How Brands Use Vine

Vine has only been around for a year and within that short amount of time it's started a whole new wave of creativity for brands. Using results from a survey conducted by 7th Chamber, this infographic from Incite charts the evolution of brands on Vine. Check it out:

Take your video marketing to the next level.
Call Jeff at VMakers at 888-712-8211.

VMakers - Video made easy.
Trusted by Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount, CBS and ABC.
info@VMakers.com

Why Video Marketing Adoption Continues To Grow [survey]

More than 80% of marketers use videos on their own websites

In recent years, the costs of video production have dropped tremendously thanks to digital technology, while the barriers to distributing video content have also fallen, owing to the internet. Those two factors have likely hastened the adoption of video marketing, which is now near-ubiquitous among US senior marketing professionals, according to a survey conducted during Q2 2013 and Q3 2013 by the Web Video Marketing Council, ReelSEO and Flimp Media.

The poll found that 93% of marketers had used video for online marketing, sales or communications purposes at some point during 2013, up from 81% in 2012. Another 3% said they had not used video in 2013 but were considering doing so.



The growing importance of digital video marketing is also reflected in the number of dollars marketing professionals are allocating to the channel. The poll found that 70.5% of respondents expected their outlays for video to increase in 2013 over the previous year, while 14.6% indicated that budgets would remain static. Just 1.3% foresaw a drop in video marketing budgets for the year.



Marketers are also taking advantage of a number of content delivery platforms in order to get their videos in front of an audience. While the website was the most popular destination for video content, used by nearly 84% of respondents, almost two-thirds tapped YouTube to post videos. Social media platforms were employed by close to 62% of respondents, while around 60% of those polled sent videos via email.



The report also found that user-generated videos were contributing to the increasing number of overall videos produced and disseminated on sharing sites and social media platforms. But it concluded that these types of videos were less effective as marketing tools than professionally produced videos with higher production values.

Take your video marketing to the next level.
Call Jeff at 888-712-8211 today!  

VMakers - Video made easy.
Trusted by Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount, CBS and ABC.
info@VMakers.com

Video - Key Component of 2014 Ad Budgets

Marketers to increase social video ad placements

Digital video viewing is mainstream, and eMarketer estimates that 182.5 million people in the US, or 75% of all internet users, will view digital videos this year, and video advertising spending will increase by more than 40% in 2013 as well.

Video viewership and social sharing are closely intertwined; for example, an April 2013 blinkx survey conducted by Harris Interactive found that more than 40% of social network users watch TV or online video and simultaneously discuss content with their friends&mdashthe percentage was even higher among respondents ages 18 to 34, 14% of whom said they “always/often” do so.

Despite the connection between social network users and video content, social video advertising is still nascent. According to “Demystified: Video Advertising on Social Networks,” an August 2013 study from Mixpo, 8.5% of agency executives said they were underperforming on social video advertising, and none of the respondents said they were experts in the medium, according to the report.



Advertisers’ admitted lack of sophistication doesn’t mean they aren’t testing and experimenting. According to the Mixpo report, nearly 70% of agency executives planned to advertise on YouTube in 2014, while nearly one-quarter expect to run video ads on Twitter and about one in seven on LinkedIn. Though video advertising as Mixpo defines it doesn’t yet exist on Facebook, Instagram or Vine, nearly half of respondents to the survey said they would work video ads into their Facebook marketing mix if given the opportunity.



For social network users, identifying paid advertising and owned content marketing is often a blurry line. Mixpo’s definition of video advertising excludes branded video posts on social sites, but it doesn’t denote whether it refers to sponsored video posts, which are likely to be the types of paid video ads that will first find their way into Facebook, Instagram and Vine, given the networks’ respective user interfaces (and opportunities in mobile). Notably, Unisphere Research found in an August 2013 survey that nearly 60% of marketers would like to increase their video content in social networks&mdashmore than any other content category.



Social network advertising is unique because it requires marketers to fit in context with content rather than standing out from what the user is viewing, as a television or digital video programming advertisement is designed to do. As a result, sponsored video content may in turn be the most suitable way for advertisers to integrate and ingratiate themselves within social network users’ information feeds.

No time? No resources? Not sure where to start?
Call Jeff at 888-712-8211 today!  

VMakers - Video made easy.
Trusted by Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount, CBS and ABC.
info@VMakers.com

Social Video: Viral Isn't Necessary To Make An Impact

When it comes to talking social video, the buzzword on most people’s lips is usually ‘viral.’ But viral and social video are two different breeds and naturally, so are viral and social marketing.

While a viral approach is about making a quick hit with content designed to become hugely popular over a short period, social video is about building an audience and establishing trust with that audience via word-of-mouth recommendations.

But whatever scale your video operates at, social video is ripe with opportunities for a brand or publisher to deepen engagement, boost loyalty and grow awareness.

Video, through its capacity for storytelling and triggering an emotional response – is inherently social, and so lends itself to online conversations.

With 13 minutes of every hour online spent on social networking, any brand or publisher looking to create maximum impact with their video must have a strategy for social.

