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MAXIMIZE YOUR CONTENT WITH LINEAR TV STREAMING

bsp-admin-1 on September 13, 2023

Today’s landscape for viewers seeking their next piece of content can be summed up in one word: options. Shows about eccentric art pieces from Africa, the latest cricket match, specific genres of anime, or restoring Gothic Victorian furniture are all just a few clicks away. Whether on mobile, laptop, or the family room TV, the labyrinth of content choices can seem endless (and daunting), with each vying for viewer attention.

Despite so many options, the growth of linear TV streaming demonstrates that audiences still long for a curated and passive experience. For example, the revenue associated with Free Ad-Supported TV (FAST) channels—a subset of linear TV—is poised to triple by 2027.

Why? It depends on who you ask.

For consumers, scrolling through vast libraries can induce decision fatigue, which makes the simplicity of scheduled programming seem refreshing. The curated content of a thematic channel makes for a more relaxing experience, as opposed to seemingly endless browsing for programming that fits their current mood.

For media companies, expanding their brands to new audiences and opening up new revenue opportunities can be difficult with a single platform and media catalog. On the other hand, presenting content across multiple channels, whether single IP (genre-specific) or branded mainstream programming, can more efficiently reach audiences across the globe.

Advertisers are also very much aware of the opportunity offered by linear TV streaming. Unlike VOD services, which depend on active viewer engagement with individual content assets, linear streaming services deliver content (and ads) until the viewer leaves the channel. In other words, they can reap the same benefits of the traditional broadcast and cable linear model with the advantages of targeted advertising available on digital streaming.

CHALLENGES FOR LINEAR TV STREAMING

Building a linear TV service requires expertise in a few key areas that will ensure efficiency and deliver viewer satisfaction.

  • Global reach. Reaching audiences across the globe depends on multi-CDN delivery and content localization, including support for multiple language tracks, subtitles and captions, and options for automated transcription and translation services. Engaging those audiences will vary but should include immersive playback experience on the web, mobile, or CTV platforms, and potentially interactive options like chat and quizzes.
  • Flexible integrations. Since you’ll likely have a variety of content sources and delivery mechanisms, seamless and adaptable integrations will be key for technical success. This may include app framework providers for OTT, ad servers, payment processing, subscriber management, and social media platforms.
  • Optimized workflows. Success in new markets is also dependent on streamlining your operational resources and shortening your time-to-market. But managing a high volume of content through multiple systems will ultimately be cumbersome and inefficient. A single, unified system for all video content can transform your fragmented processes into a smoothly orchestrated, end-to-end streaming engine.
  • Data visibility. Streaming services provide valuable data on audience behavior, content performance, and the streaming experience. But all of that data must be aggregated and harmonized across distribution strategies and services to have value. This could be presented via in-platform reports and dashboards, but it should also be accessible through easily integrated APIs.
  • Revenue visibility. Not only will you need your revenue data integrated across distribution strategies, you’ll need to show results aligned with executive revenue targets. This is where a technology partner isn’t enough; you’ll need a partner with industry expertise. Working closely with media veterans who have built and launched some of the most successful streaming services is essential to competing in burgeoning markets.

SOLUTIONS FOR LINEAR TV STREAMING

To overcome the challenges of building a linear TV channel, it’s essential that your video platform allows for the appropriate metadata.

When it comes to linear TV, metadata isn’t just a nice-to-have to aid organization, discovery, and descriptions. Rather, it’s the linchpin that helps both optimize the viewing experience and extend your reach to other platforms and streaming destinations.

For starters, by leveraging the information that metadata offers, users can more easily find the content suited to their taste by simply entering a few keywords.

Metadata also plays a crucial role in curating intelligent playlists. Suggestions can now be more personalized and intuitive, creating a smarter playlist based on the movies, episodes, series, and seasons viewers have been watching.

Another key benefit of metadata for your linear TV service is deeper analytics and insights. Beyond top-performing content or time spent watching, you’ll be able to break down data by multiple dimensions. Series, seasons, genres, and ratings are just a few of the filters you can use to get more granular intelligence on your content and your audience.

Additional reach through syndication rounds out the use cases for linear TV streaming. In fact, Pay TV operators, OTT services, smart device manufacturers, and other providers require detailed video metadata exchanges to ensure seamless integration and discoverability.

Furthermore, syndication requires a TV schedule in conjunction with descriptive video data (and imagery) in order to power on-screen guides and discovery. This ensures that audiences can always find and enjoy their favorite TV shows, movies, and sports programs.

NEW BRIGHTCOVE SOLUTIONS

For these reasons, Brightcove has extended the metadata associated with the video assets in our platform to include metadata from the Gracenote schema. Gracenote, a Nielsen Holdings company, licenses a database of editorial and contextual data and imagery that has been widely adopted by streaming services providers.

Thanks to this extension, Brightcove users can classify a video asset as a movie or an episode. They can also specify its Display Title, Description, and Release Date, as well as its Genre, Rating, Production Country, and Keywords with Controlled Vocabulary. And most importantly, users can note its TMS ID, which is specifically used by distribution platforms that license Gracenote data to power content distribution and discovery.

When an asset is classified as an episode, you can also create a hierarchy and associate it with a series and season. This content hierarchy means a season can inherit missing metadata from its season, and an episode can inherit metadata from its season or its series.

To enhance our UX experience, we have introduced typeahead user-assisted entry to relate a video instance to a series or season. And, if a series or season is not present in your database, you can simply create one in the video details, avoiding unnecessary navigation.

In addition to extended metadata, we have also introduced a scheduler that enables the creation of a 24/7 channel and an Electronic Program Guide (EPG). This allows delivery to a variety of streaming destinations including your owned-and-operated websites and apps or partner destinations where you want your channels to appear.

Thanks to our scheduler, you can manage the programming slots of your week and the necessary ad pods, including pre/post jumper selection. You can quickly add videos, playlists, and series; resolve conflicts by moving, deleting, and swapping content; and configure slates for fallback during program gaps. Once you have defined the destinations that will receive your channel, you can review and publish it to your apps.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR LINEAR TV STREAMING

For media companies with rich VOD libraries, linear TV streaming presents an opportunity to get more value out of those assets and reach a wider audience.

Whether your audience wants to focus on a specific piece of content or enjoy the programming on a 24/7 channel, it’s important to cater to their different needs. The right video platform will offer the flexibility needed to manage different experiences while offering the appropriate monetization models to best suit your content and audience.

You may even decide to try some solutions for a given timescale to observe your audience behavior and make content decisions, like novelty pop-up channels. You could showcase films from a film festival, play holiday content throughout the season, broadcast past sports events, or even supplement a trade show.

LINEAR TV IN A STREAMING MEDIA LANDSCAPE

Maximizing content across multiple platforms can be a logistical nightmare. Each platform may have different requirements, workflows, and analytics tools, making it challenging to optimize your streaming operations. By consolidating your on-demand and linear content on a single platform, you can simplify your content management process and increase efficiency.

However, that single platform must have the detailed metadata Pay TV operators, OTT services, smart device manufacturers, and other providers require. And that platform must have the ability to create EPGs through a scheduler so your content can be delivered by those distributors. Media companies know this, and Brightcove Media Studio can not only deliver on those demands, it can bring the incredible value Brightcove is known for.

For example, you could enhance your content with Ad Monetization, our fully managed ad-ops service, or add FAST distribution through our partner, Frequency. Solutions like Ad Insights and Subscriber Insights can also provide a more comprehensive picture of the viewer engagement and preferences that lead to audience loyalty and content monetization.

The streaming media ecosystem presents both challenges and unprecedented opportunities. While the sheer volume and variety of content will only continue to grow, the potential to nurture a variety of audiences through strategic partnerships and robust media platforms has never been greater.

SOCIAL COMMERCE: REACHING NICHE AUDIENCES WITH MICRO-VIDEO

bsp-admin-1 on August 29, 2023

If you’ve ever made a purchase via social media, congratulations, you’ve joined the 96 million people who also participated in social commerce over the past year. And while social shopping isn’t particularly new, the amount of growth predicted over the coming years shows that it is far from reaching its peak. In fact, Statista forecasts that the amount of sales via social media will reach nearly $3 trillion by 2026.

