Blog

Archive for the ‘Video Web’ Category

Online Video, the TV Everywhere Buzzword & Where It’s Going

Monday, February 15th, 2010

Online video continues its seemingly never ending expansion. Now, it’s everywhere.

According to the latest NielsenWire report:

The number of unique viewers of online video increased 5.2% year-over-year according to The Nielsen Company, from 137.4 million unique viewers in January 2009 to 142.7 million in January 2010.

Among the top Web brands ranked by unique viewers in January, Disney Online was the fastest growing month-over-month, increasing 23.3%.

NBC Winter Olympics web screen (partial)As I discussed in the Tuesday, 2/16 edition of TheTVNews.tv (my New Media / New Marketing segment is at about 2:42), amongst the TV industry, the term “TV Everywhere” is starting to achieve such high visibility that it’s almost confusing. As you probably know, Comcast has attempted to own the term as a brand; but TV Everywhere really stands for much more.

I realized that this issue needed to be addressed when I saw it achieve TLA status. In case you don’t know the joke, TLA stands for three-letter acronym, and TV Everywhere is starting to be used so commonly that it’s starting to be referred to as TVE. Brightcove (see below) even has a product called TVE-SP or the TV Everywhere Solution Pack.

But before I say a few words about why I think Brightcove may be useful to some of you, I just have to say that TV Everywhere is becoming another “buzzword du jour.” So, be careful how you use it.

In the same way that terms  like “multimedia” and “digital video” in earlier eras were used as catch phrases that covered too much broad ground to be entirely useful, TV Everywhere is a similarly vague term. Bottom line, TV Everywhere refers to any video content creator’s attempt to publish its video content online, i.e. via the Internet, in addition to publishing said content via more traditional broadcasting and/or cable and/or DVD channels.

That said, we are seeing more and more of this kind of approach and this winter’s two premiere sporting events—the Winter Olympics via NBC and NCAA basketball’s “March Madness” via CBS—provide vivid illustrations of the online video / TV Everywhere trend, but with notable differences.

PaidContent.org’s Staci D. Kramer provides an excellent overview, dare I say “high level perspective” with her post, Vancouver 2010: Watching The ‘TV Everywhere’ Olympics From 30,000 Feet. Of course, video on the Internet also now means video on laptops on airplanes thanks to in-flight wi-fi. More importantly, it’s interesting to note NBC’s huge jumps of 350% in unique viewers and 700% in video streams since they put video of the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics on the web.

March Madness is even bigger in terms of unique visitors, and I like CBSSports.com’s more open approach better. Unlike NBC who is keeping all the video on one site, NBCOlympics.com, CBS and their “March Madness On-Demand” (MMOD) plays nice with the other web video kids by sharing its valuable video in a web-friendly way. Their approach is illuminated in this interview by Light Reading Cable with CBSSports.com’s Senior VP and General Manager, Jason Kint. Kint explains that CBS lets the likes of ESPN and YouTube link to it’s content. This not only spreads the wealth of this content and creates good will and increased visibility for CBS as “media host,” but it is also more progressive and aligned with what makes “the web go round” i.e. sharing content is good and ultimately better for media consumers. (That’s us!)

By way of additional perspective, I brought up Brightcove.com earlier for two reasons. First, because I value to views of Brightcove’s CEO, Jeremy Allaire. Mr. Allaire has been a web innovator since day 1, most notably leading the team at Macromedia that made the Flash platform that has become something of a web video standard today. If you want more perspective on TV Everywhere, I highly recommend Allaire’s Predictions for Online Video in 2010 (via AllThingsD.com) as well as TechCrunch’s coverage of Brightcove Wants To Take “TV Everywhere” Beyond Your Cable Company’s Video Website.

Secondly, for small enterprises and sole proprietors of all kinds, I recommend a YouTube channel as the fastest, easiest and least expensive way to aggregate your video clips (a.k.a. your content). But, for larger organizations and particularly TV industry folk like producers, cable networks and others who own their content, more sophisticated ways to publish it on the web is necessary. Online video publishers, for example need a feature set that includes the ability to embed your own advertising sales as well as other features. In this case, an online software platform like Brightcove delivers. Make sense?

Then, with the publishing platform in place, program distributors can get down to creating impactful social media marketing support and multi-screen cross-promotion for their programs. And, that’s just for openers.

In other words, the fun is just beginning. TV Everywhere is now and always. So if you are a significant creator of video content you better get with the TVE program ASAP.

