HOW ITALIAONLINE REINVENTED THE PRE-ROLL VIDEO AD

Italiaonline is Italy’s largest internet company, dominating the country’s online publishing arena with brands that use the power of video to excite and engage audiences. Together with Brightcove, Italiaonline has always pushed the potential of its digital properties. And now, through the powerful combination of expertise and imagination, Italiaonline continues to create new possibilities with video.

A NEED TO OPTIMIZE ADVERTISING

As Italiaonline brought more and more advertisers to its video platform, the team wanted to maximize every opportunity to increase revenue and target the right audiences. Specifically, they wanted to improve click-through rates, completion rates, and viewability. Brightcove was up to the challenge and helped Italiaonline design and implement a streamlined and efficient advertising solution that ensured all viewers would see optimized content for their viewing device and bandwidth—with no delays in playback. “We have seen significant improvements both in user engagement and monetization,” said Domenico Pascuzzi, Marketing Director Publishing of Italiaonline. “Our video inventory has very strong KPIs and we are attracting more advertisers.” Building upon that success, Italiaonine has now developed a breakthrough idea that sets a new standard for online video advertising.

INTRODUCING PRE-ROLL PLUS

How do you hold the attention of viewers who might typically skip a pre-roll ad? You give them something more. That’s the idea behind Pre-roll Plus. Italiaonline created this unique combination of pre-roll and display ad units, giving advertisers more of an opportunity to engage the viewer. As the companion banner appears at the same time as the video ad, it strengthens the video message with additional details. What’s more, it ensures visibility and continuity of the brand right to the last second of the preroll. Launched on Virgilio Video, one of Italiaonline’s most popular sites, Pre-roll Plus was used for a major product launch of the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE. And, this powerful video innovation has delivered a 33% increase in monthly video views, capturing the attention of viewers who often skip through regular pre-roll. “This makes brands, clients and advertisers very happy,” said Domenico Pascuzzi. “The sales funnel is far more effective, because even if people skip ahead, they still see the message.”

VIDEO DRIVES PUBLISHING’S FUTURE

“Brightcove’ industry-leading technology and insights have been key to the video success of Italiaonline. Brightcove offers a complete and flexible solution for video player, asset management and monetization. The Brightcove platform is critical for delivering the best video, which is crucial for us, being, with iOL Advertising, Italy’s largest digital sales house” says Pascuzzi.”

We have seen significant improvements both in user engagement and monetization; our video inventory has very strong KPIs and we are able to attract more advertisers.

DOMENICO PASCUZZI

MARKETING DIRECTOR, ITALIAONLINE

As Italiaonline sets a high bar for all those in the publishing industry, it counts on video more than ever. Along with the innovation of Pre-roll Plus, the publisher’s video initiatives include editorial playlists and featured selections to aggregate thematic videos, customized lists for users to save videos, overlay links that appear during video streams, plus animated thumbnails and new modes of subscription content.

For an industry like publishing, with rising pressures to remain fresh, relevant and forward-thinking, video is the ideal solution for connecting with today’s audiences.

HOW WATCH IT! ENGAGED 400 MILLION PEOPLE

400 MILLION AND COUNTING

As the world’s largest Arabic streaming network, WATCH iT! offers premium video-on-demand and live streaming to 400 million people across the Arab world.

6 million downloads of the WATCH iT! app

5.2 million paid subscription accounts registered with WATCH iT!

650,000 hours of current and reformatted content on the WATCH iT! platform

90% of subscribers visited the WATCH iT! site each day during Ramadan

Want to reach an audience of 400 million people? Then keep an eye on WATCH iT!. As the world’s largest Arabic streaming service, its blend of legacy programs, sports and original content are designed to engage more than 400 million people of Arab descent across the globe. But more than just an OTT (over-the-top) viewing experience, WATCH iT! is deeply committed to honoring Egyptian culture while providing opportunities for Arab content providers. With the innovations and technology of Brightcove at its side, WATCH iT! will see its purpose and potential achieve new heights.

OLD STORIES, NEW AUDIENCES

One of the key drivers defining the mission of WATCH iT! is its commitment to bring back original Egyptian dramas, TV shows and movies from the 1960s and beyond. More than just entertainment, these shows and movies have great cultural value, enabling WATCH iT! to play a major role in educating Egypt’s next generation. “There’s great interest in this content,” said Moustapha Behkeet, VP and Managing Director WATCH iT!. “We’ve had lots of international stars emerge from Egypt, Nobel prize winners, and so much other history represented in this older material. When you restore the quality of the audio and the video, and then digitize it, the next generation is eager to enjoy it.” This legacy content provides a perfect balance to the contemporary programming of WATCH iT!, which includes original dramas and action content, top-rated tv shows and movies, blockbuster series, live- streamed concerts, documentaries, Egyptian Premiere football matches, and much more. Powered by Brightcove, it’s viewed across all devices in full HD quality, and Behkeet believes this will continue to position WATCH iT! as the “biggest Arabic streaming service, offering the biggest library of all times.”

