VideoNuze Posts

I continue to be surprised that more long-form premium content providers have not pursued initiatives to slice and dice their programs into a non-linear user presentation. This is what "The Daily Show" has done at its site, deconstructing every episode into searchable clips. I think it's a big opportunity to drive more fan engagement, new ad inventory and provide insight about new programming ideas.

While this idea is a natural for archived sports and news programming, I think the model applies to scripted programs as well. Here's an example:

As I've written before, my wife and I were huge fans of "The West Wing" during its seven-year run on NBC. While we now own the full DVD collection, periodically I'll talk to someone about the show and reminisce about a specific moment from years back. (In fact, TWW seems cosmically related to the current election cycle, given the show's last narrative around 2 candidates - one younger and one older - battling to succeed Bartlet.) This spurs many of those, "boy, I'd love to see that scene right now!" moments.

So wouldn't it be awesome if NBC or Warner Bros. (its producer), or whoever has the rights, were to create a site where all the episodes were archived and fully indexed for searching? This would go far beyond the show's current lame-o web site. I could type in "Bartlet speeches," "Josh meltdowns" or even "C.J.-Danny fights" and instantly see collections of relevant clips.

Before you accuse me of being geeky, stop and consider that we all have our favorite programs and love to relive memorable lines and moments. I'd argue that a really vibrant community could be built at these sites, attracting traditional advertisers eager to continue their audience relationships. Then of course there's the opportunity to embed clips into Facebook and MySpace pages, extending the community further. And think about what this ongoing loyalty would do to drive up the value of broadcast syndication rights.

The big challenge here is indexing the archive. The process must rely heavily on accurate metadata generation, but in a highly scalable, cost-effective manner. That's a mouthful of requirements, so clearly this isn't easy stuff. Various players are trying to crack this nut; two which I've previously written about are Gotuit (which is announcing a partnership with Move Networks today) and EveryZing, but there are others too. Recently I've had briefings with 2 companies that are investing in this area and will have news in the coming months.

Long-from premium providers are facing an onslaught of competition from short-form alternatives while also commonly experiencing a shortage of available inventory. Non-linear presentations of their content addresses both these issues, while delighting loyal fans. I see this as an emerging and sizable opportunity.

Am I missing something here? Post a comment now!

I participated in a great webinar on the syndicated video economy yesterday, along with Greg Clayman, EVP Digital Distribution and Biz Dev at MTV Networks and Suzanne Johnson, Senior Industry Marketing Manager at Akamai Technologies.

The three presentations were very complimentary: I laid out the framework of the syndicated video economy, Greg provided tangible examples of how MTV's capitalizing on it, and Suzanne addressed how Akamai is helping enable it. We had a huge audience and lots of great follow-up questions. If you're interested in content syndication, I highly recommend listening in.

The webinar is available for replay by clicking here

(Note if you previously registered, you should have an email from "Digitally Speaking" which gives you details of how to access the webinar, so you don't have to re-register)

Citysearch, the big online local information company, is making an aggressive push into video. The company is currently running a new promotion which allows its merchants to have a complimentary video made for them, which enhances their Citysearch listing, and can also be used on their own web site and on YouTube.

I'm always on the lookout for ways video can drive more revenue, and Citysearch's effort (originally begun in early '07) qualifies on at least two levels. First, it's a valuable enhancement to Citysearch's pay-for-performance ad model, increasing the ARPU the company derives from its merchants. Second, it appears to be a bona fide differentiator for merchants in helping them attract new business. And of course it helps deliver on users' growing expectations for video experiences.

Last week I spoke with Brian McCarthy, Citysearch's VP of Merchant Product to learn more about how the program works. I also spoke to Marc Edward, who runs Marc Edward Skincare in West Hollywood, CA, which is a merchant that's been offering video in its Citysearch listing for over a year.

Under the current promotion, Citysearch will make a 60-90 second video for its merchants for no cost to them. Citysearch has partnered with 3 production firms, TurnHere, StudioNow and GeoBeats to produce the video, which Brian said cost under $1,000 apiece. The merchant is involved in the editing process and then the video is added to the merchant's listing. When a user watches the video for at least 10 seconds, the merchant is charged a fee ranging from $.40 to $2.00, as part of Citysearch's "multimedia package."

Back on July 22nd I passed on news from comScore that YuMe had broken into the top 10 ad networks, reaching almost 135 million unique visitors in June. Not so fast it turns out. As reported well by both NewTeeVee and Online Media Daily over the few days, comScore has quietly revised YuMe's reach down to 59.2 million uniques, which would actually land it at number 32 on comScore's June Ad Focus report.

