Internet Video and the Dot.com-Broadcast Matrix

by Nick Peters, SVP Marketing & Strategy, On The Scene Productions, Inc.

 

The noise on the Internet these days is from the video explosion.

 

Internet video is on demand and in demand even as the growth rate for Internet-based news consumption levels off. Consumer demand for online video appears insatiable, fed by increased broadband access and new video-enabled software, popularized by entertainment-related content, and fueled by the buzz surrounding self-published viral video on social Web sites.

But it’s news video content on the Web that remains the biggest draw among age groups 35+.

A recent comprehensive nationwide survey* of 2,700 online respondents by online media and technology company BurstMedia reveals the following: 

■         Seven out of ten respondents (69.5%) said they actively view video on the Web. 

■         Men were more likely than women to say they view video online (76% compared to 60.2%). 

■         Viewing video on the Web is not just the purview of the youngest demographics. Though males 18-24 are the most frequent viewers (35% view online video at least once a day), the 35-44 and 45-54 age segments are equally likely to view online content. 

■         Overall, 27.4% of males and 15.2% of females sampled said they viewed video online at least once a day, and 31.5% of males and 29% of females said they did so at least “a couple” of times a week.

■         The highest numbers, though, were reserved for news clips, of most interest to the higher age demographics: 25-34 (40.1%), 35-44 (49.3%), 45-54 (46.3%), and 55+ (55.4%).

These numbers are not lost on news-centric media companies. The New York Times, for example, recently sold off all of its television stations even as it plows more resources into its online newspaper edition, particularly investing to deliver an increasing amount of video. And the major news wire services are noting increased demand for video and other forms of multimedia from their clients.

 

*http://www.burstmedia.com/assets/newsletter/items/2006_12_01.pdf

“People are increasingly getting their news from the Web,” Los Angeles Associated Press Editor Danny Pollock told a recent Public Relations Society of America roundtable. “Our AP Television News crews are busier than ever before….The richer the online news experience, the better. People want to see video, and our Web clients require it.”

Reuters Los Angeles bureau chief Mary Milliken echoed Pollock: “Our goal is to get consumers of news to our Web site to see our multimedia packages, and that’s primarily based on the draw of photos and outstanding video.”

Marketing industry research underscores the validity of BurstMedia’s survey and Pollock’s and Milliken’s observations. eMarketer.com reports in its January 8 newsletter that US online video viewership is already approaching a maturation stage, having increased two-and-a-half fold between 2003 and 2006. eMarketer predicts the number of online video viewers will increase 15% this year from 107.7 million in 2006 to 123.4 million by the end of 2007. That number will grow to 157 million viewers in 2010, the survey says.

 

Credibility, Reach, Frequency and Extended Life

 One of the truisms of video on the Internet is its potentially unlimited life expectancy. The consumer appetite for online video, the ubiquity of viral Web-based distribution of content, and improved search engine optimization by content creators and distributors ensures that online consumers will find just about anything they are interested in regardless of how long it has been on the Web. 

The implications for PR professionals are clear. If TV news coverage – still the number one source of news in America according to a Gallup Poll released Jan 5 – provides both the implied third party editorial credibility and the largest mass audience exposure to a story within one or two 24-hour news cycles before it virtually disappears, the Internet extends the life of the same story over weeks, even months.

“Think of it as a leveraging matrix,” says On The Scene Productions’ Director of Web Development Thomas Dale. “We have strategically placed, keyword-indexed online stories available for streaming or downloading that are getting an increasing number of hits – and receiving viewer comments – months after they were first published online.”

“You open with a powerful and credible message via your video’s or audio’s earned media exposure on TV and radio news and talk,” continued Dale. “Then you supplement that with the reach and frequency of demographically-attractive guaranteed cable and satellite TV or radio placement in the ensuing days or weeks, and extend the life of your story even further through Internet distribution of the same content to new audiences actually searching for your content.”

 

  The Public Relations Opportunity

What does the BurstMedia survey data say to professional communicators about online video? “For online video advertising to be truly effective, advertisers need to use approaches that fit this consumer mindset,” the survey notes.

Among the most effective options is placing the commercial message or brand presence within a video clip’s narrative, a general practice honed to a science over the past decades by public relations professionals who weave messages into news releases intended for newspapers, radio, television and the Internet every day.

Research repeatedly shows broadcast and cable TV are better than ever in terms of creativity, production and technology, and remain the mass media of choice. Advertisers, however, are still looking for ways to be more targeted in their video outreach and want media to encourage relationships with consumers. In keeping with that development ad and marketing communications agencies are moving from the siloed model to an integrated multi-discipline communications and media approach.

“The essence of Internet video and non-traditional video placement is audience-specific storytelling, which is the bread-and-butter of PR,” said Victor Lee, a former ABC and Time Warner executive and President of airport marketer Brandstands International. “Find the compelling story or stories in a brand and you have all the targeted messaging you require for different media formats, platforms and audiences” Lee added. “Good advance planning will assure that the varying messages to different audiences reinforce each other. With the Web’s built-in interactivity, video on the Internet is where the competencies and creativity of advertising, marketing, and PR intersect the best.”

Blogs also present opportunities, as PR practitioners begin to appreciate the importance of interactive public and niche audience conversations on corporate Web sites and in social and open topical Web sites. No less a PR expert than Richard Edelman recently wrote in a blog: “We should be working with video clips attached to press materials to make it easier for bloggers in consumer technology to create v-blogs. We should seek out innovative sponsorships with traditional media, including cross-platform content creation.”

 

Some simple tips for Web-based video

There are many Web applications for your broadcast PR video: 

■         Re-edited versions of VNRs, EPKs and b-roll of corporate announcements, product or program launches, re-branding and corporate identity videos, celebrity tie-ins and other news are ideal short-form Web clips that tell compelling stories succinctly, draw audiences, and increase Web site stickiness. 

■         Existing video can be re-formatted to fit into brief, fast-paced modules that are custom-tailored for placement on targeted Web sites with demographics that match your desired audience.  

■         Any video or audio conference announcement can be simulcast via Web streaming to a secure registration-only page complete with Web-based real-time question-and-answer capability, and/or archived for later retrieval and downloading. 

■         Video enhances Internet distribution of multimedia news releases, and increases the likelihood it will be picked up by search engine users seeking rich content in news. As a corollary, video clips tagged with detailed keywords and placed in select online Web site podcast libraries regularly yield “hits” for weeks and months. 

■         Satellite Media Tours to TV stations and Radio Media Tours to radio stations can be expanded to include streams to video and audio-enabled Web sites.

 

 

 

 

 

About On The Scene Productions, Inc.

 

On The Scene Productions is an industry-leading media services provider to public relations, advertising and marketing professionals in entertainment, healthcare and consumer products industries.  OTSP specializes in creating, managing, publicizing, distributing and tracking engaging stories that include sensitive mentions of its clients’ brands, products or events that reach targeted audiences via broadcast television news, radio, web sites, blogs, cell phones, and the growing number of out-of-home video screens in public places.  OTSP has the largest in-house media relations department in broadcast public relations, global capabilities for     producing award-winning video stories, and state-of-the-art expertise in delivering information to both the "mass audience" as well as the “mass of audiences” across broadcast and      broadband media.   Headquartered in Los Angeles, OTSP has significant offices in New York and Chicago as well as satellite offices in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Denver and San Francisco.

 

 

For more information visit

www.OnTheScene.com or contact  

Nick Peters
SVP Marketing & Strategy
On the Scene Productions, Inc.
(323) 930-5828
NPeters@OnTheScene.com