VIDEO, A CREATIVE FORCE

We count on Brightcove to always give us the edge in technology, the edge in security, and the edge in distribution while remaining economical and efficient.

MOUSTAPHA BEHKEET

VP AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, WATCHIT

“We believe in the power of creativity we have here in Egypt,” said Moustapha Behkeet. “As we find the right forum for creators from the Arab region, and help them monetize that content, we’ll be on solid ground.” From the very beginning, WATCH iT! has been focused on supporting its local creative and production industry, which had been severely impacted by digital piracy. With its subscription-based platform, it will establish a precedent for the way that content is viewed and paid for in the Arab region. The key to making that happen is security–protecting the content they acquire, and the content they produce. This is where Brightcove plays a significant role. “There’s a huge effort being done by Brightcove engineers–and more to come–for content protection,” said Behkeet. “We are always looking at staying a step ahead of illegal distribution, and Brightcove is a main part of that.” With this relentless focus on content protection, digital rights management and more, WATCH iT! can provide vital support to Egyptian content providers while continuing to fuel its expansion to a growing worldwide audience.

KEEP WATCHING WATCH IT!

WATCH iT! is meeting the future head-on with a bold growth plan focused on acquiring more content, creating more original content, and increasing distribution. This includes new scripted series, additional international content, and reaching audiences with innovative approaches such as being available on leading game consoles. With the technology and expertise of Brightcove helping it achieve untold potential, WATCH iT! can stay firmly rooted with its Egyptian heritage as it competes at a world-class level in delivering content for 400 million across the Arab world.

HOW JUKIN MEDIA GENERATED BIG REVENUES WITH UGC

40,000 LICENSED VIDEO ASSETS GENERATE BILLIONS OF VIEWS, MILLIONS IN REVENUE

Jukin Media predicts user-generated video is the future of storytelling, and they are leading the way by licensing videos that capture authentic, spur-of-the-moment stories. If you’ve seen a funny, inspirational, entertaining, or newsworthy video that’s gone viral, chances are it is one of Jukin Media’s 40,000 video assets.

Over the past six years the company has become the go-to source for advertising agencies, digital publishers, and TV producers looking for original video stories that resonate with consumers. “We provide high-quality, hand-selected videos that transcend geography and language,” states Mike Skogmo, Vice President of Communications and Marketing. “There are videos we licensed five years ago that are still being used by partners, and they’re still generating revenue for the people who filmed them. That’s the power of really compelling video; it’s universal and timeless.”

In addition to its licensing revenue, the company monetizes its video assets through branded social video properties on YouTube and Facebook and original programming for television and OTT channels. Jukin Media’s brands currently have 55+ million fans and record more than 1.5 billion video views per month. The company’s original TV programs air in 200 markets around the world.

AUTHENTIC, “CAUGHT ON CAMERA” USER-GENERATED VIDEOS ARE THE FUTURE OF STORYTELLING

Jukin credits advances in technology with the burgeoning availability of compelling user-generated video. “Ten years ago the cost of creating original video footage or broadcasting live was prohibitive for the average person,” notes Skogmo. “Today, everyone has a personal television studio in their pocket. Anyone can capture beautiful HD 4K footage with their cell phone and upload it to social media sites with a touch of a button. As a result, the amount of video people are generating has gone through the roof. This has opened the door for our business and enabled us to grow exponentially.”

Brightcove is the video player for our online business-to-business ecommerce platform.

MIKE SKOGMO

VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING

Although it receives thousands of user-generated video submissions each week, Jukin Media relies on its internal research staff to identify the bulk of the videos they license. They scour the Internet 24 hours a day, seven days a week to identify videos with the right content to go viral.

“Our focus is video that captures compelling, everyday life moments,” explains Skogmo. “Ninety-nine percent of our videos are filmed by amateurs—not professional videographers, not entertainers, not people trying to make a career on YouTube. The videos are organic life moments from everyday people who happened to catch something remarkable on video.” To date, Jukin has paid over $10 million in royalties for user-generated videos.

BRIGHTCOVE POWERS JUKIN MEDIA’S EXPANSION

Jukin Media hosts its library of 40,000 videos on the Brightcove Video Cloud platform. “Brightcove is the video player for our online business-to-business ecommerce platform,” declares Skogmo. “We needed a reliable and flexible platform to support the volume of videos we host and the large number of people who view them on a daily basis. We integrated the Brightcove player with our back-end system and website, and that’s been great from our perspective.”

Before transitioning to Brightcove, Jukin Media tried other video players to solve the challenge of reliability. “Our business depends on people being able to watch videos when they want to watch them, on whatever device they choose. We can’t afford to have any issues with the video playback,” explains Skogmo. “We needed a reliable solution that would ensure our videos loaded quickly and displayed well. And that is why Brightcove is so important to our business. It just works as it’s intended to work.”

