May 2013
5 posts
Five Reasons Advertisers Should Adopt Interactive... →
If I could launch “video hub” today, I would focus on delivering interactive pre-roll ad creative vs. standard pre-roll on my videos.
Why this Video Producer Doesn’t Really Like... →
Good insights related to business videos and the value YouTube does or doesn’t provide.
Video Emails Generate Click-Through Rate 8x Than... →
Every e-mail should have a video in it!
101 Ways To Make Money with YouTube & Web Videos |... →
Tons of great resources for monetizing and optimizing videos.
AOL Introduces Be On to Create and Distribute... →
I think this may be the blueprint for video. From creative to production to distribution, AOL is building it all out. They’ll be able to capitalize on all fronts.
The key item, inho, is if they’ll be able to continue to scale and retain viewers making AOL On and/or it’s syndicate sites the top-of-mind, first-stop destination for video that YouTube currently has a strangle-hold...
April 2013
1 post
Why Businesses Must Invest in Online Video... →
March 2013
1 post
WatchA great take on the synergy between creation of video content that is fueled by the support of brands. It’s summed up very in this video with Shira Lazar - Host & Executive Producer of What’s Trending “We talk to [brands] about what they’re working on, their focus and their initiative, and we figure out interesting, creative ways to focus on their goals while also being loyal...
February 2013
3 posts
3 tags
“…people sometimes want a video source of news, and putting videos where...”
– http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/193937/maybe-legacy-publishers-could-save-themselves-by-t.html?edition=56889#axzz2LTmk5Hao
This is My Dream - A Video Player on Every Page →
I think this article does a good job of illustrating one element of what I consider to be a successful video strategy when it comes effective delivery and ultimately monetization. I would encourage you to read it.
Other elements of my strategy include distribution of your video beyond your own website, channelization and regular “programming” or publishing of videos. My ideas and...
Finalist in min’s Best of the Web Awards Program
I’m excited to announce Cygnus Business Media. - MTtv: The Mass Transit TV Network has been selected as a finalist in min’s Best of the Web Awards program in the category of Video: Magazine-Branded Show.
Here’s a list of the finalists:
Bazaar - The Look
Condé Nast - Vogue.com/The Fashion Fund
Cygnus Business Media - MTtv Mass Transit Network
Marie Claire - Fashion Mission
Martha...
November 2012
1 post
4 tags
September 2012
1 post
4 tags
How Much More Effective Are Online Video Ads than...
A: 27x more effective
In a research recently relased by MediaMind.com, it found that “the click-through rate (CTR) for online video is 27.4 times that of standard banners and almost 12 times that of rich media ads…In an analysis of over 3 billion ad impressions globally over the first six months of 2012, the MediaMind study, shows an increase in consumer attention to online video in...
August 2012
1 post
4 tags
July 2012
1 post
June 2012
2 posts
5 tags
Just Plain Awesome Use of Video →
I’m a big music fan, I’m a huge proponent of the power of video. The two converge in a big way, starting today at 12:30 (central), where Bonnaroo Music Fest will be live streamed to the world. They will have around 18 live performances each day that can be viewed on YouTube. This is just plain awesome.
7 tags
Sponsor of Video Series May See Enormous Return
We produce an online video series for the website MassTransitMag.com called Mass Transit TV. It launched in April with the sponsor. The sponsor had not been doing much advertising with our b2b publishing company for the past couple of years, but they opted to get involved with this series from the inception. So what was the payoff?
After one of the videos aired, the sponsor received a call from...
May 2012
8 posts
3 tags
Video the Future for Media Sites →
This shouldn’t be a shock to many. But the conversation I had with an editor yesterday helped illustrate the challenge transitioning to video. Essentially the quote was “I’ll just add video to my list of stuff I don’t have enough time to get done already.”
The mindset shift isn’t that you know need to add video, it’s that you need to do video instead of...
5 tags
Video Production Idea: Trending Topics
Here’s an idea for a type of video production to develop - present trending topics, videos, social activity, news, etc. for an industry, vertical or niche. I’ve seen a couple of implementations of this type of video production. One is What’s Trending with Shira Lazar. There are plenty of other people on YouTube who follow this model - usually highlighting popular videos.
Pull...
