In case you haven’t clicked on every link in our blogroll (but why haven’t you?), head on over to Mark Glaser’s MediaShift blog. Mark spoke to a number of industry leaders about the state of online video advertising, and I must say that its one of the most balanced pieces you’ll get to read.
But if you absolutely refuse to read anything about online video except us, here’s what I had to say:
Probably the biggest mistake people make is in equating professional, studio-quality videos with the more amateur content that dominates video-sharing sites.
Yep. Some content just isn’t monetizable. Go figure. In case you need a refresher, pre-roll isn’t bad. Poorly placed pre-roll is. Remember the covenant! And more importantly, remember not to piss off Steve Hall.
One of the important lessons here (and I should blog about this) is that while I realize my viewers may drift to higher production quality, I also feel bad for those that spend too much on a production. The return isn’t there yet. From an ROI perspective, the R is somewhat fixed and the I is manageable. Just do everything yourself, own your own equipment and get free talent.
I think that’s a major looming question for the companies that have gone full stream into higher quality web video like Next New and Revision3. Sure they’re spending money now, the content looks good and they’re growing but is it sustainable?
I’m unconvinced they will build large enough audiences for the majority of their programming to turn a profit because a lot of it is just too niche.
So then do you lower quality? Or do you accept that the point at which the long tail is really unmonetizable is far higher up on the tail than previously thought (at least until ad targeting gets so specific that you’re looking at hundreds/thousands of dollar CPMs)?
@ Nalts: I hear ya. Right now it is very difficult to measure the “R” and the “I” is manageable. Spending too much on production can kill a marketing effort, especially if it doesn’t reach critical mass.
@ Ben: I’m actually surprised at the number of “for web” production companies popping up, and very concerned about how they’ll make enough money to remain viable. Back to Nalts’ point – if you can’t recoup your costs, you aren’t going to be in business very long.
The key is going to be proving the value of the audience through targeting. As you drift down the tail, it is harder to charge high CPMs based on the content. So the value lies in the eyeballs, not what the eyeballs are looking at. I wrote a couple of years ago that “people with foot fetishes buy cars, too.” I still stand by that concept, but the targeting technology hasn’t come far enough yet to make it feasible.
There are advertisers, however, that are willing to follow their audience into some darker places:
http://www.onlinevideowatch.com/hp-reply-to-our-post-re-content-best-left-unmonetized/
I stumbled onto this blog and will be coming back to learn. I’ve only become interested in online video advertising as my client wants to spend big money to test this emerging media. If any of you want a job and would like to live in central Florida (Winter Park, near Orlando) I have a very small shop with big budgets to work with to get as creative as possible to reach M18-34. If you happen to also love the game of poker, then you will have a blast.
Has anyone heard of this http://allgoogleadsforfree.com ? If so…is it for real?
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