Why is DRM, which protects the copyrights of video distribution, attracting attention?

While the number of users of video content and video distribution services is increasing rapidly, problems such as copyright infringement by content holders are becoming more apparent. In this context, the content protection technology known as “DRM (Digital Rights Management)” is attracting attention. This paper will explain the background to the need for DRM in video distribution.

EPISODE 2: CREATING VIDEOS THAT CONVERT TO BUSINESS

In the first episode of my three-part series, Videos That Convert, we talked about the things video is especially good at – when to use it and when not to.

Episode two, Put Them Where They Work, is all about distributing your video for maximum impact so you can squeeze every last bit of R from your I. (As in ROI.) Here’s a brief look at some of the insights we cover.

“PUT THEM WHERE THEY WORK” ACTUALLY MEANS A COUPLE OF THINGS

Sure, it means their actual destination – your website’s home page, on a landing page, in an email campaign or a newsletter, on social media…there are many, many possibilities.

But it also means to think about where they’ll live in the sales funnel – what kind of video will perform best at that specific funnel stage.

So the kind of video you should make starts with identifying its destination. For example, a flagship video on your homepage has more longevity. Since its purpose is to catch someone’s attention and introduce your brand to them, you can justify a higher production value and budget than for, say, a social media video, which has a comparatively limited lifespan. You’re not going to invest the same amount of time and money into that video, and you don’t need to. In fact, simply deciding where your video will live will determine a lot about its visual style, how long it should be, and the calls to action you should use.

NEXT QUESTION: WHAT’S YOUR GOAL FOR THIS VIDEO?

What do you want the viewer to experience? Are you trying to connect with them in an authentic way, or make them feel something about your brand as a whole? Do you want to simply entertain them versus educate them on a more complex idea?

Let’s say your goal for this video is to get people to feel something about your brand – to think, “That brand looks pretty cool. I like them.” Where would such a video fit in your marketing funnel? At the very top: this kind of video would be best suited for an awareness campaign.

Now, if you have enough awareness and that’s not what you had in mind for this video, you need to go back to the beginning and think about your goal. But if you’re still nodding your head, you’re ready to start mapping out the various destinations this video could go, like your social channels (great for building awareness), your newsletter, maybe as an ad before your next webinar – there are lots of places that would make sense.

MINIMIZING YOUR INVESTMENT AND MAXIMIZING YOUR RETURN

The takeaway here is that having a plan, even one as basic as writing down your goal, subject, funnel stage, and destination, will allow you to increase your return exponentially compared to your investment. And with just a little foresight, you can stretch those resources even farther. For example, once you’ve made a two-minute video, it takes very, very little additional effort to make a 30-second version that’s perfect for Twitter. Or a square version for TikTok and Instagram. Or maybe when you shoot your video, you record two different introductions that you can use for two different audiences. The point here is simple but powerful: every one of these examples will extend your video’s reach and grow your return for a minimal investment. That’s smart video marketing.

Ready to dive deeper into all this stuff and get your video in front of the right viewers at the right time? Watch episode two of Videos That Convert.

What are the key points to consider when choosing clothes for performers? “How to take great videos” Episode 5

The “How to Take Videos that Look Good” series explains the key points for easily taking videos at home or in the office. We will deliver one-point advice over a total of eight installments. The theme of the fifth installment is “clothing”. The clothing worn by the performers is an important factor that influences the impression viewers have of the video. In this installment, we will tell you about three points to keep in mind when choosing clothing.

EPISODE 1: CREATING VIDEOS THAT CONVERT TO BUSINESS

What makes a video work? Why does one work and the other doesn’t? How do you get people to click, and how do you get your videos to make money?

I recently launched a three-part video series to explore those questions – it’s called Videos That Convert. This blog post will give you a taste of what I covered in the first episode. I’m hoping this post will entice you to watch the video.

Okay, to answer the question, “What makes a video work?” we’re going to break it up into two smaller ones:

  • What is video best at?
  • What do we want to talk about?

LET’S START BY BUSTING A MYTH

The myth is that video is too hard or too expensive. The reality is that most people overestimate the effort that goes into video and they underestimate the return they’re going to get on their investment.

There is so much you can do with even a single video without a massive budget or a ton of time. You just need to make sure your goals are aligned with the things video does best:

  • Getting someone’s attention and engaging them. Nothing does that as well as video does.
  • Connecting with someone on a personal level. Video conveys things like facial expressions and tone of voice, allowing you to make a personal connection.
  • Making you feel something. You can use music, dramatic locations, a fancy voice over, so many ways to evoke emotion…
  • Entertaining people. Videos excite people. What sounds more fun, “Read this PDF” or “Watch this!”
  • Explaining complex things concisely. Nothing beats video at that.

