Online Video, Pay-Per-View The Future According To Cogent Founder

Cogent Founder, David Schaeffer spoke highly of online video at ISPCON, a convention dedicated to service providers looking for the next big thing in Internet technologies. Comparing online to video to standard television, Schaeffer makes a point regarding what works and what doesn’t when it comes to monetizing content:

The HBO model already works for cable TV. HBO is profitable. On the internet, music services that charge a subscription fee, such as Rhapsody, are not as successful as those such as iTunes that charge per download. “Pay per use could be the future.”

Schaeffer makes an excellent connection between profitable ventures in current video and how the internet has not yet utilized the same business model. Subscription models provides a barrier to entry that has cut off several potential customers. If video providers are looking to turn their content into cash, they’re going to have to look to successful ventures for inspiration. The pay-per-view model seems to be the most effect means of monetizing content. The step content producers have to take is to form a relationship with a streaming video company that is able to create en e-commerce model suited to their specific needs.

ISPCON: Taking Advantage of Video [ISP Planet]

Wescon Builders Take Homeowners on a Virtual Tour

Construction company embraces online video as a successful form of marketing.

 

Chicago, IL: It is no secret that the housing market isn’t as strong as in years past. Realtors and contractors are trying to find ways to inject new life into their businesses, and many are turning to the Internet. Wescon Builders, a rehabilitation and construction firm in Chicago have found a new way to compete in the market, streaming video. By hiring the services of online streaming video provider ClickStreamTV, Wescon Builders is now able to take users on a virtual tour of homes and job sites.

 

Wescon Builders specializes in custom solutions to home design and construction, meaning theirs is a business where visual presentation counts. The company found success by creating an online portfolio of photos on their website, but were looking to go one step farther. Rather than have potential customers look at photos of their work, Wescon sought to provide users with video content. With the aid of ClickStreamTV, customers could now take virtual tours of homes completed by Weson and get a three hundred and sixty degree look at designs.

 

Streaming video, the technology being used by Wescon Builders is not new, but has only recently made its way into the mainstream business market. More and more companies are seeking ways to increase their web presence, a tactic which has been found to increase revenue. Most companies have web sites, but few are including multimedia due to lack of knowledge of the format, or a lack of direction regarding how to effectively use tools such as video to sell their products to a digital world.

 

ClickStreamTV was created as a solution for any business looking to put video on the web. The company prides itself on being flexible to the needs of their customers, and able to provide a complete video on the web experience that doesn’t require users to have an IT department to get the full experience.

 

Wescon Builders has been around for over two decades and specializes in construction and rehabilitation services. Priding themselves in high quality work and a strong commitment to the community, Wescon relies on the success of their repeat and referral client base. 

Social/Video Advertising Not A Viable Revenue Source

Advertising on sites like Facebook and Myspace are not a surefire moneymaker says an Epsilon survey. 55% of marketing officers surveyed had little to no inerest in the social networking ad game. Wired has the full story and wrote:

Another study, this one by the research firm IDC, suggested their lack of enthusiasm might be well-placed. More and more users are spending more and more time on social networking sites, but the study found they aren’t very responsive to ads there: Clickthrough rates were reported to be far lower than at other sites. On the web in general, nearly 80 percent of users clicked on at least one ad in the past year; on social networking sites, fewer than 60 percent did so.

It is no secret that one of the biggest draws sites like Facebook have is that their features are all provided free of charge. This is great for users, but the people behind the site are left with trying to find a way to monetize their service. Charge users a fee and risk losing countless members. Settling on advertising, Facebook still isn’t winning, with users up in arms about privacy invasion and now advertisers upset that their investments are not panning out. 

What does this mean for the online video market? Well, free sites like YouTube are not immune: 

Meanwhile, the folks at Google are still scratching their heads over YouTube, for which they paid $1.65 billion in 2006. The web video supersite serves 5 billion videos a month in the United States and nearly 4 billion in France, Germany and Great Britain, comScore reports. Yet its revenues are negligible—about $200 million this year, according to analysts’ estimates. That’s barely 1 percent of Google’s total income.

The volume is there, but the translation from visitors to income is missing. Companies, however, would be mistaken in thinking that online video iteself is not viable. The key of course is how video is being used. Streaming video sites that allow unrestricted uploading serve a very specific purpose, creating a community. Companies should adapt the community building aspects of social sites, but give it a business edge.

Video Email Part 2: Control

I spoke last time about the need for a business to have control over their video content. Sending hypertext links or trying to embed a video on their website is not control. When I speak of control, at least on the subject of sending video, I’m talking about combining the content with the package it is to be sent in. This brings me to video email. What is video email? Think of it as a method to send video content to someone’s inbox without having them needing to travel to another site, or download a massive file. 

Most people think that when they want to share a video, they are restricted to sending a link through email. This link will then take users to a page where the video is embedded, or perhaps to a page that leads to another page. The point is that this process is cumbersome and generally not very professional. Also the control I’ve been talking about is nonexistant.

This is where video email comes in. Imagine being able to create a list of videos you want your recipient to watch. You place thumbnail pictures of these videos into an email, then you customize the email with additonal text, links, and downloadable documents. When your recipient opens up the email and clicks on the thumbnail, the video launches and begins to play. No digging through multiple pages or sending users to a cluttered site. Simply click and watch. Senders of video email can now control what content their receipients are viewing by directing their video watching experience.

In additional to the control afforded over the content itself, video email providers can also give senders the ability to track their emails. Not only can you track when an email is opened, but also when a video is watched, which files were downloaded, and which additional links were clicked. Video email tracking has become just as sophisticated as web statistics.

I end this segment of video email by saying that businesses can embrace video, and the sending of video without giving up control. The key is to find the tools that allow for you to retain control without sacrificing the technology that comes with streaming video.

For more information on video email, please visit ClickStreamTV

Video Email Part 1: Sending Video

The topic of video email is coming up more and more with many users not content to just sit idly bay and wait for viewers to come to them. We live in a global market where we’re no more than  a few clicks away from new customers. So how does video email fit into this market? Allow me to explain.

Think of video email as the next step in sharing videos. I’m can gurantee you’ve shared a Youtube video with friends, perhaps it was a clip from a television show, or someone falling off a boat. You have a few options when you share these videos. You can copy a link and send it to a friend via email or instant messenger. You can even embedd the video onto your own site, facebook profile, etc. The point is that the videos do not stay in one place. Like all data on the Internet, they travel.

So what if you’re a small business? Of course you could put your videos on YouTube and hope others share them or send links to those videos to customers. While YouTube is inarguably the most popular video sharing site, businesses who use it for video content are sharing their viewership with clips of kids blowing off fireworks. 

What businesses need to do is step away from social media sites, they need to embrace their own video content and exercise complete control. This is where video email comes in.