Of course, the growth in social commerce won’t happen in a silo. Generating brand awareness, influencing purchase decisions, and building trust requires an omnichannel approach. The increased fragmentation across digital channels means there’s a good chance that customers will see your brand on other channels before heading to your social channels for further exploration.

Niche audiences especially won’t always respond to broad traditional marketing tactics, due to having more peculiar interests. The key here is to quickly grab their attention, like through short form or micro-video, and then turn that interest into engagement.

Imagine browsing social media and getting a suggestion for an Instagram Reel, Facebook Reel, or TikTok video. If you went on to further engage with the original creator, then you already know how effective this approach can be. And most likely, the more the suggested content appealed to a niche interest of yours, the better it was at capturing your attention and engaging you.

This scenario plays out across channels, social networks, and the web at large non-stop—24/7. So whether you’re new to social commerce or already have an established presence on several platforms, understanding how to leverage it and incorporate it into your overall e-commerce strategy will pay dividends for years to come.

SOCIAL COMMERCE AUDIENCES

The good news is that you don’t have to go to the depths of the web to find these niche audiences. It’s more a matter of tapping into already existing audiences and appealing to the members with niche interests within them. Take a look at some of the typical social commerce audiences, how to reach them, and where to find them.

Audience Landscape Best Ways to Reach Them Top Platforms
Broad Brands and retailers Establishing a social presence or running targeted ads Facebook and Instagram
Influencer Less broad than brands and retailers, but seeing astonishing growth Partnering with influencers TikTok
Niche Audiences looking for specific content based on their interests, regardless of brand, retailer, or influencer Crafting engaging content related to their search queries Pinterest

SOCIAL COMMERCE VIDEOS

One thing these audiences have in common is that statistically speaking, 84% of each of these groups will be convinced to purchase after watching a related video. However, different types of videos are more effective with different audiences. Below are just a few of the key categories that can support social commerce, depending on which audience you’re trying to engage.

LIVE VIDEO

Live streaming allows you to engage with your audience in real time, fostering deeper customer/brand relationships. The spontaneity that can occur during live streams gives viewers a clear, unedited view of the brand which creates a sense of authenticity and trust—both of which are invaluable for social commerce.

Live videos generally appeal to broader audiences, especially when they feature an influencer. They tend to work well for creating a sense of urgency and exclusivity, making them ideal for announcements, giveaways, and events.

LONG-FORM VIDEO

Long-form videos can appeal to every type of audience. The opportunity for robust storytelling makes them appealing for broader audiences, while the opportunity to take a deeper dive and showcase expertise makes them ideal for niche audiences. Keep in mind that in social commerce, purchase decisions are often influenced not just by the product but also by the people, passion, and values behind it. Longer behind-the-scenes videos are a great way to help brands effectively communicate them.

For niche audiences, who often have specific interests, how-to videos are particularly effective at visually demonstrating how your product can solve a problem or fulfill a need.

USER-GENERATED VIDEO

User-generated videos can be a strong asset for your social commerce efforts. The authenticity they bring provides strong social proof that people are buying, using, and loving your product.

Oftentimes, content like product reviews will dive deeper into many of the features, benefits, and use cases that might not be mentioned in official brand content. They offer diverse perspectives of your product and typically lead to high engagement as users may be more likely to interact with content from their peers. User-generated video will appeal to a wide range of audiences, whether broad or niche.

MICRO-VIDEO

The explosion of short-form or micro-video content is evident by the strong growth of platforms like TikTok and features like Instagram Reels. As digital attention spans seemingly grow shorter and shorter, micro-video helps ensure that your message is concise and can capture attention quickly. They offer a great way to engage the 85% of Gen Z who turn to social for shopping, while also spanning generations since the content is so commonly and easily shared.

Many platforms now allow your customers to shop directly from the micro-video itself, making them great for flash promotions or teasers that allow users to pre-order. While micro-video appeals to all audiences, you’ll find much higher competition for consumer attention on broad audience platforms.

SOCIAL COMMERCE TECHNOLOGY

When it comes to leveraging video for social commerce, if you can’t compare performance across channels and platforms, you can’t know how to optimize your campaign and content. Social media platforms can give you an overview of data, but you’ll get deeper insights and richer analytics by integrating your online video player (OVP) with your marketing automation platform (MAP).

Combining content data and marketing data can give you a clear picture of what’s truly resonating with your most loyal audiences. Add to that the data social platforms offer and you can start to test which types of content resonate best on which platforms and with whom.

For example, not only does Brightcove integrate with Facebook and Instagram, it also integrates with Pinterest business accounts. And Pinterest is notably increasing its foothold as a social commerce powerhouse with their shift to video and recent partnership with Amazon.

So, by integrating your OVP and MAP with your social content, you’ll be able to clearly tell whether Pinterest or other platforms are performing best and make strategic marketing decisions based on that insight.

For example, you might find that some videos perform well with your customers but don’t seem to perform well on Facebook or Instagram. Perhaps those platforms are too congested for your specific target audience to see them. You can try them on Pinterest, where you might find your target audience has an easier time discovering them. The deep analytics will help you uncover these types of trends.

It’s worth noting that if you lack an established presence on Facebook and Instagram, Pinterest is a great first step into social commerce, since you don’t need a big presence to be effective. The strong performance it sees from micro-videos tailored to niche keywords makes it an ideal platform to build your social commerce foundation on.

Simply repurpose the content that you know your customers already love into micro-videos that connect your product to specific queries, monitor the analytics, and optimize your approach. In fact, with Brightcove’s Pinterest integration, you can publish video pins directly from the same interface you use to promote the rest of your digital video content.

SOCIAL COMMERCE: THE FUTURE HAPPENING NOW

Social commerce has become an undeniable part of a complete e-commerce strategy. And just like the rest of e-commerce, a successful strategy needs a diverse distribution plan that can reach and engage broad and niche audiences alike.

Once you understand your audiences and how to best reach them on their preferred social networks, you’ll want to ensure that you have a centralized solution that can manage all of your content. The ideal solution will allow you to integrate your OVP, MAP, and social business accounts into a single platform. Not only will this provide efficiency and consistency, it will offer the deep analytics and segmentation that can help guide your strategy moving forward.

You’ll also want to understand which platforms offer which features and stay on top of changes that can further enhance your overall performance, especially on growing platforms like Pinterest.

Wherever you’re at in your journey, one thing seems certain: social commerce will see strong growth YoY for the foreseeable future. There’s no better time to start or optimize your approach to engaging customers on the platforms that have become so inextricably interwoven into the way we shop and live our lives.

LAUNCHING YOUR OWN OTT? THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

bsp-admin-1 on August 21, 2023

No matter how you measure it, the OTT streaming market is growing across every segment, from D2C brands to broadcasters and publishers. According to Statista, the industry will jump from $294 billion in 2023 to $397 billion by 2027—a staggering 35% growth in just four years.

As more companies look to capitalize on this growth, launching an OTT service is becoming an increasingly attractive option. But a fundamental question faces those who embark on this endeavor: Buy or build?

Some choose to build their own technology stack because it gives them total control over their service, its features, and its road map. However, they’re faced with high startup costs and navigating the complex technology requirements to make their service successful. Furthermore, building this technology from the ground up often detracts from their focus on actually growing the service. They find themselves shifting budget and resources to overcome challenges ranging from scaling to security to building an effective, compatible technology stack that serves their needs.

Others will choose to simply buy the technology for their service. This approach allows them to avoid much of the risk and complexity and can typically help them see quicker time to market. They’re also able to focus on building the business instead of the technology, and will have the proven reliability from an established platform.

In short, for those looking to launch a niche, highly customized OTT platform with full control, building from scratch might be worth the time and investment. Conversely, for those looking to quickly penetrate the market and leverage established infrastructure, launching with a technology provider could be the most strategic move.

