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HOW ACORN TV INCREASED SUBSCRIBERS 400% IN TWO YEARS

bsp-admin-1 on December 9, 2024

HIGH QUALITY NICHE CONTENT AND DIGITAL STREAMING MAKE A WINNING COMBINATION

Launched in 2011, Acorn TV offers high quality, carefully curated British mysteries and dramas to discerning viewers. As one of the first subscription streaming services targeting distinct, premium audiences, Acorn TV streams exclusive content series such as Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Foyle’s War, Doc Martin, and Midsomer Murders.

BACKGROUND

Known for specializing in the best of British television, Acorn Media Group has been distributing British mystery and drama television content to U.S. audiences for over 20 years through a wide range of media platforms, including broadcast, DVD/Blu-ray, and digital streaming. Through its SVOD service, Acorn TV, viewers can access almost 3,000 hours of programming, representing over 150 franchises. The streaming channel is one of three niche subscription video channels owned by RLJ Entertainment (NASDAQ: RLJE), a global entertainment content distribution company.

Acorn TV exceeded its target for new digital subscription customers, and is on pace to double revenue from its over-the-top TV (OTT) business by the end of the year. “People subscribe to Acorn TV because we offer specific content they are passionate about; and we can deliver it quickly on a myriad of devices,” states Titus Bicknell, Chief Digital Officer and EVP, Operations, RLJ Entertainment, Acorn TV’s parent company. “With OTT, you no longer have to be a big broadcaster to distribute content.”

In March 2016, Acorn TV revealed it had reached over 250,000 paid subscribers, a 100% increase in year-over-year subscribers. The niche streaming service, which Acorn TV had launched as an accompaniment to its traditional TV broadcasting, is now replacing broadcasting.

STREAMING CONTENT TRANSFORMS EXISTING AUDIENCES AND BRINGS IN NEW DEMOGRAPHICS

The speed, functionality, scalability of the video platform are critical to delivering the quality experience customers demand in an OTT service.

TITUS BICKNELL

CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER AND EVP, OPERATIONS, RLJ ENTERTAINMENT

“Over the years, viewers have come to Acorn TV because they are looking for specific content that only we offer,” states Bicknell. “There is a real emphasis on finding the content in its earliest possible U.S. window, and because we are that window, they come to us and they stay.”

The emphasis on accessing content more quickly is driving some of Acorn TV’s established audience, which fits an older demographic, to transition from traditional broadcast distribution to a digital streaming subscription. However, the major growth in Acorn TV’s audience is coming from a completely new segment, 18-25 year olds. “Our availability across a number of devices and platforms is enormously appealing to this younger demographic,” notes Bicknell. “This is a segment that literally views things differently; they have never had cable. In many cases, they may not even own a TV. Yet they are almost always watching multiple screens at the same time; it could be mobile device, a tablet, or a game console. The perception of the TV as a focal point in their lives is changing dramatically.”

The ability to stream to a variety of devices is enabling Acorn TV to attract this new demographic in significant numbers. As Bicknell observes, “This is the real frontier for digital streaming — not just changing the viewing habits of existing long-term customers, but establishing new viewing habits with new audiences.” To do this, Acorn TV delivers its digital content on Apple TV, iDevices, Roku devices, Samsung Smart TVs, and fixed and mobile web. “We’re in the business of reducing the friction between the desire for our content and the reality of delivering it in as many different ways as possible,” adds Bicknell. Making content available on multiple devices makes it possible for a wide range of audiences to embrace Acorn TV’s unique programming.

BUILDING A FLEXIBLE INFRASTRUCTURE

“One of the challenges of being in a niche market is that it’s very hard to determine the size of your addressable audience,” notes Bicknell. But, Acorn TV recognized the business potential of streaming digital content directly to viewers and developed an infrastructure that could grow to support hundreds of millions of video playbacks. “Digital has gone from niche to the most pervasive technology on the planet,” states Bicknell. “That has meant having to refresh the tech stack constantly.”

The initial challenge was managing the expense of new digital delivery technology until the business could support it. Acorn TV developed a technology strategy that allowed for flexibility, agility, and rapid implementation. “There has been a huge evolution in digital technology,” explains Bicknell. “That’s both the challenge and opportunity in the digital world. It’s very mutable.”

Acorn TV selected Brightcove as its online video platform (OVP) because its technology is scalable and reliable. “In my experience, the player is key,” states Bicknell. “The speed, functionality, scalability and flexibility of the player — and the video platform behind it — are critical to delivering the quality experience customers demand in an OTT service.” The Brightcove platform enables Acorn TV to easily and quickly add new devices to support the evolving preferences of its customers, which makes it possible for audiences to embrace Acorn TV’s offerings on an expanding number of devices, including Smart TVs, mobile devices, tablets, Fire TV, and Fire TV stick. The company is currently working on a Fire TV native app.

“At the end of the day, if you cannot deliver content to audiences on a complex and varied set of platforms, reliably and on a consistent basis, you don’t have a business. Brightcove has always been the most reliable provider of that core video service,” reports Bicknell.

OTT OPENS THE DOOR FOR MORE NICHE CHANNELS

Acorn TV and RLJ Entertainment see room for expansion in the niche content market. “With OTT, more people can create and distribute content. We’re seeing more channels pop up and attract audiences with very specific types of content,” continues Bicknell.

