Inside the Marketers Studio - David Berkowitz's Marketing Blog

Advertising on Commercials: This is YouTube’s Best Monetization Scheme?

I’ve got a great revenue model for you:

Take a minute-long commercial from a major brand and put it on YouTube.

Then put someone else’s ad prominently to the right of it. Make sure it flashes and sparkles a lot so it distracts you from the commercial that consumers are going there to watch.

Then, 8 seconds into the video, run an overlay covering the bottom quarter of the screen. Animate the hell out of the overlay. And run the overlay for a full 20 seconds – so it’s there during one-third of the time you’re watching the commercial.

If this is the best online video can bring, everyone might as well give up and let marketers’ budgets stay on television.

It’s not just YouTube. The Internet Movie Database runs pre-roll ads before movie trailers. You can wind up sitting through a 30-second ad before watching an ad for a movie.

This is how bad online advertising gets, and it’s from our biggest and supposedly best publishers out there. And for now, consumers let them get away with it.

People in online advertising complain that standards for online ads are set too high. Apparently we’re not setting them high enough.

Discovering Hot Spots From YouTube Insights

Image by via CrunchBase

The most valuable benefit of marketing videos on YouTube may not be the views but what you learn about the viewers.

Last week, we talked about YouTube's Sponsored Video ad platform and how it's a complement to, but not replacement for, traditional search engine marketing. If you do find value in driving video views, you'll be even more excited about what YouTube tells you about those viewers. We'll review some examples of what Insights tells you and how you can use it.

There are five categories of reports in Insights: Views, Popularity, Demographics, Discovery, and Hot Spots. The first three are straightforward, where you can find out: how many views your video has received over time with breakouts by state, country, and continent;  the relative popularity of your video compared to others on YouTube; and age and gender breakdowns for the video's viewers. The last two require a closer look.

Discovery

This is the dashboard you'll love most as a search marketing junkie. You can find out how and where people are watching the video, including options such as YouTube search, an embedded player, Google search, external links (Twitter is included here), related videos, and a "viral/other" category that means it was passed along via email or IM.

With the search categories, you can click to see which terms people are using. Want to build a keyword list to market your video through Sponsored Video or AdWords? Start with the most effective terms from this list. Maybe there are searches you'd expect to see but don't; consumers either aren't using those terms, or your video isn't optimized for those queries.  Similarly, your video might be ranking for unexpected queries. This all presents new optimization opportunities. And if you optimize well for YouTube's search engine, those videos could potentially rank higher in Google, too.

The referring sources for embedded videos should also be monitored. Would these sources want to embed more of your content? Are there other ways to forge deeper relationships? Would related sites be interested?

Hot Spots

With Hot Spots, you can find out which segments of a video are capturing the most attention, provided the video has enough views. There's an average attention line for your video; "cold" segments indicate viewer drop-off or a lack of repeat viewing, while "hot" areas indicate repeat viewing. I'll use an example of a video clip I posted where  I posed as a Weather.com anchor (see the  write-up from Christina Kerley for the background). There's an introductory segment in the clip that's cold, though it gradually gains steam. Then, 12 seconds into it, right as I start the broadcast, it heats up for the next 30 seconds.

What might I do if I'm a marketer? One idea is that with Sponsored Video ads, I could draw attention to the hot part of the video. If it's a certain cast member people are watching, play that up. If people keep rewinding a racy segment, allude to that. While it's not always easy to predict what the best parts will be ahead of time, usually it's easy to understand why the Hot Spots are on fire.

Let's say you're trying to get the word out through digital word of mouth -- reaching out to bloggers and other online influencers. These people might not have the attention span to watch a two-minute clip. But if you tell them to check out the best 20 seconds so they'll know why it's perfect for their audience, you might strike a chord with those influencers -- and their audiences. Such a strategy can build up links to improve that video's ranking in natural search results, and sometimes they'll link to your homepage or other properties, giving you even more Google juice.

That's a Wrap

I'd love to be able to combine these reports even more. For instance, what if you could combine Demographics and Discovery to learn the search terms by age, gender, and country? Might Hot Spots differ for different types of users? All of this could continue to provide even more fuel for video marketing.

