Sunday, June 30, 2013

Read my article on Streamingmedia.com, "No Second Chances: Get Live Events Right the First Time"

I just wrote a new article for Streaming Media Magazine titled, "No Second Chances: Get Live Events Right the First Time - Streaming Media Magazine", that looks at the five core elements for a successful live event in the enterprise setting. It's a culmination of key learnings from years of producing live events and offers battle-tested advice to ensure live enterprise events come off without a hitch.

A big thanks to the many people who have helped me over the years to learn what works best for live events, and what doesn't work so well, and to the many clients I have worked with who have trusted me to produce their live events. Many thanks to Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen and the people at Streamingmedia.com, for their support over the years and for giving me the opportunity to share my best practices in live event production with this article.

Here's a brief excerpt from the article:

The success of any live event is dependent on five core elements: the people, the plan, the technology, the venue, and the audience; they all intersect to either make or break an event. The added layer of virtual attendees creates an even greater challenge, because you have to produce the event for people both inside and outside the room. The key is to use the right technology to make it easy to reach the live audience and virtual attendees and provide them a quality and worthwhile experience. 

 And I can tell you from experience that it better be good!

 Over the last 20 years of producing live events, I’ve learned a lot about how things can go right and wrong, and from good to bad, and from bad to worse. Most problems stem from the things that fall through the cracks: forgotten tasks that didn’t make your checklist or that were not delegated. They can either creep up on you or blow up in your face, and we all know what’s at stake. As they say in the live event biz, “You’re only as good as your last show.”

 You can avoid most problems with proper planning and clear communication. The best shows are the ones where everyone knows what to do, so the show comes off without a hitch. Whether you are in the studio or on location, the same rules apply if you want to be successful. The key to succeeding is that you go in with a plan and strongly dissuade clients from disruptive last-minute changes. They may think it’s not a big deal, but you know better...

Continue reading the full article at: No Second Chances: Get Live Events Right the First Time - Streaming Media Magazine.

This view is of a video village with HD engineering, monitoring, switching, and recording. (This was set up inside a closet! Really, and it actually fit!)

I'll be following up with part two, that looks specifically at how to deliver an effective webcast, including interactive and social media elements, to the audience off-site.


This article appears in the June/July 2013 issue of Streaming Media magazine as "No Second Chances: Best Practices for Live Events in the Enterprise, Part 1."

Learn the five core elements for a live event, then follow this battle-tested advice to ensure live enterprise events come off without a hitch.


Saturday, April 27, 2013

The Evolution of Enterprise Video Platforms (Infographic) and The Rise of Virtual Event Delivery

This infographic by Mediaplatform, an enterprise video platform, looks at the explosive growth in the use of video in the enterprise over the last decade. It started with voice-only teleconferencing, which naturally evolved into videoconferencing. Then, the need to extend to desktops  evolved into web conferencing, webcasts, online collaboration, virtual event delivery and telepresense. It grew out of necessity to expand beyond videoconferencing rooms and conference centers to reach all desktops and mobile devices, as well providing richer metrics on audience engagement.

The need to be connected everywhere, all the time, with access to information and your online contacts is still a new phenomenon within the backdrop of the analog age. We used to use a variety of physical media, such as, audio cassettes, VHS tapes, 35mm slides, and conduct all training and in-person. Production costs were high, satellite transmissions were expensive and editing was all done on film or tape. CD-ROMs and DVDs made things easier for a short time, with the ability to better organize our content into chapters. But as the Mediaplatform infographic shows, the Internet changed everything and gave us the ability to use video for live and archived productions and events at a fraction of the cost of analog video, powered by an industry of enterprise video platforms.
"By contrast, tools such as on-demand webcasting and online video portals now allow trainees to view video content from their own laptop, desktop, or even mobile devices. Employees can now collaborate on projects from remote locations with much greater ease and efficiency through the use of video conferencing and webcasting tools. With this all in mind, we thought it would be a fun exercise to develop an infographic highlighting the evolution of business video in the enterprise."
The Evolution of Enterprise Video Platforms [Infographic]
© 2013 MediaPlatform


What's Next?

Today, the integration real-time of business communication services with non-real-time messaging services make up the unified communications suite. But what's next for the enterprise? This article on the, One Market Media Blog - Google Glass, Lifecasting and the Future of Business Video, explores how augmented reality and wearable devices like Google Glass and Apple's iWatch will have a dramatic effect on business video and customer experiences.