RLJ Entertainment currently utilizes the Brightcove platform to power two additional niche channels, UMC — Urban Movie Channel, showcasing quality urban content — and Acacia TV, a healthy-living/ lifestyle brand. The company also has rich content libraries that present the potential for additional stand-alone channels. As an added benefit, Bicknell notes the cost of OTT delivery is less expensive than producing DVDs or Blu-rays. As Acorn TV scales with OTT, margins improve and Acorn TV can invest in more content.

“There is great scalability in the platform and technology we built, and we believe there are more audiences for our niche content,” concludes Bicknell.

HOW UKTV GREW THEIR AUDIENCE AND REVENUE

bsp-admin-1 on December 9, 2024

PREMIUM LONG-FORM VOD DELIVERS NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR EXPANSION

Turn on the TV in the U.K. and you have a bewildering array of over 300 channels to choose from, many of which are available free-to-air. These include national, regional and local channels, and their +1 and HD variants. An interesting difference between the U.K. and the U.S. market is the large proportion of TV that is available without the need for any cable subscription, which has helped drive innovation in the pay TV market as providers such as Sky and BT have had to develop products that are worth the money.

BACKGROUND

UKTV, jointly owned by BBC Worldwide and Scripps Networks, has a unique approach to the TV market, with channels available from both free and pay TV providers. It runs 10 channels — including favorites Dave, Drama and Gold — half of which are free-to-air, while the rest require a subscription. It’s this mix of income from advertising and subscriptions that has proven such a success, fuelling both growth in viewership and a 20% increase in profit in the last two years.

In a clear evolution from its position as a traditional broadcaster, UKTV has been developing its suite of video on-demand products under the UKTV Play brand, and two years after its launch, both audience numbers and income are rising at an impressive rate.

In mid-2014, UKTV’s VOD apps and services were all brought together under the UKTV Play brand, with the channels presented as a brand “family.” This coincided with a new approach to the TV’s on-screen promotions for the channels, with greater use of cross-network on-screen ads, again, with a brand family feel. “We were aware that UKTV Play was a brand extension of a relatively unknown network brand, UKTV. The first step was to inform our TV viewers that they were watching a channel from the UKTV family,” explains Oliver Davies, Head of Digital Products at UKTV. “Everyone knows and loves our channel brands, but we had to build the association with the network, and by doing so UKTV Play started to make more sense to the consumer.” With UKTV Play established as the entry point to multi-channel content, users began to discover content from the other channels, which in turn increased engagement, advertising revenue, and awareness of the TV channels.

DIVERSE CONTENT AND CHANNELS DRIVE VIEWERS TO UKTV PLAY

Brightcove makes VOD as easy and convenient as possible and takes care of lots of the complicated bits of the chain so we can concentrate on making beautiful products.

OLIVER DAVIES

HEAD OF DIGITAL PRODUCTS, UKTV

The range of programs available is very diverse on UKTV Play. A portion is supplied by the BBC, including well-loved entertainment shows like “Top Gear,” “QI” and “Mock the Week,” and quality dramas such as “Spooks” and “Silent Witness.” A range of U.S. studio content is available on catch-up such as “Suits,” “Parks and Recreation” and “The Last Man on Earth.” Perhaps the most exciting strand of content is the brand-defining UKTV Originals, available exclusively on UKTV Play. These include “Hoff the Record” starring David Hasselhoff, and a reboot of the sci-fi cult “Red Dwarf.”

“We currently have about 300 program brands in circulation,” says Davies. “At any one time, we have 1,000 to 1,500 episodes available to our viewers, whose demographic is broadly in line with our broadcast channel viewers.”

UKTV Play has achieved a 26% increase in views year-over-year, and is aiming for an increase of 50% by the end of 2016. “We measure our success on a range of metrics including the number of views, brand awareness, and application downloads,” says Davies. “This year we already are tracking above our targets.”

DRIVING GROWTH IN VIEWS AND AD REVENUES: A MULTI-FACETED APPROACH

Providing great programming and a quality user experience is the first step in creating a successful VOD channel. The second step, according to Davies, is providing an ad viewing experience on demand that is consistent with viewers’ experiences on broadcast. “We don’t offer subscription VOD, so ad revenue is critical. People expect fewer ads online compared to TV, so the opportunity for us to maximize revenue on VOD advertising is limited. We aim for the same experience on demand as on TV: a maximum of three ads per pre-break, and no more than four minutes per mid-break.”

UKTV has successfully developed viewer loyalty through consistent viewer experience and treatment of ad placements across all of its channels, whether VOD or broadcast. As the number of VOD viewers continues to increase, so does ad revenue.

A third element in driving viewership is adding platforms and devices. Retention varies by device type, and devices have different usage patterns based on time and day of week. However, adding new platforms expands the network’s reach. “Each new platform attracts a unique user base and doesn’t cannibalize the installed user base anywhere else,” says Davies. Faced with a lack of standardization for viewing on different devices, Davies narrowed UKTV’s focus to a specific list of devices, betting on platforms of the future, and specifically those tactically important for VOD consumption. PC, iOS, Android and YouView were first; longer term strategic platforms such as Freeview Play and Amazon Fire TV have followed closely behind. “Choosing whether to develop for a platform is complicated. What about games consoles, smart TVs or aggregation services for example? We follow consumer and industry trends very carefully and try to figure out what will grow in dominance before committing.”