Brightcove’s search and preview functionality are also critical. “If you’re a TV producer and you need to fill 50 clips for a show, you don’t want to look through hundreds of irrelevant clips to find the 50 that meet your needs,” explains Skogmo. “The videos need to load, present well, and play quickly. Brightcove’s video preview feature is a huge time saver for our clients. The convenience to search and preview is extremely important to our customers.”

“Our website plays a critical role in our expanding business,” concludes Skogmo. “With Brightcove, our website delivers the reliability and performance our business demands.”

ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING FOR SOCIAL MEDIA, TELEVISION, AND OTT CHANNELS DRIVES NEW REVENUE

Jukin is breaking fresh ground and establishing new revenue opportunities by using its diverse video assets as the foundation for branded YouTube channels and original productions for television and OTT channels.

The company’s dedicated YouTube channels, which focus on specific verticals, have attracted large and engaged fan bases. The largest of its collection is the “FailArmy” channel, a global comedy brand that blends blooper videos with graphics and on-air hosts. “FailArmy” has 25+ million global fans and garners more than 500 million views a month. Similarly, Jukin’s “The Pet Collective” channel has 6 million fans between YouTube and Facebook combined, and it receives more than 200 million views a month. Another channel—“People are Awesome”—features videos of ordinary people doing unusual and extraordinary things. It has attracted 12 million fans and draws three hundred million views per month.

Jukin has created additional monetization opportunities for its videos by producing its own original television shows. One of the shows, based on the “FailArmy” brand, airs in 200 markets around the world. The show is in its fifth season and has aired 80 episodes to date, with an additional 20 episodes currently in production. The company also develops original shows for OTT and streaming platforms, including Verizon’s mobile video service, go90, and Comcast’s Watchable.

“We’re finding new creative ways to package our video assets,” explains Skogmo. “Jukin is the only licensing company that produces our own TV shows. We use only videos from the Jukin library in our shows, and we pay users a license fee if we feature their video in one of our shows.”

USER-GENERATED CONTENT OPENS NEW OPPORTUNITIES

“As online video continues to grow and become a bigger part of people’s lives, you’ll see that our brands also grow right along with people’s consumption habits from traditional to digital media,” states Skogmo.

User-generated content is creating a new age of entertainment, and Jukin Media sees its next big opportunities coming from international expansion. Jukin expects an increase in UGC coming from international markets, a result of device proliferation combined with better, more accessible global internet access. Advertisers in new markets will be able to seamlessly play back authentic, organic content that resonates more with a digital audience. “Our content is so visual that it works just as well in non-English speaking countries as it does here in the states,” concludes Skogmo.

HOW SAS USED VIDEO TO SHOW THEIR PRODUCTS’ IMPACT

Since its inception in 1976, SAS has understood that in order to convey the value and power of its analytics software, the company’s marketing needed to be as innovative as the software it engineered. Recognizing the unique ability of video to make SAS software tangible, senior managers embraced it early. Today, video permeates the business. Internally and externally, video is an essential tool to inform, educate, and persuade prospects and customers, and to bring the value of SAS software into sharp focus.

BACKGROUND

Software is an intangible product,” explains Bill Marriott, Sr. Director of Video Communications and New Media for SAS, “but the benefits are very real. Video dramatizes how advanced data management and analysis impact people’s lives.”

Based in Cary, North Carolina, SAS is the global leader in analytics. Its innovative analytics, business intelligence and data management software and services are helping customers at more than 80,000 sites around the world make better decisions, and make them faster.

The company uses video to communicate with a range of audiences, from prospects and customers to employees and analysts. In the beginning, video was primarily a tool for customer training. But SAS quickly realized the potential of video to elevate marketing and sales campaigns. Last year alone, the 40-person in-house video production group produced more than 1,200 videos ranging in length from 10 seconds to an hour. Video is now a ubiquitous component of SAS’ business operations.

SAS TYPICALLY CREATES THREE CATEGORIES OF VIDEOS FOR A SOFTWARE SOLUTION

The value of our software comes from the great things customers do with it. Video’s value is in helping us tell their stories.

BILL MARRIOTT

SR. DIRECTOR OF VIDEO COMMUNICATIONS AND NEW MEDIA, SAS

Overview video – a short video describing what the software enables customers to do and why it is different than other software.
Reference videos – stories illustrating how customers are successfully using SAS software and the results they are achieving.
Demos – videos that show the software in action.

“The exciting thing about video is that it is not just evolving technologically, but the content is moving forward as well,” states Marriott.

For example, video is bridging geographic distances by enabling sales teams to bring the CEO into key sales encounters. In pivotal situations, a customized message from the CEO assures the prospect their business matters at the highest level. Such videos have helped SAS close deals around the world.

Recently, SAS Middle East had a significant sale on the line and wanted to include a personal message from the CEO in their sales presentation. Although the request arrived in Cary over the weekend, the team jumped into action: they wrote the script on Monday, shot the video on Tuesday, and delivered it to the Middle East sales office on the same day. SAS won the sale. “The video registered with the customer,” explains Marriott. “They were impressed our CEO wanted his voice heard.”

