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FINTOS!”, which provides investment information in video format, is growing rapidly. Video use in other departments is also becoming more active.

bsp-admin-1 on December 17, 2020

With the economic environment changing due to the impact of the new coronavirus, and the sense of uncertainty about the future increasing, the importance of asset formation for the future is increasing. In order to form assets, it is essential to have a long-term perspective, as well as to make speedy investment decisions in response to changes in the environment. Nomura Securities Co., Ltd., which provides services such as asset management and fund procurement to individual investors and various companies, was looking for a way to provide the various content it had been providing to institutional investors, such as analysts’ research reports, to individuals. The content provided includes not only text, but also audio and video materials. To this end, they launched the “FINTOS!” service, which provides investment information via smartphone app. They also started video distribution, and the number of users has grown significantly, by 300% compared to the previous year.

WE CHOSE BRIGHTCOVE BECAUSE IT WAS THE BEST

Akihiko Nasu, from the Future Co-Creation Department, says that they chose Brightcove as their video distribution platform because it was the best.

When you think about global-level development and security, there’s no reason not to choose the ‘best’.

Nomura Securities
“When deciding on a platform, we compared and considered three or four major domestic video distribution companies. We did receive various proposals from domestic companies, including customizations. However, as we are a global company, we felt that domestic platforms would not be very user-friendly when considering their use in other countries and regions. When we considered the necessary requirements, such as high security at a global level, we felt that Brightcove, which has a proven track record, was the best option. Even if there was a slight difference in cost, there was no reason not to choose Brightcove.”

THE VIDEOS THEY PRODUCED ALSO CONTRIBUTED TO IMPROVED SALES EFFICIENCY

Once they actually started producing and distributing videos, the creators came up with more and more ideas. “Up until now, we only produced videos a few times a year, such as for seminars. However, with the introduction of Brightcove, we now have an environment where we can produce and distribute videos on a daily basis. We have a variety of ideas for projects, such as ‘I want to make something like this’ or ‘I wonder what would happen if we made a video out of this text? We have also received feedback from users saying that ‘videos are easier to understand than reading text’.” They say they are also receiving more and more inquiries from other departments about video distribution. “Many people are involved in creating articles in text form within the company, but video production is still rare. We’ve had a variety of responses, such as ‘I didn’t know videos could be made so easily’ and ‘I didn’t know videos could be distributed in this way’.” Before long, the videos created for FINTOS! were being used by other departments. In some cases, sales efficiency has increased by adding videos (links and QR codes) to the materials given to customers by the sales department. “Because the videos we produced to convey investment information were easy to understand, there was a request to add videos to sales materials as well. When you have to talk to customers using only paper materials, you need to digest and summarize many times the amount of information contained in the materials beforehand. However, if you attach videos to the documents, you can convey many times more information than on paper, so the amount of work required for sales preparation is reduced.” There were also survey results showing that ‘the time required for preparation was reduced by 20%’ as a result of improving the documents, such as by adding videos, and it was found that the number of contacts and the contract rate also improved because the time saved could be used to contact other customers.

INCREASE SALES EFFICIENCY BY ADDING VIDEOS TO SALES MATERIALS

FINTOS! Number of users: 300% increase year-on-year
Reduction in time spent preparing for sales: -30

OTHER DEPARTMENTS ARE ALSO BECOMING MORE ACTIVE IN USING BRIGHTCOVE

Not only are the videos created for FINTOS! being used by other departments, but there are also now departments that are creating their own videos. Tetsuo Fujisaki of the Future Co-Creation Department, which is in charge of promoting financial education and financial literacy, says the following

“We are developing a nationwide program of visiting schools to teach financial education, but with just four members in our department, we obviously don’t have enough hands. So, in order to enable members of our branches nationwide to take charge of teaching at schools in their sales areas, we film our lessons and pass the videos on to each branch. With Brightcove, we can set passwords so that only the people who need to see it can see it.”

