Archives For Video & Rich Media News

webm diagonal 700x500

New Video Codec Coming From Google

abilewis —  May 17, 2013 — Leave a comment

On the heels of their announcement about search updates, Google has also revealed that they are working on a new video codec to change the experience of content producers. The codec is known as VP9 and may just come out as an open source and royalty free project if the company has their way. The new release is designed to improve performance over the H 264 codec that is the current standard for video viewing online.

Google announced the project, among other new releases from the company, at their annual I/O conference. The team claims that VP9 will cut the bandwidth required for high quality playback. If this is true, millions of viewers could enjoy a smoother viewing experience with fewer buffering breaks. This may increase the popularity of video even further, especially for people that haven’t embraced the technology because they rely on relatively slow connections. However, VP9 is still in development, so nothing is fixed in stone yet. Other new codecs are also on the horizon from other developers. The upgrade known as H 265 may prove to be more popular or efficient in the long run. However, Google is definitely aiming to improve the efficiency of data delivery as their content library continues to grow.

In All, Video & Rich Media News, Video Marketing, Wooshii
permalink

Vimeo Creates On-demand Programme For Creators

admin —  March 22, 2013 — Leave a comment

Whilst most businesses are focusing on Internet video as a marketing tactic for other products and services, some creative individuals use the video itself to make their money. Creators who are trying to monetise new releases should consider the new Vimeo On Demand programme. It offers transparent earnings information and could be a way for many underpaid content creators to finally earn a living from their passion for video.

Are You a Pro?

The programme has been in beta for quite a few months under the name, Pay-to-View. Now that it’s been released, many Vimeo PRO users are tinkering with it to determine the best way to maximise profits without driving away viewers. Members can set up paywalls to collect a fee from anyone trying to access their content. Vimeo reports that 90% of all revenue will go to the content owner, with the platform only taking a meagre 10% for hosting. Users that set up the paywall system will have a number of options to choose from, giving them control over who can view the content.

Restrictions

A lack of features has been the main issue with the efforts of other platforms to help producers sell video content. Vimeo is aiming to address this problem. Creators can tinker with their settings to prevent visitors from certain countries from purchasing and viewing the content. Price can also be set to any figure, although producers will still need to find a reasonable price based on their material and the market. Users can also embed the paywall and viewing system into their own freestanding website with a relatively simple process.

Entertainment and Education

Whilst most content producers succeeding in monetising their works over the Internet are filmmakers, Vimeo reports that other users are also expected to explore their paywall options. The community on the platform is rich with educators that spread information about editing video, managing finances and many other topics. The company expects that these tutorial producers will also use the On Demand programme to receive financial support for their hard work. Only time can tell which type of content will sell the best on Vimeo. The platform has focused on high quality recordings since the very beginning, so hopefully that will help the company avoid the growing pains that Youtube is currently going through with regards to amateur and low quality content filling the ranks.

In Creative, Online Video Advertising, Video & Rich Media, Video & Rich Media News, Video Marketing , , ,
permalink
comscore150

The Latest Figures On Internet Video Viewers and Views

admin —  February 28, 2013 — 3 Comments

The world of online video changes on a daily basis. One new trend emerges only to be replaced in less than 24 hours by another viral hit. Tracking the figures of total viewers and their watching habits will help you adjust your Internet marketing campaigns. The viewing figures for January 2013 are just coming in and they show that users are embracing video even more than ever as part of their daily routines. Viewing of both meaningful content and video advertising has increased by a surprising amount.

About 180 million users watched videos during the month of January, with a total number of clips viewed estimated at 36 billion. These numbers account for all of the entertaining or educational content viewed on hosts like Youtube. The total number of video ads viewed during the month reached 9 billion at the end, making it a banner time period for many of the world’s largest advertisers.

Unsurprisingly, Google came out on top as the biggest supplier of video content for searchers and viewers alike. They own Youtube, which attracted the attention of 150 million viewers in the 30-day period. Of all the premium channels on the website, Vevo brought in the most attention, with 48 million of those viewers visiting them. Vevo also streamed the highest total number of clips during the time period but lost out in engagement to Machinima. Facebook came in second with the number of total viewers set at 57 million.