KEEPING AHEAD OF THE CURVE WITH A LONG-TIME VALUED PARTNER

UKTV has been partnering with Brightcove for more than 10 years. What started with short-form videos on UKTV’s channel websites has grown into a key, strategic partnership for Davies’ small, 12-person team, enabling them to develop products and services across many platforms. “Without Brightcove, I’d need quite a few more developers to sort out all the technical problems, which is expensive.” Davies’ in-house team covers design, production and ongoing evolution of the apps and services, but relies on Brightcove for the mechanics of VOD delivery.

For example, UKTV uses a Freewheel plug-in to facilitate ad break display for each program. Without Brightcove, Davies notes that this functionality would have to be custom built and, crucially, maintained.

Davies relies on Brightcove so the team does not have to develop or manage all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle themselves. “Brightcove services have grown, bringing new functionality online such as Brightcove Once for server-side ad insertion, new DRM, stronger encryption, cloud encoding, dynamic ingest, and enhanced admin console capabilities. Brightcove makes VOD as easy and convenient as possible and takes care of lots of the complicated bits of the chain so we can concentrate on making beautiful products. Without Brightcove, the world would be a more difficult, technically challenging place for us. Video is a fast moving market, and Brightcove helps us to keep up with the changes.”

HOW MONGOL TV INTRODUCED MONGOLIA’S FIRST OTT SERVICE

bsp-admin-1 on December 9, 2024

BRIGHTCOVE’S OTT FLOW BRINGS ORI TV TO OVER 3 MILLION MONGOLIAN CONSUMERS

For Bat-Erdene Gankhuyag, television is the family business. That’s because he and his wife, Nomi, co-founded Mongol TV in 2009, which has since grown to become Mongolia’s leading private television broadcasting company. The network offers free-to-air programming that includes both localized, company-produced content and licensed international content from the United States, Korea, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. In the case of Mongol TV’s localized programming, the company buys the rights to popular shows and then recreates them for the Mongolian market. Shows like Shark Tank, The Voice, and Mongolia’s Got Talent are huge draws for the network. So it’s no surprise Mongol TV reaches about 200K households on average and holds about 25 percent of the country’s broadcast television market.

SHRINKING AD REVENUE & INTERNATIONAL REACH DRIVE MONGOL TV'S EXPANSION

Up until recently, Mongol TV only offered free programming to consumers, so the company relied on advertising revenue for continued growth. However, Gankhuyag began noticing an ominous trend happening among local advertisers: they seemed to all be moving from broadcast television to digital media platforms, leaving free-to-air networks like Mongol TV at risk for demonetization.

“The only source of revenue we had was advertising,” Gankhuyag says. “Over the last few years, we’ve seen many advertisers go onto the social media networks. In Mongolia, the revenue for free-to-air TV is getting smaller and smaller. So we had to look into another way to monetize our content besides advertising.”

Additionally, Gankhuyag wanted to expand Mongol TV’s reach beyond Mongolia’s borders, because while three million citizens live within the country, hundreds of thousands live internationally and continue to access Mongolian media, predominantly on mobile devices.

In Mongolia, like many other countries, we’re finding mobile devices are becoming the most important entertainment platform, giving viewers independence and personalized content.

BAT-ERDENE GANKHUYAG
CO-FOUNDER

To mitigate the risk of decreasing advertising revenue and, at the same time, provide audiences with web and mobile-friendly content, Gankhuyag had to find a solution.

ORI TV Becomes Mongolia’s First-Ever OTT Service

Gankhuyag decided that adding an OTT service to Mongol TV’s existing business model would be the best bet to meet both monetization and consumer reach challenges. Together with the company’s in-house technology team, Gankhuyag designed the channel’s overall concept to include a wide variety of current and past season programming totaling more than 2,000 hours of streaming video accessible across every device: web, mobile, mobile app, Chromecast, and Apple TV. More importantly, it would be monetized exclusively through subscription-based fees. Using Brightcove’s OTT Flow product, the team was able to launch its OTT channel, ORI TV, in a matter of eight weeks, making Mongol TV the first broadcaster in the country to offer an over-the-top video service.

BRIGHTCOVE'S TECHNOLOGY EXPERTS HELP BRING OTT TO MONGOL TV

In the initial planning stages for the ORI TV, Gankhuyag knew he needed a video partner capable of providing three essential services: (1) a fully-equipped in-house team of engineers ready to build an OTT service from scratch, (2) an easy-to-manage platform for technology novices, and (3) the ability to deliver an OTT product quickly to global viewers, particularly on mobile devices. “I’m not a tech guy,” Gankhuyag admits, so being able to delegate all the technical responsibilities of an entire OTT build-out was of top priority.And with Mongolia’s growing population of mobile media consumers, Gankhuyag had to ensure a quick and seamless delivery of Mongol TV content to this particularly attentive audience. He explains: “In Mongolia, like many other countries, we’re finding mobile devices are becoming the most important entertainment platform, giving viewers independence and personalized content.” So being able to give these consumers on-demand, customized video in the form of an easily accessible OTT product was the ideal solution. Realizing Brightcove could deliver on all three of these requirements, Gankhuyag knew he had to bring the company onboard.

ORI TV DRAWS 5K SUBSCRIBERS IN JUST FIVE MONTHS, PUTTING MONGOL TV ON TOP

Within the first five months of ORI TV’s launch, Mongol TV has already seen tremendous success, drawing over 5,000 subscribers to the platform. The OTT service has also given Mongol TV even more opportunity to increase viewership and engagement across national and international borders, since ORI TV is so accessible on all devices.

“Fifty percent of our subscribers come from abroad—they’re not physically located in Mongolia. They’re Mongolian people who live abroad,” says Gankhuyag. “These people tend to use more mobile than people accessing service from within the country. This audience uses mostly laptops and computers.”