“We have also started producing a series of videos called ‘First Time Investing’ aimed at beginners in the field of investing. Then, a person in charge of human resources at a company asked us if we could put the videos on their company intranet, as they wanted to show them to all their employees. We are currently in the process of discussing this, but the members of the sales department who heard about it said, ‘I’d like to introduce this video to my customers too. Because of the nature of the financial and economic education content, it is easy for sales members to introduce it to customers. With the growing interest in financial literacy these days, there seems to be a lot of interest in this.”

The trend of producing videos spread further within the company, and the business division also started producing videos. Ryujiro Kitamura of the Asset Formation Promotion Department says

“We offer a financial wellness program, a seminar for employees of listed companies to help them reduce their future financial concerns. However, there are many cases where people are unable to attend the live seminar on the day because of other commitments. For this reason, we have been asked for some time whether it would be possible to provide the seminar on demand as a video. When we heard that Brightcove was being used for financial and economic education to produce and distribute videos, we decided to give it a try.”
In the production of videos for the workplace, they are using Brightcove’s engagement score to make the next proposal

“In the past, we used to make relatively long videos of around 60 minutes, but when we looked at the engagement score, the average viewing time for the videos was around 30 minutes. Based on these scores, we are now able to make the next proposal to our customers.”

Kitamura also says that Brightcove’s powerful security features have increased the flexibility of their proposals and use.

“The videos of the Financial Wellness Program seminars also provide information in line with the systems of listed companies. However, personnel-related system information is also confidential information for those companies. For that reason, we often receive requests to ‘make it so that it cannot be viewed from outside’.”

“To solve this problem, we added a viewer security option to the Brightcove system, so that we could restrict the IP addresses from which people could connect. I think this has helped us to gain the trust of our customers, and has given us more freedom in our proposals and use of the system. I think another convenient aspect of Brightcove is that we can flexibly rearrange the modules as needed.”

WE WANT TO PROMOTE THE USE OF VIDEO WITH THE CONVENIENCE OF OUR CUSTOMERS AND COMPANIES IN MIND

The company is also promoting the sharing and joint use of videos produced by different departments. Regarding future video utilization, Mr. Nasu, Mr. Fujisaki and Mr. Kitamura had the following to say “The investment information provided by FINTOS! is something that can be described as ‘perishable’, so we want to shorten the lead time between an event occurring and the provision of information as much as possible. Ideally, if we could provide videos of what happened today as soon as it happened, we think it would be even more convenient for users” (Mr. Nasu) “We are developing financial education for teenagers. They are a generation that find even three-minute videos long. For this reason, we will also take on the challenge of producing and providing short videos“ (Fujisaki) “We want to develop our business in the workplace to meet the needs of each company. We want to have a lineup of both long and short videos so that companies can choose the videos that suit them” (Kitamura)

3 FRESH TAKES ON THE FUTURE OF OTT VIDEO STREAMING

bsp-admin-1 on December 11, 2020

Have you ever heard the expression “ebb and flow”? It describes something that changes on a regular basis – a pattern of change that over-the-top (OTT) streaming businesses are all too familiar with.

As the world of streaming video grows at a mind-blowing pace, media companies are continually having to adjust course to stay on top of what their audiences want to see and how they want to see it – everything from which device viewers stream on the most to how they pay for the service, how often, and of course, how much.

One of the most important things these businesses need is a strategy for anticipating change, connecting with and bringing in new audiences, and staying on top of the booming market.

During Brightcove’s Over-The-Top-View Video Strategy Summit, we invited some of the media world’s top experts to give us their perspective on what streaming businesses should be thinking about right now if they want to face the market head-on. Here are three things we learned:

A LA CARTE OR BUNDLED UP?

More and more viewers are breaking ties with traditional pay-tv for more control over what they watch and when, but how much control will we really see in the near future? If you’re a viewer who just loves CBS’s NCIS series, will you be able to pay for only that? Will control extend to individual pieces of content selected a la carte, or will our choices have to fit into broader bundles?

Interpret’s Brett Sappington says it “depends on who’s doing the bundling.” There could be an advantage to bundling specific content and channels or services if there’s a demand for that particular bundle. For example, we might start seeing different services like Discovery+ paired with ESPN+ in the future, but only if they benefit from each other’s audience.

