It’s an exciting time in online video — the explosion of new services and vast consumer demand makes video an increasingly crucial tool in any publisher’s arsenal.
However, the economics of ad-supported video publishing are often too strained to enable healthy and growing media businesses.
Monetising video content has become more complex, rather than easier, which in turn impacts publisher profitability. Whether it’s platform fragmentation, broken ad-related user experiences, or fierce competition from the tech giants, there are many challenges to sustaining profitable growth — and we as an industry need to do something about it.
Changing the economics of high quality, professional content
Much like the IAB is actively championing various mandates to positively influence the future of digital advertising, Brightcove has zeroed in on reducing the cost and complexity of video delivery so that all media businesses can thrive (not just the top few).
This is why we created a manifesto for transforming the experience and economics of online video. In order to enable a wide range of media businesses to flourish, the manifesto hinges on three primary mandates for 2017:
- Dramatically improve the user experience publishers can deliver to their viewers
- Increase customers’ revenue potential from online video by as much as 50 percent
- Reduce the total cost of operations and delivery of online video by as much as 50 percent for our customers
Media companies in Australia and around the world are forging paths for their businesses in a rapidly evolving, ever-challenging video landscape. But as video delivery becomes more complex, and the concentration of ad dollars among a few companies becomes more pronounced, it is imperative that platform vendors and publishers work together to optimise the economics of video. Right now, it’s often too hard and too expensive to deliver high quality, professional content and great experiences — Brightcove aims to help solve this.
Connecting it all
In the online video world, improving the viewer experience is an important mandate that is shared by both Brightcove and the IAB.
We as an industry have a long way to go on many fronts to improve video experience, profitability and cost of doing business. It’s important that all media and publishing organisations come together to pursue a vision for video that delights viewers, leverages technology and drives the bottom line. In 2017, we should all be thinking about the following:
- Improving the viewing experience. Faster loading times and improved quality of service metrics (including the ability to ‘see’ playback issues and deliver appropriate adjustments and remedies) are the fundamental drivers of improving the audience’s viewing experience.
- The advent of social as a video consumption endpoint. Aligning video workflows to include social syndication will help save time and reduce effort and save time, while still developing connections with audiences across every channel.
- Unifying the ad experience. The industry needs to get on the same page when it comes to overcoming ad blockers and eliminating delay between streams and ads.
- Helping viewers to discover more relevant content. Algorithms and machine learning can be especially useful in presenting content more closely tuned to individual activity, behaviour and choice.
We’re working hard to execute on the promises made in our manifesto, sharing our expertise and insights, contributing online advertising best practices, and collaborating more closely with the IAB in understanding and adopting future trends and standards.
The advertising industry is transitioning through key technology challenges, including the death of Flash and evolving industry standards like viewability measurements. Mandates like these will help online video advertising grow as an effective and engaging medium this year and in the future.
