Lessons learned from the industry on creating Original Online Video, Part 1
The new media industry is still in the process of being defined. Unlike traditional television there is no “formula” for creating a successful program. New media in many cases is still a “hit or miss” process for all in this industry.
There is no doubt that online video has become more mainstream in recent years. According to James A. Pitaro, VP of media at Yahoo, states that 47% of the U.S. now watches online video. In September 2009, 11 billion videos were streamed which is up 24% year over year. Of the videos being viewed more and more are original web videos.
Because web videos have become more mainstream, companies are moving towards some sort of video model – this includes major media as well as the smaller start ups.
Given that there’s no clear cut way of being successful in new media – several companies have disappeared despite having well known names attached to them. For Yahoo – they have found success with their short-form videos with shows like Yahoo! Sports Minute, Prime Time in No Time.
So what are some of the lessons learned? How can you benefit from these past mistakes?
It has to be more than a good idea – go where the fish are, find the popular
Make sure the idea is relevant for the Internet. Stick with trends, people or brands that are already proven. Ok, so it’s not the most original idea, but this can drive successful online content. Major media companies take advantage of this concept – it’s easy for them, their shows have a built-in audience, for example, creating an Internet program based on a popular TV show like the After Show, for the show The Hills, or Big Brother After Dark for the Big Brother show.
Develop your own voice, your own identity. Find something you can own. If you choose to be a comedy site, decide if you can compete with the major sites that are already out there – funnyordie, MyDamnChannel, YouTube etc. Or choose as niche a topic as possible.
If you have a host for your show, find someone who’s engaging, someone who knows the subject matter, who’s the expert, who’s passionate, and can relate to the viewer – don’t just find a body that can read a teleprompter. The host need not have Hollywood or TV experience. A different style and skill works for online video according to Revision3 CEO, Jim Louderback. It’s more important to find a personality that can create a community around their interest.
Pay attention to the feedback of your audience
Research, research, research – if you do that, you should come up with what your target audience wants. As an obvious example, Yahoo’s Finance site decided based on – search, and click-thru-rate that most of their user-community was doing tech stock searches – this led Yahoo to create a daily tech stock program called TechTicker and is their most watched finance program online.
Knowing what your audience wants to watch, you can engage and cater to those viewers and get more feedback which will prove very useful for video productions. However, feedback isn’t always useful, helpful or nice – it is at this point where you have to choose comments from the median.
Also note that comments vary from site to site. Comments on YouTube where there is a broad set of viewers may have more free-flowing comments that are not quite as on-point as a smaller more specific site. This is where it becomes a task of reading between the lines to try and find the truth in the feedback.
Involve sponsors early in the creative process
As early as possible, get an advertiser involved with your idea, and co-develop the idea together. Make sure to strike the right balance so as not to turn off viewers by over branding. For a small startup, easier said than done. I see this as more for the companies that have established some sort of reputation where a sponsor finds you interesting, and has potential…but that’s my 2 cents.
Be quick
Your web content must be timely. Yahoo employed “fast twitch” programming – their Primetime in No Time recaps the previous evening’s prime time TV shows. Every night, the host watched East Coast feeds of the shows, writes and then tapes the show to air hours later.
Live or near-live programming will need resources and skills; otherwise, the information is not valuable. Beyond live video, it’s just as important to continue to provide access to the video. What viewers want most is not when to watch a video (like linear television), but know that they can watch the video when they want to watch it.
Super-serving fans vs. attracting new viewers
Super-serving is a buzzword that determines much of the decisions around what content goes online.
If they like it – give them more. If you’re doing a good job at providing “more”, then you’ll likely retain your audience and develop a reputation as the place to go to for that type of content. But be careful not to super-serve to a point that you’re hindering audience growth.
Adding new content gives you the opportunity to reach new viewers beyond the current followers. If you know your audience, it makes it easier to determine what their online video habits might be.
With the exception of sports sites which enjoy some exclusivity and niche viewers. Generally, content drives success less than distribution and syndication, so it’s key to distribute through multiple channels so that audiences are able to find it.
Don’t spend a lot
It is possible to create quality content without an enormous budget or even have your own studio. Sure, money can solve a lot of problems, but this forces us, content creators, to be creative and look to solve problems in new ways rather than just throw money at it. Also, as I’ve written in past blogs, advertising money is not yet there in new media, so we have no choice but to product content dirt cheap.
In part 2, the article continues with production quality.
Blog post by Juliette Tai, Director of Research & Competitive Intelligence, Greenlight360
Resources: paidcontent.org, streamingmedia.com, mashable.com, blogs.forrester.com