4 tags
“Video advertising is most readily accepted when featured on mobile devices. 94...”
– World Premiere: Video Advertising in the iPad Browser - MarketWatch (via christinebeardsell)
6 tags
YouTube Doubles Down on Online Video
Remember that $100 million Google was going to spend on original content for YouTube? Well they just announced they’re investing $200 million. The $200 million will be spent across Google sites and its advertising network to promote the channels. There’s interesting point No. 1 - promoting your own content. How many of you are doing that? “Build it and they will come” is...
4 tags
Most Shared Branded Videos Ads →
Need some ideas for a branded video? Check the branded videos that were shared the most times in April.
6 tags
B2B Online Video Trends
Ready for some online video trends as they relate to b2b? Dreamsimplicity.com has ten of them for you - 10 B2B ONLINE VIDEO TRENDS AT AD:TECH SAN FRANCISCO CONFERENCE I’ve listed them out below with some of my comments. But there’s more meat to each point in the blog post.
WEB VIDEO IS READY FOR PRIME TIME - Agreed
SCRIPTED CONTENT DOES NOT HAVE A BUSINESS MODEL ONLINE - They...
7 tags
Content vs. Technology for Online Video
There’s an interesting article on the Online Video Insider blog from MediaPost, Is YouTube Betting Its Future On Content Or Technology?
The article looks at the technology vs. content argument as it relates to online video and YouTube. The thought is that YouTube is betting that content will provide an ROI that’s greater than acquiring or developing technology to aid in content...
April 2012
7 posts
6 tags
U.S. Online Video Stats for March 2012 →
eMedia Vitals has a good blog post up that pulls together March online video performance and ad stats. You can read the full article, Datapoints: U.S. online video - March 2012, on their website. Some highlights include:
More than 181 million unique viewers of online video in March
Nearly 37 billion videos were viewed in March
Each viewer spend 1,304 minutes in March watching online videos
8.3...
Video In E-mail Excels →
Another great article on the VidBlog by Daisy Whitney - Video Boosts Email Opens Up To 13%, Improves Conversions 21%.
Here are the highlights:
When marketers used the word “video” in an email subject line, open rates rose 7% to 13% (Experian, 2012)
Video in an email drove an average 21% higher conversion rate, and a 24% higher average order value when compared to emails that relied on static...
WatchYesterday I announced the launch of our second video series, Kolman’s Korner. Well, we’ve been busy and have our third video series Mass Transit TV now live with episode 1.
Mass Transit TV is the communication hub for the Mass Transportation industry. Bringing together insights from industry leaders and providing analysis on the top headlines, this bi-weekly video series can be...
WatchCygnus Business Media has launched its second online video series. Titled Kolman’s Korner, this video series is produced for the professional fleet maintenance audience. Fleet Maintenance editor David Kolman shares the latest headlines and brings you interviews with key people from the the fleet maintenance industry.
New episodes are available every other Tuesday and can be found in...
4 tags
7 Unexpected Ways Online Video Helped Our Small... →
REELSEO.com has a good article about seven unexpected benefits that were realized by small businesses. Below is the list, but click the link above for the full article:
1. YouTube SEO
2. Referring Traffic
3. Getting Social
4. More Engaged Customers
5. Awards
6. Press & Exposure
7. Inexpensive Advertising
5 tags
YouTube Launches Sponsorship Ad Model
I like this approach to video advertising a lot. So much so that we’ve used a sponsorship model with our video productions for a while now.
The sponsorship model essentially gives advertisers full ownership of video channels or content. The YouTube sponsorship includes companion banner ads, overlay ads and pre-rolls. Read more at...
March 2012
1 post
6 tags
WatchPaul Kontonis, VP, Group Director, Brand Content, the Third Act, Digitas talks about original video finding traction with advertisers.
February 2012
11 posts
5 tags
More on Video Shares vs. Video Views
Daisy Whitney adds her insights regarding the value of a video share and a video view in her recent article: A Share is Worth a Thousand Views: The Real Value in Social Video.
In it, Daisy points out some stats from Unruly Media that show the power of a video share:
Brand recall and brand association rose 7% among those who had been recommended videos compared to those who discovered videos
...