What makes some videos more ‘shareable’ than others?

• Keep it punchy: long-form content is not the stuff of social sharing; aim to keep your video to under three minutes.
• Make it easy to share: Enabling social sharing buttons in the video player for viewers to start sharing your video.
• Remind viewers to share: Promote sharing at video completion and embed clickable calls to action that draw engaged viewers back to your site.
• Use the right technology. Don’t underestimate the importance of the technology powering your video in the background. Brands should use an online video management solution that directly integrates with social media platforms and provides analytics for reviewing the performance of video, to see what works best for your brand and audience; a strategy that works for one organization may not work for another.
  
• Use your metadata. Having complete titles, descriptions and tags will make it easier for your videos to be found in the first place.

Spotlight on Facebook

While a marketing approach focused on viral video can  create an instant internet hit (think ‘Old Spice’), a successful social video strategy should use social media to extend, enhance and amplify a brand’s online video content.

With advertising and marketing budgets shifting, brands are increasingly dedicating resources to content production, becoming publishers in their own right, so it only makes sense to push those marketing messages to the places where consumers are spending the bulk of their time online (social).

What’s more, videos shared through social media outlets perform very well compared to their static counterparts – particularly in terms of engagement rates.

Users who stumble across videos in their Facebook feeds have a great incentive to hit ‘play;’ a friend taking the time to share a video would suggest that watching the clip is worth your time.

Coming from a friend, the recommendation adds gravitas to the content and the motivation to watch it.

For brands, in-stream playback is also very important. It allows viewers to watch content without navigating away from their main browsing activity, something which is also incredibly important for media companies that monetise their online content with ads.

Some videos embedded in the Facebook feed have the functionality that allows you to include whatever ads you have scheduled as they would appear on your own site, so you can make every impression count.

Link, link, share, tweet

Video continues to be one of the most popular and fastest-growing content types shared across the web today. With sites such as Facebook now providing prime viewing environments, and representing a major source of content discovery, social media and video make a powerful combination.

Used effectively, video is the perfect vehicle for raising awareness and engagement with audiences in the ever-maturing realm of social networking.-eConsultancy

Take your video marketing to the next level.
Call Jeff at 888-712-8211 today!   

VMakers - Video made easy.
Trusted by Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount, CBS and ABC.info@VMakers.com

Online Video Growth Is Massive, Thanks To Social Media

Television is no longer the only game in town for distributing and watching video. The Internet and the social web have provided content creators and advertisers with a cost-effective way to distribute video.
"Social" video  is video that is influenced — in any part of the pipeline, from production to distribution — by social media. For audiences, discovery is no longer about flipping through channels or a TV guide, it's about listening to friends' recommendations and glancing at social media feeds.

In a new report from BI Intelligence, we look at the general state of social video, examine social video audiences and their demographics, analyze how marketers and advertisers are getting into the mix, compare the major social video platforms, and detail how social is influencing video as a content medium.
Here's an overview of the rise of social video:

• Social media-influenced video has eclipsed non-social video on the Web in terms of audience size: Online video audiences are expected to double in 2016, reaching 1.5 billion globally, according to Cisco. A majority now , and an increasingly significant portion of them in the future, will discover or watch video and TV content on social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and new mobile-focused social video apps like Vine. comScore found that 63 million U.S. users watched a video on Facebook alone during April 2013. In the U.S.,Facebook had the fastest-growing online video audience of major Web properties over the last 10 months, and is only second to Google in terms of video audience size.
• Social media is having a profound effect on this content medium: Video length is shrinking, in part to accommodate the preferences of social media audiences who like to snack on video. The intersection of mobile devices and social media will likely be crucial to video's future. Videos are increasingly discovered and shared on mobile devices, but through social media channels. Video content that is well-suited to small screens and social contexts will do well.
• Advertisers want to be next to social video: 85% of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video in April 2013, and video advertising is now up to 13.2 billion monthly views in the U.S. alone. Data shows that consumers are more likely to enjoy a brand video and remember the brand involved if they come across it thanks to a social media recommendation. Also, socially-referred video starts are more likely to be completed than non-social video, according to Adobe.
• And social is key to the all-valuable viral video: Brands are keen to spur video virality. The push for “earned media” is driving this. For a brand, a video that goes “viral,” and earns millions of views on YouTube means that a brand has earned millions of impressions that it didn't have to pay for. Brands are experimenting with cracking the code to videos that will tap the right emotions and trigger mass sharing. 

The report is full of charts and data that can be easily downloaded and put to use. 

The report:

• Looks at the general state of social video
• Examines social video audiences and their demographics
• Analyzes how marketers and advertisers are getting into the mix
• Compares the major social video platforms
• Details how social is influencing video as a content medium

-BusinessInsider

No Time? No Resources? Not Sure Where to Start?
Call Jeff at 888-712-8211 today!   

