Consumers today are no longer watching video on just one platform but instead they do that everywhere, and marketers need to be prepared. Here are 10 tips to help you succeed in the brave new world of video convergence.
1. High Definition Matters
Video isn’t just for TV anymore, so it’s important you plan for your spots to be on all screens. 75% of TV at homes today is HD capable, and nearly all laptops and PCs can play HD. Even the latest tablets and smart phones are high resolution and designed for the HD experience, not to mention connected televisions. In an environment when files are transcoded for each publisher and broadcast format, you don’t want quality to stand in the way of a great viewing experience. If you’re not mastering and delivering your spots in HD, you’re already lagging behind. Quality matters!
2. Sharing Means Caring
We all know how expensive production can get, so why not maximize every spot produced and consider using it on all screens? A good ad campaign will not stop at just TV, or online only. And there’s no better way to ensure your spots are shared between media and creative teams across broadcast and digital, than by storing your masters in a digital asset management (DAM) platform. Besides easy sharing, these systems also ensure all spot metadata is available to all parties. And for global campaigns that need to customize and localize spots, it’s a requirement – not an option. From asset IDs to talent & usage rights, metadata transparency is a critical component of convergence and shouldn’t be overlooked.
3. 1,000,000+ Formats
The TV and online video ecosystems have their own unique set of video formats and standards — taking a broadcast master and streaming it online will not work. As online video publishers each comes with their own specifications, and broadcast and TV networks around the globe increasingly require totally different specifications, it’s imperative the conversion process start with the highest quality format and to work with a partner that knows and is certified across the board. Campaign management platforms that automatically convert your production masters into the right formats for TV and online ensure your spots always look the best on any screen, anywhere in the world without any headaches. But make sure your online videos are all identified by an Ad-ID code – all too often they’re not. Also, look for providers that have a variety of interactive video formats and flexible creative tools so you can offer the best experience for each type of screen. Interactive video has been shown to be nearly 10X as engaging as linear video ads.
4. Still site-serving? It may be costing you
Site-serving online video has the following consequences – inefficient, lack of control and very limited transparency No one has the time to deal with twenty different publishers at the same time, therefore marketers may want to consider engaging a third-party ad server to have control over the campaign from a single platform to save time, cost, and all the troubles of handling too many parties.
5. Where’s the Consumer?
When it comes to measuring multi-screen campaign, we need to look beyond online campaign ratings and take into consideration the cross platform ratings as well. This is so you can look for duplicated and unduplicated reach to provide insights into how your TV and online activities complement one another. Also, demand open APIs from your data providers so you can aggregate those sources and layer them on top of your campaign ratings to extract more meaningful insights. Set-top box data sources can be invaluable, but make sure you understand any differences that exist between those results and the media costs tabulated with industry standard currencies.
6. Optimize on the Fly
Make the most of your creative by optimizing your campaigns for effectiveness across TV and online. For online video, third party ad servers can give you a hand with campaign optimization. Have a video narrative that you want sequence? What about frequency tagging? Performance triggers across all your publishers? These techniques can all be employed to generate substantial lift in brand awareness and affinity. Online campaigns and engagement data can also be used to optimize broadcast campaigns. It’s simple to test spots at limited scale online and then use the results to aid the decision making process for broadcast and cable TV traffic.
7. Don’t Sell Dog Food to Cat People
This has to be one of the more imperative factors in advertising – relevancy and targeting the right group of audience. But to be relevant, you need both advanced targeting capabilities, either by program or audience, and a library of creative options. Program or content targeting is not as straightforward online as it is on TV, but it is possible. And for audience targeting, you don’t have to limit yourself to online. Most cable, satellite and IPTV providers all have addressable advertising solutions that can help you zero in on your target audience. When it comes to creating creative that caters to different audiences, make sure you have an agency at hand to build multiple versions of spots up front, or are using dynamic creative optimization technology to customize spots on the fly.
8. Go Global or Go Home
Convergence can be daunting, as we are talking about large scale campaigns spanning several countries and regions. But by accepting convergence, you are breaking down the media channels and geographic silos, and through that you have so much more to gain. Consistency and control over the brand message are just the tip of the iceberg. Workflows can now be streamlined and shared across offices. Various local brand teams can suddenly work together or share leanings and best practices. And data generated from every consumer interaction on every screen around the globe can be visualized and acted upon in real time. You don’t have to give up your local creative & marketing partners either – in fact it’s quite the opposite. You simply need to provide a common set of tools to empower them and everyone involved in the campaign to do what they do best.
9. Don’t Forget the Talent
Most digital agencies are not aware of the implications of using creative online that hasn’t been approved for use outside of broadcast. That can create unanticipated costs for marketers. In North America for example, talent management companies such as TEAM Services and Talent Partners are used by 98% of the marketers. By working with your talent payroll and management company, they will help to secure buyouts for content that will be used online.
10. This Screen, That Screen, Just Make Sure it Works
Finding a partner with the right capabilities, scale and reliability across both traditional TV and online is critical. It’s fundamental to have a common platform to tie in all the activities, whether your spots are produced for broadcast or online – on TV, desktop, tablet or smart phone – national or international. Point solutions for online video only go so far when they’re disconnected from the initial creative process and broadcast efforts. And broadcast solutions without robust online targeting and optimization severely limit campaign potential. While these best practices can help you get started, the next step is to bring them all together.