USING VIDEO TO COMMUNICATE THE BRAND

SAS is expanding its use of video to support the company’s brand, building awareness of the company, its culture and its values. “When viewers develop an emotional attachment to our company and our brand, they want to do business with us,” says Marriott.

How do you create an emotional attachment to data and analytics? One recent video documents how data analysis supported relief efforts after the devastating earthquake in Nepal. The powerful and visually compelling story describes how the International Organization for Migration (IOM) used SAS® to identify, source, and distribute much needed resources to 45,000 families living in 200 tent camps.

Racing against time to build shelters ahead of the monsoon season, IOM needed to locate unprecedented quantities of sheet metal. Using SAS analytics, IOM not only determined how much sheet metal they needed, but also which countries produced it, had quantities on hand, and could deliver it quickly.

“The Nepal example shows where video is going for SAS. The value of our software comes from the great things customers do with it,” states Marriott. “Video’s value is in helping us tell their stories.”

ANTICIPATING PROSPECTS’ BEHAVIOR

Marriott notes that today, all content is going to the web. “On any given day, people at different stages of the buy cycle are visiting our website – people of all ages, in different industries. We don’t know what path they’ll take, so we need video at every point in the cycle to encourage them to engage.”

Marriott adds that video is rapidly becoming more immersive. People want to access it everywhere, on their own terms. “As producers, we need to craft a wide variety of video assets and anticipate where they will be consumed and by whom,” states Marriott.

That is a key reason SAS moved to the Brightcove Video Cloud platform. Brightcove helps SAS deploy video through the cloud, when and where it is most convenient, via the preferred device for its audience. And it is also enabling SAS to keep abreast of emerging technology. “With Brightcove, we can focus on developing high-value, meaningful content. We upload one high-quality encode. Brightcove figures out all the devices it has to play on and the encoding algorithms for each. Brightcove is looking to the future with us, giving us the confidence that we’ll be well positioned as new technology evolves.”

WHY LIXIL BUILT ITS OWN MEDIA PLATFORM

Launched media platform centralizing all marketing videos

2,300 videos at launch of LIXIL-X

Over 30,000 views per month

Before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Japanese manufacturer LIXIL Corporation had an active traveling salesforce. At in-person events, sellers would showcase products like plumbing materials for restrooms, bathrooms, and kitchens, as well as windows, doors, and other interior and exterior furnishings.

But once lockdowns prevented these live demos, LIXIL started creating product description videos and other video content that sales and marketing could use on its digital channels.

Although the videos initially filled the gap for in-person opportunities, LIXIL soon found they needed a holistic video marketing strategy. Decentralized content creation and management had led to over 2,300 videos spread across several internal departments. In order to maximize the investment in video, thousands of videos needed to be organized into a single library.

In 2022, the company partnered with Brightcove to launch its online video platform, LIXIL-X.

USING THE BRIGHTCOVE PLATFORM TO INCREASE CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT

No matter how much you increase customer engagement using platforms like YouTube, it’s never easy to link this to improved engagement for your company. If you want to improve engagement for your company, it is vital to utilize owned media.

MIKE TAKAHASHI

CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER, LIXIL CORPORATION

LIXIL selected Brightcove because it was a “stable video platform,” said Mike Takahashi, the Chief Product Officer of Product Content Management. “Many competitors offer features that can only be achieved through complex integrations with services from other companies. But the Brightcove platform has its own APIs, so we thought that would give us more options for possible marketing initiatives.”

To increase customer engagement, LIXIL originally planned to upload videos to YouTube—but ran into a common headache.

“There is no guarantee the ‘next video’ on YouTube is going to be a LIXIL video. And it’s likely the viewer will see related videos from influencers, competitors, and comparison videos between our products and those of our competitors,” said Takahashi. “We needed to develop owned media that directed viewers to the most relevant video in our own sphere. The Brightcove platform was the best fit for building this.”

BRIGHTCOVE APIS HELPED ENSURE MORE RAPID PROTOTYPING

The LIXIL-X prototype was completed in six months—an impressive undertaking that was only possible for a few reasons. First, LIXIL was using Brightcove technology before it started work on LIXIL-X.

“We had already built a video search program from scratch using the Brightcove platform as a file server. So when we began development on this new project, we assumed it would simply be a modification of our first build. However, as we started to select contractors and define the requirements, we realized it would take close to a year to launch. We couldn’t wait that long.”

“We wanted to release a prototype that was about 40% complete as quickly as possible, and then make improvements over time to bring it closer to 100%. Thanks to Brightcove’s excellent APIs, we achieved this with just a small group of front-end engineers.”

MAKING MEDIA THAT CAN BE USED IN SALES

Showroom managers and the sales department were the internal customers who would use the platform the most, so getting their buy-in and support was critical. “We got a lot of positive feedback from them. They believed that LIXIL-X was something people wanted to use and were pleased with the mechanics, video classifications, user experience, and how it looked.”