VMakers - Video made easy.
Trusted by Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount, CBS and ABC.info@VMakers.com

Professional Online Video Viewing Migrating to Mobile Devices [study]

A recent survey from the NPD Group found that computer users are increasingly turning to their smart devices to browse the web and access Facebook. New data from FreeWheel shows that professionally-produced online video viewing is also migrating from computers to devices such as smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. In Q4 2012, non-PC/Mac devices accounted for 12% of video views, per FreeWheel’s report, triple their share from Q1, and 6 times their share from a year earlier.

12% is still a fairly nominal figure, of course, but the rapid growth rate (30% greater volume of views quarter-over-quarter) portends higher numbers in the near future. That’s likely to consume a lot of mobile bandwidth: according to Cisco, half of worldwide tablet data consumption (and 45% of smartphone data consumption) could be attributed to video streaming and communication applications (such as YouTube, Hulu, and Netflix) during Q4 2012.

The breakdown of non-PC/Mac video views still overwhelmingly favors Apple devices. During Q4, 60% of these views came from an iPhone (30%), iPad (24%), or iPod (6%). The remaining share belonged to Android (31%), Xbox (8%), PlayStation and others (~1%).

About the Data: FreeWheel served over 13.5 billion video ads (pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll) in Q4 2012 and made ad decisions for almost 15 billion video views. While the data in the report is primarily US-based activity on behalf of US-based content producers, a small percentage of the viewing occurs outside the US. The data here represents only video that is rights-managed: aggregate monetization data for professional content from FreeWheel’s customers, and does not reflect trends for user-generated content.-MarketingCharts

No time? No video expertise? Not sure where to start?
Call Jeff at 888-712-8211 today!  

VMakers - The easy way to create, manage and market your videos.
Trusted by Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount, CBS and ABC.
info@VMakers.com

Video ads reached 53% of US population in Dec. [Report]

comScore Releases December 2012 U.S. Online Video Rankings

The comScore Video Metrix service shows that 182 million U.S. Internet users watched 38.7 billion online content videos in December, while video ad views totaled 11.3 billion.

Top 10 Video Content Properties by Unique Viewers
Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property in December with 153 million unique viewers, followed by Facebook.com with 58.8 million, VEVO with 51.6 million, NDN with 49.9 million and Yahoo! Sites with 47.5 million. Nearly 38.7 billion video content views occurred during the month, with Google Sites generating the highest number at 13.2 billion, followed by AOL, Inc. with 692 million. Google Sites had the highest average engagement among the top ten properties.

Top U.S. Online Video Content Properties Ranked by Unique Video Viewers December 2012 Total U.S. – Home and Work Locations Content Videos Only (Ad Videos Not Included) Source: comScore Video Metrix
Property	Total Unique Viewers (000)	Videos (000)*	Minutes per Viewer
Total Internet : Total Audience	181,717	38,673,322	1,150.2
Google Sites	152,971	13,181,969	388.3
Facebook.com	58,776	419,959	16.4
VEVO	51,640	592,463	39.3
NDN	49,942	510,319	69.5
Yahoo! Sites	47,516	383,514	51.5
AOL, Inc.	42,425	692,467	55.0
Viacom Digital	42,334	431,833	39.4
Microsoft Sites	40,604	472,812	39.4
Amazon Sites	38,129	138,968	10.3
Grab Media, Inc.	34,911	203,512	28.8

*A video is defined as any streamed segment of audiovisual content, including both progressive downloads and live streams. For long-form, segmented content, (e.g. television episodes with ad pods in the middle) each segment of the content is counted as a distinct video stream.Video views are inclusive of both user-initiated and auto-played videos that are viewed for longer than 3 seconds.
Top 10 Video Ad Properties by Video Ads Viewed
Americans viewed 11.3 billion video ads in December, with Google Sites ranking first with nearly 2 billion ads. BrightRoll Video Network came in second with 1.8 billion, followed by Liverail.com with 1.8 billion, Adap.tv with 1.5 billion and Hulu with 1.5 billion. Time spent watching video ads totaled 4.1 billion minutes, with BrightRoll Video Network delivering the highest duration of video ads at 966 million minutes. Video ads reached 53 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 70 times during the month. Hulu delivered the highest frequency of video ads to its viewers with an average of 65, while Google Sites delivered an average of 20 ads per viewer.

Top US Online Video Ad Properties Ranked by Video Ads* Viewed Dec 2012 Total U.S. – Home and Work Locations Ad Videos Only (Content Videos Not Included)
Property	Video Ads (000)	Total Ad Minutes (MM)	Frequency (Ads per Viewer)	% Reach Total U.S. Population
Total Internet : Total Audience	11,322,657	4,135	69.9	52.6
Google Sites	1,998,861	155	20.0	32.4
BrightRoll Video Network**	1,826,453	966	13.8	43.1
LiveRail.com†	1,797,940	813	18.2	32.1
Adap.TV†	1,541,695	741	11.7	42.9
Hulu	1,454,115	584	64.9	7.3
Specific Media**	988,399	419	7.7	41.6
TubeMogul Video Ad Platform†	783,934	297	8.4	30.3
Tremor Video**	743,969	361	8.6	28.0
Auditude, Inc.**	736,787	153	12.8	18.7
Videology**	632,977	337	7.5	27.3