Learn more in our PLAY episode, “Have You Outgrown Your OTT Solution?”

OTT TECHNOLOGY IS COMPLEX

Take a moment to appreciate the complexity of OTT technology. These are impressive systems that have managed to replicate every component along the media supply chain, and each component needs dedicated development and maintenance resources.

Just to manage and deliver video content, OTT needs content management systems (CMS), encoding and transcoding capabilities, and content delivery networks (CDN). Additional technology is also needed for both live streaming and live-to-VOD conversions.

To generate revenue, the tech needed depends on your monetization model. While Transactional Video on Demand (TVOD) may only require payment processing and customer relationship management tools (CRM), Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) also requires subscriber management software. Ad-supported Video on Demand (AVOD) is even more complex, adding ad servers, demand- or supply-side platforms (DSP, SSP), and client-side or server-side ad insertion options.

In fact, we developed our Ad Monetization service to simplify the AVOD model for our customers. Given that it’s increasingly necessary to adopt a hybrid monetization model, reducing complexity wherever possible is essential.

Consider this advice from Bleuenn Le Goffic, VP of Strategy and Business Development at Accedo: “You need to rely on external vendors to remove that complexity. You shouldn’t be spending all your energy and internal investment in finding out what technology will make a video service work well.”

OTT IS SUPPOSED TO GROW

Launching an OTT service isn’t a casual investment; it’s a substantial commitment of time, budget, and resources. This means you should be planning for ongoing growth well in advance of the service’s launch.

Perhaps the most important aspect of any OTT platform development is the platform itself. If it’s unable to scale, you can expect an untimely and disruptive migration. So in the early planning stages, choose a platform that aligns with your initial budget and features but is also easily scalable. Shortcuts and cost cuts may seem enticing, but if your service grows as projected, a tech revamp shortly after is the last thing you’ll want.

Streaming technology has grown tremendously, to the point where media giants like Yahoo are turning to Brightcove to power their streaming. Having a solution that can grow with you, from D2C fan brands to major media companies and publishers, is key to long-term success.

OTT DEPENDS ON CONTENT METRICS

Unlike traditional media, where metrics like total hours watched were key performance indicators, modern digital audiences require a shift in analytics. New subscribers, viewing frequency, and platform engagement can give a more accurate view of current and expected growth. And while metrics like monthly active users or total hours viewed are important, they shouldn’t be the sole barometers of success.

As with other digital experiences, OTT is fundamentally about content. And in today’s digital landscape where users demand more control over their viewing experience, business decisions must be driven by how they exert this control through consumption of and engagement with your video content.

Questions like, “How frequently are users engaging? How effective is the content at retaining audience attention? Does the content attract new users?” can offer valuable insights.

Furthermore, machine learning models have shown that the most valuable indicator for any video service is actually frequency of use. For example, if you have a user that watches an hour of content, it’s better for them to watch it in three 20-minute chunks over the course of a couple weeks than as one hour just one time a month.

The biggest challenge with getting actionable insights is aggregating content data with audience and service data, then harmonizing and visualizing it. Historically this has required manual data pulls and exhaustive spreadsheets, but today advanced analytics like Brightcove Subscriber Insights can quickly and easily provide a unified view of this type of data.

OTT SHOULD BE UNIQUE AND ADD VALUE

With so many digital content experiences for users to choose from, differentiating your OTT with a unique and valuable identity is table stakes. Le Goffic notes that, “Everyone uses the Netflix experience. This is the benchmark, the experience. But you shouldn’t be Netflix. You are this brand. You are someone different.”

While it’s natural to learn from other successful platforms, don’t try to replicate them. Your service is unique to your audience, so it only makes sense that your brand is well defined and primarily tested against the context of itself.

Rather than comparisons to other services, the focus should be more on what your brand represents and how it creates value for its community. Putting this in the context of a larger brand framework, your OTT should address questions like:

  • How do you differentiate?
  • What’s your tonality?
  • What’s the personality of the brand?
  • What’s the archetype?

The answers to questions like these should be reflected throughout the design and experience with your app. In addition to OOTB customization options, developers using Brightcove have access to robust APIs and SDKs that give them even more control over the brand experience.

BUILD A COMMUNITY, NOT AN APP

Deciding whether to build or buy is a critical step that can shape the future of your OTT streaming service in terms of growth and profitability. Moreover, it will determine where you will invest the majority of your resources—in the technology that powers the experience, or in the experience itself.

Unlike traditional media, experience is pivotal to an OTT business model. The best services foster a sense of belonging, a gathering place where enthusiasts of a particular content genre or sporting event rally together to become collective fans. It’s a shift in perspective from amassing viewers to cultivating a community.

Don’t think of your customers as subscribers or viewers. They’re members of your community. Ask yourself, “How do we nurture a community that eagerly anticipates our content? How can we bind our community in a shared experience? How do we make them want to return time and time again?”

Remember, before launching an OTT service, you still have to set your content and distribution strategy, your monetization strategy, and your marketing strategy. The right decision will enable you to craft a high-quality viewing experience that reaches your audience, builds a community, and keeps them coming back for more.

CONTEXT-AWARE ENCODING: TESTING FOR COST SAVINGS AND QOE

bsp-admin-1 on August 10, 2023

OTT services now reach more devices and platforms than ever, creating a growing demand for higher-quality video content. However, this desire for better quality comes at a cost. Specifically, there are increased infrastructure and operations costs due to additional content storage, higher throughput origin servers, and greater utilization of Content Delivery Network (CDN) bandwidth.

The challenge is to lower CDN costs without compromising the viewer’s quality of experience (QoE). The solution is Context-Aware Encoding (CAE).

CAE delivers an opportunity to reduce operational complexity while lowering storage and streaming costs. By leveraging machine learning–derived algorithms, CAE automatically improves streaming efficiency without undermining QoE. You can see for yourself, using our CAE Calculator. If it still sounds too good to be true, we tested it on our own OTT service, PlayTV. Click below to see the results, or keep scrolling to get a refresh on how CAE works.

Table of Contents

UNDERSTANDING CONTEXT-AWARE ENCODING

TRADITIONAL ENCODING

Most video streamed over the internet today uses Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) streaming technologies, such as HLS or MPEG-DASH, to optimize video playback. An ABR stream contains multiple “renditions” of the same video, which are encoded at different resolutions and bitrates according to a pre-defined encoding ladder.

When a user presses the play button, the player receives a manifest of the renditions available for playback. The player selects which rendition to play based on several factors, including available bandwidth, buffer fullness, and the size of the playback window. As these factors change during playback, the player can switch to renditions of higher or lower quality, displaying the best possible video quality with minimal buffering.

However, static bitrate ladders often produce inconsistent quality for different types of content. High-complexity video content such as sports requires more bits to achieve an acceptable viewing experience than does lower complexity content like animation. Thus, using the same profile to encode different types of content, or content for different channels, often leads to wasted storage and bandwidth.

Streaming delivery is one of the single greatest cost centers for an OTT service. Excess storage, inefficient cache utilization, and streaming bandwidth can represent significant money, especially as the content library grows and the service attracts more viewers.

CONTEXT-AWARE ENCODING

Unlike traditional encoding methods, Context-Aware Encoding utilizes contextual information—like the type of content, device capabilities, network conditions, and viewer behavior—to optimize video streaming. Instead of using one ABR ladder for all content, CAE analyzes each source video and intelligently builds a custom encoding ladder (set of renditions) for each piece of content.

In addition, CAE takes into account constraints associated with the delivery network and device being used to view the content. It decides how many renditions are needed and what resolutions and bitrates to use for each, while maintaining a consistent level of quality across all titles.

Optimizing assets with CAE can provide significant cost savings that increase the longer they’re published and as the audience size increases. However, cost savings are not the only driver for streaming organizations. Highly engaged viewers are deeply valued, and few things negatively impact viewer engagement as much as QoE impairments.

BENEFITS OF CONTEXT-AWARE ENCODING

Context-Aware Encoding comes with multiple benefits for CDN delivery costs.