HOW TO AVOID THE DIGITAL FREELOADER

We all love free stuff, but what’s free for the customer can be very costly for the business – especially for a streaming business. Adding a free trial to your service that lets viewers explore your content seems like a no-brainer right? That’s not exactly what the experts are saying.

CakeWork’s Rebecca Paoletti says you have to make sure you’re not giving up too much. “We encourage seven days free or less. If you really have a good service and have many people talking about your offering, it should really be just a one-click buy.”

Audiences are driven by good content, but if they’re given free access to that content, you’re not only losing revenue, you’re devaluing your service. WATCHiT’s Moustapha Bekheet notes that it’s important to remember that your content generates cash flow for your business and not to give it up so freely. “We don’t have any free trials, but sometimes we offer an episode for free of a premium series, a generous snippet to get the audience interested in the content and make them want more.”

FAST DOESN’T JUST MEAN SPEED

Are you familiar with FAST? We’re not talking about NASCAR or Usain Bolt – FAST as in free ad-supported TV. It’s what today’s streamers want and what content creators are jumping into in order to grow their audiences.

FAST services such as Pluto TV, Xumo, and Roku Channel are popping up everywhere. At their core, these services provide free content to consumers who don’t mind the ads. But they also provide a way for creators and media brands alike to increase the number of eyes on their content. It’s sort of a win-win scenario.

However, just pushing content to a FAST channel isn’t enough. Revry’s Alia Daniels says you need a strategy in place if you want to take advantage of this new trend. She recommends that businesses “push the best, most well-known names, and content topics that the partner or channel would actually want to promote.” Once you have your viewers’ attention, they’ll be more likely to explore your own channel outside of the free one and consider signing up for more.

BEYOND 2020: A PLAYBOOK FOR THE FUTURE OF OTT

bsp-admin-1 on December 3, 2020

2020 has been a year of unprecedented video streaming all around the world, thanks to a homebound audience hungry for entertainment. Competition for viewers has been fierce, with Disney, HBO, and Peacock all jostling their way into an already-crowded market.

This is uncharted territory for many media companies, with new players still learning the business of online TV. As for viewers, never before have they had so many options to choose from to create their own content bundles and decide how to spend their monthly entertainment budget.

To learn about consumer preferences around subscriptions, devices, payments, advertising, and more, we polled 22,000 users in 22 countries. What are the current audience trends that will shape the future of OTT beyond 2020? Here are the top five takeaways:

VIEWERS BUILD THEIR OWN CONTENT BUNDLES WITH MULTIPLE SUBSCRIPTIONS

Having a variety of streaming services to choose from lets viewers build their own custom bundles. That’s important because our research found that subscribing to a single service often doesn’t give a customer a sufficient breadth of content. Having a mix of services and adjusting that mix occasionally is an easy and relatively inexpensive way to get the content they want (and avoid paying for content they don’t).

Viewers become interested in new content in a number of ways, including social media, search, and recommendations from friends and family. Once that content has been viewed, however, the platform needs a retention strategy to entice them to come back for what they’ll watch next. For example, OTT service providers can offer additional channels as an add-on to their viewers’ monthly subscriptions. This not only helps to retain viewers on the primary service, but it also allows the provider to sell the added space to content owners.

FACTOR IN HOW VIEWERS DISCOVER CONTENT IN YOUR MARKETING CAMPAIGNS

Streaming services are now part of everyday life. What we’re watching is a frequent topic of conversation among friends, at the family dinner table, and on social media. Finding, watching, and talking about content has become a social experience. OTT providers need to understand how their prospective viewers discover content and use this insight to shape their marketing campaigns. While there are similarities around the world, the process is not the same in every market.

A MULTI-DEVICE STRATEGY IS ESSENTIAL

One of the great things about OTT streaming is that content can be accessed on different kinds of devices, a feature most subscribers take full advantage of, even if they have just one OTT service. So having a multi-device strategy is essential for maximising audience reach and keeping subscribers. Any device, any time, any place – OTT providers need to deliver consistent experiences across mobile, laptops, connected TVs, and Smart TVs.