*Video ads include streaming-video advertising only and do not include other types of video monetization, such as overlays, branded players, matching banner ads, etc.
**Indicates video ad network
†Indicates video ad exchange/DSP/SSP

Top 10 YouTube Partner Channels by Unique Viewers
The December 2012 YouTube partner data revealed that video music channel VEVO maintained the top position in the ranking with 50.5 million viewers. Fullscreen climbed into the #2 position for the first time with 31.1 million viewers, followed by Maker Studios Inc. with 30 million, Warner Music with 26 million and Machinima with 26 million. Among the top 10 YouTube partners, Machinima demonstrated the highest engagement (68 minutes per viewer) followed by Maker Studios (44 minutes per viewer). VEVO streamed the greatest number of videos (565 million), followed by Machinima (503 million).

Top YouTube Partner Channels* Ranked by Unique Video Viewers Dec 2012 Total US – Home and Work Locations Content Videos Only (Ad Videos Not Included)
Property	Total Unique Viewers (000)	Videos (000)	Minutes per Viewer
VEVO @ YouTube	50,485	564,531	37.9
Fullscreen @ YouTube	31,079	191,159	19.1
Maker Studios Inc. @ YouTube	30,013	362,971	43.6
Warner Music @ Youtube	26,025	141,622	18.1
Machinima @ YouTube	25,994	502,656	68.1
BroadbandTV @ YouTube	13,370	79,937	18.1
Collective Digital Studio @ YouTube	9,281	59,197	20.2
ygent @ YouTube	8,640	25,991	9.4
Alloy Digital @ YouTube	8,582	57,643	25.2
MOVIECLIPS @ YouTube	8,471	29,729	9.3

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

Other notable findings from December 2012 include:

• 84.9 percent of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
• The duration of the average online content video was 5.4 minutes, while the average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.
• Video ads accounted for 22.6 percent of all videos viewed and 1.9 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online.

-ComScore VideoMetrix

No time? No video expertise? Not sure where to start?
Call Jeff at 888-712-8211 today!  
Sign Up FREE

VMakers - The easy way to create, manage and market your videos.
Trusted by Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount, CBS and ABC.
info@VMakers.com

Mistakes Online Video Marketers Usually Make

Common online video marketing mistakes:

• Too promotional
• Or not promotional enough
• Too lengthy
• Poor placement on your website
• Not targeted at a clear audience
• Boring
• Burdened with an overload of information
• Focusing too hard on trying to go viral
• Only uploading to YouTube
• A confusing concept
• Videos that are just done poorly

The most painful “mistake” is trying too hard to go viral. Usually this involves a failed attempt to be funny, which ends up creating disdain for the advertiser.

We're sure there are more common online video marketing mistakes that haven’t been listed here. Recognizing our mistakes makes successful online videos so uncommonly enjoyable to watch.-MediaPost

Need help creating and marketing your videos?
Call Jeff at 888-712-8211 today!  
Sign Up FREE

VMakers - The easy way to create, manage and market your videos.
Trusted by Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount, CBS and ABC.
info@VMakers.com

Online Video Marketing - What You Need to Know

Online video has become one of the hottest trends in content marketing. But it’s not just that video is big right now – it’s that it’s getting bigger. Online video usage rose 12% amongst B2B content marketers, according to a recent Content Marketing Institute (CMI) survey. Five statistics to know about online video marketing: 1. Over 85% of the country’s Internet users viewed online video content in September 2012 alone. 2. About 46% of people say they’d be more likely to seek out information about a product or service after seeing it in an online video. 3. Video is now the sixth most popular content marketing tactic, as 70% of B2B marketers use some form of online video with their overall strategies. 4. YouTube averages 4 billion hits each day, and 61% of B2B marketers leverage YouTube to extend the reach of their messaging and brands. 5. On average, mobile viewers watch videos that are three times longer those on PCs and laptops, and the number of mobile viewers are expected to reach over 54 million by the end of 2012. - Eloqua No time? No video expertise? Not sure where to start?Call Jeff at 888-712-8211 today!  Sign Up FREE  VMakers - The easy way to create, manage and market your videos. Trusted by Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount, CBS and ABC. info@VMakers.com

YouTube Now Allows Links to External Websites

YouTube Partners who specify their YouTube channels as the official representation of their brand can now put annotations on their videos that link directly to their website(s) or landing page(s). Now your calls-to-action can direct viewers to your own website, where you can promote your products and/or services.

How to Set-up YouTube Annotations That Link To Your Website:
1. Associate your website with your YouTube Channel, under the Channel settings.
2. Go to the Annotations section in your YouTube Video Manager.

3. Click "Add Annotation" and then under the "Link" drop down menu, select "Associates Website."

4. Insert the URL you want viewers to visit in the link area, then save and publish.

To enhance video SEO, make sure you keep your viewers watching as long as possible. So your external links will need to be incorporated strategically. For more information click here.

