May 10

The Growth of Video in Branded Content

By Heather Timmerman Digital Media Trends No Comments »

To see this branded content by Georg Jensen, click on the image.

Content marketing can take on many forms. In terms of informative content this can include blogs, whitepapers, newsletters, websites and emails to get whatever message a brand would like to get across. However, these mechanisms are often one-sided and push-related, with the exception of blogs or emails that can allow comments and/or dialogue due to their digital nature. Content marketing initiatives can support the brand obviously or subtly, both are relevant given the situation. The main goal of a whitepaper for example is to educate, share knowledge or data that has been scientifically validated in its research method. Therefore, it is possible for the brand to subtly stand by the data or analysis they helped create, which brands them as a knowledge expert in their particular industry.

Advertising in both print or online form however, is often an obvious content branding initiative. It has to be in order to get any sort of ROI due to the cost and limited space. Whether or not that is intrusive to the end consumer depends on how the message is delivered and their particular perception of branding or advertising. Advertising can be either educational or entertaining but there is very little you can do with text and a static image.  However, online video is this convergence of information and entertainment that can be either subtle or obvious and captivates the audience in a way text or graphics simply cannot.  According to The Motion Effect Theory, human beings have an inherent preference for moving objects (Sundar and Kalyanaraman 2004) which is one reason why TV has been so popular for so long.

Not every company has the budget required for TV advertising, which makes online video such a popular form of content marketing, and the numbers are beginning to show. Last year 52% of North American companies used video in their content marketing initiatives, compared to 2009 data when that number was only 37% (Source: ReelSEO, 2012). Online video not only engages the audience, but it also encourages them to share which brings us back to traditional word of mouth initiatives, done in a digital age via social networks.

Social media is one of the many ways in which to deliver content marketing messages and initiatives that creates a dialogue and interaction with the audience which is often better than any one-way push mechanism. However, only 49% of marketers have social media fully integrated into their marketing strategies (Source: mashable.com, 2012). The message to traditionalists by those digital marketers successfully using this new form of content marketing, is to embrace the interactivity and not shy away from the engagement of the audience. Something not only social media channels, but online video has the capability to do through branded content initiatives. For more information, check out this interview and this example. For inspiration, click on the image above.

About Preview Networks

Preview Networks is a platform for brands and content aggregation and syndication platform for publishers. We provide the tools for brands to centrally distribute and manage marketing and PR content across media destinations, devices, and commerce platforms; allowing media partners to automate content acquisition delivering audience and advertising revenue growth.

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Apr 18

The BRAVES: Best in Brand Video Awards

By Heather Timmerman Preview Networks PR and News No Comments »

The BRAVES are the first award show recognizing and rewarding the role brands play in online video advertising and content development. Brands are not alone in the creative development process as agencies and technical platforms help make the magic happen, but the BRAVES recognize that none of it would be possible without quality branded content. Whether the content is entertaining for the audience, artfully shot, or brilliantly executed comes down to how many creative minds were involved in the process and that is where partnerships become particularly important.

Relevant partnerships play an important role in the video ecosystem which is becoming larger and more complex by the minute. However, stripped down the the basics you could perhaps break it into three categories. Or, that’s at least the way the BRAVES sees it when it comes to nominating brands. The Campaign BRAVES recognize creative excellence of brands and agencies in the use of video in advertising campaigns. The Content BRAVES specifically recognize the role brands have played in branded video content from the beginning. And finally, the Technical BRAVES recognize the rapid growth and reach of video which has been enabled by hosting, monetization, analytics and distribution services, like Preview Networks.

Which is why we are proud to announce our Technical sponsorship in this year’s BRAVES awards and encourage all brands, agencies, and technical hero’s to nominate their video campaign, content, or service that has enabled or pushed the video industry to the next level. This is a space that is only going to get more interesting and it couldn’t happen without all the relevant players. Managed by the same company that hosts The Festival of Media each year C Squared, makes this event another soon to be sought after awards show to be involved in for the video industry. So enter your campaign, content or technical video service today!  Some important dates to keep in mind are below, and be sure to watch the promotional video for more information.  We hope to see you there!