Until then, there's enough here to keep busy with. The more views you can attract for your videos, the better the information will be, so it's a virtuous circle that's augmented when you apply the intelligence to improving your campaigns.

Pausing To Rate YouTube’s Sponsored Video

Image via CrunchBase

Let’s agree right away that YouTube’s Sponsored Video isn’t the next Google Killer.

It’s not even the next Yahoo killer, even though comScore recently reported that YouTube is now the second largest search engine. Fittingly, around the time that the comScore news broke, Google publicly launched search-triggered Sponsored Video ads on YouTube. Does this mean marketers need to consider YouTube over Yahoo and Microsoft?

It’s not going to quite work out that way. First, it’s helpful to understand how YouTube search ads work:

• You need to promote a video that’s on YouTube. This is designed to drive video views, not site traffic.

• You must have uploaded the video through your YouTube account. For my trial, I used this video I titled “Soufflecam,” a grainy, shaky shot of a waiter serving chocolate soufflé while at a dinner with New York Times columnist David Pogue.

• You can target videos for words and phrases, and they’re supposed to be relevant to the video, though I’ve found many ads running on completely irrelevant terms. Presumably Google is focusing on driving up inventory for now rather than fine-tuning relevance. For my video, I used phrases like “chocolate soufflé” — surely a top query.

• Ads run on a cost-per-click basis.

This is all very different from search advertising. With a typical search engine marketing campaign, not only are direct response metrics critical, but you get penalized for branding messaging. With sponsored videos, you have some flexibility to include branding, and you’re promoting content.

Taking a step back, the consumer mindset is very different on Google and YouTube. On Google, a consumer might be looking to buy a new car. On YouTube, a consumer might be looking for a cool car commercial. Viewing that commercial might improve various branding metrics, but there will be a large percentage of people who just want to watch the commercial that everyone’s talking about.

Google and YouTube also differ in terms of the marketers they attract. Google AdWords opened up to everyone. It got to the point where marketers stopped asking if they should advertise on Google and instead asked how much they could spend there while still reaping a return on ad spending. Google’s not the most important platform for every marketer, but every marketer needs to consider it, and just about everyone can get at least some value out of it.

YouTube Sponsored Video is something else entirely. Yes, more marketers are uploading videos to YouTube, but how many of those videos will benefit from paid promotion? Some marketers can quantify it. Movie studios want to get people to watch their trailers, and they understand the value of it. Bands can use music videos to try to fill up a venue. Marketers can also pay to promote their responses to major issues and crises, such as when JetBlue founder and then CEO David Neeleman published a video apology for a string of lengthy delays. At the time, that segment might have benefited from Sponsored Video. Today, that apology comes up first when I searched for “JetBlue” on YouTube, so JetBlue might want to run an ad to direct searchers to something a little more upbeat.

While more marketers will find ways to use Sponsored Video, it won’t be for everyone. Not everyone’s in the brand-building business online, and not everyone who is will have video assets that are good enough to merit promotion on YouTube. Marketers who try to promote subpar content may find themselves with negative reviews and ratings, so it’s important to be selective.

On the flipside, video ratings are included in the Sponsored Video ad, so great videos will attract even more viewers with their four- and five-star ratings. I searched for James Bond on YouTube the Monday after the latest movie premiere and an ad from Activision appeared promoting a trailer for the video game based on the movie. The game trailer is rated five stars, and clicking the video shows it received 19 ratings, so YouTube’s community validates Activision several times throughout the experience. That’s unique to YouTube, and the advertiser benefits even without a click (in some ways, the advertiser benefits more without clicks since impressions are free).

The first step, as Activision learned, is uploading good content. There’s no official Quality Score, but don’t get lulled into a false sense of complacency. While Google won’t judge you here, your potential customers will.

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Element Videos Updated More Than Periodically

Image via WikipediaHere's something a little outside of the ordinary, but a great use of online video. My chemist friend Andrew Marcus sent me this link to videos - 118 of counting - of elements from the periodic table. They include some of the factual stuff, and then some great experiments that make use of the medium. I really wish I had this in high school. It's the best adaptation of the elements I've seen since reading Primo Levi's The Periodic Table.

Catch the whole roundup on their YouTube channel.

See Zinc below.

Google's Video Speech Recognition Baby Steps

It's about time.

