Jeremy Liew shared some data this spring that indicates that online video ad CPMs will probably have to come down.  Right now, online video ads sell for almost four times the CPM of television ads!  (Online video ads cost $25 to $35, while television commercials sell for $6 to $10).

While the data are interesting, the picture is more complicated than the headline numbers indicate.  I doubt that the average online video placement costs 4x the equivalent TV buy.

First, these averages are not apples-to-apples comparisons.  The $25 to $35 headline CPM for online video is based on rate cards from premium properties with limited high-quality inventory.  The reality is that there’s lots of “dark fiber” out there — lower quality video inventory that remains unsold.  As the market grows and as advertisers get more comfortable with ROI-based video advertising (rather than prestige buys), you’ll see the market fill out with cheaper video ad placements.

Second, the online CPM data is highly suspect.  eMarketer’s source data about online advertising rates relies on rate cards and analyst estimates — but I can guarantee you that buyers are getting significant discounts off rack rates.  Moreover even the analysts recognize that they’re grasping at straws:

“It is all over the place,” said Rino Scanzoni of GroupM in a MediaPost article.  “It is very hard to say this is what the average is. The average is made up of some big, big swings, depending on what you are buying.”

Filed under: market size, online advertising, video, video campaign | No Comments »

Should your clothes come with instructions?  American Apparel thinks so.

American Apparel has launched its new “Le Sac Dress” with the pitch that you can wear it twelve different ways.  So they’re using a series of product videos to demonstrate how to wear “Le Sac”.  Interestingly, they’re also posting their fashion apparel videos to YouTube to promote the line.

It’s a great concept, and very helpful to consumers.  And American Apparel is smart to use this video content as a promotional tool.  There’s room for improvement (faster pacing on the videos, better playlist indexing, larger or zoomable video, improved seek within videos, etc) but clearly even this basic step is enormously helpful to the new product line.

Filed under: YouTube, ecommerce, effective online video, online advertising, product demo, product video, video | No Comments »

Following up on yesterday’s post… perhaps the most valuable insight in Forrester Research’s report “Five Rules To Drive Video Traffic” (provided by Ooyala at that link) is their commentary on the key elements of a successful video strategy.  I couldn’t agree more with the authors’ notes — it’s absolutely critical to set goals, identify your audience, and create process.  Excerpts from the report:

Creating a video strategy involves:

• Setting goals. Too often, technology is implemented for the sake of technology. Whether increasing advertising revenue, decreasing customer service costs, or driving brand awareness, video must tie back to a greater organizational or campaign goal. Goals should then map back to video metrics — such as views, revenue, comments, or uploads — that are continuously tracked, reviewed, and revised.
• Identifying the target audience. Identifying the target audience is a key step in creating the right type of video content for your goals. In selecting an audience, organizations should be cognizant of, but not beholden to, the stereotype that heavy video consumers are young and male. Large populations of females and adults are being underserved and represent key demographics to target. Lastly, product professionals should make sure video content is linked to the core brand message and audience — efforts to seem to young or luxurious will come off as unauthentic and often result in user backlash.
• Developing processes. Video is not a one-time investment — consumers expect updates to video libraries and innovation around the experience. Organizations must establish ongoing budget, headcount, and processes for video. Organizations where video technology is not a core competency — such as marketers — should evaluate a build/buy decision with video platforms such as Brightcove, Ooyala, and Permission TV.

Filed under: effective online video | 1 Comment »

Forrester Research published a nice little report this spring called “Five Rules To Drive Video Traffic” (authored by by Bobby Tulsiani
with Mark Mulligan and Laura Wiramihardja).  Our friends at Ooyala are making this report available here.  There’s no “rocket science” in the report, but it does provide a nice review of basic best practices.  A quick summary of Tusliani’s conclusions:

1. Optimize video for search
2. Distribute video across the Web
3. Add context to the video on the Web page
4. Reduce video load time
5. Enable video sharing

Filed under: effective online video | 1 Comment »

We all know that Search dominates online advertising.  Today’s Wall Street Journal (while discussing Yahoo’s business prospects) provides some statistical illumination:

People spend 34% of their media time online, compared with 35% watching TV, according to a recent study by Forrester Research. But TV’s percentage of ad spending is 31%, while the Internet draws only 12%—of which paid-search advertising is close to half.

Brand.net, an ad firm, estimates that only 5% of brand-focused advertising dollars has moved online, compared to 30% of direct-response ad dollars. Changing that requires better performance measures for display ads and better targeting for specific demographic groups. Standardized formats for video ads would be helpful, too.

Filed under: online advertising | No Comments »

Christine Beardsell shares her thoughts on the potential of online video as a creative medium in a new ClickZ article.  (Hat tip to Justin Foster for the reference!).  Christine’s post is thoughtful, insightful, and surprising.  Some of her conclusions:

• Picture Quality is less important than you think.  In fact, Christine argues that informal video can be better than high production values:

a handheld flip camera or phone now adds a new dimension to the relationship between the video product and the person. It adds a feeling of intimacy, real-time discovery, and inclusion — qualities that help break down the walls between images and the viewer. The content is more approachable and brings the user into the conversation more readily, whereas high definition has a tendency to psychologically create an extra wall between the content and viewer.