When the LIXIL-X prototype was released, Takahashi’s developers received a lot of feedback from departments within the company. “We interviewed all of the stakeholders and worked with our engineers to fix any problems with the system and incorporate all of the feedback into LIXIL-X.”

One of the key issues LIXIL-X was poised to solve was how to demonstrate a faucet’s water pressure in the showroom. As Takahashi explained, “Clients visiting our showrooms often ask, ‘How long does the bath take to fill up?’ ‘How powerful is the shower?’ Until now, we haven’t been able to answer those questions particularly well. Getting water to the showrooms is one of the biggest problems facing the showroom staff.”

“So we started immediately compiling videos of water flowing and made them easy to bring up and view on LIXIL-X. These videos to clients enabled showroom staff to answer questions from clients then and there, something which previously wasn’t easy to do.”

FUTURE ITERATIONS WILL ENSURE BETTER MARKETING READINESS

LIXIL aims to build LIXIL-X’s viewership as part of their efforts to build a strong external marketing strategy.

The platform currently receives 30,000 views a month, but increasing the number of video views is a key performance metric for the LIXIL team. “We want to ensure a large number of viewers for all the media on the system, with unique points of entry tailored to the niche needs of users.”

In the future, says Takahashi, there will be a login experience so that user behavior can be analyzed to provide a more personalized journey. “When users are logged in, we can notify them by email when a video is published to promote particular products. It will also connect with marketing automation tools used by our sales department.”

HOW CFA INSTITUTE MORE THAN TRIPLED ENGAGEMENT

SOCIAL AND LIVE STREAM VIDEO BOOST MEMBERSHIP, BRAND AWARENESS

CFA Institute is the world’s premier association of investment management professionals. This non-profit, membership organization is the official administrator of the Chartered Financial Analyst® Program. In order to be awarded the CFA charter, one of the most recognized and respected financial designations, candidates must pass a series of three exams, complete a work experience requirement, and annually attest to adherence to professional conduct guidelines. It’s also one of the hardest financial designations to receive—typically, only about one-fifth of program candidates earn the CFA designation.

Historically, CFA Institute dedicated its marketing resources toward current and future members, deriving its revenue primarily from membership and exam fees. Past CFA Institute marketing communications, such as emails, direct mailings, and printed flyers, focused on providing educational content for members. However, a shift in marketing strategy led the organization to develop a broader approach to increase awareness of its overall mission: to promote the highest standards of ethics, education, and professional excellence in the investment industry for the betterment of society.

CFA Institute turned to Brightcove to help achieve these new marketing goals. Using video as a core marketing tool, the organization hoped to target not just existing CFA Institute members and candidates, but also institutional and individual investors, all in the pursuit of establishing higher standards within the investment industry.

“The idea was to build awareness of the organization’s high standards and promote how CFA Institute and its members both embody these values and help deliver improved outcomes for membership and the broader society,” says Mitchell Forst, CFA Institute global video production manager. “By calling on the investment industry as a whole to measure up to these same high standards, we can build greater trust and market integrity, which will benefit everyone.”

LOCALIZED VIDEO MARKETING CAMPAIGN BOOSTS GLOBAL AWARENESS

We’ve learned a lot about engagement. It’s definitely higher than it was five years ago, and we attribute that to the better content we’ve been able to create using Brightcove. Brightcove has all the tools we need, and it’s a great choice for any size organization, large or small.

MITCHELL FORST

CFA INSTITUTE GLOBAL VIDEO PRODUCTION MANAGER

To transform its overall marketing strategy, CFA Institute collaborated with Brightcove to deliver better, more broadly-targeted brand awareness video campaigns. And while the organization continued producing educational video content for its membership base, the organization decided to allocate a majority of its video spend toward worldwide thought leadership efforts.

CFA Institute debuted its most extensive video awareness campaign, “Let’s Measure Up,” a multi-million dollar, multi-year initiative to raise awareness among financial services audiences. Hosted on, and distributed through, Brightcove’s Video Marketing Suite, the global campaign profiled some of the organization’s charterholders who have “measured up” by going above and beyond. The campaign ran in all 73 CFA Institute markets in which charterholders reside, including Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, and the Americas. Through Brightcove’s global delivery platform, campaign producers were able to track engagement and web traffic from around the world. After seeing upticks in viewership in the Asia-Pacific and Latin American regions, the CFA Institute video team coordinated with those local offices to produce location-specific campaigns, complete with subtitles and culturally relevant content.

“One of the things we really appreciate about Brightcove is its ability to let us see who’s watching, where people are dropping off, and what works better in certain markets,” says Forst.

Since the organization’s introduction of localized video marketing, there’s been a tremendous growth in interest from the Asia-Pacific and Latin American regions. One of the reasons, Forst says, is video: “Video has played a big part of the growing interest in these local communities, especially among the younger, more tech-savvy demographic. They’re more inclined to be on social media and watch videos. And this new marketing effort has benefited the organization in many ways, including record-setting exam registrations and rapidly growing levels of top of mind awareness.” Currently, CFA Institute is working to create more localized video content for each of its regional markets, using Brightcove to support distribution.