SO WHAT DO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT?

Now let’s look at that other question: what do we actually want to talk about? Things like your new product release, solutions that you offer, your latest content, your white paper, your upcoming events? Uh-uh. You can talk about that stuff, but don’t lead with it.

Start with something that people can relate to. Connect with your audience on some level first. One of the easiest ways to do this is to talk about common challenges that people in your industry have. Ask your sales team; ask your support team – they hear about customer pain points day in and day out.

There are lots of other ways to create that connection, too, and I talk about them in the full episode. But right now I just want to focus on the main point, you need to start with something they can relate to. THEN and only then have you earned the right to talk about your product and your solutions.

So I just used about 500 words of text on a page to scratch the surface of a topic that video is perfect for. Remember when I said earlier that nothing beats video for explaining things? Well, don’t just take my word for it – watch episode one of Videos That Convert.

How do you talk in a way that attracts your audience? “How to take great videos” Episode 4

The “How to Take Videos that Look Good” series explains the key points for easily taking videos at home or in the office. We will deliver one-point advice over a total of eight installments. The theme of the fourth installment is “speaking style”. Anyone will feel nervous when they stand in front of the camera. Let’s learn a few tricks and try to speak in a way that will attract viewers.

TIPS FOR KEEPING SPORTS FANS CONNECTED & ENGAGED WITH VIDEO

Waving giant foam fingers and eating overpriced hotdogs will always be the ultimate way to enjoy a live sports event. But as the past year or so has shown us, video has become an essential part of the fan experience, and teams and organizations are accelerating their use of video to connect with fans in powerful ways.

Recently, Brightcove sponsored The National Sports Forum Spring Summit and hosted a marketing workshop called “How To Keep Sports Fans Connected With Video.” This roundtable discussion featured the insights of:

  • Aalum Jaffer, VP Brand, Victory Creative Group
  • Amanda Weiner, Senior Director, Digital Media and Ticketing, USGA US Golf Association
  • Keisha Wright, VP Integrated Marketing, THINK450/NBPA National Basketball Player Association
  • Mary Pink, Associate Athletic Director, Marketing and Promotions, Iowa State University

Here are key highlights of this conversation, offering new and unique ways for you to extend your audience reach and increase your revenue with sports video.

THINK BEYOND THE GAME

The actual sporting event or game is certainly a main attraction. But for passionate fans, the love of the game doesn’t end at the final buzzer, and you can continue to engage them in many ways.

  • Develop a streaming app that offers content all year round
  • Give fans a choice of the content they experience, from quick highlights and a weekly recap to select plays or the entire broadcast event
  • Explore ways to curate content – for example, by creating a separate video channel of Top 10 players and their top moments
  • Repurpose all the old video content you may have in your archives that fans would love to see: old telecasts, films, documentaries, etc.
  • Take your sport and gamify it, giving fans a fun, hands-on experience that lets them compete and win
  • Begin a draft-day event, bringing fans and past players together

CREATE ORIGINAL CONTENT

As the panel noted, the internet has unlimited shelf space, so your creativity is limited only by your imagination. Surprise and delight your fans, and they’ll come back for more.

  • Create a customized video player showing more than just a leaderboard with player scorecards, highlights, live polling, live trivia, and more
  • Original programming is huge right now – develop series that tell emotional and inspiring sports stories, both short and long form
  • Come up with promotions to offer during live events, partnering with a sponsor and a personality/host to create excitement
  • Showcase your players outside the game, from community involvement to fun ways they express themselves
  • Kick-off a new season with a launch party, creating a robust event with corporate sponsors, home delivery of food and gear, DJ performances, and more

KEEP UP THE MOMENTUM

The ways to use and monetize video are increasing rapidly as sports organizations discover how to tap into this powerful and popular medium.

  • Even the biggest arena or ballpark is limited in size – see how video vastly increases your audience, reaching fans who might not be able to attend
  • Partner with influencers to promote your sport and players
  • Integrate the unique social media platforms of your players into your content
  • Continually look at ways to package your content, from quick hits to full events
  • Capitalize on data you gain from video usage, using insights to refine and target content
  • Always seek different voices and perspectives that can translate into content for eager fans

Sports fans will always have a love of the game, and video will simply strengthen and amplify that connection they have to your team and your players. As a premiere video software platform, Brightcove can make the most of your digital connection by delivering a high-quality and highly monetizable video experience across devices. Let us deliver serious fan video engagement for you.