Google's finally starting to use speech recognition for video search. I still don't know why it hasn't just acquired Blinkx and owned the market. Compared to YouTube, Blinkx would be a bargain, and they could monetize it better.

Anyway, the rollout could hardly be more limited. It's only for political speeches, and worse yet, you have to add a Google Gadget to even use it. Find out more on the official Google blog. I've only tried it briefly and it works well enough, but it's hardly pioneering. For another good video search example, see what Reuters Labs is doing with Viewdle's face recognition technology, or check ClipBlast, VeoTag, or Pixsy.

Thanks to my colleague Izzy for the link, originally in the Atlantic Monthly.

Flip Video + Flickr Video Upload Trial

At the Adobe event launching the Adobe Media Player, they gave away some pretty cool schwag: a Flip Video Ultra 2 GB (60 minute) camera, a toy I've wanted to play with for awhile and came close to buying repeatedly. Given the launch of video on Flickr this week, it was a good time to test both the camera and the video.

The only challenge I had with the camera was figuring out where the two AA batteries went in this sleek, efficient device. Once that challenge was solved, I was able to start taking videos immediately, though the cab driver didn't seem to be a big fan of starting in my home movie so I refrained from recording the entire conversation he was having in French on his cellphone.

I shot a few more videos the next day walking to work, heading west on 23rd Street in Manhattan across the street from Madison Square Park, with the Empire State Building in the background, and heading by the Flatiron Building.

Uploading the videos was easy. The Flip comes with a built-in USB connector that includes basic video editing software. I tested out the videos (it's not the steadiest camerawork, and I didn't even always realize the camera was recording), and then went to make a video mix, all within Flip's software. I picked up an Arctic Monkeys song, "D is for Dangerous," from Amazon's MP3 store, selected the videos, and made the mix. It all took a couple minutes and played well in Windows Media Player.

Then it came time for Flickr. Adding a video was just as easy as adding photos. I'm not a huge fan of the 90-second, 150-megabyte limit on videos (for me, someone who isn't shooting in high-definition, it's the length that's the nuisance), but it was a cinch to do using their online uploader. Videos can also work with the downloadable uploader.

With this setup, if I'm at a conference and doing 1-minute interviews with speakers in the press room, I could probably do the entire production, including shooting, saving, and uploading, in five minutes. It would take me longer than that to boot up my computer or write the blog post. Heck, it'd practically take longer to Twitter it.

Finally, here's the end result:

Adobe's AMP Reviewed: Not Just Another Media Player

The Adobe Media Player debuted this week, and after learning a little more at the launch party and trying it out myself, I'll share a few thoughts on it. You can also find a screencast I created with the visuals (no voiceover); next time I'll resize it and embed it, but it's my first screencast, so I appreciate your patience.

* Update: I removed the comparison to Veoh and included a statement from them.

First, a few thoughts on the player:

* It's the second announcement lately with the AMP acronym. Yahoo also previewed its own AMP, the Advertising Management Platform. The two are not related, though if Adobe became a Yahoo partner, maybe AMP could become part of AMP. Or maybe Adobe will acquire Yahoo, or Yahoo will outsource its search ad delivery to Adobe. Anything can happen these days.

* Oh, the player... it's pretty good. Maybe it's revolutionary. The biggest problem is its a downloadable media player, and people aren't in a rush to download more stuff to their desktops. Then again, it may well provide people with an easier way to access their favorite content, so there is some sort of value proposition for the consumer.

* The player allows you to either stream or download your shows, and you can subscribe to them like a podcast.

* The content includes lots of premium goodies from MTV, HGTV, Food Network, and elsewhere, and then lots of random stuff from online video sources covering everything from men's style to international cartoons. The important thing: it does have The Hills.

* Advertising can take any form - overlays, pre-rolls, potentially pop-ups... you name it. They can serve just about anything. It's up to the content provider. If MTV likes 10 overlays per 20 minutes and HGTV likes 2 30-second spots (all hypothetical), that's what you'll get.

* The launch party was fantastic, held at Chop Suey on the second floor of the Renaissance Hotel overlooking Times Square from the north side.  They welcomed guests' companies on a massive Times Square billboard and snapped people's photos in front of it. Then they did live demos by controlling that billboard. I'll post the shots when I have them.