In total, over 80% of users around the world viewed at least one online video during January 2013. The average viewing time was set at around 5 minutes, but plenty of viewers watched well over an hour of content during the month. Video ads that received the most views stayed short and to the point, with the majority of them remaining under 30 seconds in length.

However, the time spent viewing advertising clips was still very low compared to the time spent on other content. Viewers only spent about 1% of their time on ads and the rest on more fulfilling content. This means that content with an educational, entertaining or informational slant remains the best bet for marketers looking for real engagement. Spend the bulk of your video marketing budget on useful content and stick only a small fraction of it in more obvious and direct ads.

In Buyer, Creative, News, Video & Rich Media, Video & Rich Media News , , , ,
permalink
youtube232

Youtube Announces Paid Content Options

admin —  February 6, 2013 — 1 Comment

Since Google has acquired the company, they have been adding a number of features to Youtube to help increase income opportunities for everyone involved. One of the latest updates included details on an upcoming paid content channel programme. Some of the largest content channels on the platform have already been invited to apply to help test out the creation of a payment wall system. If your company has been searching for a new revenue stream, you may want to consider producing high quality video content that viewers would be willing to pay for.

Regular Access

So far, the details released show that Youtube plans to allow channel owners to sell access to their library of content. Viewers will each pay between $1 and $6 for a month of access to all of the clips. This means that you don’t even have to keep pumping out new videos to bring in a healthy monthly income. The low cost will hopefully encourage viewers to pay for content they once were able to view for free.

Few Details

There are many issues that will have to be hammered out between Youtube and the major channels that will beta test the programme. Relatively few details have been released so far, mainly because the company hasn’t made up its mind on some problems yet. It’s not clear if these channels will simply lock all of their content behind the paywall or if certain clips will remain free and open for access. Many video marketing experts are expecting that the channels will open secondary accounts to organise their free and paid content separately. Others may simply set certain parts of their library behind the paywall with custom controls.

Making Video Profitable

The Internet’s most popular video producers have been struggling to monetise their clips for years now. Convincing viewers to pay a small fee for each video has been an uphill battle so far, but the popularity of Youtube may change this. The success of a paywall feature will depend on how easy it will be to use the payment methods. Each channel will also have to make sure their premium content is worth the cost if they want to see plenty of subscribers flocking to their future clips. A few professionally made videos with rich and helpful information may provide a surprising amount of extra income for you and your company.

In Buyer, Creative, News, Online Video Advertising, Video & Rich Media News, Video Marketing , , , ,
permalink
comscore150

Record-Breaking 11.3 Billion Video Ads Watched Last December

Ricardo —  January 16, 2013 — Leave a comment

After every new comscore video report every month, chances are records will get broken – be it in terms of overall number of videos watched, or for example in the number of videos watched in a single month – like in this latest report: 11.3 billion video ads watched.

Let’s take a look at some of the other stats in the report:

  • 182 million U.S. Internet users watched online video in December 2012;
  • Those correspond to 84.9 percent of the U.S. Internet audience
  • Nearly 38.7 billion pieces of video content were watched;
  • And the duration of the average online content video was 5.4 minutes
  • There were 11.3 billion views in video ads, the most recorded in a month, ever.
  • … which accounted for 22.6 percent of all videos viewed
  • Average duration of a video ad was 0.4 minutes.
  • … and video ads account for 1.9 percent of all minutes spent viewing video online.

So less videos watched overall than last month, but more video ads watched.

As to top properties in the video space this month, Google Sites (who else?!) is first, and Facebook is back at number two after many months. VEVO comes 3rd in this race.

comscore dec 1

When it comes to top delivering ads networks, Google is back at number one, closely followed by Brighroll.

comscore dec 2

That’s it for another month! You can check the full report here.