  • Promotes efficient bandwidth utilization, which reduces data traffic and decreases costs
  • Lowers storage requirements by optimizing the ABR ladder for each media, potentially resulting in fewer videos to store
  • Generates more efficient caching, due to needing fewer discrete variants and compression settings tailored to the content (this can result in better perceived picture quality, faster load times, and smoother playback—conditions that drive higher quality of experience)

These are real benefits that can be tested and quantified. Below are the steps we took to test CAE’s benefits on our own OTT service.

  • Ingest new content with a standard encoding profile
    • Measure per asset storage requirements
    • Measure audience views and average bitrates streamed per view
    • Measure QoE performance
    • Measure audience engagement score
  • After 30 days of streaming use, reprocess the content library with CAE-optimized ingest profiles
    • Identify differences in ABR ladder
    • Quantify differences in storage costs, streaming rates, QOE performance, and audience engagement
  • Calculate impacts and summarize conclusions

IMPLEMENTATION OF CONTEXT-AWARE ENCODING

PlayTV is Brightcove’s OTT streaming service dedicated to the topic of video, available on web, mobile, and CTV apps.

To test CAE on PlayTV, we began by identifying ideal assets for reprocessing. We analyzed which assets were driving views (and by extension, costs), and we measured audience engagement with those assets. Using QoE Insights, we built a snapshot of how the standard encoding ladder was delivered to the audience and how QoE impairments affected the audience.

After reprocessing, these were the changes we saw in the Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) streaming configuration.

PlayTV Standard ABR LadderPlayTV CAE Ladder
480 x 270 @ 448 kbps320 x 180 @ 244 kbps
640 × 360 @ 699 kbps480 x 270 @ 464 kbps
640 x 360 @ 899 kbps640 x 360 @ 750 kbps
960 x 540 @ 1199 kbps960 x 540 @ 1406 kbps
960 x 540 @ 1699 kbps1280 x 720 @ 2125 kbps
1280 x 720 @ 1999 kbps 
1280 x 720 @ 3500 kbps 
STORAGE RATE: 4.5GB/hrSTORAGE RATE: 2.1GB/hr

Initially, the asset ABR ladder had seven variants and required 10.4Mbps combined bandwidth. With CAE, the mix of renditions created across different asset types was altered to five variants requiring only 5Mbps. Depending on scene complexity and other attributes, some assets were slightly higher and others slightly lower. But given the commonality of the materials, the noted ladder was typical of most of the assets that were reprocessed.

RESULTS OF CONTEXT-AWARE ENCODING

STORAGE COSTS

The introduction of CAE had a significant effect on storage costs. The typical asset storage requirement was reduced from 4.5GB/hr to approximately 2.1GB/hr. Consequently, the cost per content hour dropped from $0.363 to approximately $0.173, leading to an estimated 52% reduction in storage costs.

STREAMING COSTS

QoE Insights provided detailed reporting on what stream variants were being delivered by device across the viewing audience. With this data, we could clearly see the streaming bandwidth required to reach the audience as well as what renditions were driving bandwidth consumption.

VariantPercent of Plays – StandardPercent of Plays – CAE
<540p28%47%
540p11%7%
720p54%41%
Other7%5%
Avg Bitrate Per Play2.25Mbps1.8Mbps

The chart above highlights how CAE delivered stream variants smaller than 540p more often than the standard ladder. The results show an approximately 20% reduction in streaming bandwidth utilization.

Of course, more viewers spending more time with lower resolution variants could result in QoE impairments. While initially it may seem counterintuitive, CAE applied better compression strategies for the content, resulting in encoding settings that didn’t waste bits. CAE had eliminated stream variants that were targeting specific resolutions but not applying sufficient bitrate to deliver a quality stream. In digging into the QoE details, a clear pattern emerged that the CAE stream variants were consistently delivering superior viewer experiences.

QOE PERFORMANCE

QoE Insights provided a substantial amount of detail validating that the overall viewer experience was considerably improved after applying CAE. Below are summary views that highlight aggregated details for sample periods before and after applying CAE.

QoE Performance Summary – Before CAE OptimizationQoE Performance Summary - Before CAE Optimization

QoE Performance Summary – After CAE OptimizationQoE Performance Summary - After CAE Optimization

The results show that, for the most impactful QoE measurements, CAE stream variants delivered a better overall experience.

MetricMeasured Before CAEMeasured After CAEPercent Change
Video Start Time (Avg)4.586 seconds2.573 seconds44% Improvement
Rebuffering Rate9:467:0328% Improvement
Upscale Time22:5324:005% Degradation

Video Start Time and Rebuffering Rates improved dramatically, allowing the player to get to the first frame faster due to enhanced efficiency. CAE stream variants require smaller segments to load into local player buffers, resulting in better cache utilization and smaller payload sizes.

Upscale time measures the amount of time a player is requesting a stream variant that is a lower resolution than the maximum resolution of the display device. The slight increase in upscale time is in line with expected behavior. When connecting to the CAE-optimized ABR ladder, the player has better options for preventing rebuffering events, which is by far the more disruptive QoE impact.

Studies show that QoE impairments significantly impact viewer engagement. This is clearly shown when looking at engagement funnel details in QoE Insights. For example, the below image shows the relationship between Video Start Time and the likelihood of disengagement before being counted as an engaged viewer.

QoE Engagement Funnel - Video Start Time

Of 4,092 total play requests, only 164 (4%) became engaged viewers if the video start time exceeded 6 seconds. Contrast that with 987 (24%) engaged viewers when the Video Start Time was less than 2 seconds. Simply improving video start time results in a 600%+ increase in engaged viewers.

QoE impairments have an outsized effect on audience engagement. Not only does CAE provide cost savings, it drives viewer engagement through better QoE performance.

SUMMARY OF CONTEXT-AWARE ENCODING RESULTS

Context-Aware Encoding provides numerous benefits, including fewer variants per asset and optimized variants based on scene complexity and viewer context. But after testing it on our own OTT service, those benefits are quantifiable and undeniable.

  • 52% reduction in storage costs
  • 25% reduction in streaming costs
  • 44% faster video load times
  • 28% decreased rebuffering
  • 10% fewer stall events

For a small OTT service like Brightcove’s PlayTV, adopting CAE produced cost savings without additional operational complexity. With an estimated 32% combined savings on streaming and storage costs, it has been implemented as the default ingestion profile for all new assets and popular older assets.

ESTIMATED CONTEXT-AWARE ENCODING SAVINGS

In order to fully understand the savings involved, we averaged a number of mid-tier media companies that Brightcove supports to build a model. The model media company has 14,000 published assets totaling 12,400 hours of video content. Every month, their audience consumes approximately 1,200,000 hours of streaming content. The estimated streaming footprint would be significantly affected by adopting Context-Aware Encoding.

UnitBefore CAE OptimizationAfter CAE Optimization
Storage56,000GB27,000GB
Streaming Bandwidth1,166,000GB933,298GB

Applying standard storage and CDN rates to these figures, we can estimate the total savings CAE is providing the model user.

UnitBefore CAE OptimizationAfter CAE OptimizationMonthly Savings
Monthly Storage$4,500$2,200$2,300
Monthly Bandwidth$52,500$42,000$10,500
Monthly Total$57,000$44,200$12,800 (23%)

Our modeled “typical mid-tier media company” can implement CAE ingest strategies that result in substantial savings. Using the modeled data and measured performance metrics, the customer saves approximately $154,000 per year while delivering a more engaged viewer.

In the quest to balance cost reduction and quality of experience, Context-Aware Encoding is a robust solution, capable of delivering exceptional streaming experiences at reduced costs. To estimate the costs it could save your organization, use our CAE Calculator.

OVERCOMING THE OBSTACLES OF AVOD

bsp-admin-1 on July 25, 2023

It’s no secret that Ad Supported Video on Demand (AVOD) is on the rise. Even with the current momentum, many providers are quickly realizing the challenges that exist in this monetization model.