• Storytelling is critical, but this new medium allows far more creativity in our stories:

it’s no longer just about shaping the perfect trajectory: story, conflict, and conclusion. Somewhere in between the creation of reality television and the first online video blog, storytelling forever broke through the fourth wall: fiction and non-fiction interweave, real-time communication tools allow for constant connection and influence within a story, and co-development, mashups, and game play lead to endless interpretations and re-inventions of a story.

• Audience is no longer a vague concept:

Today, the fact that we can collect data about the online audiences watching video is even more of a reason to assess the quality of video by the audience attached to it…  Being able to effectively target and motivate an audience is just as much a critical part in defining the quality of a video. The ability to connect people and to spark communication is a capability that surpasses the surface value of the highly produced film and television shows of yesteryear.

Filed under: effective online video, online advertising, video | No Comments »

Thanks to Teri & crew for putting together a very interesting panel at Saturday’s “Propville Dog & Pony Show“!   Fellow panelists Mark Rutherford and Jon Felix joined me for the morning session.  We discussed the business and creative implications of the emerging intersection between photography and videography.

It’s clear that photographic cameras are colliding with video cameras, in a very “Innovator’s Dilemma” way.  There was much talk about how the Canon 5D can now shoot very high-quality video.  (From the other direction, the Red video camera shoots excellent stills).  Bottom line — the artificial line between photographers and videographers is blurring.  My takeaway for the creative professional is, as always, to think beyond the tools.  Today you can practice your craft more easily, and in more ways, than ever before.  So focus on your craft as an imagemaker and don’t bind yourself into the strict definitions imposed by yesterday’s technology.  Given the increasing competition that will inevitably continue, it’s time to emphasize your creative talent rather than your ability to operate a specific tool.

Ellis Au put together a lovely photo journal of the day (thanks Ellis!).

Photo credit: Ellis Au

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Hey folks, quick note — I (Raj Gajwani) will be representing SilverDock on a panel called “Motion Meets Print: When Worlds Collide“.  It’s part of Propville Directory’s Dog & Pony Show to be held on Saturday July 25th.  If you’re in the Bay Area and interested in the digital imaging world, come by and check it out!

Filed under: product video, video | No Comments »

I’m at the Video Commerce Summit in Seattle today.  Big props to the Liveclicker.com team for putting together a great event.  And many thanks to the panelists on the session I moderated — Peter Cobb of eBags, Jimmy Healey from OnlineShoes.com, and Craig Bokesch from Altrec.com.

It’s been a packed day with lots of insights.  My seat-neighbor (Jordan from REI) commented that this conference feels a bit like an eCommerce conference in 1997 — very true.  These are early days and the early adopters are experimenting all over the place.  Results seem universally positive, often shockingly profitable.

Surprisingly, there’s a lot of negativity about YouTube as a distribution channel. Craig from Altrec commented that Google’s Universal Search can cause your YouTube videos to rank higher than your own product pages — which sucks because YouTube offers no good way to funnel traffic to your site.  The consensus is that YouTube has marginal utility for the online retailer.

Filed under: effective online video | 1 Comment »

Our friends at LiveClicker are putting together a “Video Commerce Summit.” The one-day summit takes place on Tuesday June 2nd in Seattle (plus an opening reception at Safeco Field the night before).

I’m exited to see this purpose-built event come together.  While everyone knows that online video is a big deal for e-commerce, the massive retail conferences really only skim the surface.  The devil — and the money — is in the details.  That’s why a dedicated full-day seminar, with credible speakers and participants, is such a great idea.  As I write this, the summit’s attendee list is diverse and impressive.  It’s going to be a fun group, and together we’re going to push the envelope a little.

The summit agenda is packed with timely sessions, and I’m pleased to be moderating a morning panel with video innovators from eBags.com, Altrec.com, and OnlineShoes.com.  The agenda will cover topics including:

• How the web’s most innovative online retailers develop winning video content strategies
• Cutting costs by applying scarce video production resources effectively
• Video merchandising tips & tricks from the pros
• Proving the business case while breaking knowledge & organizational barriers
• Profiting from video SEO, affiliate video, video email, and on-site video alike
• How video acts as the lifeblood of profitable social media strategies

There’s some tasty icing on this cake, too… a private-suite opening reception at Safeco Field to watch the Mariners play the Orioles.

For more info, visit the Video Commerce Summit website. Attendance is limited to 50 qualified participants (as of today, I believe there are a few spots still available).

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Smart advertisers know that commercials are ENTERTAINMENT, not interruptions.  Our job is to engage, amuse, and/or inform the viewer of an ad.

Now researchers have deduced that people enjoy watching TV shows MORE with commercials than without commercials. Excerpts from the NYT article:

In two new studies, researchers who study consumer behavior argue that interrupting an experience, whether dreary or pleasant, can make it significantly more intense.

“The punch line is that commercials make TV programs more enjoyable to watch. Even bad commercials,” said Leif Nelson, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of California, San Diego, and a co-author of the new research. “When I tell people this, they just kind of stare at me, in disbelief. The findings are simultaneously implausible and empirically coherent.”