EVOLVE YOUR PAYMENT MODELS

Consumers are motivated to minimize how much they spend on OTT services, so they are perfectly willing to subscribe to one for a particular piece of content and unsubscribe after they’ve watched it. So-called subscriber churn rates are high in an era without contracts, and as the streaming landscape grows more crowded, this trend will only continue.

To give consumers the flexibility to opt-in and out of streaming packages at any time, providers can test out various pricing strategies – weekday vs. weekend pricing, with ads, without ads, with limited ads, etc. – to see which packages are most popular. Get creative with your pricing plans and see how your viewers respond.

THERE’S A RIGHT WAY AND A WRONG WAY TO INCLUDE ADVERTISING

Providing a free-with-ads option could be a draw for users on tight entertainment budgets. In this case, almost all of the respondents polled considered 1-2 ads per break about right. In situations where ad tolerance is low (no more than one ad per break), OTT providers should sell the ad space at a premium.

If you do go with an ad-based model, make sure your ad delivery is not intrusive or repetitive. Add in cues in the video player scrubber bar so viewers know where ad breaks are. Experiment with banner ads during programming that disappears after a few seconds. Develop a feel for what your viewers consider acceptable and what they won’t tolerate.

BRIGHTCOVE WINS 7TH STRAIGHT TSIA SUPPORT STAFF EXCELLENCE AWARD

bsp-admin-1 on December 3, 2020

AWARD-WINNING SUPPORT, SEVEN YEARS AND COUNTING

At Brightcove, we’re immensely proud and excited to share that once again, the Technology & Services Industry Association recognized our customer support team for Support Staff Excellence, a recognition we have received for seven years in a row.

We sat down with Brightcove’s Chief Customer Experience Officer, Denise Grimley, to find out what it takes to build a high-level global customer support team for a B2B business and why it matters. A lot.

Denise, what is the Technology Services and Technology Association (TSIA) Award criteria?

It’s a couple of things; the first is that every single person in the support organization, every two years, has to go through a program to become a “Certified Support Professional”. Once this is complete, our Technical  Support Organization must prove, through metrics, that we’ve made a significant change in our organization that makes a better experience for our customers.

This year, the TSIA evaluated Brightcove on customer satisfaction and feedback.

We went from an 18.37% response rate to a 31.05% response rate. We were able to accomplish this by rethinking the way we ask customers for feedback.  In addition, we lowered our case age metric by over 2.5 days, this means our customers have the answers they need faster.

What does it mean for Brightcove to be recognized as a Support Staff Excellence Award recipient seven years in a row?

I believe anyone can learn software languages, javascript, HTML, CSS, or whatever software is required for the role, in fact, that is how I started in the tech industry – but I can’t teach empathy. You either have it, or you don’t. For me, why we’ve done so well in this area is because we hire for precisely that. We look for people who understand that the customer’s ability to run their business and feed their families depends on our ability to help them solve their problems.

I’m incredibly proud that as we hire new talent, we keep that as a center point for our search. We look for individuals who bring the mindset that we’re all humans trying to make our way in this world and that every single exchange that we have has a profound impact on that person and their job.

How do you grow a support organization to compete at a high-level year after year?

It starts with who you hire. Patrick Lencioni, an author that our leadership team has worked with to help build better teams, has a book all about hiring individuals who are hungry, humble, and smart. The “smart” you should be looking for doesn’t necessarily refer to intellect or technical knowledge, but rather the ability to interact with others.

Your ability to infer stress, a plea for help, or the customer’s temperament through a plain text email is essential for the role.

You’ve been at Brightcove for ten years. How has customer support changed over those ten years? What’s the most important thing now, and what will be important moving forward?

One thing that has changed over the past decade is the speed of technology. From live chat to call me now buttons to web portals. There are so many different ways to interact with your customers and so many tools to enable your support organization to help customers faster.

We’re always looking for what’s next for tools that will improve our communications with our customers.

Why is having a global support organization crucial for B2B companies?