  • Final deadline for entries: 25 May 2010
  • Shortlist announcement: 21 June 2012
  • Awards ceremony: 11 July 2012

About Preview Networks

Preview Networks is a content marketing platform for brands and content aggregation and syndication platform for publishers. We provide the tools for brands to centrally distribute and manage marketing and PR content across media destinations, devices, and commerce platforms; allowing media partners to automate content acquisition delivering audience and advertising revenue growth.

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Mar 22

Online Video is the Marketer’s Digital Asset

By Heather Timmerman Digital Media Trends Comments Off

The online marketing blogosphere and whitepaper index is always filled with interesting video data and research. It’s hard to determine whether that is due to the increase of content marketing strategies or because of the increasing trend and usage of video. Either way, both are relevant to what we try to accomplish each week with the Preview blog post. Report useful data online marketers can easily understand to help them be more efficient with their brand’s most valuable tool, its digital assets. Digital assets include graphics and video and in some cases also text, as the above are all ways to market content. Image courtesy of adamdince.com

However, the usage of video has been noted in research and past blogs as the most effective way to engage your audience, and the numbers are also beginning to show in practice. According to a Q4 2011 report by the Web Video Marketing Council, marketing professionals are increasingly using video in their online marketing strategies where websites and email marketing are the predominant channels. This research included 272 respondents in a variety of industries and company sizes, and shows an 11% increase in video usage in 2011 with 81% of marketers using online video compared to 70% in 2010. This confirms the trend in video usage and digs deeper into the channels used.

  • 67% have posted online video to owned media such as company websites
  • 61% have posted online video to earned media such as social networks
  • 52% of marketing professionals have used video in email marketing initiatives

Email marketing was emphasized in this report as the channel by which video has made a positive impact with 88% of marketers. Additional impressions on the effectiveness of video are such that 76% of marketers believe that video increases click through rates and 72% believe consumers are more likely to purchase or convert into sales by using video. This also confirms past research, particularly in regards to conversion rates. “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.” – The New York Times

Once convinced of the effectiveness of video, where to start? Producing quality content is the first step. A past blog post entitled A New Way to Approach Online Video Production gives some ideas on where to begin and an article in the New York Times gives practical tips on how to incorporate video into online marketing strategies in a cost effective way. Once content has been developed, utilizing a content marketing platform like BRANDcast to manage all digital assets in one place with the ability to externally publish to the appropriate channels, allows marketers not only to be efficient but in control of their online marketing strategies.

About Preview Networks

Preview Networks is a platform for brands and content aggregation and syndication platform for publishers. We provide the tools for brands to centrally distribute and manage marketing and PR content across media destinations, devices, and commerce platforms; allowing media partners to automate content acquisition delivering audience and advertising revenue growth.

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Feb 29

Context Determines Online Video Success

By Ervin Draganovic Digital Media Trends Comments Off

While most marketers are trying to understand how to increase brand exposure outside their owned destinations, some marketers have discovered how online video deployment can generate high exposure and engagement rates within paid and earned media. Well knowing that the increase in video frequency squeezes the already limited attention span, marketers need to add the contextual element in which their video assets are deployed in the video program equation.

In the latest online video rankings report indicating unique views from comScore, Facebook ranks as number 5, in front of companies such as Microsoft, AOL, Amazon, Hulu and NBC Universal. It is thus evident that online video content is flowing onto the online social sphere at a rapid rate. As a result of this, pushing branded video content to Facebook without any contextual bundling will result in minimum engagement without any organic distribution. According to recent academic research, brands active on Facebook had on average, over a period of 4-6 weeks, an increased brand engagement with 14%, growth in fan base by 10%, and an improved organic reach by 24%, after incorporating the following measures in their online video activities:

  • Added video campaign within the context of e.g. competition or seasonal promotions
  • Only released videos as part of an already running or newly established campaign
  • Mixed a range of high-end and low-end produced videos
  • Included a minimum of two CTA’s in every video
  • Nurtured engagement with give-aways or financial incentives
  • Treated video as social currency

In relation to paid media, marketers have to start buying solutions that deploy their online video content within the right context. This is crucial as placing video in the ad-space undermines and undervalues the branded value of rich media compared to video deployment in the editorial-space. According to a study performed by Yahoo!, 57% of online video viewers say they enjoy watching a video next to an article as shown in the chart above. Moreover, the study also found that in cases where a video is played within the article, viewers are more likely to watch the video to get more information or to receive extended entertainment on the topic. Contextual placement thereby increases the likeliness of viewer engagement via rich media exposure.