Whether pivoting from a subscription model or getting started with streaming video, Caretta Research has noted that AVOD is a major commitment in both technology and resources. Furthermore, maximizing the revenue potential requires a new level of expertise, not to mention continued investment and experimentation as the industry navigates through this transformation.

For the unprepared, the obstacles to building a successful AVOD strategy are significant. But for those ready to tackle the technology, data, and operations challenges, AVOD offers more than commensurate benefits.

TECHNOLOGY CONSIDERATIONS

Having the appropriate technology is necessary, but knowing how to establish an ad tech stack that will empower revenue results without waste is the real challenge. Media companies entering into AVOD should strive for the right mix of flexibility and sophistication while keeping cost and integration efforts in mind. The following principles can help ensure a strategy is both effective and efficient.

  • Select specialists. Focus on the systems and tools that are pivotal to your streaming environment. If FAST is the focus, choose ad servers, channel facilitators, and technology providers specializing in this space rather than those built primarily around the web.
  • Prepare for fraud. Particularly in CTV environments, ad fraud is a growing concern and poses the risk of disruptive user experiences, bad ads, and damaged advertiser relationships. For example, a larger inventory can provide more opportunities for fraudsters to insert fake or low quality ad impressions, leading to wasted ad spend and less effective ad campaigns. Leveraging SSAI can mitigate ad fraud, especially when using a platform that handles SSAI in-house as opposed to a third party. SSAI is also an optimal ad insertion technique for maintaining a seamless viewing experience without excessive ad loading delays.
  • Prioritize load times. Too many intermediaries, a slow content delivery network (CDN), and suboptimal video encoding processes can significantly affect load times. Optimizing for a smooth playback will minimize user frustration and maintain viewer engagement.

DATA CONSIDERATIONS

Unified data paints a holistic picture, which informs accurate projections for future decisions. That’s why interconnected ad tech systems are critical: they need to pass information to and from one another and in similar fashion. Providers investing in smart data tools will be able to see which metrics are most important not just to ad revenue, but the entire viewer experience. In turn, businesses can achieve growth in revenue and engagement without compromising one or the other.

It’s equally important to consider the information made available to tech partners. Not only are transparency and privacy a must, so is signaling. Content, audience, and other identifiers allow marketplaces to be selective in their buying and empower packaging for internal sales teams. By harnessing data for targeting, AVOD platforms can enhance user experiences by increasing ad relevance and drive engagement—benefiting viewers and advertisers alike.

OPERATIONS CONSIDERATIONS

Like any other kind of advertising, sales operations in AVOD requires a well thought out structure with the right mix of talent. Inventory management, pricing and packaging, sales support and training, and reporting and analytics are all important factors to be considered.

However, due to the unique nature of video content consumption, AVOD differs from web-based operations. Since this is not an area of expertise for traditional ad ops teams, it’s imperative they understand several aspects unique to the video landscape.

  • Video formats. AVOD platforms deal primarily with video content, requiring specific considerations for video ad formats. Ad ops teams need to ensure seamless integration of video ads within the content, maintaining visual and audio quality while optimizing for different devices and screen sizes.
  • Ad insertion and timing. Ad ops teams must strategically determine the placement and timing of these ads to balance user experience and ad revenue. They also need to manage repetitiveness and maintain diversified ad content to curb viewer fatigue and ad avoidance.
  • Content categorization and targeting. Ad ops teams must understand the content taxonomy and audience preferences to accurately target and deliver relevant ads. Unlike web-based ad operations, AVOD platforms can leverage video-specific targeting capabilities. For example, they can utilize contextual targeting based on video metadata or dynamic ad insertion based on user behavior within the video stream.

When it comes to sales methods, direct sales and programmatic have their advantages and may coexist within AVOD platforms. Direct sales allows for more control and customization and is well suited for premium ad placements or specific partnerships, providing greater flexibility in pricing and targeting. Programmatic offers automation, efficiency, and access to a larger pool of advertisers.

PARTNER CONSIDERATIONS

Monetizing media with a video ad marketplace requires yield management expertise and contracts with DSP and SSP partners. It takes time to implement and produce results, not to mention the need for optimizations over time. Depending on the sales approach, the right alignment of operational support will also need to be put in place.

To get the most out of an AVOD strategy, buyers need to beware that not every partner will have the experience or offer the support needed. Before deciding on a partner, make sure they have solutions for the key obstacles, because anything they can’t do is something you’ll need to learn fast to succeed. If that’s too much pressure to take on your own, Brightcove’s Ad Monetization service can manage the entire experience for you from start to finish.

INTERACTIVE VIDEO THROUGHOUT THE CUSTOMER LIFECYCLE

bsp-admin-1 on July 18, 2023

Over the past several years, we’ve witnessed the transformative effect that interactive video has had throughout the e-commerce customer lifecycle. While online shopping has been around for decades, the shopper’s desire to have a holistic, personalized journey that encapsulates the entire experience has continued to grow.

Today’s digital landscape provides opportunities for merchants to stand out by reorienting their e-commerce strategies toward a more interactive customer-centric approach. A crucial part of this approach is leveraging various interactive elements in video to offer immersive experiences that engage customers throughout their lifecycle. And this goes far beyond simply adding a “buy now” button to e-commerce videos.

To truly maximize the opportunities interactive video elements hold, we need to understand the modern e-commerce customer lifecycle and—most importantly—how it’s changed.

WHAT IS THE CUSTOMER LIFECYCLE?

The customer lifecycle is the journey a person takes to discover, research, buy, and use a product and transform into a brand advocate.

In the past, e-commerce customers would typically take a predictable, linear path to purchase, starting with discovering the product, becoming interested in it, researching pros and cons, and then purchasing the product. Once purchased, the journey would continue with post-purchase activities like using the product and potentially reviewing it and becoming a brand advocate.

But with more sources of information available to consumers, like video, social, and, most recently, AI-driven search engines, we’ve seen a shift to a nonlinear journey that is permanently replacing the traditional linear path.

It’s now much more common for today’s customers to criss-cross through various stages of the buying journey. They’re consuming more information from more sources, discovering new products on social media through savvy ad targeting, and comparing prices across sites.

HOW THE CUSTOMER LIFECYCLE HAS CHANGED

The shift from a linear customer lifecycle to one that looks more like a pretzel means it’s imperative for merchants to deliver seamless, guided experiences. This includes making it easier to discover products, engage with brands, consume relevant information, purchase quickly and easily, and then build a meaningful post-purchase relationship.

As part of this linear to nonlinear shift, merchants are getting better data about consumer interest and preferences that can help shape future content initiatives. For example, let’s say the data shows that half of your viewers watch a video about Topic 1, then jump to Topic 4, and then go back to Topic 2, but totally skip Topic 3. By analyzing these behaviors, we can understand not only which videos are most effective at driving purchases, but perhaps in which order the videos should be presented.

When examining this nonlinear buying journey, we see a clear common denominator: Customers now want, and have, more control over their buying journey than ever before. From online reviews to video, social posts to comparison shopping, the connected digital aspect of e-commerce empowers consumers to create their own journey. And they’ve gotten used to this variety of options and level of control.

Interactive video elements are particularly effective in giving customers more control over their journey. However, this level of control comes with its own level of responsibility. More choices and options means the post-purchase experience is that much more important to the overall lifecycle.

HOW TO INCORPORATE INTERACTIVE VIDEO FEATURES

Even as consumers take a nonlinear path to purchase, the stages of the lifecycle have largely remained unchanged. Fortunately, there are many opportunities to incorporate interactive video elements into each stage. The following best practices can help get you started.

AWARENESS AND DISCOVERY

For customers in this phase of the lifecycle, the goal is to create a positive and memorable impression of your brand and build awareness of your offerings. Shorter videos (1 minute or less) like product sizzles and brand overviews tend to work best here. You want to help them easily discover the many different aspects of your products while also giving them opportunities to explore further.

Since potential customers are likely exploring and researching other options, the interactive elements should produce an engaging and succinct video experience.