We’re all humans, and each region has its differences and preferences. Employing customer support team members across regions ensures the person customers interact with understands the nuances in language and culture that are paramount to providing top-notch customer service. Employing a human being who understands the language and the customer’s background inspires confidence that a solution will be reached quickly and efficiently.

Additionally, a global support team enables around-the-clock coverage to help solve problems faster and more efficiently, wherever or whenever the need arises. For example, if you open a case in Sydney, we can pass it to London, Boston, and even Guadalajara so that you will have someone working with you around the clock.

What else do people need to know about support and why it’s so important?

When it comes to customers, they need to know more about how they can get the support they need. If they know all the different ways they can contact your business, they can get help faster. Companies should make it clear how customers can and should get in touch for specific issues.

For businesses, we must have a greater awareness that those who work on technical support teams are truly the unsung heroes of many organizations. I think it’s vital for businesses to acknowledge how much our support teams do to keep customers happy and engaged. The phone rings, slack dings, and live chat beeps non-stop, always with a problem that needs to be fixed.  It takes a resilient individual to get up every day, solve the case at hand, and then do it all over again, often without any thanks.

THE VALUE OF VIDEO IN GOVERNMENT TO PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

bsp-admin-1 on November 23, 2020

WHY VIDEO IS THE NEXT BIG THING FOR PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

Government communications have undergone a significant transformation, one where the information expectations of the public are central to the strategy. As part of this transformation, Government departments have transitioned their communications approach from ‘managing’ citizens and stakeholders to one of partnership, where engagement and collaboration are highly sought. With new digital technologies, every government department and agency can now create useful, relevant, and consistent communications with the intent to inform, engage and collaborate with stakeholders about policy, programs, services, and regulations.

A recent review conducted by the Australian Public Service revealed that Australians now expect the same level of personalisation and information integrated across departments in the same manner as they receive from private-sector businesses. Public sector communications professionals need to prioritise the right communication channels, formats, and the public’s preferences on when and where they want to be reached to encourage responsiveness and build trust, while delivering information in an open, timely, and meaningful way.

And this is where a video content strategy and an online video platform make a compelling case for engagement. A communications strategy with video can be useful in:

  • Building trust – Deliver an authentic, transparent, and consistent communications experience using video. Connect and engage with constituents in more meaningful ways, and provide live and on-demand interactions with the public about their expectations, needs, and concerns. 
  • Driving engagement
    • Nothing cuts through general noise and delivers an engaged audience like video, especially when content and messages can be streamed securely, at any time and across any device, in a format that the public will be likely to be responsive to.
  • Communicating at scale
    • Whether you’re targeting selected stakeholders or an entire community, you can reach audiences of any size reliably and securely using an online video platform. Enhanced accessibility using captions, subtitles, and audio descriptions can be added to enhance the video experience. 
  • Manage identity and reputation
    • An online video platform lets you control both the content and context of your communications across websites, social media networks, and mobile apps so that communications can be delivered with a unified vision and voice.

For government agencies and departments, using a secure and reliable video hosting and streaming platform is essential to ensure security, quality, and scalability of communications. Key metrics such as time watched, video completion rates, and engagement level can also help you better understand which messages are resonating with the public and other stakeholders and help inform future communication strategies.

While many government departments are already capitalising on video communications, not all agencies are quick to adopt video as part of their communications strategy. Video is a much more effective tool for engagement than any other forms of government communication, such as lengthy written public statements or policy documents. For an increasingly digital-savvy public, who want information in just a few clicks and who demand trust and authenticity, the opportunity for government departments to embrace video is now.

BRIGHTCOVE TO STREAM DAY-LONG HALLOWEEN EVENT

bsp-admin-1 on October 28, 2020

BRIGHTCOVE BRING THE HAUNTS TO HOME WITH STREAMING EVENT

It’s that time of year again, jack-o-lanterns on the porch, scary movie marathons galore, and oh so many treats. However, this year’s Halloween festivities will have to be enjoyed from the comforts of home – but that doesn’t mean you can’t get your fill of happy haunts.

Brightcove is excited to announce that we’ll be powering the spookiest virtual event this October. 31, an all-day event hosted by AMC Networks’ Shudder, for horror and thriller fans everywhere.