No time? No video expertise? Not sure where to start?
Call Jeff at 888-712-8211 today!  
Sign Up FREE

VMakers - The easy way to create, manage and market your videos.
Trusted by Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount, CBS and ABC.
info@VMakers.com

Turning Video into Value

While CPG marketers have not embraced digital marketing strategies as quickly as other marketers, the growth of online video has definitely drawn them into the game. In the last few years, video content has become essential for any consumer marketing campaign, and the results are hard to ignore. comScore reports that 100 million Americans watch online video daily, up 43 percent since 2010. Pew Research reports that 71 percent of online adults watch videos on a video-sharing site, such as YouTube.  CatapultRPM's annual Digital Shopper Marketing (DSM) study reports that “watching a video” is the top digital activity that shoppers engaged in at home prior to shopping.

When it comes to advertising dollars, video advertising platform YuMe found that CPG brands have led the pack, spending more on advertising than any other group. In 2012, YuMe again found CPG brands leading in online video ad spending, accounting for nearly 25 percent of all dollars spent.  In the last quarter, CPG video viewership rose sharply from Q2, according to research from 33Across and CPG consumers watched 44 percent more content. That's a lot of eyeballs, and it has been shown to pay off with increased CPG sales.

For CPG firms working with Web video, direct advertising is only part of the mix. Instructional and educational videos foster brand loyalty and help inform viewers about how to use products.

Conversational videos offer product information for consumers. Videos also help support cause marketing campaigns, like the recent Cesar Dog Food videos for therapy dogs.

How can CPG firms use video to better connect with shoppers, and how should it be handled?  Here are three easy ways to jump in.

Embedded videos
A number of software vendors, including Ooyala, thePlatform, Brightcove, and VMIX Media offer cross-device Web video solutions complete with analytics and monetization options. The ability to track unique and repeat site visitors, videos watched, time spent watching, and click-throughs to other site pages or products is invaluable to CPG firms to correlate increased revenue with online media campaigns. Hosting video on your own site also enables more robust tracking metrics for viewership, click-throughs to separate product pages, and ads served. The Pampers “A Parent Is Born” webisodes that ran on YouTube, the Pampers Village Website and on Direct TV on Demand show the value of a TV-Web crossover. For Halloween, Mars incorporated online video into its shopper marketing efforts with Walmart, using the new Jingit mobile payment and engagement platform for participants to earn cash for watching ads online.  And Pepsi Pulse uses streaming video as a dashboard for pop culture.

Video sharing
As stand-alone sites, YouTube, Vimeo, Metacafe, Blip, and Crackle make it easier to share content across mobile devices without altering or scaling mobile Web sites to fit video content. With the right tags and paid promotional slots on various landing pages on these sites, content on these platforms becomes discoverable in a way that embedding directly into a CPG Web property cannot be.

Advertising can also link viewers of other videos to your content or channel page. P&G, for example, links to its YouTube channel from its home page.

Content can also be embedded elsewhere, which means CPG sites can link to the videos and encourage embedding and sharing on forums, blogs, and other Web sites. They can even embed these videos on their own sites, like this Kimberly Clark Kotex YouTube video.

Let the crowds join in
When companies create videos for download and remixing by fans and consumers, the possibilities for viral video exposure grow exponentially. When Cadbury's 2009 Eyebrows video came out, a number of spoofs popped up. Sometimes, firms even learn from consumer-produced videos -- this Tide commercial based on a funny fan video is an example. Tracking analytics on third-party sites can require additional legwork and tends to offer a less comprehensive overview of viewership.

While YouTube offers analytics, for example, its data is far less comprehensive than reports from Brightcove.

As online video watching plays a growing role in the shopping experience and the technology to support and measure the results of video campaigns improves, the possibilities for CPG brands to successfully integrate online video into their market.-MediaPost

No time? No video expertise? Not sure where to start?
Call Jeff at 888-712-8211 today!  
Sign Up FREE

VMakers - The easy way to create, manage and market your videos.
Trusted by Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount, CBS and ABC.
info@VMakers.com

Tablet Video Viewing Way Up

Tablet video continues to climb in length of viewing -- with the live viewing component a strong factor.

In the third quarter, average live tablet viewing per play was 19 minutes, with video on demand averaging around 3 minutes, according to video streaming/analytics company Ooyala.

Tablet owners spent 71% of their total tablet video viewing time watching videos 10 minutes or longer. By way of comparison, desktop long-form viewing was at 60%; with mobile at 48%; and connected TVs and gaming consoles at 94%.

Some 30% of total tablet viewing time was spent watching content over an hour long, with overall share of tablet video viewing growing 90% during the past six months. Since the start of 2012, tablet owners have been watching 54% more long-form content.


But it's not just new device tablets which are seeing big video results. Other devices -- some old, some new -- are witnessing climbing video usage, especially live video usage.

Connected TVs and gaming consoles have seen the amount of time users spent watching live video more than double in the third quarter, and desktop viewers watching live video, tune in for an average of 40 minutes.