  • Sentiment. Simple elements like a thumbs up/down, star ratings, or emojis give viewers the power to tell you if they’re enjoying the content or product. In addition to engagement, they offer you valuable insights that can help you adjust your approach based on viewer input.
  • Overlays. When clicked, overlays can lead viewers to webpages with more detailed or logical next-step information. These allow interested customers to learn more without interrupting the flow of the video. Buy-now buttons can also be appropriate at this stage, especially if the product is simple and doesn’t require deeper explanation.
  • Video-to-Video Branching. Like overlays, video-to-video branching offers viewers the opportunity to get more information, but through video and without ever leaving the video experience. Keep in mind that viewers at this stage do more window shopping than in-depth research, so don’t get too aggressive with related info links.

By knowing your goals and purposely selecting the interactive elements, you can build a strong foundation that sets up the following phases in the journey.

CONVERSION AND PURCHASE

For consumers considering a purchase, the goal is to make it easier for them to make a final decision while delivering a seamless purchase experience. Medium-length videos (2-5 minutes) that provide comprehensive details about your product work best during this phase. Content including product demos, how-to videos, and user reviews should be a primary focus.

During this phase, you’ll want to make sure your content is informative and not overly promotional. The following interactive features can help with this approach.

  • Chapters. Viewers at this stage are conducting research. That means they’re skimming and searching for content that answers their questions before making a purchase. And while in-depth videos are better equipped to answer those questions, videos are difficult to skim. That’s where chapters come in. Adding chapters to videos is like adding subheadings to a blog post. They break up the content into bite-size sections, allowing viewers to quickly find what they’re looking for.
  • Video-to-Video Branching. Essentially crosslinking for video, video-to-video branching works even better at this stage. These viewers have higher intent, so they’re more likely to interact, allowing you to collect more data and further refine the experience. In other words, giving more control of the customer journey gives you more insights to make it better.
  • Overlays. Beyond related videos, other relevant content like technical specifics, expanded product uses, user reviews, or customer success stories can be linked to with overlays. This is also where you want to make strategic use of buy-now buttons. A one-click experience to complete the purchase minimizes unnecessary steps and helps avoid potential drop-offs.

Knowing your conversion goals, optimizing your video content, and utilizing suitable interactive features are critical for guiding your users from the consideration to conversion phase. They’ll also help deliver a seamless and enjoyable shopping experience, which leads directly into the next phase.

RETENTION AND ADVOCACY

With purchase complete, it’s important to begin fostering brand loyalty, laying the foundation for increased customer lifetime value and transforming buyers into brand advocates. Or, simply put, your content should demonstrate why your product works well and why so many people are using it. Medium-long (3-10 minutes), personable videos that offer a behind-the-scenes look, tips and tricks, or unique features and uses of your product work best.

Consumers at the post-purchase phase are usually willing to give you more of their attention, which nicely aligns with a few interactive video elements.

  • Personalized Content. Leverage the viewing data and insights you’ve collected to offer personalized viewing experiences. This can mean more than using their name in the video. You could reference their purchase history and offer videos of accessories that complement a recent purchase. By showing customers that you understand their preferences and can cater to them, you’ll help build a deeper bond and drive brand affinity.
  • Polls and Feedback. Show your customers that their opinions matter even after the purchase by embedding polls or custom forms in your videos. These tools can give you valuable insights from some of your most high-value audiences: those who have bought and used your product.
  • Chat Features. Chat will allow you to engage directly with your customers to understand any questions or challenges they may have after purchasing the product. Combined with personalization, this feature especially helps demonstrate their importance as your customer.

INTERACTIVE VIDEO BEST PRACTICES

With a solid understanding of how interactive elements can support the different phases of the customer lifecycle, there are some general best practices to be mindful of.

  • Err on the Side of Moderation. While interactivity leads to deeper engagement, too much interactivity can be distracting. Be mindful of the message you want to communicate and that too much interactivity doesn’t detract from that or overwhelm viewers.
  • Align Interactivity with Video Goals. Clearly understand your objectives for each video and ensure that every interactive element supports these objectives. Each point of interactivity should be specifically designed to guide the viewer towards achieving your desired action or outcome.
  • Prioritize Usability. Interactive features are only effective to the extent that people use them. To increase the likelihood of engagement, make sure that each element is:
    • Easily noticeable
    • Intuitive
    • On screen long enough for viewers to recognize it and engage with it
    • Clear about what the intended action should be (for example, if the interactive feature is designed for viewers to schedule an appointment, this should be explicitly stated to eliminate any potential confusion)
  • Gradually Increase Interactivity. As customers move farther along in their journey, their level of engagement usually increases. Match this progression by gradually introducing more sophisticated interactive elements that correspond to their growing attention and involvement.
  • Provide a “Return on Engagement” at Each Stage. Meaningless interactivity or engagements that don’t provide value can be counterproductive. Each one should offer a reward or benefit that is meaningful enough to justify the user’s time and engagement. There are a variety of ways that this can be achieved, from useful information to unique insights to personalized experiences they wouldn’t get elsewhere.

Beyond deeper and more meaningful engagements, these best practices can help your interactive elements serve as an invisible guide throughout their journey. They’ll help transform your videos from merely more content into powerful tools in your overall e-commerce strategy.

INTERACTIVITY FOR THE MODERN SHOPPER

The era of linear customer lifecycles and quality-based customer retention is in decline. In its place, the nonlinear approach to buying requires merchants to engage and guide users along their journey.

As customers expect more control, engagement, and value from the companies they buy from, interactive video elements can help fulfill these expectations throughout the lifecycle. In short, these consumers want to be active participants as opposed to passive audiences. Interactivity can help bridge this gap while fundamentally reshaping the customer lifecycle to become more sustainable and customer-centric.

As you look to incorporate more interactive elements, keep in mind that it’s not just about making e-commerce more convenient. It’s about crafting a more dynamic, personalized, and sustainable customer lifecycle for the modern shopper.

HOW TO REPURPOSE VIDEO CONTENT

bsp-admin-1 on July 10, 2023

Modern marketers have their work cut out for them when it comes to hitting their goals. Whether they’re focused on demand generation, brand awareness, or other core marketing responsibilities, marketers are contending with a crowded, noisy digital landscape.

Numerous tools can help marketers elevate their messages and break through the noise, but video is one of the most effective.

For years, digital video consumption has continued to rise. During the pandemic, that gradual increase in viewership accelerated. A few years later, the appetite for video has not waned. And that appetite, as it pertains to marketers, spans all industries and audience segments.

While it’s great for marketers to have proven resources like video content to project their messages, that effectiveness also increases demand. Companies and teams now want a video for nearly everything, from social media posts and video ads to videos in email outreach and video blogs. All these requests for videos put a hefty strain on teams that may already be dealing with limited resources and budgets.

Keeping up with the demand for video means managing all the resources you have available, including current video content, old content, and even content from other teams.

CUT LONG VIDEOS INTO SHORT CLIPS

A common question marketers ask is, “How do I create more video content without drastically increasing my budget?” When facing resource and budget pressures, it makes sense that many marketers want to optimize.

One of the first places to start is your existing media library. Webinars, recorded presentations, customer case studies, and other long-form videos can be repurposed in several different ways.

  • Social media clips. Clip brief segments that can be used in social media posts or quotable snippets that can be used for a variety of promotional purposes.
  • Highlight reels. Cut highlights and use them to tease the full-length video on your resources page or on a landing page.
  • Video Ads. Pull short clips that can be used to promote your brand, like product announcements or customer quotes.
  • Immersive Blogs. Clip sections that can be embedded in a blog post to deliver a more immersive, interactive video experience.

Anytime you create a long-form video, look for opportunities to pull shorter clips. A single feature-length piece could turn into a dozen snackable shorts used in a variety of applications.

PROMOTE OLD VIDEOS IN NEW WAYS

The most effective content is fit for purpose: customized to its promoting channel and personalized to its target audience. However, this content best practice runs the risk of limiting your video assets to single-use applications and diluting their long-term value.