And with ORI TV being the first-ever OTT service offered in Mongolia, it’s revolutionized the country’s media landscape, and it’s made Mongol TV a name synonymous with innovation and modernization. Says Gankhuyag, “Mongolia is a country with four very big telecom operators. They’re very big companies with big revenues, and they’re quite dominant in the market. Compared to them, we [Mongol TV] had a very small revenue. But with the help of ORI TV, we are the talk of the town. Now, a couple of those companies are trying to make their own OTT platform. Everybody said a small station like ours couldn’t have an OTT platform, and we’re happy to have proved them wrong. Now, we are the most successful OTT platform in the country.” The success of ORI TV has been so incredible, in fact, it’s given Mongol TV respect among fellow content creators. Producers often come forward to pitch Gankhuyag a number of possible project collaborations.

As ORI TV’s subscribers continue to grow, Mongol TV has refocused its social media strategy as well. No longer does the company post full-length video content to its Facebook and YouTube accounts; instead, Mongol TV uses its social platforms to market new ORI TV content when it becomes available. Followers receive alerts via social media, where they can click through to the ORI TV landing page and subscribe.

PLANS TO DOUBLE SUBSCRIBERS IN NEAR FUTURE

For the remainder of 2018, Mongol TV plans to double ORI TV’s current subscribers to 10,000, and to do this, Gankhuyag has his sights set on three main improvements. The first is to adjust the service’s billing and payment options for Mongolian viewers. Since the country’s central bank doesn’t allow recurring payments on personal credit cards, subscribers have to use a foreign currency account to enroll. Gankhuyag plans to implement more purchase options through Google Play and iTunes in order to avoid the hassle of credit card billing and make the enrollment process much more efficient. Second, he plans to study viewers’ behavior through surveys, social media feedback, and analytics and learn what ORI TV subscribers want to watch. That way he’ll be able to anticipate their needs and deliver relevant content. And third, Gankhuyag is focusing on creating a new and improved marketing strategy to promote ORI TV and its content to more consumers. “If we get the combination of all three of these right, then we’re hoping to double our subscriber numbers,” he says.

HOW TENNIS AUSTRALIA TURNED OBSTACLES INTO OPPORTUNITIES

bsp-admin-1 on December 9, 2024

Tennis Australia typically hosts up to 400 athletes for the Australian Open (AO). But with a cap on the number of international visitors permitted in the country, the team at Tennis Australia decided to run the men’s and women’s qualifying matches for AO 2021 in Doha and Dubai. That solved the travel problem, but it created a new one with time zones: If a match started at 5:00 PM Melbourne time, it would run until 4:00 AM the next morning – not great for viewership. And with the government’s COVID-19 restrictions, people who would typically be cheering from the stands would have to watch from afar.

So the team at Tennis Australia decided to view these obstacles as opportunities to think differently about video and create new experiences for tennis fans in Australia and around the world. “I suppose in a lot of ways, we just tried to remove barriers for our event – from a fan perspective on site, for our media, for our staff, and especially our fans consuming globally as well,” says Tennis Australia Supervising Producer of Live Events, John O’Neil. “We were looking at how to bring everything together so there’s a consistency and seamlessness in our video experience.”

CREATING A NEW VIRTUAL MEDIA HUB

There are three groups of people who are critical to any successful sporting event: the players, the patrons, and the press. Typically, Tennis Australia prides itself on catering to the needs of all stakeholders, and this year there were specific challenges for the international media, which mostly had to cover the entire event remotely. “In some scenarios last year, journalists were forced to watch local broadcasts or find local coverage of, say, the U.S. Open or the French Open, to then report on it and generate media exposure,” says O’Neil. “Our aim was to provide a seamless service and provide media around the world with the best possible access to every match. This gave us the opportunity to leverage our existing Brightcove investment and infrastructure as part of creating our Media Hub. We had a really strong and clear vision of what we wanted to achieve.”

By creating a new Media Hub video platform, Tennis Australia was able to replicate the access and experience media would have covering the event on site. In the Media Hub, journalists could watch live match footage on all 16 courts, livestream press conferences, watch behind-the-scenes content, and even participate in both press conferences and one-on-one interviews via Microsoft Teams, all from one centralised platform. “We were trying to create that ‘as if you were here’ experience for our media,” says O’Neil. “It has meant that if someone is covering a match on court 13 or court 16, or on a court that would not necessarily be on a terrestrial or OTT platform, they’re allowed to see it, talk about it, and provide commentary and coverage for it.” All in all, 1,200 broadcast journalists and 475 media representatives reported on the 2021 Australian Open from the Media Hub, earning Tennis Australia positive global coverage for supporting a group that’s key to the tournament’s success.

CREATING A NEW SPATIAL AUDIO EXPERIENCE FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED

The Brightcove video platform allows us to do whatever we need it to, and with full confidence that we’re not going to break it. It’s that confidence in knowing that we can really stretch the system and it’s going to respond accordingly.

JOHN O’NEIL

SUPERVISING PRODUCER OF LIVE EVENTS, TENNIS AUSTRALIA

Dylan Alcott, an Australian wheelchair Grand Slam champion and Paralympic gold medallist tennis player, has become a prominent advocate for people who are mobility-challenged, helping to raise awareness and create more opportunities for inclusion in sports. Inspired by Alcott’s efforts, Tennis Australia’s innovation team leveraged Brightcove technology to create a 15-channel spatial audio experience specifically designed for people who are unable to see a tennis match. “We’ve also been looking at how else we can use Brightcove to deliver more inclusion and bring more people to sports in a different way,” says O’Neil.

