Video Killed the TV Star: Changing Times for Video Content Producers—and Advertisers

The Digital Essentials, Part 3

Developing a robust digital strategy is both a challenge and an opportunity. Part 3 of the Digital Essentials guide series explores five of the essential technology-driven experiences customers expect, which you may be missing or not fully utilizing.

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Can digital video advertising be the new :30 spot? Can a web series become the hottest Primetime show? Sound completely crazy? Both scenarios may be closer to reality than you think. YouTube is vying for TV dollars as digital advertisers wait with baited breath to find out if the company is introducing a new genre of Web video programs. Elsewhere, video programming is gaining support from major online media players, and it won’t be long before this content is made available to consumers.
Consider what’s going over at Huffington Post: The website is set to offer nearly 12 hours of daily live content starting this summer across desktop, tablet, and smartphones. (With so many viewers and media players turning to the online space, Christina Aguilera’s biggest rival may no longer be Adam Levine, but Yasha Swag.) Plus, with on-demand viewing growing from a Digital Video Recorder to mobile platform, thanks to video archives, the excitement will bridge mobile and video even more (a move that’s much needed, according to my well-traveled and always-on-the-move friends).
Along with offering new video content, media companies will evolve their advertising opportunities and look to engage consumers with new interactive experiences. For example, clickable headlines will create a pop-up video type of experience, reminiscent to VH1’s one-time fan favorite show, where users will be delivered stories that they read and watch at the same time. Also, an easy sharing functionality will allow for simple word-of-mouth on the viewer’s social networks, rapidly growing the popularity of the web series and the advertisers associated with it.
In addition to new in-video opportunities, advanced targeting will improve the relevancy of a brand’s message for a particular audience of video content. As new technology begins to offer opportunities to scan videos and read the metadata to better understand the content, media vendors will benefit because they will have access to more data. This, of course, will allow them to better identify an ideal audience to target based on behavior, demographic, geographic and contextual information, and, in turn, deliver a brand’s custom message to the right audience.
It’s definitely an exciting time in video – for one and all alike. So, sit back with your consumer feet up and enjoy the additional video access. But dive in with your professional gusto to reap new opportunities for your clients. And let’s see if this new twist on the The Buggles famous song proves to be true, bringing video into the next generation of screens.