The results of integrating, deploying and distributing online video assets can be improved if the context of where the assets will operate is considered. To learn how to incorporate contextual video into your online marketing strategy read more at previewnetworks.com or send me an e-mail (ed@previewnetworks.com) to find out how we can help you with context empowered video deployment.

About Preview Networks

Preview Networks is a platform for brands and content aggregation and syndication platform for publishers. We provide the tools for brands to centrally distribute and manage marketing and PR content across media destinations, devices, and commerce platforms; allowing media partners to automate content acquisition delivering audience and advertising revenue growth.

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Feb 23

Video by the Numbers

By Heather Timmerman Digital Media Trends Comments Off

Each February numbers from the last quarter of the previous year are released, analysed, and discussed and if you are comScore, January’s results from the current year are also released for a nice comparison. The type of numbers we are talking about aren’t financial (in the direct sense anyway) they are online viewership numbers, and in particular online video rankings and trends. As per usual, we take the opportunity to round up all these different facts and figures into one blog post to help compare and contrast and perhaps bring a little context to the trends.

Overall Numbers
2011 ended with 85.3 percent of the U.S. internet audience viewing video online in December. That translates to 182 million U.S. internet users viewing 43.5 billion videos. However, in January 2012 that number has decreased to 84.4 percent of the U.S. internet audience or 181 million U.S. internet users viewing 40 billion videos. Compared to the end of 2010 where the U.S. internet user number was 172 million and 30.1 billion video views, there is still a growth trend in year-over-year numbers (Source: comScore).

Device Trends
According to Ooyala’s Q4 2011 Video Index Report, non-desktop video viewership – or video on mobile, tablet, connected TV, and gaming console devices – doubled in Q4 compared to Q3. More specifically, tablets led the trend with 22% growth driven by users clicking “play” more often in addition to watching video longer (Source: VideoNuze). The data for this report was collected from 100 million viewers and 5,000 domains in over 130 countries.

Social Works
Another report published by Visible Measures focusing on social video campaigns in 2011 shows that online video on social networks works. Using their own data, the report shows that over 500 branded social video campaigns gained more than a million views each, and the average campaign received 765,000 views. This indicates the trend of brands using content-as-advertising by creating engaging and entertaining material (#2 on the Video Prediction Mashup for 2012). Using humour is key and launching on Thursday certainly helps as well (Source: ReelSEO).

2012 Forecast
comScore has released their 2012 U.S. Digital Future in Focus report and supplementary video which indicates trends in branded channels on platforms such as YouTube. This leads to a continued increase in user engagement, based on a 2010 to 2011 increase in user engagement of online videos by 43%. They also note that online video ads are actually 38% more memorable than TV ads, which supports the multi-screen/multi-platform trend we have reported in the past.  “comScore expects the number of videos viewed to continue to increase in 2012 with one of the primary driving reasons being an increase in quality, original, created for-the-web content syndicated across platforms.” To conclude, online video growth is still very positive, and only the channels and methods of viewing them will change throughout 2012.  To read the full comScore report, download it here.

About Preview Networks

Preview Networks is a platform for brands and content aggregation and syndication platform for publishers. We provide the tools for brands to centrally distribute and manage marketing and PR content across media destinations, devices, and commerce platforms; allowing media partners to automate content acquisition delivering audience and advertising revenue growth.