CREATING A NEW TAKE ON A TRIED & TRUE PARTNER EVENT

As part of the Australian Open every year, Tennis Australia hosts AO First Serve, an event designed to engage partners and offer them a sneak peek into the tournament. Unable to host a physical event this year, the Tennis Australia production team filmed original content and stories in their studios and published the video through Brightcove across different time zones, enabling them to still connect with partners and showcase the event. “I think a picture tells a thousand words, and a video tells a million stories,” says O’Neil. “When you can show video content, it brings out the emotion and tells the story. And I think you can’t underestimate the impact of storytelling.”

CREATING NEW CONTENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR INTERNAL COMMS

Like many organisations, Tennis Australia has also undergone substantial changes in how internal teams communicate, collaborate, and work remotely – and that has meant more opportunities for video. “We’ve also made a lot of content for ourselves, to keep each other informed and communicate what’s happening,” says O’Neil. “We take our full-length video content, tighten it up, and then send it out to people through Brightcove.” Everything from the latest CEO town hall to COVID policy updates, cocktail tutorials to yoga classes, are all available for the Tennis Australia staff through the Brightcove platform. “Brightcove has helped us, as an organisation and as teams, to stay together when we’ve been working remotely.”

A LONG-TERM “LOVE” STORY

For years now, Tennis Australia has offered its audiences everything from livestreams to video-on-demand content, on both AusOpen.com and their mobile app, all streamed by Brightcove. “I suppose we’ve had a long-term relationship with Brightcove,” says O’Neil. With ambitious plans to continue to expand and create even more content opportunities, Tennis Australia relies on a partnership that has stood the test of time. “I know that Brightcove is a market leader; everything that we need is there, and the support we get is great, and it has delivered what we need it to deliver.”

During live sporting events, Tennis Australia will sometimes simultaneously livestream up to 16 courts for up to 14 hours a day. “We recently had probably the most ambitious day of tennis ever. We did 98 tennis matches in one day. Normally the Grand Slam is 64 matches. We did 98.” At this year’s AO, the organisation simultaneously streamed 16 match courts, one behind-the-scenes feed, two interview rooms, one world feed production, and two practice courts – clearly, reliability is critical.

Scalability is just as important. During a typical year, the production team might create one or two pieces of content a week, but when the AO rolls around, they’re suddenly pushing terabytes of data. “We don’t have the luxury of sporting organisations or sporting events that have months and months of a season and lots of content happening over that period of time,” says O’Neil. “The ability to go ridiculously hard for an intense burst of content, but then to be able to go back again is really important. So that’s one of the critical reasons why we chose Brightcove: that true elasticity to be able to grow, but more importantly to scale back down to our needs for the other 48 weeks of the year.”

According to O’Neil, it would be impractical for Tennis Australia to build a massive video infrastructure in-house, both in terms of time and money. Fortunately, they don’t have to. “The Brightcove video platform allows us to do whatever we need it to, and with full confidence that we’re not going to break it. It’s that confidence in knowing that we can really stretch the system and it’s going to respond accordingly.”

Tennis may be one of the world’s great individual sports, but we at Brightcove couldn’t be prouder to be part of the Tennis Australia team.

HOW STUFF MOVED BEYOND TRADITIONAL JOURNALISM

bsp-admin-1 on December 9, 2024

THE NEED

Stuff needed a trusted partner to create a brand new video platform offering storytelling across multiple genres and audiences.

THE ANSWER

Brightcove video, with its 24/7 reliability, technical expertise, industry reputation, and OTT solution, made this happen quickly, easily, and with no added development costs

THE RESULTS

3 MILLION+ views per month

27 genres

78 channels

Thousands of videos featuring news, entertainment, lifestyle documentaries, music, sports, business, and much more

As the way we consume news and information changes, publishers must also adapt to connect with audiences in new ways. Reaching beyond its traditional journalism platform, Stuff has created created a bold new streaming service called Play Stuff. Powered by Brightcove®, this experience delivers local and international video content across news, sports, entertainment, and lifestyle programming, with material originating from Reuters, Press Association, Nine, ABC, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Bravo New Zealand, Al Jazeera, Sky Vision, Rugby Pass, NZ On Screen, and many more.

PUBLISHERS INNOVATE WITH VIDEO

Like many in the publishing industry, Stuff set out to increase its video footprint, deliver more storytelling with video, and meet the demands for new OTT (over the top) experiences. This gave rise to Play Stuff, which features a mix of short- and long-form programming focused on news, sports, entertainment, lifestyle, and documentaries. Play Stuff quickly became New Zealand’s new home for entertaining, informative, and compelling video. “The idea was to create a rounded product that goes beyond the traditional news space and into the world of entertainment and beyond,” said Paddy Buckley, Head of Video Products and Strategy at Stuff. “Play Stuff represents a huge opportunity for us to rethink the way we tell our stories and look at new opportunities with video.”

27 GENRES...78 CHANNELS...THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF VIDEOS

Being able to lean on an organisation like Brightcove was essential for us. They have a robustness in their systems that we need. And we need to ensure that there is a high level of responsiveness to any problems that we encounter. We really need to trust our partner being able to deliver 24/7.