Infographics Sources

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

This Day in Online Video History | First Video Uploaded to YouTube on April 23, 2005

It was eight years ago today that YouTube's first video, Me at the Zoo, was uploaded by Jawed Karim on April 23, 2005. Karim had co-founded YouTube with Chad Hurley and Steve Chen just a few months earlier as a way to share videos with friends and family far away. The video is only 20 seconds long and was shot by Yakov Lapitsky at the San Diego Zoo, and little did the video creators know that it marked the dawn of the UGC (User-Generated Content) online video age. YouTube wasn't the first video sharing site, but since Google purchased it in November 2006 for $1.65 billion, it has revolutionized video sharing across the Internet and has become the top online video content property, with more than 1 billion unique users visiting the site each month.



Just last week, YouTube won its second legal battle against Viacom in federal court with the dismissal of Viacom's $1 billion copyright lawsuit. The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Louis Stanton in New York stated that Viacom had never proved that YouTube was aware of copyright infringement by its users, and upheld his original ruling from June 2010 which leaves in place the current understanding of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. Stanton also ruled that YouTube didn't act with "willful blindness" and had previously responded to Viacom's requests back in 2007 by removing 100,000 copyrighted videos a day after Viacom notified YouTube of the infringement.

Google Senior Vice President & General Counsel Kent Walker said that the ruling marked an important day for the Internet.
"This is a win not just for YouTube, but for the billions of people worldwide who depend on the web to freely exchange ideas and information."
Read more about the case and the verdict in this article on ReelSEO: Viacom Comes Up Short Against Google/YouTube In Court Once More.

Happy birthday to the first video uploaded to YouTube! While you're not too exciting, you started an online video revolution.

Also to those born on April 23rd, I want to wish a special happy birthday to my daughter Marley Rose, my niece Rebecca and my good friend Steve Dung, owner of Visions Plus video production service in San Francisco!

I'll be back soon with more online video analysis and video conversations.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Ooyala's 2012 Global Video Index is Great News for Online Video Publishers

According to Ooyala's Global Video Index, "2012 was another historic year in online television," and by 2016, 1.5 billion people will watch online video. Ooyala released its 2012 Q4 video index report last week, which measures the monthly viewing habits of nearly 200 million unique viewers in 130 countries. The report found several key trends of its video publishers reflects the overall state of online video, such as live video matters, premium content matters on all screens, larger the screen = higher engagement, branded video viewing and conversion rates surged during the holiday season, mobile and tablet share doubles, and iPhone users watch twice as much video than Android users.


via Ooyala

Ooyala CEO Jay Fulcher says that three key themes stood out in the report.
 "First, live streaming is the new norm. Online viewers tuned in to the Tour de France, Wimbledon and the U.S. Presidential debates right as they happened, and the data shows viewers watch live video longer on all devices. Second, Tablet TV is surging. The share of tablet video viewing more than doubled last year, as mobile, social and video converged on a single device. And Smart TVs and Gaming Consoles continue to change the way people watch TV. New findings in this Video Index show how viewing patterns change seasonally."

The Lines are Officially Blurred

"One of the most important takeaway of 2012, is that the lines between traditional media and streaming media are really starting to blur," says Ooyala Co-Founder and President of Products Bismarck Lepe. 
It's not just about media being consumed across all devices, Lepe emphasizes, business models are also starting to blur. For example, Netflix is now going direct to consumers with original streaming content, and also going the traditional route by licensing its content to television companies in markets where it doesn't have a streaming business.
"We're probably going to see that 2013 and 2014 are going to be the tipping point period for this industry," says Lepe. "As technology improves and business models catch up to where consumers are obviously headed."

Video Consumption Trends Shift


Lepe says that for online video, we're in the middle of phase one and phase two. Distribution platforms like iTunes, Amazon and Hulu Plus have expanded their selection and made it easier to find and view premium content, replacing Torrent sites and the need for DVDs and physical media. The majority of streaming content is still consumed on smaller screens, but as more connected TVs make it into the home, people will move into the third phase of wanting to see streaming content on bigger screens, which is more of the traditional living room lean-back experience. 

Ooyala sees a spike in mobile video in places where public transportation is more prevalent, for instance, in Japan video consumption on mobile and tablets is more than double of that of the U.S. Viewers are watching video on the screens that are most convenient to them based on the availability of content and quality of service. 

