2012: The Year Of The (Video) Dragon

I recently attended a Goldman Sachs event. A member of their team took the stage to speak about many different factors affecting our economy, and said 2012 would be a year of prosperity. I agree -- especially when it comes to online video.

I’ll explain. There were times, very recently, when things like iPad apps, or social media, (whatever that really means) took precedence over video. Other times, publishers “were not really monetizing video” yet because Tremor was yet to be around. When 5min’s syndication was yet to be available. When WatchMojo CEO was yet to educate the market about video production. When there were only CPC, CPM and CPA -- not CPV. Times before Brightcove had the “Play” annual event with 500 attendees. Before Louis CK published his show on the Internet only. Before Adap.tv introduced an RTB platform for video. Before Youtube generated a billion dollar in revenue through its YPV program. Before Netflix changed its pricing model to encourage online video streaming and took a mega-dive in price per share, and before people admitted that video was somewhat desired -- but less obvious. Yes.

If you are involved in the video space, then you know what I’m talking about. Video was cool but it was not “it” just yet. However, 2012 has arrived, and now video is becoming “it” -- yes!

Publishers realize that it’s time to double down on video -- and for a reason. Video monetizes better than anything else: advertisers come for your video inventory and stay for the rest. Premium publishers claim $30-$50 in video pre-roll revenue -- mind you, that is 8x-10x the range over display advertising. So I already see Directors of Video being hired by companies, and I see events that are all around video, and I see competition around video that indicates the beginning of the space’s maturity. I see big companies hire consultants to advise their board on how to build a video strategy. I see video is becoming real.

I feel 2012 is the year of video -- mainly because it is now monetized. Real traffic of video views now means real and superior revenue. Being a top publisher without a real video strategy or millions of video views is irresponsible.

For the Chinese, the Year of the Dragon happens only every 12 years, and it means the luckiest year of all. Interestingly enough, 2012 happens to be the Year of the Dragon. If you are now in the video space, you’re in the right place, since this is the Year of the (Video) Dragon. Good luck! by Adam Singolda

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Consumers care more about what’s in a brand video than how long it is. That’s the conclusion of a new study from Invodo tracking consumer response to e-commerce and shopping videos. Invodo is an online video e-commerce company with clients including Office Depot, Toys R Us, and Verizon.

Invodo surveyed more than 1,000 online consumers who had watched product videos on retail and brand sites, and the results showed that several common assumptions about online video don’t hold up. For instance, many experts say 30 seconds is the ideal length for videos, but Invodo found that about 37% of consumers spent more than three minutes watching product videos that are educational or demonstrate how to use a product. Invodo also found that two-thirds of consumers watch videos on so-called “information-intensive” products two or more times.

This study has interesting implications for brands producing how- to, informational and other product-related videos. "The biggest takeaway of this research for brands is this: Forget about adhering to any 'industry standard' time limit for product videos," said Craig Wax, CEO of Invodo. "If anything, our research suggests that packing too much content into a shorter video may be a mistake. As long as the video is compelling and helps them make a purchase decision, most consumers are willing to absorb videos much longer than 30 seconds. Focusing on video content and quality will help brands drive business results."

Also, about 66% of consumers said seeing a video demo of a product before buying that item online made it easier for them to understand how the product works and half said that watching a product video before buying an item online made them less likely to return the product. Finally, consumers prefer more professionally produced videos with nearly half saying higher quality videos were more reliable in helping them to make purchase decisions.

The study was done in partnership with the e-commerce consultancy e-tailing group. Media Post article.

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DRIVING MORE VIDEO THRU SOCIAL MEDIA

Each day, more than 150 years worth of YouTube videos are watched on Facebook, an increase of 2.5 times the amount viewed a year ago. What’s more, every minute Web users are sending more than 500 tweets containing YouTube links, tripling over last year, according to stats from YouTube.

Indeed, video is growing more social. Plus, YouTube has said that 100 million people take a social action each week on YouTube, which could range from likes to shares to comments.