Ooyala’s says viewer engagement with live content like sports and special events was much stronger than video-on-demand viewing times on the same devices. Ooyala’s Global Video Index report measures the anonymized viewing habits of nearly 200 million viewers in more than 130 countries every month.-MediaPost

No time? No video expertise? Not sure where to start?
Call Jeff at 888-712-8211 today!  
Sign Up FREE

VMakers - The easy way to create, manage and market your videos.
Trusted by Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount, CBS and ABC.
info@VMakers.com

7 of 10 B2B Marketers Use Online Video

Online video marketing is spreading from consumer-facing companies to business-to-business firms, with seven of ten B2B marketers now using online video as a marketing tactic. That’s up35% from last year, and the increase comes as overall money spent on content marketing in the B2B arena rises, according to a just-released study conducted by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, and sponsored by Brightcove. Videos had one of the biggest year-over-year jumps in tactics used by marketers.

Bear in mind that all of these companies have a vested interest in B2B content marketing and offer services in this arena. Nevertheless, the findings can be useful for those in the online video business, whether tech providers, production companies or other marketers. Videos were ranked 6th in effectiveness as a B2B marketing tactic, behind social media, newsletters, blogs, case studies and articles on one’s Web site, but well ahead of many other B2B tactics from podcasts to mobile apps to Webinars, according to the study of more than 1400 B2B marketing professionals. About 58% of marketers say video is an effective marketing tool.

The study also found that B2B marketers are spending one-third of their marketing budgets on content marketing, up 26% from last year. Also, about 54% plan to boost their content marketing spend into next year. Much of this attention will go to social media to distribute content, but video will play a role in those efforts.

The study is also noteworthy given that LinkedIn opened its site to video advertising last week and the vast majority of those spots will likely be of the B2B variety. Video tech providers have high hopes for LinkedIn.-MediaPost

No time? No video expertise? Not sure where to start?
Call Jeff at 888-712-8211 today!  
Sign Up FREE

VMakers - The easy way to create, manage and market your videos.
Trusted by Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount, CBS and ABC.
info@VMakers.com

Brands Get Users Sharing with Social Video

YouTube Anchors Most Social Video

The power of social video represents an evolution in digital advertising, according to a new eMarketer report, “Social Video: The Next Wave in Digital Advertising.” Marketers are starting to move past the interruptive model of the 15- or 30-second pre-roll ad and toward a broader strategy that includes longer opt-in videos with built-in sharing capabilities. This branded content is designed to be consumed and shared on the social web, driving earned media and raising the potential for viral success.



In some cases, social sharing has resulted in ad campaigns vastly exceeding their original audience targets. A Visible Measures report showed that user-initiated, English-language social video ad views served on its network reached 1.33 billion in Q1 2012, a 77.6% increase over the previous quarter’s total of 747 million.

David Segura, CEO of social video company Giant Media, said, “The difference between this and the previous online video model, which revolved around pre-roll, is you move from looking at the media to focusing on consumer behavior … So every form of advertising becomes an advertorial that accomplishes the brand’s goal but at the same time has a realistic chance of exciting the consumer to share content.”

Most social video campaigns use YouTube, Facebook and other sharing destinations as anchor points, and provide sharing buttons for users to disseminate clips through other means, including Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, email contact lists and embed codes.

Because of its dominance in the video space, YouTube remains the leading venue for social video campaigns. The site attracted more than 150 million unique viewers in the US in August 2012, according to comScore. By comparison, Facebook, the second-most-popular US social video destination, had nearly 48 million unique video viewers that month.



Wherever marketers decide to start their campaigns, the majority of sharing activity takes place on Facebook—a natural consequence of the site’s huge user base. Nearly three-quarters of Sharethrough’s native ad shares occurred through Facebook in mid-2012, according to company data. Other venues, including Twitter, email and URL shares, accounted for less than 10% each.



One of the added benefits for marketers that seed branded content through social channels is a rich set of metrics that often exceeds what they might get from site publishers for a traditional campaign. These include video views, a breakdown of venues where the clip ran, clicks to websites, visits to Facebook, store locator usage, coupon download information and softer metrics like consumer sentiment on social channels.-eMarketer

No time? No video expertise? Not sure where to start?
Call Jeff at 888-712-8211 today!  
Sign Up FREE

VMakers - The easy way to create, manage and market your videos.
Trusted by Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount, CBS and ABC.
info@VMakers.com

CPG Consumers Up Online Video Viewing

Online CPG audience increased video viewership 44% in Q3 2012

Viewership of online videos in the CPG category was up sharply in Q3 2012 compared to the previous quarter, according to research from social and interest graph operator 33Across.
Based on the internet usage and social interaction habits of over a billion unique visitors worldwide to sites in the company’s interest graph, 33Across discovered that CPG category consumers watched 44% more online video in Q3, making them 1.5 times more likely to watch online video than the average web user. This presents a clear opportunity for CPG marketers, whose branding efforts are better served by online video than many other digital formats, to reach out to potential customers in a channel they are already using.