In Buyer, Creative, News, Online Video Advertising, Video & Rich Media, Video & Rich Media News, Video Marketing , , ,
permalink
youtube232

YouTube Focuses on Improvements for its 7th Year

admin —  January 4, 2013 — Leave a comment

The Internet’s biggest video hosting platform celebrated its seventh birthday this year. The team behind YouTube spent 2012 developing new tools for their biggest producers. They also focused on moving the platform’s focus away from amateur productions and towards professional content. If the company wants to continue to grow, it will need to attract big names that can use the website to accomplish serious marketing and advertising goals.

The company pumped a full $100 million into enriching and building the platform’s biggest premium channels, but most of these producers shouldn’t be expecting to receive as much funding during 2013. It is estimated that YouTube will only renew about 30% of the contracts it created this year. Some channels became more successful with the funding, but many failed to attract substantial viewing numbers.

On the other side of the coin, YouTube also added a lot of support for non-profit organizations and philanthropists. All 16,000 channels registered as non-profits were given access to the new live-streaming tools from the platform. These tools can be used to teach classes, share important political events and show disaster relief efforts without any delay for editing and uploading content.

In Buyer, Creative, News, Online Video Advertising, Video & Rich Media, Video & Rich Media News, Video Marketing , ,
permalink
comscore150

40 Billion Videos Were Watched In The United States In One Month

Ricardo —  January 2, 2013 — Leave a comment

While we just stepped in on a new month and new year even, we haven’t discussed the latest comScore available report on video results yet. It is for the month of November 2012 for the US, and shows the maturity of the current online video market in the numbers presented.

Here are the main stats:

  • 182 million U.S. Internet users watched online video in that month;
  • Those correspond to 85.5 percent of the whole U.S. Internet audience
  • Nearly 40 billion pieces of content were watched;
  • And the duration of the average online content video was 5.4 minutes
  • Video ads reached 10.5 billion views.
  • … which accounted for 20.8 percent of all videos viewed
  • And their average duration was 0.4 minutes.

Quite similar to the previous month report then, showing that those huge numbers continue very big month after month.

When it comes to top properties viewed, Google Sites (Youtube) comes first, but the surprise comes at 2nd place, with NDN – News Distribution Network, “a video source for the intelligent and profitable newsroom” and a virtual unknown to these reports – and to most people, really! Facebook comes back to 3rd place after a struggle in the past few months in 5th and 6th place.

videonovember1

As for top delivering ads, Brighroll continues its surprising number position gained last month, with Google Sites and Hulu right beneath it.

videonovember2

That’s it for another month! Check out the full report here and expect the December report to hit in the next few weeks.

In Buyer, Creative, News, Video & Rich Media, Video & Rich Media News , , , , ,
permalink

Biggest YouTube Marketing Success Stories – 2012

Fergus —  December 31, 2012 — 3 Comments

2012 was a big year for online video marketing, with millions of new viewers tuning in to their favourite content at least once a day. Many Internet users added video viewing as part of a daily routine for the first time this year. This made a noticeable impact in the viewing numbers for many viral video hits. While musicians and comedians saw their viral hits topping the charts on Youtube, many large corporations also garnered plenty of attention for their advertising campaigns. Here are the five companies that saw the greatest increase in total views during 2012.

1. Samsung

When 2011 came to an end, the electronics manufacturer had only 52 million total views on its published content. In a single year, this multinational corporation managed to reach a whopping 280 million views. Over 200 million views poured in during the year as the company released 26 carefully designed video campaigns.

2. Red Bull

The energy drink producer invested in a scientific challenge to draw over 192 million new views in 2012 alone. The “Stratos” campaign involved an experienced skydiver jumping from the stratosphere with minimal protection. Many viewers had never even heard of the brand before watching the historical live video stream.

3. Google

Google may still be best known as the world’s largest search engine, but they are quickly dominating the world of video marketing as well. Part of the company’s success in 2012 comes from their acquisition of Youtube. They released a grand total of 40 individual campaigns during the year, which garnered an increase of 136 million views. It’s most popular campaign also hinted at the world of tomorrow, much like the “Stratos” project from Red Bull, by featuring augmented reality glasses that are currently in development.

