Everyone’s talking about it, and many organizations are doing it, but most people don’t have all the information to execute online video distribution. Does it mean we put our video on our front page? Does it play automatically? How do we get people to see it? Will they watch online? What are the technical requirements to distribute video online? Do we have to keep making new videos all the time? What does it mean to “go viral,” and how do we do that?
Here’s the truth of the matter. Nobody has all of the answers to all of the questions regarding online distribution. At least no single person has them all yet. And by the time the answers seem to be more apparent, the questions will change. Everything was on YouTube for a while, and that continues to be a central focal point, but then Facebook and social networking seemed to become the lynchpin of any attempt to “go viral.” Media players and their technology keep changing. Several years ago Real Player was in the lead, then Windows Media, and now Flash delivery.
I think we’re all learning the positives and negatives of the rapidly evolving world of maintaining an online presence and trying to keep up with viewer expectations. The pitfalls of implementation are many, but the issues of never implementing are greater. Gone are the days when non profit organizations could be two to three years behind the corporate world in the adoption of technology. Two or three months can cause viewer and supporter fatigue. But how can an organization with limited funds for marketing and outreach keep up? Video production is frequently out of the price range entirely, let alone ongoing production.
We are constantly exploring new distribution outlets and learning new ways to implement them and simplify their workflow for our clients and ourselves. The goal line is constantly moving in online content delivery, but we continue to follow that progress so our clients don’t have too. But frequently our clients teach us new outlets and workflows. Its this collaborative conversation that is keeping the world of online video exciting for us.
There will be future posts that outline how we have overcome some of the problems and questions raised in this article. Many of you will help us write the proposed solutions, and we look forward to that exchange.
PWP
2 comments:
IVD is hard to explain because it isn't just one thing. It can be VOD, online viewing, PPV online, or even a web series. How do you monetize it? Commercial banners and badge ads on the site or streaming video within the video? It's hard to come up with one model because there are so many nuances. Each step in the process often bifurcates like an endless flowchart of options. We need to understand first, what the options are, so that the model can be fluid.
Angelo
http://www.AngeloBell.com
Angelo,
First of all, I always enjoy proper usage of bifurcate. Thank you for that.
I completely agree with you in general, but your focus is as an idependent filmmaker; which makes monetizing your content very important, and rightly so. This blog is aimed at our clients, who are primarily non profits or other organizations looking to communicate via video, both online and otherwise. So, the monetization here is really a question of getting the best ROI for the production itself via views and driving of traffic and interest. While we are both looking at online video distribution, our aims are different. The issues of the bifurcating flowchart is relevant here in that each fork in that chart is another opportunity to present the work. But now the question becomes how many channels are viable and valuable to achieve the critical mass needed for a successful piece?
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