Lepe also predicts that the smartphones war, between iOS and Android will shift over the next year to favor Android platform by 50%.


There's Still Work to Do

"There’s still a lot of work to do," Lepe says. "The industry has yet to agree on standards for online video ad measurement, making it difficult to demonstrate the efficacy of paid streaming content. Network speeds and data-caps also create institutional barriers between viewers and videos. In order for “online video” to fully transition to “online television,” media and technology companies must work together to find common ground in this new media landscape." 

Lepe's view of the online video industry, and specifically, the online video platform market, is that we'll continue to see the cookie-cutter, templated video platforms trying to compete with YouTube for free.
"We're very focused on the top end of the market," says Lepe, "where half a trillion dollars changes hands every year, either with episodic television content or theatrical content – and these companies have historically worked with large systems integrators and consultants to build the spoke systems. But the problem with the spoke systems is that they solve the immediate problem, because there isn't a roadmap that supports the long-term trajectory of a particular industry."

Lepe says Ooyala remains committed to its primary mission, to provide value to its customers with video analytics and monetization tools to help them personalize the video viewing experience across all screens, maximize audience engagement and increase revenue.

Key findings from Ooyala’s 2012 Global Video Index




























Live Matters
  • In Q4 2012, viewers watched live video 18X longer than VOD on desktops, 5X longer on tablets and 4X longer on mobile. 

Premium Matters on All Screens
  • About one third of the total time spent watching tablet video last quarter was with premium, long form content running more than 60 minutes. 
  • The percentage of time spent watching long-form video (over 10 minutes) on tablets increased 37% from Q1 to Q4 in 2012. 
  • Publishers are fueling the growth trend by making more premium long form content available to consumers
Branded Video Consumption Surges Between Black Friday and Christmas Day
  • Conversion rates for branded videos jumped 91% from the start of the quarter to their peak in mid-December. 
  • There’s a huge opportunity for retailers, e-tailers and consumer brands to connect with online audiences between Black Friday and Christmas Day. 
Mobile and Tablet Share Doubles
  • Measured together, the share of all hours spent watching streaming video on tablets and mobile hones increased 100% in 2012. 
 Home (and Online) For the Holidays
  • Short-form video* viewing spikes on Black Friday and Christmas, presumably because people are unpacking and tinkering with new connected devices.
  •  The amount of time people spent watching short-form video on Connected TVs & Gaming Consoles increased 500% in the two days following Christmas. 
  • The share of time spent watching online video on tablets jumped 73% on Christmas
Phone Wars: iOS vs. Android
  • Although Android phones are outselling iPhones globally, last year Apple users watched twice as much online video on their mobile phones.

Monday, January 28, 2013

2013 Online Video Predictions, Trends and the Shape of Things to Come

As we reach the end of the first month of the year, and look back on 2012, the future becomes more clear. In 2012, we saw much of the same activity in the online space as previous years, with more churn and consolidation, more funding and innovation, coupled with the exploding growth of online video consumption. The industry grew another year and took bigger steps to the future.

It's become tradition on this blog to present the annual collection of online video predictions from around the web. This time last year, I offered advice on Why Online Video Platforms (OVPs) Should Give a Puck, and pay attention to the three I’s: immersion, integration and implementation. Several reports in 2012 looked at the top OVPs and Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) in the market and ranked them according to their implementation skills, innovation and market share. In a November 2012 report by ABI Research, Brightcove led Ooyala in implementation and Ooyala narrowly beat Brightcove on innovation, with Kaltura in third. In Frost & Sullivan’s independent analysis on the global OVP market, Brightcove was recognized as the market leader with the 2012 Market Share Leadership Award. Earlier this month, Frost & Sullivan also recognized Limelight as 2012 Global Product Line Strategy Award recipient in the OVP market.

The money flowed in 2012, with Cisco's whopping $5 billion acquisition of software firm NDSBrightcove's $30 million acquisition of Zencoder along with a 41% increase in earningsOoyala's $35 million in Series E funding, LiveU's $27 million roundKaltura's $25 million round, Visible Measure's $21.5 million, Tubemogul's $20 million in Series C, WeVideo's $19.1 million roundChill's $8 million in Series A, Conviva's $15 million investment from Time WarnerSpreecast's $7 million in Series A, Keek's $7 million round, DramaFever's $6 million roundLongtail Video's $5 million in Series B, ShareThrough's $5 million in Series BTVinci's $4.5 million round, and many more. ABI Research estimates that the combined global market revenue of video delivery and management would reach $2.1 billion by the end of 2012, and will grow to over $4 billion by 2017.