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Feb 15

Device Usage Increases Viewer Engagement

By Heather Timmerman Digital Media Trends Comments Off

One of the predictions for 2012 was an increase in cross-platform and cross-device campaigns and after nearly two months into the new year various studies, reports, and research have surfaced to support the reason for that claim.

Image courtesy of thetechjournal.com

The first being a joint study by YuMe and Nielsen indicating online video advertising is actually complementary to TV advertising.  Next, came a report by Videology indicating multi-screen campaigns increase brand recall. The latest research is by Discovery Communications indicating that simultaneous usage of digital platforms increases many viewers’ connection to programs and advertisements.

According to this latest study, nearly half of those who use digital devices while watching TV, said they are more likely to search for a product they see advertised on TV, and one-third said they pay more attention to what is on TV.  That contradicts earlier studies which indicate that TV advertising is losing its effectiveness, and one even stating that online ads beat TV ads in viewer recall.

This study by Discovery Communications had a strong focus on iPad users, who are unique consumers to consider. They exhibited notably different behaviour than the general population in that they are much more attentive and responsive to programming and advertising compared to the average consumer. They also exhibit social influence often sharing opinions in real time via social media.

Since iPad ownership has not become entirely mainstream yet, these consumers could be considered early adopters according to the technology adoption lifecycle. As such, this provides a unique marketing opportunity for brands and TV show producers to personalise, enhance, and engage their fans which could have profound lasting effects. If marketers are able to cross the chasm between early adopters and the early majority then a bandwagon effect creating a media engagement standard could be in the works. Creating a cross-platform and cross-device campaign is the first step.

About Preview Networks

Preview Networks is a platform for brands and content aggregation and syndication platform for publishers. We provide the tools for brands to centrally distribute and manage marketing and PR content across media destinations, devices, and commerce platforms; allowing media partners to automate content acquisition delivering audience and advertising revenue growth.

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Feb 02

Multi-screen Video Campaign Strategy Increases Brand Recall

By Heather Timmerman Digital Media Trends Comments Off

Audience fragmentation is the #1 problem for online marketers trying to understand which platform is best to use when determining a digital strategy. Websites, mobile phones, tablets, and connected TV all play a role in the online video space, but knowing which devise to use for what end goal is key to understanding the best return on value.

Image courtesy of the Video Convergence Whitepaper by Videology

New research from Videology indicates that multiple platforms or screens actually increase brand recall. They measured this by studying 8 campaigns where video ran online on some, while others ran video across online, mobile, and connected TV. Of those that ran on multiple screens brand recall increased by 70-300% compared to online only at a 15-130% increase in brand recall.

However, if click through rates (CTR) or video completion rates (VCR) are the end goal then different platforms apply. This study, also done by Videology, included data from 378 campaigns and taking into account 184 million video impressions, 2.1 million mobile video impressions, and 360K connected TV impressions. Mobile seems to be the platform to use if CTR is what marketers are after, but connected TV is the platform to use for VCR. The whitepaper study, cites various reasons for this, one being the fact that connected TV does not allow viewers to click through or bypass a video advertisement.

If reach is what marketers are after, then going after the online video population (and platform) is probably the best bet given that is the largest of the three at 182 million compared to 91 million smartphone users, and 10.5 million connected TV users (in the US). However, if getting the most ‘bang for your buck’ is ultimately what it comes down to then a multi-screen campaign is probably the way to go due to a 9x higher average brand recall, and decrease in cost per incremental brand lift by 55%. Support for this multi-screen campaign approach was also done by a YuMe study that indicated online video ads actually complement TV ads (Source: VideoNuze). That is, of course if budget is not an issue.

After all the data outlined above, it’s clear to see how and why marketers can easily be confused by all the options, so here is a quick recap: CTR=Mobile, VCR=Connected TV, Brand Recall & Performance vs. Cost=Multi-Screen Strategy.

About Preview Networks

Preview Networks is a platform for brands and content aggregation and syndication platform for publishers. We provide the tools for brands to centrally distribute and manage marketing and PR content across media destinations, devices, and commerce platforms; allowing media partners to automate content acquisition delivering audience and advertising revenue growth.

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