According to eMarketer, the average U.S. adult now spends 105 minutes each day watching digital video, up from just 39 minutes in 2011, and in terms of quantity more video content is uploaded in an average 30 day period than all three major US TV networks combined have created in 30 years.
While it’s great to see the uptick in viewership, the sheer quantity of content created is staggering. So how do you produce content that stands out, makes an impact and drives some type of measurable result or ROI for your business?
Video has gradually become a go-to marketing tactic. B2B marketers now use it almost as much as e-books, per CMI’s 2017 Content Marketing Benchmarks report. (Sixty percent of B2C marketers use it as well). Let’s turn our attention to the start-up world and uncover some new, and some not-so-new potential tools to that might transform or inform your video strategy as you plan for 2018.
Produce:
Life is not a linear story so why should our content be forced to conform to this model. Revolutionary new platforms like Verse allows creators to produce interactive 360 video, insert hotspots, multimedia slideshows and even real-time Q&As. This immersive experience can create the engagement you need to drive measurable ROI in the video space. For those in the publishing world, Wibbitz offers an AI-powered solution that reduces production time by 80-90 percent through automated video creation. This includes brand customization and strategies and tactics addressing ad revenue and distribution.
Test:
If you’re looking for some reassurance prior to the release of your content, try YouFirst, where you can pre-test video content on a sample audience of 30-people for a cost of just $59 per minute. The company has also developed an AI powered system that detects human emotions from viewers faces while watching the tested video.
Distribute:
Once you are sufficiently satisfied with your content, distribution is the next hurdle. TradeCast is the only end to end SaaS solution that enables you to manage, distribute and monetize your content. Founded in the Netherlands, and opening in LA, this platform focuses on sports, broadcasters, entrepreneurs and small business owners. If you are looking to launch content and scale quickly, dotstudioPRO recently worked with the Minnesota Vikings to launch in four week on three platforms prior to the 2017-2018 season.
Engage and Measure:
From a strategic point of view “spray and pray” arguably should not be your focus. For a true 1:1 personalized experience, cogniK’s platform garners an average lift of 15 percent and provides a solution that goes down to the user level. Leveraging what they call RaaS or recommendation as a service, their solutions include discovery, personalized search and automated tagging.
Lastly Data + Math provides the broadcast and publishing industry with multi-touch attribution that helps combat last click attribution. Understand the customer journey that ultimately drives a purchase decision. The firm believes that too much credit is given to the Google and Facebook duopoly and their goal is to help markers measure the true impact of their TV and video advertising.
This is a whirlwind for sure, but make no mistake that the video landscape is rapidly changing, and from HearstLab to Silicon Valley there is a community of early stage companies rapidly transforming the landscape, so keep an eye on this space.