4. Nike

Nike’s success in producing popular video content has carried over from previous years. 18 campaigns netted the company 61 million new views. Over half of these views came from just the “Summer of Football” campaign. Each campaign also saw a rise in the average amount of viewers, indicating a complete increase in interest surrounding the brand and the content it is producing.

5. M&M’s

Mars Brands’ chocolate candy campaigns may have only come in fifth place, but they still beat out hundreds of other major companies by scoring nearly 50 million views this year. Nearly every view came from its popular Super Bowl campaign, “Just My Shell”.

In Buyer, Online Video Advertising, Video & Rich Media News, Video Marketing, Video Marketing Tools
permalink
comscore150

11 Billion Video Ads Were Watched In The United States Last Month

Ricardo —  November 22, 2012 — 1 Comment

Last week comScore release the latest of their monthly video reports (for the United States) and not suprise there, big numbers for online video. In particular, it matched the all-time high for video ads seen in June of this year, with 11 Billion.

But there are other noteworthy stats, let’s take a look at some of them:

  • 183 million U.S. Internet users watched online video (up from the previous month’s 181.5 million)
  • That represents 86 percent of the U.S. Internet audience
  • They watched more than 37 billion pieces of video content
  • The duration of the average online content video was 6.1 minutes
  • Video ad views reached nearly 11 billion (up 1.5 billion video ads seen, from last the previous month’s 9.5 billion)
  • Video ads the accounted for 22.6 percent of all videos viewed
  • The average online video ad was 0.4 minutes.
  • Google sites is champion once again in the top properties where videos were watched
  • And surprising the search giant lost its number one position in video ads deliered, to BrightRoll Video Network

videoadsproperties

Once again big numbers for online video in the US, and shows a consolidation of the market in this territory. It also shows that big players are also actively fighting for the upper spots in video ad delievering, which means they’ll be pushing them out more and more and so we’ll continue to see the video ads numbers reach new hights over the next year.

For the full comScore report, go here.

In Buyer, News, Online Video Advertising, Video & Rich Media News , , , ,
permalink
flixmaster_b

FlixMaster Expanding Tools For Interactivity With Sony Partnership

admin —  November 20, 2012 — 1 Comment

Video producers and editors are getting a new way to build interactive content whilst working with a small budget. FlixMaster is a new start-up that has developed a simple set of tools for adding options to any video. Anyone with basic editing skills can use the service to add branching options by organizing a variety of clips and linking them together. Viewers make choices to determine which clips are played. You can turn basic advertisements into adventures that everyone will want to explore.

FlixMaster offers a cloud-based service plan for any users that want to invest in an account, but they also recently created a new deal through a partnership with Sony Creative Software. Anyone that uses one of the Sony video editing programs can qualify for a discounted subscription with FlixMaster. These users will only pay $19.99 a month for up to 10 GB of storage. This deal has no limits on the number of projects you can create or the number of views allowed. Videos with interactivity will need to be hosted on the service for the branching features to function, but you can share it through any social media service or link to it from your website with an attractive thumbnail.

Linear videos can be fun to watch, but they aren’t as engaging as an interactive display that viewers can control. Adding the right options can make viewers more excited to watch your content. Other methods for creating this kind of content are difficult to learn and make it tricky to manage dozens of clips. FlixMaster allows you to drag and drop each section of the video and shows a visual representation of how the options link together. NBCUniversal used the service earlier this year to build an exciting prequel video adventure to promote the release of “Covert Affairs”.

Sony Creative Software chose FlixMaster for their interactive video partnership because they felt that the start-up was the easiest and most powerful option currently available. Companies can invest in an account to host all of their newest video projects. Content producers can also expand their offerings for clients by using the service to add interactivity as one of their skills. Anyone that wants to keep their videos fresh and exciting for viewers needs to look into the best way to making their visual content more engaging and compelling to visitors.

In Buyer, Creative, News, Online Video Advertising, Video & Rich Media, Video & Rich Media News, Video Marketing , , , ,
permalink