Though online video viewing overall is on the rise, viewership was not up within all categories. Video viewing among the retail audience dipped by 22% in the same period. Entertainment consumers, meanwhile, boosted video consumption slightly.



In-stream video buying platform VideoHub reported in Q2 that US online pre-roll CPG video ads had a 73.03% completion rate, slightly above the average for all industries, but a below-average 0.51% clickthrough rate. Though online shopping for CPG products is on the rise, it is still a relatively small market and CPG video ads tend to be more branding- than direct-response-oriented.



VideoHub also reported that viewers who engaged with CPG ads watched the ads for an average of nearly 46 seconds, compared with just under 21 seconds among those who watched but did not engage with the ads.-emarketer

No time? No video expertise? Not sure where to start?
Call Jeff at 888-712-8211 today!  
Sign Up FREE

VMakers - The easy way to create, manage and market your videos.
Trusted by Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount, CBS and ABC.
info@VMakers.com

Video Ads Click-Through Rates (Report)

The average click-through rate (CTR) for in-stream video ads in the US was 1.03% for the period spanning Q2 2011-Q1 2012, topping the benchmark rates for mobile banners (0.87%), rich media (0.15%), and standard banners (0.1%), according to an August 2012 report from MediaMind. The study also finds that 92.75% of in-stream video ad impressions were started, 82.43% of those were played half of the way through, and 74.78% were fully played. Despite in-stream video’s dominance in CTR, when breaking down rich media ads into different types, floating ads actually performed better, with a CTR of 1.24%. Floating ads also saw a dwell rate of 28.51% and user average dwell time of 3.11 seconds.

Dwell rate is described by the report as the number of impressions that were dwelled upon divided by the total amount of impressions, with dwell defined as an active engagement with an ad - including positioning the mouse over an ad, user-initiation of video, user-initiation of an expansion, and any other user-initiated Custom Interaction. The study excludes unintentional dwell, lasting less than 1 second. User average dwell time refers to the average duration of a dwell.

Aside from CTRs, completion rates are also important to consider when evaluating the performance of in-stream ads. In April, a report from Vindico argued that CTR is not the best metric for measuring online video ad success, finding that users who watched an online video ad show edgreater interest in brand pages than those who arrived at the page by click, making completion rates a better success metric than click-through rates (CTR).

Middle East In-Stream CTR Outstrips All Regions

Data from the “2012 MediaMind Global Benchmarks” indicates that on a regional basis, the Middle East saw the highest benchmark CTR for in-stream video ads, at 7.73%, ahead of Western Europe, at 2.35%. On a broader regional basis, the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region saw the highest benchmark CTR, at 4.52%, no doubt pulled up by the Middle East rate, followed by Southeast Asia (4.03%), and the Asia-Pacific (1.77%).

EMEA also sported the best mobile banner CTR (1.41%), this time pulled up by its Southern Europe (4.29%) and Western Europe (2.38%) components. Africa (0.22%) boasted the highest standard banner CTR, while Central Asia (0.5%) saw the best rich media CTR.

Electronics Tops All Verticals for In-Stream CTR

Meanwhile, examining 21 different verticals, the study finds that in terms of in-stream video ads, electronics took the lead with a CTR of 3.83%, with health and beauty (3.62%), retail (2.5%), telecom (2.23%), medical (2.12%), and CPG (2.09%) also performing well.

For in-stream video completion rates, the gaming vertical saw an impressive 96.33% fully-played rate, though its started rate was a low 42.74%. The medical and service verticals both saw start rates of almost 100% (99.96% and 99.97%, respectively). For some other verticals with high start rates, though - particularly the auto, corporate, and electronics verticals - completion rates (fully played) dropped to roughly 55-70%.

Other Findings:

• Benchmark CTRs for the B2B vertical were as follows: standard banner (0.11%); mobile banner (1.02%); rich media (0.11%); and in-stream (1.21%). For the CPG vertical, they were: standard banner (0.10%); mobile banner (0.93%); rich media (0.26%); and in-stream (2.09%). For the retail vertical, they were: standard banner (0.11%); mobile banner (0.92%); rich media (0.3%); and in-stream (2.5%).
  
• The apparel vertical had the highest standard banner CTR, of 0.13%, while the entertainment vertical had the highest rich media CTR, of 0.33%.
  
• Sports had easily the highest mobile banner CTR, of 2.13%.
  
• With an in-stream CTR of 8.68%, Turkey easily bested all other countries in this metric.
  
• China had the highest standard banner CTR, of 0.36%.

About the Data: The MediaMind report benchmarks ad performance across 4 regions, 21 verticals, and 49 countries.-MarketingCharts

Need video help? Not sure where to start?
Call Jeff at 888-712-8211 today!  
Sign Up FREE

VMakers - The easy way to create, manage and market your videos.
Trusted by Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount, CBS and ABC.
info@VMakers.com

Digital Video Ad Completion Rates Continue Rising Amid Higher Loads

Digital video ad views continued to grow at a faster pace than video ad views in Q2 (68% vs. 10% year-over-year), per a FreeWheel study released in August 2012. And despite the number of ads per long-form video reaching 7.96 for the quarter, up from 6.29 the previous quarter, video ad completion rates for long-form content also grew to 91%, from 85% in Q1.