3 tags
Going Beyond the Video View
So you’ve got a video. Maybe you shot, edited and published it; maybe someone else did it for you. Either the way, the big thing was that you published a video and it’s ready to be viewed by the masses. So how do you measure the success of that video? Views, right? NOT SO FAST!
I may have set you up there talking about video views by the masses, but that’s not necessarily how...
4 tags
Great Video Content Idea: Turn Customer's FAQ Into...
I think it’s good to share sparks of inspiration when it comes to online video. And ReelSEO.com brings us another one with their article “Turn Your Customers’ Frequently Asked Questions Into Video Concepts”
What a great idea. How many times has this happened to you? You come to FAQ page. You see the topic or question you’re interested in - it’s usually in some...
6 tags
WatchIn this video, Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the Interactive Advertising Bureau talks about the revolution away from traditional time and space advertising. There’s some good nuggets about video a few minutes minutes in:
2:00 - Randall discusses how publishers and advertisers are strategically partnering to create extreme customization. The publishers are essentially...
3 tags
Mobile Video 50% Of All Wireless Traffic
So we know video viewing is big on the desktops. But how big is it on mobile devices? A recent article on ReelSEO.com (Mobile Video Is 50% Of All Wireless Traffic & Growing) highlights a report from Cisco that shows mobile video takes up 50% of all wireless traffic.
This is expected to increase as Cisco believes that mobile video will continue to grow and comprise 71 percent of all mobile...
3 tags
“Viewers enjoy online videos they discover from a recommendation more than ones...”
– http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/online-viewers-prefer-socially-recommended-videos-21011/?utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_source=mc&utm_medium=textlink
4 tags
Content Marketing Becoming Vital?
I pose this post as a question based on the word “becoming” as a response to Sean Callahan’s article on b2bonline.com Content Marketing Becoming Vital. I’d venture to say content marketing is critical. Check out this line from the article:
B2b marketers, which usually have complex stories to tell customers and prospects, are likely to engage in content marketing. For...
5 tags
B2B and Social Media Marketing
In a recent Video Insider post on MediaPost.com David Murdico asks the question, Is B2B Really Ready for Social Media Marketing? His short response is no, but long is they’re almost ready, but more social media curious. His experience is similar to ours:
My agency gets a lot of B2B inquiries from marketing, sales and PR executives with companies that are genuinely interested in “doing...
4 tags
WatchCheck out our work. This is a video series we produce for our construction brand ForConstructionPros.com. Would love to hear your feedback.
4 tags
Social Video Recommendations Great for Brand Lift →
WatchWeb Video Success Comes from Targeting “Narrow Niches” - via beet.tv
January 2012
11 posts
6 tags
Start Crafting Your Video Strategy - NOW
Now is the time for publishers of all sizes that do not have a video strategy to start thinking about it.
The message in the MediaPost.com article, “Online Video’s Manifest Destiny,” can’t get much more clear or straight to the point. There’s no debate, question or haziness as to where video is going. It’s going to be huge. It is huge. Hundreds of millions...
5 tags
A Must-Read about Creating Amazing Content
The article, The Future Of “Branded” Content - Katalyst Media Launching YouTube Channel on ReelSEO.com, does a great job of making the argument for how great content and storytelling will be the catalyst for brand success in the future.
I use the term catalyst somewhat as a pun. The article is mostly an interview with Katalyst Media president, Anthony Batt. His main point is that...
4 tags
Product Videos Drive Conversions
If you sell products, you can’t afford to ignore the impact online video can have on increasing sales:
Housewares e-tailer StacksAndStacks.com says visitors are 144% more likely to make a purchase after seeing a product video than those who did not
Advance Auto Parts has found that including instructional and how-to videos both on its site and Facebook leads visitors to stay on the site...
3 tags
“Online video ad spending should jump 40% this year to reach $3.1 billion.”
– http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/165005/online-video-ad-spend-to-jump-40-in-2012-with-pr.html?edition=41786#ixzz1kx971y6Y
3 tags
Live-Stream Video Rules
Did you miss the our live-stream video coverage of World of Concrete? Here’s your chance to check out the replay. Watch now!
http://www.forconstructionpros.com/latest-news/show-reports/
[edited 1/29]
5 tags
WatchSo I’ve been going on about Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s VP of Global Content Partnerships, keynote at CES the past few days. You can view the video above.