CFA INSTITUTE TRIPLES ENGAGEMENT SCORE USING BRIGHTCOVE ANALYTICS

Among Brightcove’s capabilities, its analytics functionality and analytics API have proven most significant for CFA Institute. With analytics providing Forst and his video team precise data to measure video marketing efforts, they’ve developed a far better understanding of what aspects of video drive results. For instance, they’ve learned to keep a close eye on drop-off rates to determine ideal video lengths. And they’ve been able to identify key engagement-driving factors.

“We’ve learned to target our email and video campaigns toward different audiences at specific times of the day,” says Forst. “We’ve also been able to make much more informed decisions about the types of video our audience will be receptive to, with respect to content, length, and format. That was a big learning for us.”

One example that showcases Brightcove analytics’ tremendous value is in the video, “What to Expect on Exam Day.” Part of the organization’s exam preparation series, the video explains what candidates need to bring and what they shouldn’t forget on the day of their exam. It was the first opportunity for CFA Institute to put the full extent of Brightcove analytics to work and, according to Forst, results proved just how critical the analytical data was to the video production process.

“Our first attempt at the video was disappointing. The analytics showed it was way too long, and people dropped off because it wasn’t engaging.”

But the analytics also uncovered that the video attracted increased views and engagement in the run up to exams. Considering these factors, Forst and his team went back to the drawing board and recreated a far more effective version of the same video. They reshot it with a professional actress and shortened it. They also decided to release it twice a year, close to exam days, to maximize peak watching periods. “It turned out a lot better,” Forst says. “And it’s now one of our most popular videos.”

In 2017, “What To Expect on Exam Day” drew 53,000 views and a 71 engagement score—that’s more than three times its previous score of 20. And out of 4,000+ CFA Institute video assets, it’s one of the highest ranked videos for engagement.

ANNUAL CONFERENCE DRAWS 20K LIVE STREAM AND SOCIAL MEDIA VIEWS

CFA Institute also employs live stream video and social media marketing to increase views and engagement. For large-scale events, such as internal meetings, conferences, and outreach programs, the organization delivers live stream footage to its Brightcove Gallery Live page, giving off-site participants the chance to watch from their personal computers and mobile devices. Using Brightcove Social, CFA Institute posts the live content simultaneously to its Twitter, Weibo, and LinkedIn accounts. And after any live event, footage is cut down to smaller VOD clips, which are then posted to the group’s very active social network. Among its growing number of live stream video events, the organization’s annual conference and Research Challenge rank as most popular. Last year’s Research Challenge attracted over 10,000 live views across all distribution channels, while 2017’s annual conference drew over 20,000 views from live and VOD content combined.

Thanks to Brightcove Social, Forst says video distribution has become much more efficient, which he believes has impacted audience reach: “Through the social tool, we’re able to make clips rapidly. It also allows people in the organization to self-serve and find clips themselves, which saves us a lot of time and expense. I think we’re reaching new viewers just by being able to make those clips available faster to audiences on social media.”

He continues: “We’ve learned a lot about engagement. It’s definitely higher than it was five years ago, and we attribute that to the better content we’ve been able to create using Brightcove. Brightcove has all the tools we need, and it’s a great choice for any size organization, large or small.”

HOW THE BODY COACH TOOK CONTROL OF ITS GROWING BRAND

After successfully launching via YouTube in 2015, fitness brand The Body Coach shifted gears in 2020 to build an audience on its own terms with a video fitness and nutrition experience powered by Brightcove technology.

OWNING AN AUDIENCE

Founded by Joe Wicks, The Body Coach is a brand that has built a culture of fitness and healthy eating for millions of people around the world. Joe Wicks has been called “the UK’s PE teacher” after his workouts skyrocketed in popularity during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since its launch, YouTube had been The Body Coach’s sole video delivery platform for workout content, and with more than 300 million views and 2.78 million subscribers on YouTube, The Body Coach knew their audience and the value of their content. Furthermore, The Body Coach has been able to keep users engaged by providing a tailored service for each subscriber, from workout regimes that increase in difficulty to personalized meal plans.

By 2020, The Body Coach was ready to harness the power of its content and reach its audience directly, having outgrown the brand control limitations of free platforms. As part of their OTT subscription service, The Body Coach selected Brightcove to power the live and on-demand video experience.

MAKING MOVES

Having a partner like Brightcove has been great. We’ve scaled smoothly across geographies without any problems.

SAAGAR BAINS

HEAD OF PRODUCT AT THE BODY COACH

To match the user experience, The Body Coach needed a mobile app that would not only keep users coming back for the singular Body Coach workout, but would also reflect the brand’s high production standards.