Just think about all the videos and content you’ve created for a specific event or project. What happened to those videos afterward? Were they forgotten in the depths of your media library? Perhaps they’re buried somewhere on your corporate resources page on your website?

Chances are you’re sitting on a wealth of materials that can be used with a minimal amount of effort, using the right tactics.

  • Refresh old topics. Webinars get stale and their data outdated, but their themes often remain relevant. Perhaps the presentation featured customers, partners, or team members who have moved on, but the substance of what was covered is still sound. It can be a quick and relatively painless process to update the supporting assets and re-record the video.
  • Test new channels. Knowing where an audience will engage your content isn’t the same as knowing where they won’t. After publishing your video to its primary destination, get creative and try publishing on new channels to see if those audiences engage. For example, embed brand story videos on product pages to build buyer confidence, or include videos in sales pitch decks to make them more dynamic.

When you create videos, think about how you can maximize efficiency by meeting a variety of audience needs. Are they trying to understand your brand, researching your products, or looking to make a purchase? Audiences expect content that addresses these things along their journey, so think through the touchpoints you have and what your audience wants at each stage.

LEVERAGE VIDEOS OUTSIDE YOUR TEAM

Increasingly, teams outside marketing are tasked with creating, managing, and publishing video content. Whether that’s human resources, talent acquisition, product, customer support, sales, or others, everyone is looking to capitalize on the benefits of video.

The upside for marketers is that they can often lean on the materials these teams create to supplement their own video needs. Depending on your business, there may be multiple resources you can tap into for video content.

  • Brand. Brand-centric storytelling produces great content that can be used for a variety of purposes. For example, employee testimonials sourced by corporate comms can be incorporated into brand stories that marketing promotes on social media and the website. They can also be shared with HR to use for other purposes like new-hire orientation and welcome videos. By sharing resources, many teams can maximize their video output.
  • Customer Success. In the B2C space, brands often create content that resellers can use on product listing pages, such as customer testimonials sourced by customer success teams.
  • Training. In B2B, there may be internal teams producing content focused on training or educating customers or users. With some minor edits, that content could be used externally for marketing purposes if it aligns with what a viewer is looking for along their journey.

Think outside your team’s library of videos when looking to repurpose content. With the barrier to video creation dropping as new tools and technologies make it easier, more teams are incorporating video into their workflows. By reaching out across the organization, you may find plenty of content you can reuse and repurpose to advance your team’s video initiatives.

GET CREATIVE WITH REPURPOSING VIDEO

As you start to consider how to repurpose your video content and apply it to your campaigns or projects, you’ll think of other creative ways to get more out of your videos. You may even start to approach the video creation process with a new view of how you’ll use that asset for multiple projects well into the future. By adopting some of the tips above, you’ll uncover your own methods for optimizing video.

A/B TESTING VIDEO LANDING PAGES

bsp-admin-1 on June 26, 2023

Video landing pages are the best of both worlds. Landing pages offer streamlined layouts designed to highlight the call to action (CTA), while video offers better engagement and content consumption data. Together, they create a highly efficient conversion experience that you might be tempted to optimize for search.

Indeed, the visibility that search affords your content can be significant. Plus, video SEO has only gotten easier, so not indexing video landing pages can seem like leaving money on the table. But there’s another important use case that can’t be ignored: A/B testing.

WHY A/B TESTING IS IMPORTANT

Testing is a key ingredient in effective marketing strategies. It segments the audiences, refines the messages, and maps content to the right channels. The time investment can be substantial, but the payoff is worth it.

Sadly, one of the reasons why proper testing is often neglected is because marketing efforts can generate a lot of data while delivering revenue and leads. In fact, it’s not uncommon to hear inexperienced marketers refer to simply running multiple campaigns as testing. If Campaign A outperforms Campaign B, they might say that they tested Campaign B and “it didn’t work.”

However, comparing campaign performance should never be mistaken for testing. Performance data can uncover trends and provide corrective insights, but only testing can reveal the factors driving performance and identify the formulas for repeatable success.

A/B testing, in particular, is a powerful tool for isolating variables and returning controlled results. A/B testing uses two identical pieces of content with a single variable changed—like a headline. That way, if the control (A) loses to the variant (B) in the test, the loss can be attributed to the headline.

Controlling for variables is the goal, but testing is never immune to chance. A single variable should be A/B tested at least three times to confirm the results and the entire process repeated for subsequent variables. This kind of proven data can then be applied to messaging and content to predictably enhance marketing strategies.

WHY LANDING PAGES ARE IMPORTANT FOR A/B TESTING

Marketers who’ve performed tests know that the more data you have, the more accurate your results will be. This is why optimizing a landing page for search can seem like a valid tactic: a bigger audience should mean better test results.

However, the biggest challenge with testing is controlling the audience. No matter what your SEO tool, agency, or consultant tells you, you can never know the breakdown of an organic audience. Between the death of third-party cookies and the prevalence of anonymized browsing, the available data is too spotty to be actionable.

Controlling the audience is precisely what unindexed, unlisted landing pages are designed to do. Coupled with email, a high-intent owned channel, they are the perfect testing sandboxes. With a good marketing automation platform (MAP), you can take a selected cohort and split them into equal, randomized segments.

WHY VIDEO IS IMPORTANT FOR A/B TESTING

Testing headlines and calls to action is relatively straightforward, but if you want to A/B test overall topics and content, you really need video.

Despite what web metrics like time on page or scroll depth suggest, measuring the content consumption of written content is notoriously difficult. Between multiple tabs, pop-up ads, and distractions from the family pet, written content simply has too many variables outside the marketer’s control.

Video content is different from written content for a few reasons:

  • Video is more engaging. Emails promoting videos generate higher click-through rates. Not only does this represent higher intent, it means more views and more accurate results.
  • Video is more captivating. With higher intent comes increased attention. Video also tends to have a more captive audience simply due to the sensory stimulation of sound and moving images.
  • Video is more calculating. Every second of video that’s viewed is a quantifiable measurement of content consumption. Higher intent and attention imbue this number with more accuracy.

To be clear, no content format is completely free of behavioral variables. Viewers can drag a video slider (called “scrubbing”) just as easily as they can scroll a webpage. In fact, the longer the content is, the more likely they are to do so with either format. The difference is this behavior is far less common with video, especially video on landing pages with an engaged email audience.

TIPS FOR A/B TESTING WITH VIDEO LANDING PAGES

There are lots of best practices related to A/B testing, but when video is involved, there are some unique things you can do.

SELECT THE BEST AUDIENCE

Creating equal, randomized segments is the easy part—most MAPs can do this automatically. Choosing which cohort of customers to segment can be tricky. Thankfully, marketers have lots of data available, particularly content data.

  • Customer Data. If your goal is to test interest in two new products, you should start by segmenting your customer list by purchase history. This would include not only purchases of similar products with similar price points, but purchase frequency as well. Customers with a single purchase are less likely to have an interest in new products than customers with multiple purchases.
  • Marketing Data. Next, you should refine this segment by excluding customers who haven’t clicked through an email within a certain period of time, like the past 90 days. Some people just don’t open marketing emails, so including them dilutes your sample size. Furthermore, they can pollute your test results with outliers who sporadically open emails to rage-click through the content.
  • Content Data. Finally, your segment should account for your customers’ viewing habits. For example, Brightcove offers Audience Insights: a customer data platform that can segment audiences by watch history and other key inputs. This data is then automatically synced with CRM and MAP tools to trigger emails and other targeted communications. With Audience Insights, you can drill down further and select customers who are particularly engaged by product videos.

Keep in mind that audience segmentation is a delicate process. A highly refined segment is worthless if the sample size is too small; the results won’t be statistically significant. So don’t make your test parameters too specific, and keep your final cohort over 1,000.

CREATE THE BEST EXPERIENCE

Video landing page experiences should be as easy to consume as they are to create. Employing the following features will improve the customer experience and enhance the test results.