CAROL HIRSCHFELD

HEAD OF VIDEO/AUDIO AND CONTENT PARTNERSHIPS, STUFF

Music? Māori? How about health or history? Maybe a documentary, short film, or home improvement channel. With so many genres and channels, Play Stuff doesn’t leave anyone or anything out of the mix. It’s made possible by a powerful and comprehensive OTT experience powered by Accedo. This joint solution enables Play Stuff to rapidly deploy high quality live and on-demand video across platforms with no added development costs. “Video is becoming more prolific with recent stats suggesting it will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2022,” said Chris McNair, Regional Director, Australia and New Zealand, Accedo. “Consumers are increasingly choosing to watch videos for information and entertainment. With this service, Stuff is tapping into that trend and delivering its content in a new and engaging way that will appeal to a larger audience.”

SERIOUSLY RELIABLE

With such a strong legacy in journalism and a mission focused on maintaining a vibrant, diverse functioning democracy in New Zealand, the addition of Play Stuff was a decision that was not taken lightly. The trust of the audience and the integrity of the organization must not face any risk. That led to the choice of Brightcove video. “When we offer new video programming for the first time to our audience, we need to know that it is going to be utterly reliable,” said Carol Hirschfeld, Head of Video/Audio and Content Partnerships at Stuff. “We must continue to build that trust which we have shown through the editorial side and show that we can do it at a technical level. And that’s really one of the key reasons why we chose Brightcove to be our partner.”

HOW SPH USES VISUAL STORYTELLING IN ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

bsp-admin-1 on December 9, 2024

INTERACTIVE VIDEO INCREASES VIEWING TIME BY 50%

The leading media organization in Asia, Singapore Press Holdings Ltd (SPH) delivers editorial storytelling content across a vast portfolio of media platforms, including newspapers, magazines, radio, and digital. Its digital properties encompass more than 25 news, financial and lifestyle websites and more than 50 mobile apps, each reaching a very targeted demographic. Together, these properties serve an audience of 23 million unique viewers and command 360 million page views per month. It’s an established and highly engaged base, one that views SPH’s media segments as trusted, reliable sources for content.

SPH provides its advertising clients with access to affluent, brand-conscious and upwardly mobile individuals between the ages of 25 and 49. Fortune 500 companies and regional brand advertisers leverage SPH’s websites and services to target a highly coveted audience engaging with them on sites and mobile apps they trust, alongside editorial content they value.

VIDEO EXPANDS THE POWER OF STORYTELLING

“Advertisers value us as a trusted source for information and as strong storytellers,” says Serene Goh, Head of SPH Content Lab. “We create unique digital brand campaigns designed to engage audiences and generate returns for advertisers.”

“Video adds a dimension to our storytelling, and makes us a more complete, well-rounded media solution—it goes beyond just suggesting a client buy banners on this site, or print ads, or radio spots. It’s one more way we help our clients reach their customers, shape effective stories and amplify their messages.”

Brightcove allows us to do more with video.

SERENE GOH

HEAD OF SPH CONTENT LAB

As SPH became more invested in video, the company sought to upgrade its technology platform—to a solution that offered flexibility and a robust set of APIs. They chose Brightcove as a key technology partner, hosting all editorial and advertising video content on Brightcove Video Cloud.

“Brightcove is our video technology partner,” explains Eric Tan, Manager, Business and Product Innovation. “We transitioned to Brightcove because we needed a very strong technology partner with a mature platform that can reach all our websites and publications.”

To capitalize on SPH’s expertise in delivering trusted content, the company assigned a specialist team to focus on branded content solutions for the digital space, BrandInsider, within its Content Lab. BrandInsider conceives, produces and distributes approximately 50 digital-led campaigns—including video components—for its advertising clients each year, helping them create and cultivate their distinct voices across digital media.

Content Lab’s strength was in offering expertise in matching the right media to the right story. “Video helps us in visual storytelling. When you talk about share of mind, it really enhances the stickiness of a story,” Goh says. “As media owners, SPH distributes a client’s message to a greater diversity of audiences to better meet their business objectives with a comprehensive, targeted campaign.”

“Brightcove allows us to do more with video,” she says. “It enables us to be more creative with how we approach different customers and their needs. We particularly like the ability to innovate. Integrating new technologies, such as interactivity, into our videos, offers progressive clients a novel element.”

INNOVATING WITH INTERACTIVE VIDEO TO DEFINE A BRAND

The Courts campaign, targeting local shoppers, ran for four weeks and delivered higher-than-anticipated engagement. Although a longstanding print advertiser in the SPH news publications, the furniture retailer was still relatively new to the digital marketing space.

To better reach a digital audience, it wanted to engage viewers more deeply, and use the occasion of the 10th anniversary celebration of its megastore to solidify its reputation as an innovative brand. To achieve this aim, the BrandInsider team collaborated with Courts to design a story that would play out using interactive video elements. Its story revolved around a couple trying to find solutions for redecorating their home, using the interactivity functionality from Brightcove partner HapYak.

Unfolding over six minutes, the story was paused at three points to offer a branching option so viewers could select what would happen next. The effect was to help the Courts campaign stand out to Singapore audiences. The video received twice as many views as a previous, similar award-winning video from a different customer, as well as higher play-through rates.

The integrated strategy used Brightcove’s strong analytics capabilities to track traffic to the stores, conversion, how many people followed the campaign through the full four weeks, and whether customers were driven to the store from the mobile app or from Courts’ website. “The breaks and branching options allowed the one video to have an episodic feel,” says Goh. Plus, its interactive elements were essential to positioning Courts as an innovator, willing to try something fresh.