The cornerstone of the app experience would be the on-demand and live video content that had made The Body Coach so popular in the first place, supported by Brightcove security technology. Hosting hundreds of on-demand videos meant having complete control of the user experience and delivering compelling video content. Users can also join live fitness sessions that are delivered securely with Brightcove’s livestreaming capabilities, where they can work out virtually with thousands of others on the app.

PROTECTING THE BRAND

Video’s profitability makes it particularly alluring to pirates, which can cost brands billions of dollars in lost revenue alone — not to mention the effects on brand image. While piracy through OTT apps is low, any subscription service can attract pirates.

The Body Coach partnered with digital product studio ustwo to bring its fitness experience to digital life. To match the piracy risk, ustwo used three Brightcove security methods. The first was HLS encryption. The Body Coach brand would be protected by end-to-end encryption that ensures the video could not be downloaded or shared to other platforms. Then, token authentication and playback authorization would work together to ensure that the right person was watching the right content, helping The Body Coach deliver a highly personalized mobile app experience.

RESULTS

With more than 24,000 reviews of the iOS app averaging 4.8 out of 5, The Body Coach launched to commercial success and critical acclaim.

“The app is amazing value for money and beats repeating the same old YouTube workouts,” wrote social media strategist Lauren Smith in Women’s Health UK.

“Our app provides a premium experience, with lots of accessible, informative, and fun fitness video content,” said Saagar Bains, Head of Product at The Body Coach. “Having a partner like Brightcove throughout has been great. We’ve scaled smoothly across geographies without any problems, and we’ve worked with Brightcove to quickly identify and integrate a captioning partner from the Brightcove Marketplace. This has allowed us to hit our accessibility goals for this year much faster.”

HOW THE CTA LIVE STREAMED MORE THAN 90 SESSIONS AT THE CES

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA)™ is the trade association representing the U.S. consumer technology industry. Approximately 2,200 companies enjoy the benefits of its membership, which include policy advocacy, market research, technical education, industry promotion, standards development, and the fostering of business and strategic relationships.

CTA also owns and produces owns and produces CES® — the world’s gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies. CTA uses video content to enhance value for CES attendees, expand its reach to those unable to attend in person, and increase media coverage.

LACKLUSTER UX, DISJOINTED TECHNOLOGY POSED CHALLENGES FOR CES LIVE STREAM

CTA coordinates and manages a live stream of CES, which is ungated and free to public viewers, and typically only live streams about one-third of the conference program. CTA noticed three specific challenges stemming from its live stream efforts, affecting not only its audiences’ overall viewing experience, but also its handling of archives and asset management.

The first challenge was the end-user platform, which was not designed for livestreaming many concurrent sessions and didn’t allow for customization of visual elements to create a branded experience. Similarly, CTA’s video archives were hosted on a different platform from where they were broadcast, which was another challenge.

By having archives immediately available in the Brightcove media library, we’re able to do live clipping for social and leverage those videos for marketing and promotional purposes, as well as advance CTA’s thought leadership capabilities.

ALICIA GOODMAN

SENIOR DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGER

“Archiving turned out to be problematic,” says Alicia Goodman, Senior Digital Content Manager for CTA. Goodman and her web team struggled with how to pass large files and get them cleaned and posted within a short period of time.

As a result, some archives weren’t posted for weeks after the show. And because archived content was hosted on two separate platforms, the live streaming platform and the video hosting platform, viewers didn’t have a single clear place to watch or browse.

The third challenge, according to Goodman, was that data and analytics were minimal and didn’t offer the insights they needed. “We couldn’t distinguish between a live view and an archival view,” she says. And because CTA’s archives were stored across two platforms, it wasn’t possible to view aggregated data.

BRIGHTCOVE GALLERY HELPS DRAW OVER 250K VIEWS, 2K UNIQUE VISITORS

Goodman and her team identified the resources they needed to mitigate these challenges for future CES live streams. For the conference’s external audience, they determined that the imperatives to enhancing the user experience were a high-quality live stream, up-to-date live stream programming, access to live stream recordings, a schedule of live stream events, and search options. For its internal audience, CTA would need to give partners and presenters the ability to download live stream archives, as a record of their participation or for promotion.

Upon reviewing these needs, Goodman decided to create a separate portal within the CES website, using Brightcove Gallery, and designed a “streaming now” playlist, a video collection of each stage’s sessions, and placeholder images for each streamed event that included basic session information (title, date, and time of session) at a glance. And with Brightcove’s Video Cloud platform, Goodman and her team could now host archival footage in a single location and capture accurate video data with Brightcove’s analytics API. For internal use, Goodman also created a handful of password-protected, download-enabled Brightcove Gallery sites, allowing partners and conference speakers to download their sessions after presenting.

GALLERY-POWERED WEB PORTAL HOSTS 90+ LIVE STREAM SESSIONS

For CES 2018, CTA rolled out the newly enhanced, Brightcove-powered web portal, which hosted more than 90 live streamed sessions across seven stages, including the keynote addresses. Prior to the event, CTA promoted the live stream via social media and email, while CES partners shared links and embedded the Brightcove Player on their respective sites and channels. And with the help of the Brightcove platform, Goodman was able to move CTA’s entire video library and execute six days’ worth of live stream sessions in just two months’ time.