Now in 2013, we've gone beyond the Fear and Loathing in Online Video and codec browser wars from a few years ago, and as Jan Ozer recently noted,  WebM: It's Forgotten but Not Quite Gone. As we move forward, the industry looks to a new online video standard in H.265 High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), which was just approved as an ITU standard this past week, although according to Dan Rayburn, HEVC (H.265) Adoption Is At Least Five Years Away For Consumer Content Services. As we move beyond the PC era, with mobile devices and tablets poised to surpass Notebook PC shipments in 2013, voices of reason within the online video industry, like Brightcove's Jeremy Allaire says, the industry needs Bipartisan Solutions to Ending the Religious Wars over Mobile Platforms. Allaire says the future is, "hybrid apps. It's not HTML5 vs. native, it’s actually both HTML5 and native."

Viewing trends are shifting as distribution models change, with YouTube and Facebook dominating the media and entertainment space. According to comScore, "82 million U.S. Internet users watched 38.7 billion online content videos in December, while video ad views totaled 11.3 billion." While the average duration of online content video was 5.4 minutes, long-form content viewing also is growing with Netflix dominating the competition having record earnings 33 million subscribers worldwide (27 million in the U.S.) That's great news for the online video and OTT-video industry, because based on forecasts by Informa Telecoms & Media the global online video market will be worth $37 billion in 2017.

Roku's Anthony Wood says, the future of television is coming faster than you think and that not as futuristic as you'd think, where we'll be able to watch every movie ever made, in any language, day or night. Over the last year, Intel has been working on its own virtual MSO/cable TV service and will soon roll out its set-top and service box city by city. As OTT delivery and subscription models mature we'll start to see more content owners unbundle their offerings. Even HBO is pondering the possibility of a standalone offering which would challenge the status quo. But cord-cutters will have to keep dreaming for now, since cable and satellite operators will block the channel from going direct to consumers since it would cut into their subscription base. Also, stay tuned to what Netflix and Amazon are doing around original programming, which will cause further disruption to content subscription and distribution models.

While online video still remains a fraction of total TV and video revenue, it's growing, and online video advertising will continue to mature as marketers and publishers come to better understand video metrics. According to Frost & Sullivan, online video viewers are watching more video ads, but Ooyala's Bismarck Lepe maintains that the focus has to be about personalizing the viewing experience. he says, Advertising in Videos Could Be Better Targeted and It’s High Time We F**ked With the Magic. Lepe states that, "metrics that provide a more granular understanding of viewer preferences, behavior, device, location and other metrics can dramatically optimize online video advertising efficacy and reach."

As video gets more social, there's also been a lot of talk and jockeying about who will become the next “Instagram for video”, which Sorenson Media's Peter Csathy says, most mobile video “contenders” miss the mark, "because they fail to focus on the fundamental differences between video and still-image content." The real contenders can be identified "by three engaging content types", says Csathy. "Think of them as the three “M’s” that have a real chance to succeed massively at scale: music (a community of interest), meaning (social causes), and moments (private sharing)." With Twitter's release of Vine last week, iPhone users may have just met a new contender to apps like VMIX's video editing app Givit, but Csathy's verdict is that it's not "Instagram for Video" Holy Grail. If 2013 follows the funding trends of 2012, I'm sure we'll see a lot more competition in this space over the next year.

Back in 2009, Cisco predicted that video would be 90% of all consumer Internet traffic and 64% of mobile. Now, a few years later Cisco says online video is going mainstream driven by 70% of U.S. broadband consumers who are watching 100 minutes of professionally produced Internet video every week.

So as we look forward into 2013, at the shape of things to come for online video, one thing is for certain – "content is king" and it always will be.


Online Video Predictions


6 Online Video Trends to Watch in 2013 from Patrick Hurley

2013 Online Video Industry Fortunes: An Introduction - By Joel Unickow: Leading Executives of the Online Video Industry give their prediction for what's to come in 2013

Online Video Advertising and Marketing




Tech

Trends, Shifts and Disruptions

Photo credit: Inhabitat Green Designs
Photo credit: Brightcove Blog