What’s Next for Brands in Online Video

In the last few years, marketers have increasingly turned to visual storytelling through online video platforms, like Vimeo and YouTube, to get their brand’s message across to consumers. As a result, the competitive landscape for online video went into overdrive in 2012.

With new kids on the block like VooPlayer, LeadPlayer and Wistia, established companies such as Vimeo and YouTube have had their work cut out to differentiate themselves and retain their lead in the marketplace. These players are offering features that marketers can tap into. According to Business2Community, these sites allow creators to brand their content, conduct data analysis, create call-to-action overlays and automatic video sitemaps, as well as offer a more intuitive interface. The options for uploading and sharing high quality video online are endless these days.

So, how is Vimeo, the IAC-owned video platform, handling this uptick in competition? CEO Kerry Trainor is more focused on generating revenue for the user than increasing functionality.

Trainor tells Fox Business, “It’s always been part of the vision to not just provide that great environment to showcase this content, but to start to empower these creators as they build businesses.” Last fall, Vimeo launched a new feature, a virtual “tip jar.” Take for example an amateur filmmaker who posts a timelapse video of the breathtaking Aurora Borealis in Alaska on Vimeo. Say a viewer is wowed by that video.  At the click of a button that person could tip the content creator anywhere between $0.99 and $500. When you consider the fact that Vimeo attracts about 41 million unique viewers each month, that’s a tremendous audience to potentially reach.

Vimeo does pocket 15% on every donation. And only creators who subscribe to Vimeo’s premium services can participate. Trainor, however, alludes to an option down the road where content developers and brands will be able to bypass cable companies and offer their unique video content directly to their audiences on their own terms and pricing.

Regardless of how the fast-moving video industry continues to evolve, Trainor is confident that bolstering Vimeo’s top-line is the best course of action in the short-term – perhaps to seed future innovations in features and usability.

See Mr. Trainor speak about the changing role of online video in brand strategies at the BRITE ’13 Conference (March 4-5).

BY NANDITA RAY

Be Creative with Your Audience and Revenue Will Follow

Traditional television outlets are under pressure as consumers look for, and now expect, great video content from the Internet. The efforts of these players to keep their consumers engaged in the online world offers general lessons for those looking to “monetize the audience, not the content,” as Fred Wilson has aptly put it.

Lisa Hsia, Senior VP, New Media & Digital at Bravo TV, discussed her efforts to build Bravo’s online presence while speaking at BRITE ’09

My job is to try to interact and engage our users before the program, during the program, after the program and always, and my job is not only to interact and engage but my job is really to monetize. … When I was at NBC news you know it was like, “this is a higher calling.” No. This is about money.

And just how does she do this? Through “constant experimentation and trying to figure out the user.” Although it isn’t all experimentation, Lisa noted that there are constants that drive audience interaction: photos, videos and blog posts. Her experiments come through different treatments of these resources and how they promote actions, like text message polling and paid content downloads.

In addition, based on the success of online polls and chats that occur during broadcast re-runs of Bravo’s shows like Top Chef, Lisa went back to her advertisers and suggested the development of interactive features for their banner ads. She noted that this is a trend the advertising industry is moving towards, but by showing the audience’s engagement with the shows, she helped push advertisers along.

To meet her “always” engaging the audience objective, Lisa developed affinity groups, e.g. “Bravo for foodies” and “Bravo for style,” which maintain a more constant level of interaction and permit additional opportunities for partnerships, sponsorships and advertising development. An online audience needs additional content, so costs can be a concern, but Lisa noted that for a 7-part webisode series spun out of “Make Me a Supermodel” she spent a mere $2,000. (Note the audible gasp from the audience in the video.) This combination of online activities yields tens of millions of dollars of additional revenue to Bravo.

It is true that the reality TV shows which dominate the Bravo line-up are ideally suited to online engagement. Lisa’s efforts demonstrate, however, that by being efficient and creative you can excite your audience, and drive deeper connections that lead to additional brand or advertising revenue.

BY MATTHEW QUINT

This post originally posted by Matthew on the BRITE Conference blog at: http://www.briteblog.net

Crowdsourcing in Action: One Step to Build a Company

There is growing evidence that a company can strengthen its brand by listening to customers and even sourcing business ideas from the crowd. But just what does such an effort look like in action?

Entrepreneur Aaron Cohen used his speaking slot at the BRITE ’09 conference to conduct a live crowdsourcing experiment with the attendees. Cohen described the basic concept and unique assets behind a new company he was about to lead, AnyClip.com, and then sought out suggestions that might turn these raw materials into a breakout media brand. Here is a video of this “crowdsourcing in action.”

Cohen assumed the role of CEO shortly after BRITE, and AnyClip is now moving forward along some of the tracks discussed during the conference. AnyClip (now in beta launch) lets users find, watch and share short clips of their favorite movie scenes online, and it has already secured the rights to host films from most of the major Hollywood studios. The company won rave reviews for its recent demo at the TechCrunch50 competition, walking away with the coveted Audience Award.

One of the key ideas in Cohen’s crowdsourcing discussion at BRITE was to open up the company’s film clip database to the software developer community — so that anyone can build new applications, services, and revenue streams based on AnyClip’s platform. Cohen discusses this strategy in a recent piece he wrote for The Business Insider, including the use of an “open API” (application program interface). Opening a new platform up to development by other entrepreneurs has been a critical part of the success of both Twitter and the iPhone App Store.

Open APIs are unique to technology brands. But, whatever industry you are in, there are ways to solicit ideas from your stakeholders and strengthen your brand through collaboration with your customers.

BY MATTHEW QUINT

This post originally posted by Matthew on the BRITE Conference blog at: http://www.briteblog.net