided online) to YouTube, Vimeo and your website.
- When uploading videos optimize the title, description and tags. Use targeted and relevant keywords, similar to meta data of a website. Don't keyword stuff.
- Use analytics to track your videos.

Get started now. Contact VMakers at 888-712-8211 or info@VMakers.com

Check out our new Demo at VMakers.com!

2010-11-18T20:00:00.001-08:00

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