What's Your Video Strategy

I find it funny that if you ask anyone in advertising about their TV strategy they can go on and on about GRPs, demographic and regional targeting but if you ask them about online video they always have a blank look on their face which is usually followed with a comment that online video is really just for kids.

eMarketing just did a great summary on some new studies of online video called: US Internet Users are Glued to Video and, after reading this, if you don't understand the need to have an online video strategy you will be in for a rough ride in the years to come.

First off consumers are watching video. 7 out of 10 Americans are watching videos online with over 65% of males over the age 25 watching a video at least once a week and over 25% watching videos daily.

Now couple this with the growth of the use of digital video recorders and you can see that TV is becoming less of a tool to reach your customers and let's leave out the whole interruption vs. permission based marketing argument against the effectiveness of television for now.

We now know that people are watching videos and from the below you can see it is a very attractive audience but the question is how do you best target them?


The tricky part, and here comes the argument, is that the traditional form of interruption based marketing doesn't work. Here is the summary from the report:

"The good news for advertisers is that more than half of online video viewers recalled seeing in-stream advertisements in content they had watched. But more than three-quarters of respondents said in-stream advertisements in online video were intrusive, and about one-half said advertisements in video content disrupted their Web surfing experience. Women were more likely than men to say advertisements in video content disrupted their surfing."

So how can you avoid using the interruption based tactics and ensure your consumers are engaging with your brand story and value proposition? It becomes a focus on content development and providing consumers with the information that supports your brand and furthers your value proposition. If you sell food it would be better to provide consumers with access to videos on how to make that perfect dish than interrupt their viewing of the sports highlights from last night with an advertisement. It becomes a model of engagement and not mass interruption.

Take some time and challenge your teams to figure out how you can do this and begin developing your strategy on how you can engage your consumers online with video. All of those TV dollars are going to need a place in the coming years and having a strategy in place or already in action will only make the transition easier.