The spread of 5G communications and changes in lifestyle have made video content much more accessible to many people. Video is an effective way to build deep engagement. There is a report that says __“only 10% of the messages read in text are remembered, but 95% of the messages received from video are remembered by the viewer”__, and there is also a survey that says __“websites with video have 60% longer site dwell time than pages with only text and images”__. They convey more information than print media or websites, and have a higher retention rate. Broadly speaking, the use of video in business can be divided into the following three categories. 1. Monetizing video content itself 2. Utilizing video for sales and marketing, such as creating points of contact with customers 3. Utilizing video within the company, such as communicating with employees Video is now being used in a wide range of business situations. In this article, we will introduce some of the latest examples of video use. — ### Video On Demand When we think of businesses that monetize video content itself, we probably think of large-scale distribution services such as Netflix, TVer, and Hulu. These services, known as “__VOD (Video On Demand)__”, include services like Netflix and U-NEXT, where users pay a fee, and services like TVer and GYAO, where users can watch for free but advertisements are inserted. The former is called SVOD (Subscription Video On Demand), and the latter is called AVOD (Advertising Video On Demand). Due in part to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the VOD market is growing rapidly. In addition to viewing on PCs, smartphones, and tablets, there has also been a sharp increase in viewing on TV terminals connected to the internet (connected TVs). __ It is not only mass media and other content that are monetizing video distribution.__
“__[American Football Live by rtv](https://amefootlive.jp/)__” is a service that distributes American football content. It continues to distribute content to core fans of niche sports in Japan. According to rtv CEO Mr. Suzawa, until now they had only been distributing live game content, but they changed their policy after receiving more requests from core American football fans for special content that could only be distributed online. They increased their number of members and sales by distributing content such as “cheering battles” and “practice matches” by cheer squads, which are popular with core fans such as university alumni, and “game archives” that were broadcast by TV stations in the past.
There is an image that it is difficult to monetize content distribution aimed at core fans only, but this is an example that proves that it is possible to monetize if there is a certain number of enthusiastic fans and content that they think is worth paying to watch is distributed. In the past, it was normal to go to the venue to watch sports or music concerts, but the number of people buying paid tickets to watch online is increasing. It is likely that VOD services will become more widespread in the future, rather than just being used for one-off events. — ### Education-related services The impact of the coronavirus pandemic has also led to an expansion in video distribution for education-related services. Online classes have become widespread as a replacement for face-to-face classes and training that used to be held in person. __ There has been a wide increase in educational video content, including for exam preparation, certification exams, and in-house training. __ Services are being provided that use video distribution to broadcast online classes, and then rebroadcast recordings of those classes. Business-oriented video distribution platforms are being used to create systems where only members who have paid a fee can watch. — ### Holding online events __ Video can also be used as a means of communication with customers and potential customers. __ One typical example is online events.
For small-scale online events, it is likely that you will use a video conferencing system such as Zoom. However, for large-scale events, there are cases where the number of simultaneous viewers exceeds 10,000. The choice of video distribution platform will vary depending on the scale of the event, the purpose of the measures, and the target audience. If you expect the number of concurrent connections to be high, or if you want to avoid things like server crashes, or if you want to distribute to members, you will need a high-quality service for business. Online events have a number of advantages over real-life events. There are no restrictions on the location of the audience, and you can reach people anywhere in the world. It is also possible to reuse content resources by publishing the lectures from the event as archived videos or rebroadcasting them. — ### Playing videos on owned media There are probably many cases where video players are installed on company websites. By acquiring video viewing data and combining it with web analytics tools, it is also possible to analyze users who visit the site in depth. There are also an increasing number of cases where videos are used to introduce products on e-commerce sites, making use of the persuasive power of video. There are many possibilities for using videos on e-commerce sites, such as introducing product features and designs, or explaining how to use them in an easy-to-understand way.
### Campaign Incentives One of the increasingly popular ways to use video is as a campaign incentive. This is a campaign strategy that uses live streaming tickets to music concerts, sports broadcasts, etc. as campaign prizes, and uses this as a hook to acquire leads.
Campaigns that use entertainment experiences as incentives have long been popular in the real world. Many people will probably be familiar with the idea of being given tickets to professional baseball games or sumo tournaments. __In the real world, there are physical constraints in terms of the number of seats available at venues, but with online video distribution, there are no capacity limits__. It is also possible to obtain data on how many people who applied for the campaign actually watched the videos. The viewing data obtained can be used as marketing data in conjunction with tools such as MA tools and CDP. — ### Corporate Communication Videos are also effective as a means of internal communication. In particular, for companies with many bases both in Japan and overseas, videos are effective for sharing information on employee portal sites, etc. The internal newsletter of a manufacturer with a global presence includes a number of videos that are only available to employees. It has also been shown that articles that use video are more likely to be viewed. Spotify also held a live event for 5,000 employees in 15 countries as part of its internal communication measures. As we have seen so far, the potential for using video is expanding in various places in business. Video accelerates business. Let’s aim for further business development by selecting a platform that suits each business.
