Ένα βήμα πίσω, τρία βήματα εμπρός είναι η εξέλιξη στο «χρηματιστήριο» του online video. Το κείμενο που ακολουθεί («δανεισμένο» από την Edelman) τα εξηγεί «με το ν και το σ».Last week, U.S. brewing company Anheuser-Busch announced they would pull the plug on its online video channel, Bud.TV, the Web site they spent $15 million to launch following the 2007 Super Bowl. Bud.TV, one of the boldest but least successful online video plays by a major brand, was intended to be a video portal for original, unbranded, reality-like programming. According to Advertising Age, the Web site was killed after the cost, effort and focus required to produce original content for the Web became too much for the brand to maintain. But after two years of overall growth in online video viewership, were there other reasons why the video portal failed? This week’s Friday5 explores lessons learned from the efforts of Bud.TV and also new companies and tools that have recently emerged to help navigate the video landscape.
1. According to eMarketer, U.S. online video viewers grew to almost 75 percent of the total Internet population between November 2007 and November 2008—up more than one-third from around the time Bud.TV was launched. Unfortunately—and even with the explosive growth of online video viewership—Bud.TV failed to connect with audiences. Recent studies by Cisco Systems report that online video viewers are expected to grow to as much as 90 percent of the total Internet population by 2012. Will this recent failure compounded by the looming recession have an impact on the future of online video advertising?
2. Since advances in new technologies and the explosion of sites like YouTube have given everyone comparable production and video distribution capabilities, one of the biggest variables for online video will always be consumers. Although Anheuser-Busch hoped for upwards of 2 million unique visitors per month, one of the criticisms of Bud.TV is that they failed to attract an audience. According to the Huffington Post, other large brands have successfully generated over half a million video views with positive and immediate engagement by partnering with video performers who have an extensive base of fans that subscribe to their videos on a regular basis. Since the beginning of online video and the launch of Bud.TV, this new realm of talent has naturally emerged to engage audiences—and keep them.
3. Although Bud.TV was groundbreaking in 2007, online video is no longer experimental and the information for empowered online video use exists. Bloggers like Alan Lastufka of ViralVideoWannabe.com, and co-author of the book, “YouTube: An Insider’s Guide to Climbing the Charts,” provides readers with daily tips about how to improve the success of their videos. And Kevin Knalty, career marketer by day and “Nalts,” one of the most-viewed YouTube comedians at night, keeps readers up-to-date about the latest trends in online video over at his blog, WillVideoForFood.com.
4. Despite the collapse of Bud.TV, investments in online video content and advertising are still a good idea. Recently, ClickZ explained why online video will come out ahead – even during a recession and economic downturn. The outlook for digital and online video advertising remains positive as it has proven itself as a successful and measurable message-building medium. Even though traffic to Bud.TV was lower than expected, the average visitor to the site spent about seven minutes engaged with the content.
5. With online video, not only is optimization possible, free tools like YouTube Insights make it easy to view detailed statistics about video performance. Since YouTube Insights was released in 2008, it has allowed account managers to delve deeper into the lifecycle of videos, gain insights as to how long it takes for videos to become popular and to see what happens to viewership once popularity peaks. Other services, like Visible Measures, make video optimization even easier by allowing marketers to get detailed information about how audiences engage with online video. Similarly, companies like CRM Metrix can also clarify the impact of video located on your client’s Web site.
*photo via flickr*
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