The change results from re-assigning some traffic from major YuMe client MSN. comScore had given YuMe credit for all of MSN's page views, when in fact YuMe was only serving ads on certain sections of the portal. So comScore has decided it's more accurate to give YuMe credit solely for those pages.

Needless to say, YuMe is not happy about the change and is protesting the new numbers. Its argument is that with comScore's revised approach, YuMe traffic is being counted differently than all other ad networks. For now it continues to prominently showcase the original comScore numbers on its home page. YuMe seems determined to see a revision to the revision, so we'll all have to see what comScore does next.

There are many posts on VideoNuze about the various ad networks and how they seek to differentiate from each other. Traffic is certainly one of the key battlegrounds, so it's no surprise this skirmish has broken out over the comScore numbers. One is tempted to feel some sympathy for media buyers...if the measurement firms haven't yet figured out how to accurately count the networks' relevant traffic, how are the agencies expected to buy on behalf of their clients?

Click here to register

As many of you know, there are countless early stage and established broadband video-related companies in the Boston area. For a while I've been eager to get this community together to mix it up. VideoSchmooze will be a premier opportunity for executives, entrepreneurs, investors and other decision-makers to meet up and swap ideas. And yes - out-of-towners are welcome!

VideoSchmooze is generously underwritten by Flybridge Capital Partners, Atlas Venture, Goodwin Procter and Silicon Valley Bank.

In case you missed it, last Friday the FCC took the unprecedented step of sanctioning Comcast for what it considered unreasonable network management policies. Before you deem this "inside-the-beltway" bureaucratic wrangling and click away to your next piece of business, I suggest you take a moment to consider the broad-reaching implications of the FCC's action, and how they will undoubtedly affect you and your video business long-term.

(If you'd really like to dig in, the FCC commissioners' opinions are here)

There has been a lot written about what precipitated the FCC's action, so I won't restate all the gory details here. Very briefly, last Fall formal complaints were filed with the FCC alleging that Comcast treated certain of its broadband subscribers' use of BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer (P2P) application, in a discriminatory manner vis-a-vis other network traffic.

After collecting comments and taking testimony from experts, the FCC concluded (with its Republican chairman leading the charge) to sanction, but not fine, Comcast for its actions. Importantly, it also stipulated that Comcast has to submit its network management plans to the FCC going forward, effectively anointing the FCC as the nation's new broadband network management czar.

I submit that for those in the broadband video industry, nothing good will come from the FCC's action. The FCC and other governmental bodies are understaffed and ill-equipped to be making highly technical network management decisions. The FCC's decree may well usher in an era of confusion and sclerotic decision-making, forcing broadband ISPs to curtail network investments at exactly the time when they need to be increasing their spending to enable more video traffic to flow.

It is worth noting that the Internet's periodic growing pains have been overcome not by the government stepping in, but by the government stepping away. This surely seems counter-intuitive to regulatory traditionalists. But it works because the ethos of the Internet's technical community is by and large collaborative and forward-looking. Supplanting that spirit with litigious, bureaucratic sprawl benefits nobody. In saying all this, I'm guided by pragmatism, not political bias.

Though we all want to be able to use the Internet free from any interference, the problem is that the Internet is still a wild west of sorts, where lawless and lawful behavior can be heavily intertwined. P2P is a perfect example. While legal (when used appropriately), its use can wreak havoc for other users and for network operators. Previously, there were no clear rules about how operators should respond when a handful of P2P users swamp the network. The Comcast sanction doesn't change that, it just puts the FCC in the position of judging, case-by-case the reasonableness of the network operator's containment actions.

Happy Friday and welcome to August. Recapping another busy month, here are 3 key topics from July:

1. Skyrocketing video consumption has a downside, just ask the broadband ISPs

This month I touched on the growing problem of broadband ISPs' networks getting overwhelmed by broadband's surging usage. In "Video Usage is Creating a Hairball for Broadband ISPs, Others," I reviewed the issue and solutions ISPs are implementing. To get a sense of why the bandwidth problem is only going to intensify, slides were offered in "Broadband Video Drives Cisco's Zettabyte Forecast."

Two posts provided evidence of how consumption surging is at both ends of the duration spectrum (See "Longer-Form Live Streaming Events Get Traction" and "New Magid Survey: Short-Form Dominates Online Video Consumption and Hurts TV Viewership"). ISPs are scrambling to deal with all this, yet they are constrained in their options by fulminating regulators net neutrality-seeking free-speechers. Just ask Comcast, which today faces a sanction from the FCC for its network management practices. Bandwidth problems are only going to grow over time, requiring all constituencies to work together toward productive solutions.