Also, by way of reference, I’d like to share the following Brightcove promotional video. It’s just an FYI, and not because I was paid to post it… although I wouldn’t mind ;)

I hope this is useful, and as always, I look forward to your comments, feedback and suggestions. Thanks for reading.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in TV Industry, Video Web, online video, television, video, youtube | 1 Comment »

Talking to the TV… Industry

Friday, January 15th, 2010

I am very pleased to announce that I have joined the team at TheTVNews.tv as their New Media/New Marketing expert. The guest appearance in the show embedded below was handled via Skype, but I’ll be recording my weekly reports, starting Tuesday 1/26, with my new camera. These new media/new marketing reports will appear each and every Tuesday. And, because they will be stand-alone segments (not like this one), I’ll be able to post them directly to this blog.

The lead-in to my segment in this show begins at 3:19 with statistics on the explosive growth of online video consumption via a report by Nielsen Online. My segment proper begins at 4:00.

The full Nielsen report PDF, “The Shifting Media Landscape: Integrated Measurement in a Multi-Screen World” that I mentioned is available FREE via the link above or at the bottom of their page which discusses “Integrated Measurement and the Pathway to Internet Profitability.” While this page and the excellent report, in my humble opinion, is talking to Internet companies about a TV strategy, I found it equally relevant to use it as a strategic recommendation to TV industry players who want to leverage their media assets with an effective multi-screen strategy.

Of course, all of this is easier to say than to do and requires a significant long-term, risk-taking strategy to be truly effective. Just the same, I hope that my rec0nnection with the TV industry via this video show will yield some opportunities to use my expertise as well as my broadcast and cable industry experience to make a valuable contribution to the internet marketing and online media development efforts of some select TV industry clients.

If you are interested, please don’t hesitate to contact me. And, if you want to be updated whenever I post to this blog, including the upcoming New Media/New Marketing TheTVNews.tv segments, please use the “Subscribe via Email/RSS” links at the top of this post. Thanks!

I look forward to your comments and feedback.

Posted in TV Industry, Video Web, television, video, youtube | 1 Comment »

3 Leading Edge Video Clips Illuminate Next Gen Video Web

Sunday, October 4th, 2009

One benefit of my on-going back recovery is that I’m currently watching even more online video than usual. This weekend, I was delighted to discover a rich sampling of video clips that I found inspiring as well as informative. So, of course, I want to share the three carefully selected video clips embedded below with you, dear readers, blog commenters and tweet peeps.

I invented the term “Video Web” when I was writing for Videography magazine, and now that this particular dimension of the Web is expanding and improving in quality at an exponential rate, I find that it also just keeps getting better (at least by my subjective standards). I hope you will agree that these clips are exemplary of something good and that they also reflect some valuable trends and useful models. But, even more importantly, I think that each of them also delivers actionable, leading edge information (at least for some of you).

1. “RIP: A Remix Manifesto,” A Mashup Culture Flick with a Message
The first clip is a trailer for an independent feature film, RIP: A Remix Manifesto being distributed via the Web as well as in theaters, Internet cafes and at film festivals. Being a strong believer in the importance of freedom around the controversial issues of digital rights, I was so inspired by the content I saw in the trailer and on the producer’s other sites, I coughed up $5 (optional) and downloaded the whole movie. (This was a first for me.) It’s really well done. It’s as clear as anything I’ve seen—certainly at this length—in illuminating these important rights issues. And, because of its real world examples (most notably the mashup performing artist, Girl Talk), this movie authentically walks its talk on many levels. Highly recommended!

2. Leo Laporte Explains Successful Webcasting with Transparency
Personally, I admit to not being a fan of podcasting pioneer and former TechTV host, Leo Laporte; however, for obvious reasons, Mashable’s headline, “Leo Laporte Makes $1.5 Million Per Year from Podcasting” caught my eye. And then, as I started listening to the 40-minute conference talk below, I was impressed by not only the success of the Twit.tv entrepreneur, but by his willingness to share pretty much everything he knows about what’s working and what’s not working in the world of Net video advertising and more. He also frankly shares his experiences as he has made the migration from failed broadcaster willing to call an idiot an “idiot” and a stupid business model “stupid,” to someone who has built a viable online “netcasting” business that is reportedly doubling every year. Laporte has really been there and done that, and he’s not afraid to tell you what he knows. I like that.

3. Epipheo Creates Viral Wave Explaining Google Wave
Clear, concise video clips that explain technology with under-stated style are quite close to my heart. If you don’t know, Google Wave is a “next big thing” groupware, collaborative platform currently in “limited beta” at Google. Amongst the technorati, there’s quite a buzz. Even Business Week thinks it could be big. Enter the video clip below, “What is Google Wave?” from Epipheo Studios. This clip was just released a few days ago and I have personally watched it go from about 150K views to over 200K views on YouTube in the last 24 hours (as of Sunday night, 10/4). Watch it. I think you might learn something worth knowing, at least if you’re interested in the leading edge of online collaboration; and, for sure, you’ll see a neat, short video clip that tells its story well. A tip of my virtual hat to you, epipheo guys. :)

I look forward to your comments. Thanks!

Posted in Video Web, film, user generated video, video, youtube | 1 Comment »