Why brands should consider video hosting platforms

Through the partnership 10CMS clients will be able to simply upload video content, create merchandising content – including clickable calls to action and analyze how campaigns are fairing

I recently had the chance to chat with Ian Snead, Vice President of Sales & Marketing with vzaar about integrating online video.

Kristina: We chatted recently about brands choosing to host their own video content; what are some specifics that brands need to know about this type of hosting?

Ian: Brands who choose to host their own content are taking on lots of unnecessary work, costs and risk. Many choose to instead use an Online Video Platform (OVP) which take the pain and cost out of publishing video online.

To publish video on your website requires more than posting the video file on your web server. You need to have a video player to play the video, the video needs to be in the right format (or formats) and you also need to have CDN (Content Delivery Network) to smoothly deliver your content to your clients when the play button is clicked. No delays, no glitches, no video starting and stopping. Without a CDN, as more concurrent viewers watch the video the viewing experience degrades rapidly. Video takes up a lot of bandwidth. Can your web site server handle that?

Brands will also want access to analytics to measure the performance of their video. They also need to be able to customize their online video player’s look and feel to match the businesses brand.

They may also want to add CTA’s (Call To Actions) in the player and include support for the latest smart phones or tablets.

Online Video Platforms provide all these functions – importantly -have support teams in place to help when required. So there is really no justification to hosting your own video content today.

Kristina: What are some interesting things brands are doing with video content right now?

Ian: Fashion retailers are using video to launch their seasonal trends by targeting existing customers via email campaigns and directing them to the videos on their website. Consumer brands are encouraging their community of customers to create content and submit it for a prize. This gets the community interacting with the brand. An example of this was Budweiser offering free tickets to the 2010 Soccer World Cup to the person who uploaded the best video of them self juggling and or football dribbling a ball. Today even Facebook has created a special portal for Creative Agencies to upload content for a Facebook Award.

Kristina: With so many advertisers jumping in to sponsor video content are there opportunities to collaborate for video content? Or is it best for brands to deal only with their business/products in the video space?

Ian: Brands are using video to enrich the experience of their users and build confidence to drive conversions online. Advertisers are generally not welcome as it dilutes the experience and creates customer leakage. Typically online video advertising is found on media sites that have a business model of providing free content and monetizing the traffic with Advertisers. With Brands, the video is the advert.