Video Snacks As The Main Course, Part II - Jaffer Ali - MediaBizBlogger

Continued from 6 809Myth 5 Advertisers And Site EngagementWhen the Internet started to gain popularity as a marketing tool it was because it enabled advertisers to drive prospects directly to their online showrooms where the consumer39s full attention could be exploited This was why the click became such a powerful currency The goal was to bring your audience to youamp8230to engage themamp8230to communicate with themamp8230to interact with themamp8230to convert them from prospects to customers within the exclusive confines of your very own quotenvironment to buyquotAnd while all clicks were not created equal you could measure and affect the quality of the traffic in many ways because the more responsibility advertisers took in fashioning their quotenvironments to buyquot the more valuable that traffic becameBut as more and more sites came online and more advertisers entered the fray clickthrough rates suffered a precipitous decline from a high of 5 just a few years ago to less than 2 today that39s a 96 drop for anyone who39s counting Engagement was forced to take a back seat to building traffic a vicious cycle resulting in a selffulfilled prophesy of more clutter and chaosSo now agencies and advertisers alike have abandoned real audience engagement as a goal check out Crestcom if you don39t believe me Instead they39re trying to invent new ways to engage audiences on publishers39 sites a solution distinguished by its Alice in Wonderland quality in which what is up is down and what is down is upTo rescue the online video ecosystem engagement needs to take place on the advertiser39s site That is where the only real potential to create relationships and value exists But I fear we39re not through with this mythology yet New ways to engage the audience on publishers39 sites will be conceivedamp8230and all will fail because they are existentially flawed from the getgoMyth 6 Content Licensors Can Create Partnerships With 5090 RoyaltiesOur company touches every point within the online video ecosystem We have licensed content from 62 licensors I remember when I personally called the Comedy Central folks to license Jon Stewart video snacks I was told that the quotgoing ratequot was a 90 royalty I am not making this number up And it should come as no surprise that there aren39t many takersWhen I politely suggested that this was not sustainable for ANYONE I could actually quothearquot a shrug on the other end of the phone And yet who can deny that there are those who take perverted pride in securing licenses that are not economically sustainable King Pyrrhes comes to mind who said quotIf we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans we shall be utterly ruinedquotThe bottom line content royalties of 50 and more make no economic sense whatsoeverMyth 7 When In Doubt Charge The ConsumerThis one might not qualify for major myth status since charging for online video content is more in its infancy than an established reality Steven Brill is leading the initiative among content owners to charge snackers for their treats On the face of it this seems reasonable But under closer scrutiny a host of considerations suggests that the public will simply not pay tomorrow for what they get for free todayCases in point Over 18 of the adult population is out of work yes much higher than what is spoken on the news because over 8 have stopped looking for jobs and thus are not counted in unemployment figuresConsumption of goods and services is down over 25 meaning that even people with discretionary incomes are scaling back The age of paying for more and more choices is over as consumers increasingly realize that more choices don39t necessarily lead to more happinessThe consumer is exhausted economically and spiritually Overlaying a pay cable model onto the Internet at this point in time is fraught with perilThe list of myths that masquerade as conventional wisdom goes on and on Don39t even get me started on behavioral targeting Putting BT folks anywhere near content and creativity is in Borat39s language like giving a quotgun to a monkeyquot The belief in and reliance on behavioral targeting has produced legions of ersatz marketers who spend more and more time violating privacy and stalking their audience than they do marketing to themWe39d definitely be better off if the BT pundits abided by Mark Twain39s sage advicequotIt is better to keep your mouth closed and letpeople think you are a fool than to open it andremove all doubtquotIt is clear that video snacking is the dominant amp8211 and growing online consumer behavior We don39t need to target behavior that speaks so eloquently for itself We just need to know how to tap it And that39s why the time has come to think of video snacks as the main courseListen Up AdvertisersIt39s the content that consumers choose which identifies the audience and makes the connection not the site so the solution is to engender a process by which your audience views content of their choice on your websiteThink about the above idea for just a second As Lexus Just For Men and Coca Cola have been experimentingamp8230Let39s say for example that you39re a major pets brand and want to sponsor a series of cute and cuddly video snacks featuring dogs and cats Wouldn39t you prefer to let that content work its magic on your siteIt only stands to reason that when the video snack is consumed on your site your brand becomes inextricably entwined in the experience When the snacking takes place inside your online showroom you get to play the gracious host who satisfies the snacker39s cravings We predict that this is the way forward for brand marketers a virtual throw back to the early days of sponsored content on radio and televisionVideo snacking on your site creates a better quotenvironment to buyquot if you forget about the preroll and surround the content with your brand If you place the consumer experience first and foremost and give them entertainment they want then that halo will be cast upon your brand And as savvy marketers know once you win their hearts and minds their wallets will followAt the risk of oversimplifying things when all is said and done creating this seemingly elusive quotenvironment to buyquot is a simple matter of serving the right snacks to the right snackers in the right placeAbout Jaffer Ali Jaffer Ali is CEO of the Vidsense Video Snack Network With more than 100000 advertiserfriendly video clips licensed from major film and TV studios the Vidsense Video Snack Network of tens of thousands of safeforwork websites delivers millions of qualified visitors directly to advertiser websites on a pure PayPerView PPV basisRead all Jafferamp8217s MediaBizBlogger commentaries at Jaffer Ali MediaBizBlogger

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