  • Autoplay. This may be the only time in marketing history that an autoplayed video is welcomed by its audience. Unlike the autoplayed video ads and social media videos that can erode engagement with complaints, email users expect videos to autoplay. Your email copy has already made it clear they’re clicking to watch a video, so don’t make them click again.
  • Low-code templates. Some CMSs are easy to use, and even some MAPs offer landing pages, but there’s no guarantee they’ll be optimized for displaying video. Using a low-code landing page template from an OVP like Brightcove, you can quickly design a slick layout that keeps the video experience responsive and above the fold. The templates are easy to customize, but you can also add custom CSS to more closely match your website’s branding and style.
  • Interactivity. A video’s engagement rate tells you more about content consumption than written content ever could. Interactive video is a step further. With interactive features like sentiment or polling, you can get an even clearer picture of which video performed better. Just be sure to limit the interactive elements so they’re not overwhelming. With Brightcove Interactivity, you can easily monitor this with the Interaction Rate.

WHEN NOT TO OPTIMIZE CONTENT FOR SEARCH

As generative AI hype pushes into the search engine world, SEO is becoming more of a meme than a best practice. Certainly, it’s a critical tool of the digital age, but some tactics work better without it. A/B testing is one such tactic that is no less valuable and works best when video landing pages are not optimized for search.

MONETIZING YOUR MEDIA THROUGH A VIDEO AD MARKETPLACE

bsp-admin-1 on June 20, 2023

The opportunity to monetize with an AVOD model has never been greater. In 2022 alone, the growth of AVOD viewers was higher than subscription OTT and free premium video streaming combined (Insider Intelligence). Furthermore, traditional pay TV is steadily declining and expected to account for roughly a third of households by 2027.

Yet, anyone who’s spent time in the media industry knows that implementing an AVOD service is easier said than done. In fact, Caretta Research described this process as “fiendishly complicated,” noting that many companies simply ignore this route altogether.

While AVOD can, indeed, be challenging, there’s another option for media companies who want a low-risk entry point: video ad marketplaces.

WHAT IS A VIDEO AD MARKETPLACE?

In its simplest form, a video ad marketplace is an online advertising platform that allows advertisers to buy video ads and publishers to monetize content.

For advertisers, ad marketplaces provide an efficient way to reach their target audience through placements alongside high quality content. For publishers, they provide a convenient way to sell inventory (in-stream ads within their videos) to advertisers. For both, ad marketplaces serve as an intermediary, using a single platform to manage, optimize, and facilitate programmatic video ads.

Publishers generate revenue through a programmatic advertising system, which eliminates the time-consuming process of finding individual advertisers and includes features like real-time bidding and unified auctions. Most leading ad services now have integrated supply-side platforms (SSPs), giving publishers the opportunity to quickly set up and control their revenue streams. By tracking and analyzing users, web traffic, costs, and reporting metrics like CPM (cost per thousand impressions), publishers can optimize their approach to maximize potential earnings.

There are three key elements to ad monetization solutions.

  • Ad marketplace. The ad marketplace matches buyer and seller preferences via SSPs and DSPs (demand-side platforms) to deliver meaningful impressions for all parties.
  • Ad server. The ad server distributes the ads, facilitates the management of the campaigns, and tracks performance. For advertisers, it offers tools and analytics to help manage and optimize the campaign. This includes quantitative data (video views, clicks, and impressions) as well as qualitative data (information about the audiences engaging with the ads). For publishers, it instantaneously determines which ads to serve with which video, and delivers that ad as a seamless part of the experience.
  • Video player. A high quality player allows publishers to offer a variety of video ad strategies, including floating players, picture-in-picture ads, and header bidding.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS FOR PUBLISHERS?

One of the key benefits for publishers on video ad marketplaces is the stable and reliable income they can generate. They offer a fixed payment per click, view, or impression whether or not the ad directly contributes to a sale. This can take a lot of the guesswork out of how much the publisher will be paid. For many publishers, it’s simply a matter of creating great content and leveraging the marketplace’s ability to acquire advertisers that want to fill vacant advertising spots with relevant, high-quality ads.

Ad marketplaces can also offset the cost of producing content with the revenue generated from offering advertising opportunities. By opening up these additional streams of revenue, content creators can focus more on creating compelling content and less on finding and negotiating with advertisers.

Finally, ad marketplaces give creators peace of mind knowing they are getting the best possible rate for their ads through the automated bidding system. Advertisers tend to prefer this approach as well. According to eMarketer, more than 82% of digital video ad spending is transacted programmatically in the UK, Canada, U.S., Germany, and France. Ad marketplaces assure them that they’re paying the best available market price while getting a high-quality ad delivered on a premium video player to highly targeted audiences.

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU’RE READY TO MONETIZE YOUR CONTENT?

Every video ad marketplace has different requirements for publishers, but they primarily involve two aspects of the publishers’ business.

  • Content Library. Publishers must have an established content library. Advertisers expect their ads to reach the audiences they’re targeting, so having a well-curated library allows marketplaces to serve up ads on the most relevant content.
  • Monthly Viewership. Publishers must also meet the demand for views and impressions. Beyond relevance, advertisers expect their ads to perform efficiently, reaching as much of the right audience as possible.

WHAT SHOULD YOU LOOK FOR IN A VIDEO AD MARKETPLACE?

Every publisher should also have requirements for video ad marketplaces. Features and options can vary dramatically, but the following examples from Brightcove’s Ad Monetization service illustrate what an industry-leading media platform prioritizes.

BIDDING OPTIONS

Unsold inventory is a common challenge for media companies, typically due to technical issues, pricing issues, or to avoid the same user seeing the same ad too many times. But as a publisher, your goal is to sell as much of your inventory as possible at the best rate possible. Ad servers do this by bidding out your inventory to advertisers in several different ways.

To maximize revenue, a good ad marketplace should include the following options.

  • Fallback bidding. This approach allows bids to be made against unsold inventory, with the highest paying bidder winning that impression.
  • Header or player bidding. This approach allows the player to conduct the auction and pass the winning bid back to your ad server without latency. The highest bidding marketplace will get the inventory, maximizing the revenue potential from your content.

AD INSERTION

Ad insertion is how your ads are inserted into the video stream through your video player. There are two primary methods for inserting ads.

  • Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI). SSAI inserts ads directly into the content at the server end of the streaming delivery chain. It typically provides the best viewing experience, as the transitions between content and ads are much smoother with less buffering. The tradeoff is that SSAI tends to require more technical expertise to implement, and the overall ad experience isn’t very flexible. It’s also important to note that since SSAI is an integrated part of your content, this method ensures the ads are delivered instead of being blocked by ad blockers.
  • Client-Side Ad Insertion (CSAI). CSAI inserts ads directly into the video player on the user’s device. It offers a more flexible ad experience, as ads can be personalized based on user data like browsing history and inserted at any point in the video. However, since playback is dependent on the user’s device and internet connection, it’s more susceptible to buffering and ad blockers. While the overall viewing experience may not be seamless, the ad experience can be enhanced with other options like the ability to skip, click, or close an ad.

AD EXPERIENCE

Selling ad inventory will only generate revenue if the ad experience is exceptional. This means your video ad marketplace needs to be able to serve ads to your video content regardless of what format it is.

For example, while most of your content may be video on demand (VOD) or over the top (OTT), you may still want to monetize a special live event you’re broadcasting. The key is having the flexibility so that you’re able to get the most out of your video content in any format.

Furthermore, your video player should offer viewability metrics, so you can track the effectiveness of your ad experience. Advertisers don’t just want impressions anymore; they expect publishers to prove that viewers are actually seeing the ads.

TAKING ADVANTAGE OF VIDEO ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES

Video ad marketplaces offer publishers a variety of ways to monetize their content in an increasingly competitive landscape. Understanding how video ad marketplaces work can help you reach your goals and position you to seize the opportunities this significant growth market offers.

With Brightcove, taking advantage of this opportunity has never been easier. Not only do we offer a full-service ad marketplace solution, we offer industry-leading ad metrics like ad sensitivity. Getting started with AVOD can be hard, but Brightcove Ad Monetization makes it easy to get the most revenue from your media.