One of my most popular posts of 2010 was the Effectiveness of Online Video: CTR, Conversion & Other Data one. Needless to say how anxious I was to get a hold of the newest Econsultancy’s “Online Video Best Practice Guide” by Steffan Aquarone which was released less than 24 hours ago.
It’s an impressive 60+ pages report — which covers all the basics, including the key players, video SEO, analytics, testing and optimization, and much more — which is available for purchase here; and today I’d like to highlight several things which I personally have found of interest.
Top US Online Video Ad Properties
Here is the table (based on comScore’s June 2011 data) from the report’s page 33:
Views, Reach and Other Stats
In May 2011, Americans spend more than 2 billion minutes watching video ads. Such ads “reached 45% of the total U.S. population, at an average of 34 times during the month”.
Selecting a Supplier
When looking to outsource video creation, the following “broad outline” of your options should “help guide your decision-making”:
- One-Man Bands — Costs start from $8,000; everything is performed by the same person; pros being “one point of contact throughout, opportunity for immersion in your brand and team” and likely an excellent value”; cons: “risk putting all your eggs in one basket; likely to be stronger on the practical production side and an advocate of the technology,” but “less on the creative and strategy”.
- Production Companies — Costs range from $8,000 to $80,000+; pros include everything that’s needed being in one place, “start to finish management, often excellent evalue insight and creative compared to agenices”; cons: “expect to pay considerably more — especially insight and creative, and elaborate ideas with cash costs will add to the budget”.
- Ad Agencies — Costs start from $80,000; not focused solely on video; pros: “built into your broader communications strategy, brand, creative, strategy are core capabilities”; cons: “sometimes their inexperience in video shows and they’ll just sub-contract to a production company” while you’ll still be “paying for all those friends’ account managers”.
Basic Production Techniques
The first thing to remember is that “everything else in this report counts still — content is king, giving the viewer what they want, working out what you’re trying to achieve and how you’re going to reach your target audience” (p. 47). Plus, the following 7 tips should also be kept in mind:
- Keep it short but sweet
- Only use music if (a) you own the rights, and (b) it’s not a distraction
- Tell the strory in pictures as well as words
- Start simple in the edit — cut and cross-fade only
- Don’t attempt graphics until you’re further down the line
- Review it with the team — and expect input
- Test the message on someone who’s not been involved
Once again, you may download the full Econsultancy’s Online Video Guide here.
I completely agree with the ending of this article, “Content is king”. The more content you have the longer the reach, views, traffic, etc. Great post… I can tell from report video marketing is still going strong!
And it’s predicted to get even stronger with the spread of social media.