Here’s the full announcement as it appears on AMC Networks:

Staying home for Halloween this year? Fear not: Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thriller, and the supernatural, is bringing the holiday to you with ShudderFest, a horror celebration you don’t need to leave the house to attend. This incredible day-long virtual event will feature panels, presentations, conversations, and screenings led by legendary genre icons, fan-favorite musicians, and acclaimed directors, writers, and producers, free to all and available anywhere in the world via the shudderfest.com website.

Highlights of the event include a virtual hang with “horror royalty” including genre luminaries Tony Todd (Candyman), Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street) and others; a conversation between the stars and creators of 2020’s Zoom-horror Host and the makers of 1999’s found footage masterpiece, The Blair Witch Project; a panel of musicians who love Horror, including Bright Light Bright Light and Starcrawler’s Arrow De Wilde; Scary Story Time with Scare Me’s Josh Ruben and friends; a special recording of The Kingcast podcast with Creepshow showrunner Greg Nicotero; and a one-time secret screening of a future Shudder Original film that won’t be available until 2021.

“Most people aren’t able to go out for Halloween this year due to the pandemic, so we decided to bring Halloween home to them with an all-day celebration of everything that’s spooky and scary. And it’s not limited to Shudder members either—anyone around the world can participate in ShudderFest, because Halloween is a holiday that everyone should be able to enjoy,” said Craig Engler, Shudder’s General Manager.

EXPERT PANEL: A Q&A SESSION WITH WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY

bsp-admin-1 on October 28, 2020

YOUR QUESTIONS ON WOMEN IN TECH: ANSWERED

You had questions, and these inspiring women had answers. Salient Venture’s CEO, Diane Hessan, sat down with four of the most innovative and forward-thinking female leaders in tech to share their best insights on how women in tech can reach their full potential.

Here’s what you wanted to know— and what this group of amazing women had to say:

Five of the top tech companies only have a workforce of 34% of women….what gives?

For most women pursuing tech careers, the perception of the kind of person who fits-in in tech and the kind of person who doesn’t is a huge part of why the industry faces a diversity drought.

The only way to successfully bring more women into the field is to “battle the image,” says AnitaB.org’s Brenda Wilkerson. We as a society need to assert, early on, that the tech world is everyone’s world and that there’s something for everyone to pursue and explore.

“Start with an increase in educational opportunities for young women,” says Google’s Ritcha Gupta Ranjan. “Let women and young girls know that there are role models out there.”

What if you don’t have a tech-savvy support system? How do you get the mentors or the help you need?

“It’s on you to make a network amongst the people that you admire,” says Brightcove’s Namita Dhallan. You have to put yourself out there and get involved to build the network or mentorship you wish to have.

“You don’t just have to join the women in tech group,” she says; it’s about joining the type of team or group that resonates with you or aligns with your interests. Speak, listen, and, more importantly, learn. You’ll never know the kind of connections you’ll end up making.

What should we be telling younger generations of women?

LaShawn McGhee of Revry says we should be telling younger women who want to explore a future in tech to chase it. “It doesn’t matter when you start; all that matters is: if it’s your passion, and it’s something you’re interested in, just start.”

What should you do if you’re the only woman on your team?

“When you think about what diversity means, – different ideas and backgrounds help to bring ‘you’ to the table,” says Brenda Wilkerson. The only way to make sure everybody fits in equally is to throw out the notion that there is, in fact, a way to fit in.

What role can male team members play to best support their female peers in the business and tech world?

“Sometimes, when you’re in a meeting, you need to make your point heard – it’s important to look around the room and see if any of your women counterparts has something to say,” says LaShawn McGhee. Far too often, women are interrupted or not heard, and it’s time we put an end to poor communication skills. It’s important, not just for men, but for everyone to remain observant, respectful, and attentive.

TIPS FOR MONETIZING YOUR NEXT VIRTUAL EVENT

bsp-admin-1 on October 27, 2020

Virtual events are a fantastic way to attract an unlimited number of viewers from anywhere in the world. But, did you know that virtual events can also drive revenue?