The interactive video generated a more captive audience by increasing viewing time by 50% compared to non-interactive videos. The technique is something SPH intends to roll out with other clients, across sectors, as a key component of its integrated media solutions, positioning it where it might be most effective to entertain, or deepen audience engagement.

“Each time we run a video campaign or add a video element, we learn more about how customers respond to the client’s brand,” says Goh. “Interactivity is one more tool we can use to increase engagement with audiences, and keep us at the head of the branded content storytelling pack. We’re excited about the innovative functionalities Brightcove continues to offer. It is helping us to do more to maximize the power of video.”

HOW THE DPP REUSES EVENT VIDEOS

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The DPP is a London-based business network for media companies, founded in 2015. According to their Chief Technology Officer, Rowan de Pomerai, the DPP spans the media supply chain. “Production companies, post-producers, broadcasters, streaming platforms, and of course, the service providers and technology vendors that power that whole business.”

The DPP primarily uses events to bring its members together for networking and exchanging ideas. That means they need a reliable streaming platform to deliver the proper experience on their website.

“I look at a conference like the Leaders Briefing, our flagship conference is two days worth of content, with over 30 speakers. We need to be able to get all of that video managed and put the individual videos into playlists of different sessions to make it easy for our users to navigate. And of course, we want to be able to do that in an interface that feels familiar and allows our marketing team to do their job easily and efficiently.”

By using Brightcove, the DPP is able to expand the value of their events: “Making that content available as video on demand to our members is a really powerful part of the resource that we offer them.”

HOW VOX MEDIA GAVE ADVERTISERS INSIGHT INTO VIEWERSHIP

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BRIGHTCOVE TECHNOLOGY PROPELS CONCERT PLATFORM SUCCESS

Through its eight distinct media brands—The Verge, Vox, SBNation, Eater, Polygon, Racked, Curbed, and Recode—Vox Media distributes dynamic video storytelling that’s integrated across all digital platforms and adapted specifically to each target audience. By combining stand-out technology with captivating video and digital journalism, the company produces thought-provoking pieces that advertising partners can trust.

“We only work with premium and brand-safe environments. We also build all of our own ads in-house, which is something that’s really rare, and advertisers have really been excited about that. Those two pieces together make sure it’s extremely safe,” states Heather Savatta, Director of Ad Solutions.

Vox Media’s audience-first mindset is embraced by both editorial staff and producers working to build custom advertising solutions for marketers. To ensure these turnkey ads play to audiences with speed and reliability across a number of environments, the company appointed Brightcove as its video platform of choice. Leveraging Brightcove’s industry-standard HTML5 playerand trusted viewing analytics, Vox Media is able to monitor video ad performance and overall success, thereby prompting return business from numerous advertising partners.

EVOLUTION OF CONCERT PLATFORM INTRODUCES ADVERTISERS TO TURNKEY AD SOLUTIONS

Vox Media was founded on the belief that passionate, inquisitive people deserve stories that go deeper, connecting audiences to subjects they value most. The company continues to expand on that creative drive, building standout technology on which Vox Media operates. Take, for example, its proprietary platform, Chorus. As the company’s own content management system (CMS), Chorus is a tightly looped workflow system that runs across all Vox Media brands. On the platform, the company’s own writers and developers manage assignments and tasks seamlessly using its massive collection of publishing tools.

When we were rolling out outstream, we knew we were going to use Brightcove to build it on…we definitely were able to innovate and get it to market much faster, just building on top of Brightcove.

HEATHER SAVATTA

DIRECTOR OF AD SOLUTIONS AT VOX MEDIA

With the success of Chorus, Vox Media’s revenue product team went on to develop an advanced suite of custom ad products targeted specifically to the company’s brand partners. In doing so, these partners were able to leverage Chorus’s same proprietary tools to build custom advertising programs that live on platform, making it easy to share messaging across Vox Media’s O&O properties. This resonated so well with brand partners, Vox Media launched a new sister company called Concert, designed specifically with its advertisers in mind.

The Concert platform operates in partnership with NBCUniversal and collectively sources valuable ad inventory across a variety of premium digital media properties. Concert then provides marketers with innovative ad solutions that are both effective and specific to target audiences. While similar in concept to other ad networks, the platform does differ in that it’s entirely publisher-led. This means the company’s editorial partners are able to build greater relationships with consumers, while still delivering high-impact advertising opportunities for brand partners. Vox Media even leverages Concert to distribute original branded content from Vox Creative, the company’s in-house creative practice.

“We track all the different metrics, and we’ve been able to help advertisers decide which video to distribute based on the VCR goal that they’re going for. Advertisers have been really, really happy with [the] product … our own ad builder and all our internal tools power them to be live as soon as they send us that video. From a distribution standpoint they look to us as a partner to get their message out as fast as possible, but also in a really safe environment and in premium publishers,” explains Savatta.

BRIGHTCOVE PLAYER, METRICS PROVE REAL VALUE IN VOX MEDIA’S CUSTOM AD UNITS

In order for Vox Media to deliver its beautiful, first-rate video ads across Concert’s premium collection of ad inventory, the company partnered with Brightcove, using its player to support several custom video ad units, including its UX-friendly outstream format.