Given the symbiotic links between social media and online video, how can brands and marketers boost their video performance with social tools? Mark Robertson, founder of ReelVideo and the Web site ReelSEO , shared some best practices.

For starters, brands may find it effective to drive video viewers to social channels with links and information in the video on the brand’s social presence, or even with bonus videos or footage on a brand’s Facebook page. That can increase exposure and brand awareness, he said. “If the viewer then engages with the brand on social channels – on the video site like YouTube and on other social channels – it will likely assist the video’s performance as well as many SEO signals [which] are now tied to social interactivity,” Robertson said.

Annotations in the video can also drive views and interactions because they can encourage social actions, such as liking a page. “Content owners can remind and encourage YouTubers to thumbs-up, subscribe, etc., which can increase social interaction within YouTube,” he said, adding that YouTube has even said that its search algorithm favors videos that drive traffic to other videos, playlists, channels, or subscriptions via linked annotations.

Brands can also drive social fans to video with regular and easily accessible videos on a social page, or can incentivize existing social fans with additional video, such as exclusive clips. “Content is key with social in that the video content brands expose to social audiences could be uniquely created for that audience,” Robertson added.

Don’t forget to keep the videos short. Videos between 15 seconds generate the most clickthroughs in the social world, followed by videos just over 60 seconds, according to Jun Group stats.

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Let's Get Serious -- Branded Video Is About The Information

I came across an interesting statistic the other day. And when I say “interesting,” I don’t mean it in the traditional, “I’m intrigued” sense, but rather in the “what is going on here?” sense. According to a study by the Association of National Advertisers, nearly two-thirds of client-side advertisers (63%) are planning branded entertainment strategies for 2012. The most popular channels for branded entertainment include commercial television, the Internet and sporting events, although Internet strategies are growing at the fastest clip by far, and television is trending downward.

The objectives marketers are trying to achieve with these are what you might expect: making a stronger connection with consumers; aligning the brand with relevant content; and building brand affinity with a desired audience.

But here’s where things get a little funny. And by funny I mean strange, not “hah-hah.” The study notes that while investment in branded entertainment has grown considerably since 2006, marketers haven’t made much headway in measuring the return on their branded entertainment investments.

I’m sorry, but in my experience, it’s been pretty to easy to measure when branded online video pays off. Our online video library for one major food brand, for example, has received more 70 million views via more than 1,500 URLs, making it arguably one of the most successful online video marketing campaigns waged by a big brand to date. The videos rank an average engagement level of 78 -- and three years after the campaign launch, the videos are still dominating organic search. The ANA survey says that 63% of respondents still find it “challenging” to measure the effect of these branded activities, but I’d say the impact of 70 million views is blatantly obvious.

I think the reason marketers are still finding ROI difficult to measure is because, for the vast majority, the result just aren’t there. They’re not there because most marketers are focused on using online video for branded entertainment. And by and large, branded entertainment has meant repurposing commercials for the Web. I have no issue with the fine work advertisers do. Many of these online commercials and “webisodes” are extremely well done. A lot of them are highly entertaining. But are they what consumers are searching for?

Our research has shown that consumers are not typing brand names into Google to download commercials to their PCs. They’re searching for information. Through our research for a large electronics company, we learned that consumers weren’t searching for information about how to choose a camera, but were searching for information on how to use one to take pictures of babies, weddings, kids, etc. That insight was invaluable in crafting our branded online video strategy for the company, which focused on providing consumers with information on how to take the best pictures -- using their brand of cameras, of course -- rather than a commercial about which of their cameras consumers can buy.

The funny thing about branded entertainment -- and by funny, I don’t mean “Roller Babies” -- is that it’s not being searched for online. Consumers aren’t looking to brands for entertainment; they download movies or TV shows for that. What some major brands have realized is that information is much more valuable to consumers than entertainment, and brands have a huge opportunity to own branded information. Hopefully marketers for other brands are starting to realize that while branded information may not make it to “Tosh.O,” it can do wonders for engagement. by Allison Provost of MediaPost.