Here are some tips that we’ve seen help brands turn their virtual experiences into dollar signs.

DO YOU LIKE THE IDEA OF BEING SEEN BY A BIG AUDIENCE? SPONSORS DO TOO

Companies can now reach and connect with wider global audiences than they ever could with in-person events – and that reach is just as appealing to sponsors as it is to the businesses hosting the events.

The larger the audience, the larger the conversation.

Here are a few things you can offer your sponsors to drive value:

  • Sponsorship of the overall event or of particular tracks and sessions.

  • Speaking opportunities.

  • Ad placement before, during, and/or after video sessions.

  • Logo placement on your video player or window.

  • Video analytics and data.

And, you have the flexibility to price or bundle these sponsorships in whatever way works for you and your sponsors.

DELIVERING PREMIUM CONTENT GIVES BOTH YOU AND YOUR ATTENDEES OPTIONS FOR HOW DEEP TO DIG IN

You’ve got stacks upon stacks of insights, trends, how-tos, and industry best practices, but what’s the best way to make the most of your virtual event’s content?

Flexibility is the name of the game when it comes to virtual event monetization. Here are a few ways you can monetize and structure your content:

  • Give attendees the opportunity to pay for access to incredibly valuable or on-demand content.
  • Create a tiered structure with a few pricing levels that provide access to increasing amounts of content.
  • Organize your content by track and allow attendees to pay for access to those tracks that interest them.

If you’re planning a virtual or hybrid event, we’d love to help. Get in touch with us here.

BRIGHTCOVE AND LTN GLOBAL HELP FREIGHTWAVES LIVE STREAM AT SCALE

bsp-admin-1 on October 13, 2020

In the massive global freight industry, FreightWaves is the leading provider of global supply chain data and media content to industry leaders and analysts. You could call them the Bloomberg of freight based on how many subscribers they have to their Sonar data platform, their viewing audience for FreightWaves TV, and their recent success in virtual events.

                                     

Cody Mathis is a broadcast engineer at FreightWaves who implemented the tech stack powering FreightWaves TV, and he decided to leverage Brightcove and Brightcove partner LTN Global in his workflow. LTN’s Schedule product is how Cody’s team pulls together live streams and other content that they produce for the FreightWaves TV channel. Brightcove Live, Brightcove Video Cloud, and the Brightcove Player are how they stream it to their audiences worldwide, and they’ve seen dramatic viewership growth in the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK, and Germany.

Cody reports that his primary goal in vendor selection for FreightWaves TV was the ability to scale in the cloud and deliver a reliable and high-quality playback experience across the many screens, like freight brokerage houses, that keep FreightWaves TV on constantly. An added benefit was what the integration between LTN Global and Brightcove meant for his team’s efficiency. In comparison, it used to take a week of training and two weeks of practice for a new team member to operate the FreightWaves TV workflow. Cody explains, “The mixture of LTN and Brightcove lets us train a new person on the entire system in a day, and they can now completely build up the schedule and hit play, and it just works flawlessly.”

                                                     

The key to the integration is that the user interface of LTN Schedule offers the option of sending a stream to Brightcove while maintaining all markers and metadata needed for Brightcove to facilitate ad-insertion and analytics.

Cody and team have extended their live streaming expertise into virtual events in 2020. FreightWaves LIVE was supposed to be an in-person event with 2000 attendees, but the pandemic necessitated going virtual. FreightWaves LIVE @ Home, in the early spring, featured over 5MM minutes of content in 3 days and netted 92,000 unique viewers who streamed over 250,000 sessions. This success inspired the addition of more live-streamed virtual events to the schedule, including FreightWaves LIVE: Global Trade Tech in mid-September.

The ease of operation and high technical performance of LTN Global and Brightcove has enabled FreightWaves to go bigger with confidence. Said Cody of the workflow, “Our entire team is trained in it. So if anyone has to step in, they’re more than confident to know what to do if someone has to push a show longer or cut a show early or anything like that. Everyone on the team knows what to do in those situations because the integration is so simple. So it’s been really great.”