2. Brand marketers continue to embrace broadband opportunities

What do marketers like Baby Ruth, McDonald's, Klondike, Kmart, Sears, Virgin Mobile and others have in common? They all launched user-generated video contests in July, aiming to engage their audiences in new and creative ways. Meanwhile, what do Hewlett Packard, Sierra Mist, Southern Comfort, Revlon, Unilever, GMC, Home Depot, Red Bull and others have in common? They all announced or launched original broadband video shows (often with partners) during the month. All are chronicled in VideoNuze's news roundup section for brands.

3. Syndication continues to gain ground

In July I also continued chronicling the concept of the Syndicated Video Economy, which I introduced last March. This is a key trend, with multiple dimensions. Just yesterday, in "Dispatch from the Syndicated Video Economy's Front Line" I recapped a panel I moderated on Wednesday, in which four industry executives detailed key SVE opportunities and challenges.

Various forms of syndication are being embraced, as illustrated in two additional posts, "Google, Others Syndicating Video Into the Long Tail" and "EgoTV, Clearspring Show How Widgets Successfully Distribute Video." Mobile is yet another syndication front in the offing. "Azuki Systems is Poised to Ignite Mobile Video" provided a glimpse of how both content providers and users may soon turbo-charge syndication using mobile devices. Based on several briefings I've had in the last two weeks, I'm able to say there's plenty more exciting syndication news coming shortly.

That's it for July. If you want to see a list of all the month's posts, they're available here. See you on Monday!

Yesterday I moderated a panel at the NATPE LATV Festival Digital Day entitled, "The Syndicated Video Economy: Expanding Broadband's Reach." The Syndicated Video Economy or SVE, is a concept I introduced back in March, to help articulate the trend toward widespread video distribution online, and the ecosystem of companies facilitating it.

The session was a unique opportunity to hear from four executives whose companies are very much on the front line of the trend toward syndication. They shared many insights based on their experiences, and I thought it would be worth passing on a synopsis of these today.

The four panelists were:

• Greg Clayman, EVP, Digital Distribution and Business Development, MTV Networks
• John Fitzpatrick, Director of Business Development, blip.tv
• Jonathan Leess, President and General Manager, Digital Media Group, CBS Television Stations
• Brian Shin, Founder and CEO, Visible Measures

Here are four key takeaways:

1. Syndication is required to capitalize on the significant fragmentation of online audiences. John summed this up well, suggesting that content creators need to think in terms of their "total potential audience," not just viewers that may come to their web sites. Particularly for established media companies, steeped in traditional destination-oriented, "must-see" mind-sets, this is a crucial point of adaptation to the online world. Jonathan's group gets this, as he reported 60% of its 25 million monthly are already coming from third parties.

2. Syndication is operationally complex. Jonathan made the point that, for all of syndication's appeal, it poses daunting tactical challenges, particularly with an "always-on" news gathering/dissemination ethos. Challenges he cited include integrating video players with partners' sites, implementing ad management across heterogeneous environments, distributing content correctly and promptly, measuring results and honoring financial obligations. Until the ecosystem of companies enabling the SVE significantly matures, scaling the model will cause ample headaches.

3. Retaining full control of advertising sales is crucial. While the SVE opens up new audiences, Greg reminded us that nobody is better equipped to sell MTV's inventory - wherever it may be generated - than MTV's own sales team. This is one of the reasons content providers seek to syndicate not just their video, but also their player as well. Jonathan echoed this point from the local perspective. Lack of tight advertising control leads to chaos for media buyers and sub-optimization of pricing. A bonus, as John pointed out, is that distributors will often be happy to just collect their revenue-sharing checks and not have to sell themselves.

4. Analytics are the ultimate key to fully exploiting the SVE. While traditional web analytics have focused on on-site performance, SVE analytics must encompass video performance over many distribution points. Brian noted that making sense of how a video performs in varying environments - and then adjusting ongoing syndication strategies accordingly - is necessary to optimize viewership across the total audience. Inevitably viewership and engagement will vary by distributor. Collecting, understanding and acting on the data optimizes syndication and monetization.

Ok, that's a mouthful. Like the panelists I remain optimistic about the SVE's potential, but I'm also clear-eyed about the challenges the SVE raises. I'll continue to track its progress and share findings.

What do you think? Post a comment now!