Enhance Your Video Content
January 04, 2008
New Tools to Enhance the Value and Efficiency of Video Content
By Peter Winkler
With the rapid rise of digital technologies shaking up the media landscape, these are exciting and also quite challenging times for today's video content creators and marketers. The increasing availability of new technologies and distribution channels—including digital video recorders, video-on-demand, broadband and mobile content—is offering consumers choices like never before but also increasing the complexity of the business.
More Chances for Old Problems
With such a dramatic increase, how do you keep track of your entertainment, advertising or other video content? How can you be sure your content isn’t being misused, or attributed to someone else? How can you be sure that your marketing promotions and video are being managed for maximum effectiveness?
While all of these issues existed in the past, they are now taking on a more profound importance. Copyright issues and piracy have become the top-of-mind issue and providers most frequently look at ways to protect new content on additional platforms. But content owners must also realize they still have huge libraries of existing content which are being left behind—virtually unprotected.
Content creators need to think small—and think now—about these vaults of existing content. If they are only concerned with the new and are not focused on the lost library or archival content revenues, they‘re potentially losing millions of dollars.
Unfortunately, the honor system doesn't cut it. Dramatic shifts in syndication agreements and the explosion of new niche television channels create huge management and verification burdens for content creators. Plus, as content becomes "multiplatformed"—it gets sliced and diced and distributed internationally—the rights and tracking issues increase exponentially.
For instance, the concept of the video long tail is built around the premise that audiences are increasingly fragmenting and going for more niche content. As the number of distribution platforms increase, target audiences are split into smaller groups and results in a larger number of smaller, profitable "tails" or niches. The formation of these groups creates a larger amount of targeted programming, meaning that content owners need to be kept informed of where their video is being aired.
Do You Know Where Your Content Is?
A recent Jack Myers Publishing and Teletrax study titled, "Tracking, Monitoring and Monetizing Video Content," found more than 80 percent of senior media and entertainment industry executives believe broadcast content owners are at risk of adversely impacting their bottom lines by not having tools in place to track, monitor and measure their content.
The study also found that media executives overwhelmingly see the need for tracking their content but without an effective method that's capable of tracking video content in real-time on an international basis&x2014;and no way to ensure that partners are complying with established contracts for maximum ROI—respondents admit that they lack in knowledge about the possible solutions
New Technology, New Solutions
While getting it all to make sense is a challenge, there is a solution. New media tracking and measurement technologies can now bring this intelligence has proven invaluable for the industry. And it all boils down to one simple tenet: If you can maintain control over your content, higher ROI follows. And by measuring a video product’s impact, ROI can be improved.
Video watermarking—for example—is quickly proving a highly useful and accurate technology. By embedding a "digital watermark" into video whenever it is edited, transmitted, broadcast or duplicated, marketers can track and measure when, where and what promotional content is airing across all major TV markets nationally. Watermarking can also be employed as a strategic planning tool, enabling organizations to determine the performance of their marketing campaigns and make "in-flight" adjustments if needed. This technology has significantly enhanced TV network marketing efficiency and performance.
Digital World
For content providers and marketers, the exhilaration of being at the cutting edge of new and evolving technologies is tempered by the inherent challenges of tracking consumer choices. And marketers more than ever need to use digital technology tools to their advantage to enhance the efficiency and value of their marketing and promotional investments—via such technologies as digital watermarking applications—to stay up to speed and secure their digital campaign success.
Peter Winkler is Chief Marketing Officer at Teletrax
Sales & Marketing Management Magazine
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