TORONTO – There are very few reliable ways to monetize video online – without taking a broader view of what you present to audiences and advertisers, that is.
That seemed to be the message coming out of NextMedia this morning at the Circa nightclub in Toronto. Broadcasters Dominique Sebastien-Forest, general manager of digital media and e-commerce at Quebecor Media, Raja Khanna, GlassBox Television’s co-CEO, and Barbara Williams, Canwest Global’s executive vice-president, content, told delegates this morning – each in their own way – that trying to monetize video online has to be just a single part of an all-encompassing strategy.
As a long-time executive of new media start-ups (QuickPlay, Snap Media), Khanna has since come to appreciate the more-reliable monthly revenue GlassBox’s digital cable channel BiteTV brings in and said that incumbent media must be a part of an overall video strategy.
“I’m turning into a bit of a dinosaur,” he said, referencing his move, adding that as an industry, “we’ve never been able to figure out how to really monetize online video in a meaningful way.”
TV, online, mobile, video on demand – any channel to reach consumers with video – long or short form – is a good thing, agreed the panel. If you’re a content creator, it can be sold in a multiplatform way as a premium to advertisers, and… it’s best if you try to involve those clients right from the idea stage.
“I can make a lot of money by doing a variety of content,” said Sebastien-Forest, but, “you need to tie your advertiser with the concept – not with the pilot, the concept.”
Since audiences are on all platforms and your content needs to be on each one in a meaningful way and you need advertisers to pay for the content, they need to be in early, said the panellists.
“It’s about matching the content to the user in the appropriate place the user is,” said Sebastien Forest.
Saying her company is doing about “17,000 thing at once,” Williams outlined how Global shows House, for example, on TV, online and on the Rogers Cable video on demand platform. And online, content is available in clips, long form and trailer-style, too.
“We’re putting a lot of content on the web – and a lot of varieties of it,” she said, “and trying to understand all those different experiences and how people use them.” But at the same time, she continued, “we have to protect the $600 million in revenue that is still produced from the television game. We have to balance that while we play over here and over here, and over here.”
“You need to have multiple, meaningful, revenue streams,” said Khanna, who explained how GlassBox is making sure to get its own content across as many places as it can, and is involving the advertisers earlier and earlier in the process. They go to buyers and present them a show they’d like them to sponsor and explain how it will not only be seen on television, but also on Joost and Babelgum and YouTube and anywhere else.
“We show them how it’s more effective to do this with us than with just traditional TV,” he added.
But again, he told delegates that having a conventional video outlet is a necessary thing, referencing the company’s announcement yesterday that it is teaming up with Omnicom Media to create customized, multiplatform, advertising.
“Having a traditional TV channel in my back pocket has made discussions more interesting,” added Khanna.
Traditional media still rules right now because the money is still in professional content, and it looks like that will remain the norm for a while. Sebastien-Forest noted that about 55% of online revenue is from short clips, 42% is earned by long form and about 3% is earned by user-generated content (the water-skiing dogs…)
And if you can tie in the client at the concept stage and deliver multi-platform views of a hit show for that client, then you have a premium sale. And that’s where the money is. But, “if you get lumped into the Google sale or the social networking bucket – there’s no money to be made there,” said Khanna. “If we can say (to the advertiser) this is a show that has the potential to be everywhere – on TV, on the Internet, on mobile… you should pay us a premium for this.”
And right now, media buyers are bored of plain old TV buys and see “throwing money at Google” as not the most creative thing to do with advertisers’ marketing dollars. “(Buyers) are hungry for interesting things to do,” said Khanna.
Williams added that big media companies are still trying to get a handle on all of this and while they are connected to the audience through major Hollywood productions, Canwest is still working on tying clients to audiences in a more targeted way.
But, she believes, there is still time for her company to take advantage of the new digital opportunities because video can’t really go the way the music business has, she said. The music experience for consumers is essentially the same for most people, whether they are listening on their home stereo or with their iPod on the bus. On the other hand, watching House on your HD screen in your home, versus watching it on your cell phone back on that bus. “is very different,” she said.
Plus., while people can now produce decent music in their basements with low-cost equipment, “the ability to make something like House in your basement is not there and likely won’t be for a very long time,” said Williams.
Finally, with the thousands of places people can source video and the millions of hours of video available on TV or anywhere else, big media brands can still deliver serious value as an editor and promoter of content.
“We can help people sort through the massive amount of choice,” explained Williams. “A good, old-fashioned TV brand can help you as an editor… you can come to Global every night at 8 o’clock and premium Hollywood content will be there.” But if 8 o’clock doesn’t work for you,” Global shows are available online or on demand, “whenever you want.”