INCREASING CONTENT EFFECTIVENESS: HOW DATA UNLOCKS BETTER LICENSING DECISIONS

Predicting hit shows has become a science driven by data. Netflix famously uses subscriber insights to decide what to create next. Hulu reportedly looks at piracy figures to work out what shows have a passionate fan base. And it’s not just major players. Niche services are also doubling down on data to get the most out of their investment in content.

When you think about the complex role of content for a video streaming service, this should come as no surprise. Content needs to simultaneously inspire new customers to join, delight existing subscribers, and prevent users from switching. It’s a tall order, especially given the amount of content consumers have access to; global content spend hit $220 billion in 2020 in a bid to attract and retain subscriber attention.

Using data to work out the impact of content and its effectiveness towards these goals is essential for enhancing licensing efforts and platform performance.

But where should you start?

STEP 1: MEASURE THE VALUE OF CONTENT

Valuing content is complex. It’s not just the licensing or production cost stacked up against how many eyeballs it attracts. There’s also perceived value, like the direct and indirect contribution of each content asset on the service.

For example, a newly licensed asset might not encourage many subscribers to sign up. But for a percentage of your user base, it might be what makes them stick around for another month. For others, an original TV series could be what pulls them deeper into your ecosystem during their all-important trial period, resulting in another paid-up subscriber.

Each asset has a unique impact on your streaming service, the value of which is hidden in your platform data. To factor this in when licensing or creating new content, you’ll want to look at the following:

  • The engagement of previous titles in the same wheelhouse.
  • The value contribution of similar content (time spent on platform, etc.).
  • The impact of similar content on user acquisition and retention.

Delving into the platform engagement and audience data for your service to answer these questions will help you better plan for future content acquisition. With the help of an audience insights platform, you can also work out what assets are most effective at meeting the needs of your audience and how the value of those assets changes over time.

STEP 2: UNCOVER DEEPER INSIGHTS

Advanced audience insights platforms, like Brightcove Audience Insights, provide the actionable intelligence you need to make decisions about content effectiveness and how that impacts future investment.

Service Rating, one of our audience insights, is a calculation of the percentage of subscribers and trialists who watch a new asset in a 30-day window. The Net Service Rating, another insight, goes a step further by measuring the percent of subscribers and trialists who watched more than three-quarters of the title, series, or event to reveal how valuable that content is relative to its audience size and engagement rate.

With the right metrics, you can work out where an engagement problem presents itself. For example, a TV series you’ve licensed may hold audience attention for the first few episodes, but interest drops off around episode six or seven. That kind of insight can help you determine if you should renew for another series or not.

Deeper insights from metrics like Net Service Rating give you a data-driven way to measure if your licensing efforts are in line with the needs of your users. They can be used for any connected content series, whether that’s a TV show, movie franchise, or sports tournament.

STEP 3: CREATE A FEEDBACK LOOP

Blending deeper insights with engagement data helps to more accurately predict the type of content that will resonate with your subscribers and reveals the issues that lead to a drop in engagement. Adjusting your promotion efforts based on these insights will help you in the quest to get the right content in front of the right subscriber at the right time.

But those aren’t the only benefits of how Service Rating and Net Service Rating can be used to bring marketing and licensing closer together. These insights also create a feedback loop of content performance, which can track the value of your investment in new content over time in two ways:

  • Identifying high ROI assets: Highly-engaging content with low licensing costs.
  • Tracking poor performers: Content that costs a lot to buy or license but doesn’t have much impact on subscriber retention or conversion.

These insights benefit content discovery too. The constant addition of new assets – although essential – won’t have the right impact on your service if discovery isn’t handled correctly. Keeping tabs on Net Service Rating, for example, makes it easier to know what assets to promote. You can work out what content viewers are gravitating towards, what they want to see more of, and whether continued investment in your leading IP is valuable.

MAXIMIZE CONTENT EFFECTIVENESS

With platforms like Brightcove Audience Insights, you can look at the correlation between assets and identify whether trial users are more likely to convert if they watch certain assets during their trial window. You can even see the strength of the relationship between different types of content in general.

By tracking content effectiveness in this way, content promotion will become more effective. Subscriber retention and re-engagement strategies will become more efficient too, through optimizing your upcoming content pipeline. With the right data-driven insight, you’ll be able to better meet the needs of different subscriber groups, while also making your investment in licensing or producing new content pay dividends.