“The reason this happens, we argue, is that we tend to adapt to a variety of experiences, as they’re happening,” Dr. Nelson said. “Listening to a song, watching a TV program, having a massage: these all start out very enjoyable, and within a few minutes we get used to it. Interruptions break that up.”

Apparently the effect works for other pleasureable experiences, too — even a massage is more enjoyable if it’s interrupted!

Filed under: effective online video, strategy | No Comments »

This has been a long time coming, but it’s starting to happen…. video in SERPs!  This is a big deal to the direct-response advertiser (i.e. most online advertisers).

Yahoo Shows Search Ads with Images and Video (NYT).  Excerpts from the pre-announcement:

Yahoo is introducing a new type of search advertising that integrates images and video in paid listings, the company plans to announce Thursday.

“It moves the advertising experience from just the blue links, to a more engaging experience for advertisers,” said Tim Mayer, the vice president for search monetization and distribution at Yahoo.

“Video is always more powerful than just words on the page,” said John Anton, the marketing director at Pedigree. “It’s definitely compelling to us to have options like this, where, when you type in ‘Pedigree,’ you get more than just the words, you get the video itself.”

According to Yahoo, some advertisers in the pilot program saw an improvement by as much as 25 percent in click-through rates. Karin Blake, the senior search manager at the ad agency Razorfish, who tested the offering for some of her clients, saw slightly less significant results: she said her clients had a 5 to 10 percent increase in click-through rates compared with a regular text ad.

Filed under: online advertising, video | 2 Comments »

PermissionTV has released a survey on how marketers and agencies are planning to use online video in 2009.   By now, no one should be surprised by the results — everyone’s doing a LOT more online video in 2009.  In fact 77% of the respondents say that video will be “an important strategic initiative” this year.

Interestingly, traditional agencies and many digital agencies are not completely confident in their video competency.  That’s not surprising given the new challenges and skill-sets required for effective online video campaigns.  SilverDock did a record amount of business with agency partners in 2008; based on these results, we expect even more collaboration in the coming year.

Some highlights from the survey report:

• More than two thirds of respondents (67%) identified online video as a primary focus of their 2009 digital marketing campaigns.
• In Q2 of 2009, more than half (52%) of respondents expect to be implementing or extending an online video project, whereas currently less than one-third (32%) are doing so.
• A majority of respondents (63%) are most likely to invest in a branded content/video destination next year.
• Nearly 60% of respondents consider interactive video experiences to be the next evolution for online video.
• When asked how online video will enhance customer engagement, a vast majority (71%) stated it would help build brand awareness.

Filed under: marketing, online advertising, strategy, video, video campaign | 1 Comment »

SilverDock is increasingly creating videos for online marketing and online advertising campaigns (in addition to classic retail product videos).  It’s a hot trend that more and more online marketers are jumping on.

A recent MediaPost Insider article discusses the why’s and how’s of using online video for marketing and advertising.  In “Maximizing Online Campaigns with Video”, author David Rich outlines the bottom line for marketers:

Benefits of this New Production Model

Branding and Direct Response - Online video combines the emotional branding aspects of television and the direct-response attributes of the Web.  A recent Kelsey Group study found 55% of people who view a video visit the company’s Web site; 30% visit a physical store; and 24% make a purchase as a result of watching.

Affordability Doesn’t Impact Quality - This new production model doesn’t mean compromising brand standards.  High production values free marketers from the worry of poor-quality content that compromises the brand. Marketers can provide overall direction and creative input while these production network managers handle details like releases and quality control.

Testing and Targeting - Affordable production costs allow for testing video content and targeting different audiences.  Marketers aren’t forced to target the biggest pool of eyeballs with generic brand messages.  Instead, they can highlight multiple brand attributes that resonate with smaller niche audiences found online.

David Rich also points out that it’s important to design your video campaign for the needs of Internet users:

the Internet is a “lean forward” medium where people are actively seeking out information and don’t waste time on irrelevant items.  This requires marketers to deliver information in a way that engages and meets users’ needs, all on their terms. To thrive in this new environment, marketers must create video that:

• Is original and authentic
• Entertains and engages
• Meets audience needs
• Provides a path to learn more and share the experience

Filed under: effective online video, marketing, online advertising, strategy, video, video campaign | No Comments »

43.3% of Internet Retailers surveyed this past fall say that they plan to add “Video or Streaming Media” to their sites.  This makes video the #1 new site feature — above personalization, alternate views, reviews, product configuration, and a host of other desirable features.  As the online shopper becomes more sophisticated, and as everyone adds the “me too” features, video is the next exciting feature that retailers are using to “WOW” shoppers, win sales, and stand out from the noise.

This chart is based on an Internet Retailer study, conducted by Knowledge Marketing and reported by eMarketer. The eMarketer report includes lots of useful charts and data.  For more information, see eMarketer’s article or report, called “Video Usage in eCommerce: The Best is Yet to Come”.

Filed under: ecommerce, effective online video, online retail, product video, retail, video | No Comments »