“We couldn’t have been more excited with the speed at which we were able to onboard our staff and transition our library,” she says. “Having the Gallery as an out-of-the-box option, where we didn’t have to involve our development team in that transition, was a huge help in terms of time. But it also meant we didn’t have to spend a lot of time on QA or troubleshoot any technical problems on our own.”

In addition, Goodman relied on Brightcove’s Live Support team to make sure keynote live streams didn’t experience any issues or outages, ensuring CES audiences top-quality live viewing.

“That really gave us peace of mind to have someone available to answer questions and troubleshoot if we did have any problems during these high-visibility events,” she says.

CES 2018 DRAWS HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF VIEWS, EXPANDS AUDIENCE

Following the show, CTA’s web team was able to access accurate, aggregated viewing. In total, Goodman recorded hundreds of thousands view of live and archived video.

“We were also able to verify that people who weren’t event attendees watched the live stream,” Goodman says.

More important, CTA now has a single-location asset library where VOD clips of live stream footage can be housed and subsequently repurposed for future digital marketing campaigns.

HOW FACINGDISABILITY.COM USED VIDEO TO CONNECT PEOPLE

POWERFUL IMAGES, VITAL MESSAGES

Like thousands of organizations, FacingDisability.com counts on the power, flexibility and reliability of the Brightcove Player to have more than 3,500 videos ready to go. Here’s a snapshot of the sheer volume of content that the Brightcove Player handles:

AVERAGE DAY:

23 million views, streaming 465 years worth of video through web player

2.2 million views, streaming 180 years through Android SDK

2 million views, streaming 188 years through iOS SDK

Delivers 84 million ads

Display players on 21,170 unique domains

In at least 55 unique apps

EVERY MINUTE:

4.7 weeks of live video through web

4.47 days of live video through Android SDK

2.71 days of live video through iOS SDK

For patients and families who are impacted by a spinal cord injury, FacingDisability.com is the destination where questions are answered, support is offered and strength is discovered as real people tell their stories with honesty and insight. With a video library of more than 3,500 videos, FacingDisability.com covers every aspect of spinal cord injury with focused interviews featuring doctors, psychologists, therapists, rehabilitation experts and above all, people with spinal cord injuries and their families.

“YOU ARE NOT ALONE”

This is the resounding message of FacingDisability.com, whether it’s you or a family member who’s experienced a spinal cord injury. The suddenness of this injury, combined with the relatively rare amount of cases, leaves families in the difficult position of being unprepared and isolated. This is exactly what happened to Thea Flaum and her family when their daughter Vicki was disabled at age 19. Flaum channeled that fear and frustration into the creation of FacingDisability.com, with a mission to offer a human connection that says in the most simple and powerful way that “we’ve been there and we’ve done that.” And nothing delivers that raw, truthful message like video.

THE UNMATCHED POWER OF VIDEO

The sound of a voice. The look of a smile. The pause between words where nothing is heard–but everything is said. These are the moments that only video can deliver, and FacingDisability.com makes this experience up close and personal. It’s just the person and the camera, answering intensely personal questions: What was the hardest part of the first days in the hospital? What’s become easier over time? How do you handle anger? How do you see your future? The answers—unvarnished, unrehearsed and without tears or words of inspiration—give spinal cord injury patients and their families the most accurate view of life they could ever expect. And those videos, in turn, provide them with a valuable connection to this new, overwhelming world which has been thrust upon them.

ENGAGE KEY PROSPECTS AT EVERY STAGE OF THEIR JOURNEY

CREATING A CONNECTION

People judge something they see on a computer or phone screen in the same way they judge something they see on TV. So from the very beginning we insisted on broadcast quality video. That’s what we get with Brightcove.”

THEA FLAUM

FOUNDER, FACINGDISABILITY.COM

For patients and their families dealing with the isolation and fear associated with a spinal cord injury, these videos create a one-on-one experience that truly deepens their understanding. These experiences reflect the guiding principle of FacingDisability.com: Nobody knows what you’re going through like someone who is living with it. And finding that “someone” is a key element of FacingDisability.com. Its extensive video library lets people search specifically for parents, spouses, siblings, friends, etc, who have dealt with spinal cord injuries. “What you’re getting are honest, human responses,” says Flaum. “Video gives you the power of the image, the power of the close-up. As a result, you get to see real people talking about their experiences in a revealing, straightforward way.”

A NEW VIDEO SERIES FacingDisability.com released a new 10-part video series called, “Voices of Experience – Living With Spinal Cord Injury.” Created for national distribution to in-hospital TV networks, healthcare institutions and online audiences, it’s just the next step in the partnership with FacingDisability. com and Brightcove® as new avenues are explored in the future of video. In the words of Thea Flaum, “whatever happens next, Brightcove is going to be part of making it happen.”