Unlike instream ads, which run as pre-, mid-, or post-roll content within a video hosted on a website, outstream ads exist natively on a text-based editorial page outside publisher-owned video content. While users scroll through editorial text on a page, the outstream player comes into view and begins to autoplay muted video. The player itself doesn’t disrupt the editorial content at all; in fact, the video automatically pauses as soon as users navigate further down the page. Vox Media’s version of outstream, therefore, helps publishers maintain a good relationship with consumers— they’re not being distracted by intrusive ad content. Advertisers can also be assured they aren’t irritating audiences while delivering ad messaging.

And with Brightcove player’s critical pause feature, Vox Media can now track more accurate ad performance data. For example, if a user scrolls past an outstream video ad on a page, the player immediately pauses, putting the creative on hold as it scrolls out of the user’s view, ensuring that accurate video completion rates are recorded and the user can easily revisit their drop-off point if they do return to the ad at a later time. With Brightcove’s analytics accurately measuring metrics, Vox Media is better able to properly gauge the success of each ad unit.

With Brightcove’s integrated video player, Vox Media’s in-house product team has the time to focus solely on developing new, innovative products and continuing to lead the way in the digital ad space. As a result of the success with their custom ad formats, the company is seeing more and more advertisers inquiring about its unique product innovations and Concert’s premier ad inventory. At the same time, it’s also seeing an impressive boost in return business, signaling that Vox Media’s advertising solutions have proven effective for marketers.

“When we were rolling out outstream, we knew were going to use Brightcove to build it on…we definitely were able to innovate and get it to market much faster, just building on top of Brightcove,” says Savatta.

HOW TN MARKETING REACHES MORE AUDIENCES ON MORE PLATFORMS

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SERIOUS DEMANDS, SERIOUS RESULTS

THE NEED

As a global video streaming service creating communities for hobbyists and enthusiasts, TN Marketing’s video content must adapt to multiple devices and platforms to further expand its relevancy to over 5 million registered enthusiasts.

THE ANSWER

With Brightcove Beacon™, TN Marketing effectively and easily engages customers on app-based streaming devices such as Roku and Amazon Fire TV, providing a lean back experience that’s desired by hobbyists who crave longer form content.

THE RESULTS

TN Marketing continues to see increased engagement across the board:

10 apps live on User Roku and FireTV

64% increase in viewer engagement with GetHealthyU TV in just two months

30-60% growth in amount of users viewing brand channels

20-50% growth of visitors to Roku and FireTV brand channels

TN Marketing, headquartered in Minnesota, is a global video streaming service focused on creating communities by engaging people with their passions. Its how-to instruction, centered around lifelong hobbies, reaches members in more than 150 countries. With multiple digital brand properties, a large number of subject matter experts and nearly 2,000 hours of owned instructional content, TN Marketing delivers engaging content to its online subscribers and visitors every day.

SO MANY AUDIENCES, SO MANY PLATFORMS

The Woodworkers Guild of America, GetHealthyU TV, and the National Bowling Academy, are just some of the communities that have been created and cultivated by TN Marketing. With more than 5 million registered enthusiasts in more than 150 countries, the need to provide fresh, robust and high-quality content has never been greater. What’s more, this content must engage audiences on all the different platforms and devices available today.

As more consumers cut the cord and subscribe to app-based streaming services such as Roku and Amazon Fire TV, there’s a growing desire for a lean-back experience. For example, a woodworking enthusiast might sit down in the living room for a longer video inspiring a new project. But then, he heads to his workshop and watches how-to instruction on his phone amid the tools and sawdust. These different viewing experiences inform and fuel a hobbyist’s passion, and it was vital for TN Marketing to ensure a high level of engagement every time.

3 KEY AREAS TO CREATE CONSISTENCY AND GROWTH

GIVE YOUR VIEWERS WHAT THEY WANT: CONTENT THATS OVER THE TOP

GET THE PLAYBOOK

TN Marketing needed a solution to extend its reach to new devices and platforms as it focused on three main priorities:

  • Seamless experiences: To add value to its existing member base, a seamless and consistent experience across devices increases member loyalty and viewing time.
  • Brand extension: To create new global avenues for brand awareness and member acquisition through new partners and platforms.
  • Viewer insight: Use analytics to better understand content preferences and viewing behaviors, enabling TN Marketing to guide content development planning efforts.

We see the opportunity to further evolve our video delivery to align with new viewing behaviors and preferences. Brightcove Beacon allows us to do this quickly, easily, and with the latest technology at the forefront of the streaming video industry.

JIM KOPP

EVP AND GM OF DIGITAL BUSINESS, TN MARKETING

However, expanding into the connected TV market with such a large number of branded online communities would require extensive technology investments if done in-house and constant upkeep as platform requirements shift over time.

THE BRIGHTCOVE BEACON SOLUTION

TN Marketing turned to Brightcove® for a solution to deliver high-quality connected TV applications across its branded properties. Brightcove Beacon was recommended as a solution built to meet its current over-the-top (OTT) needs and serve as a scalable delivery service as the device landscape continues to evolve.

“We chose Brightcove Beacon to develop our direct-to-consumer OTT applications because its platform makes it easy to configure consistent TV-like experiences for our individual audience needs, thereby helping us get to market as efficiently as possible” said Neil Rice, Vice President of Technology at TN Marketing. “With our long relationship, we knew we could count on Brightcove to deliver the video experience our viewers have come to expect as we expand our presence onto these new platforms.”

The company has launched its branded applications on Roku and Amazon Fire TV. With more devices and platforms undoubtedly on the way, Brightcove Beacon remains the ideal solution to help TN Marketing meet the needs of its evolving audience.