Here's how AMP (Adobe's) compares to other media players out there:

Hulu: Hulu's web-only. You can select favorite shows but you don't subscribe to the content. Also, Hulu's content deals aren't as far-ranging as AMP's right now, though they have more full seasons, plus movies.

iTunes: iTunes is download-only. While you can subscribe to video podcasts automatically, you have to pay for most of the premium content that you'll find on AMP. One iTunes advantage: you can port your videos on your iPod. iTunes also works with Apple TV.

RealPlayer: I know it's still around, but does anyone use this? I always resented that it tried making you add a million other things you didn't want and took forever to go through its installation.

Joost: The quality's great on Joost but the controls aren't, and then as for content, while they have a few name-brand shows, most of it's stuff like Extreme Jackalope Racing and Omaha Beach Party.

A note on Veoh, which was previously mentioned as a comparison: Veoh offers both a web-based service and a downloadable app (VeohTV), and we have official partnerships with numerous major content providers, including CBS, Viacom FEARNet, 60 Frames, NextNew Networks, Vuguru, National Lampoon, Ford Models,

US

magazine, Car & Driver, and many more.

Color Coding: Crayon Video from Sesame Street on YouTube

Noah Brier posted a link (not a full post) to a memorable Sesame Street video now on YouTube that shows how crayons are made. There's something about it that made it one of the most memorable clips I saw on TV as a kid.

I'll also share two thoughts that I noted on Noah's blog:

1. There were a few steps there done manually that have to be automated by now. Would we even see people in today's version?
2. I'm SO relieved they never did a similar segment on bacon.

Video Chat with Your Favorite Bloggers

Video site ooVoo tapped bloggers and media pundits like Bob Garfield (AdAge), Steve Hall (adrants), Jack Myers (Jack Myers Report), Allan Cox (Your Inner CEO), Geoff Livingston (Now is Gone) and others for group video chats this week and next.

Sign up to take part in this social media experiment.

Here's the full gist via Scott Monty:

As part of our engagement with them, we're introducing people to ooVoo through an event called "My ooVoo Day With..." in which people can sign up to video chat with their favorite bloggers and have a true conversation with them, rather than back & forth comments & emails. It runs from Feb. 10 - 21, 2008 and features a number of bloggers whom you may know. In return for their time, we're making a gift to the Frozen Pea Fund (to support the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer campaign).

Note you can still participate without a webcam for an audio-only experience.

Where Could You Rate Super Bowl Ads?

First of all, yes, it feels good to be a Giants fan today. The best part was all the screaming out on E 86th Street, people dancing spontaneously in the streets and neighbors who I never knew existed coming to their windows to either join in or watch.

More importantly for these purposes, where could you watch and rate the ads. Last year, you could on YouTube, but this year, they had nothing set up to do that (of course commercials will make their way there, but there was no official organization from the site). This year, with the game broadcast on Fox, MySpace hosts the ads, but you can't rate them. Hey Nielsen set up a forum for it, but even though I was a member, I didn't want to feel like I had to actively engage as part of that community; I just wanted to passively contribute a few ratings (and I don't know if I know anyone else on that site anyway). Jeremiah Owyang set something up on Twitter, but that was more of a fly by night community experience, not a place to watch the videos and see the most popular spots. I also checked digg, but they don't have anything special there.

So... where could you go to rate them?

One other thought: were there any great ads this year? I liked the Tide stain ad, but it's Tide, and a talking stain. Charles Barkley was good in T-Mobile's and Justin Timberlake was okay in Pepsi's, but both ads felt like they've been done before, and both went on too long. Some ads were offensive, like Bud Light and Sales Genie both making fun of Indians and others, while Life Water or whatever it is used reptiles in what felt like a ripoff of Filipino prison videos. The ones that struck the biggest chord for me were Tide and Victoria's Secret, which both demonstrated the value of why you should use their products in memorable ways (and, for that matter, you could use their products together), and then Budweiser's latest Clydesdale spot, which was the best ad hands down but was still a sequel.

So no, there were no great ads, and there was nowhere to rate them. If the GIants comeback wasn't that incredible, the biggest upset this year would have been with the advertising.