Video ad load increases are particularly evident for long-form content, which served just 3.1 ads per video in Q2 2011, compared to this past quarter’s 7.96. Despite this massive growth in ad loads, completion rates have also improved, from 81% a year ago to 91%, indicating that consumers are becoming more comfortable watching ads in exchange for professionally-produced content (the data in the report represents only video that is rights-managed: aggregate monetization data for professional content from FreeWheel’s customers, and does not reflect trends for user-generated content.)

These findings align with a recent comScore report indicating that online video ad views continue to reach new heights, with Americans viewing more than 11 billion video ads in June, representing a 9.2% increase from May’s previous high of roughly 10.1 billion views.

Completion Rates Also Rise For Mid- and Short-Form Content

Data from FreeWheel’s Q2 “Video Monetization Report” reveals that ad completion rates have also hit their highest rates in 2 years for mid- and short-form content. (Mid-form content refers to content 5-20 minutes in length, while short-form content lasts less than 5 minutes). The ad completion rate for mid-form content increased to 80% in Q2, up from 76% in Q1, and 71% in Q2 2011. For short-form content, the ad completion rate was a relatively lower 69%, though that was also up from 64% in Q1 and 59% in Q2 2011.

While ad loads have not grown as quickly for these videos, they have also reached 2-year highs. In Q2, mid-form content averaged 1.32 ads per video, up from 1.2 the previous quarter, and 0.85 in Q2 2011. For short-form content, there was an average of 0.56 ads per video in Q2, up from 0.53 in Q1 and 0.43 in Q2 2011.

Post-rolls accounted for only a fraction of the total video ads served during the quarter, but grew at a 265% year-over-year rate, compared to a 159% increase for mid-rolls, and a 49% increase for pre-rolls (which accounted for the largest share of ad views).

Non-PC/Mac Viewing Doubles

The report also finds that non-PC/Mac viewing continues to soar. Last quarter, non-PC/Mac viewing held 4.1% share of all professional digital video views, which in itself was a dramatic rise from just 1% a year earlier (see link above). In Q2, though, non-PC/Mac viewing doubled, accounting for 8.2% share of total video views, comprising more than 1 billion video views for the quarter.

About the Data: FreeWheel served over 10.1 billion video ads (pre-roll, mid-roll, and post-roll) in Q2 2012 and made ad decisions for almost 12.5 billion video views. The report data is primarily on behalf of US-based content producers, however viewing occurs at a global scale.-MarketingCharts

Need help? Not sure where to start?
Call Jeff at 888-712-8211 today!  
Sign Up FREE

VMakers - The easy way to create, manage and market your videos.
Trusted by Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount, CBS and ABC.
info@VMakers.com

9 Tips to Get The Most From Video Marketing

Videos are a very effective way of finding new and inexpensive audiences. Even though your videos may only get a moderate amount of views, they are quality views that allow you to leverage the technology to grow your business.

Read more.

No time? No expertise? Not sure where to start?
Call Jeff at 888-712-8211 today!  
Sign Up FREE

VMakers - The easy way to create, manage and market your videos.
Trusted by Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount, CBS and ABC.
info@VMakers.com

Video Tools for Success - August 2012

Our August 2012 Newsletter has arrived! Check it out.
Learn how video drives sales.
Get 3 valuable white papers - no charge!
Sign up for our Video Marketing Workshop - September 22, 2012
at Art Center College, Pasadena, CA
Register

No Time? No Expertise? Not sure where to start?
Call Jeff 888.712.8211.
info@VMakers.com

VMakers - The easy way to create, distribute and market your videos.
Trusted by Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount, CBS and ABC.

Video, Images, Updates - Most Brand Engagement [Report]

A recent study from marketing firm Perfomics shows that 33 percent of people are most likely to respond to brand offers when they are reposted by a friend. The study states that 27 percent will do so on the brand's page, 26 percent from the newsfeed, and 20 percent from a social ad.

The study also touched on some valuable information about branded content engagement. Consumers are most likely to engage with branded content containing images (44 percent). A close 40 percent of people said they are likely to engage with Status Updates and 37 percent with videos.

Another interesting piece of information the study stated was the social media tendencies of mothers and fathers. It showed that moms are more likely to have a Facebook account than dads, although dads are significantly more likely than all other men and women, including moms, to have YouTube and Twitter accounts.

This information is based on the Perfomics Life on Demand social media survey which studied 2,000 Americans who visit a social network at least once a day about their use of social media across devices, channels and screens.-ClickZ

Performics Life on Demand 2012 Summary Deck

No time? No expertise? Not sure where to start with video?
Sign Up FREE or call Jeff at 888-712-8211 today!  

VMakers - The easy way to create, distribute and market your videos.
Trusted by Disney, Warner Bros, NBC, Paramount, CBS and ABC.
info@VMakers.com