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Heyman: Agencies and brands are posting videos on the web. How can they best optimize them for video search?
Tuttle: There are no technologies yet that do an effective job of automating analysis of the video stream and pulling out data. Broadcast video has closed-caption text data but most web video does not. So, therefore, in VSEO (Video Search Engine Optimization) you need to provide text info. Most effective is to provide RSS feeds.
Karnes: Invest in meta-data as you produce the content. Enter descriptions as you go. Embrace the social web by using tags and ratings.
Chandratillake: You can download our Video SEO whitepaper from the Blinkx site. Generally speaking, the big things are: a) think of what you do for image or text SEO and make sure you are doing the same for your video (you'd be amazed how many people don't!), and b) submit! It's important to ensure that the video search engines all know about your content.
Norlin: Video Search SEO is a natural outgrowth of the algorithmic video search business, very much like SEO was born from traditional algorithmic text search. Detailed metadata is key to getting indexed. Content providers should also take proactive steps to distributing their content by pushing out RSS feeds and contacting search companies to index their material.
Heyman: Web video has already had "Lonely Girl," but, as a medium, are we still waiting for the equivalent of TV's "I Love Lucy"?
Tuttle: I am not sure that a big hit or personality will catapult web video into the mainstream. There will certainly be web-only video success stories, but these will not necessarily be the only catalyst to trigger mainstream adoption. I think that new applications and websites might be a more likely trigger. That is my two cents.
Karnes: Technology is lowering the entry cost and is leveling the playing field when it comes to creating entertainment content. "The Blair Witch Project" innovatively used the internet and had great success but it couldn't be replicated. Creative is still an art form, even if distribution has become a science. The audience wins because there will be more and more content to choose from.
Chandratillake: There has been a lot of focus on user-generated content but ultimately that's a shorter term success; internet fame burns brightly but briefly. The content that has a lasting impact -- or stars that have that longevity -- will continue to come from professional sources. It's true that Hollywood occasionally overlooks talent, and that -- with such a low-cost barrier to entry and its viral qualities -- talented people can now use the internet as a way to build an audience anyway. But, ultimately, the Hollywood talent-machines have very deep pockets and they are experts: they do tend to find the best people and can give them a different vehicle for success. However, I do think what we will see is a lot of new forms and formats that fit the medium better, e.g. short-form content for watching on your PC, but also longer, relaxed-length form content for watching on your IPTV (no need to have everything conform to a 30-minute slot -- including ads -- once there's no such thing as the "schedule").
Norlin: In terms of web-based video, expect to see a universe of "prosumer" or "semi-pro" content creators to emerge. To date, content production has exclusively been the domain of major studios and production companies on the high end, and consumer content creators (e.g. YouTube) on the low end. I predict a rise of content creators in the mid-tier that create unique original content for web-based viewing. As content can now be syndicated to a wide range of devices and mediums, and as monetization of that content becomes more successful and sophisticated, there will be greater incentives for these mod-tier content creators. A mini-industry will emerge here.
Heyman: What's next for video search?
Tutttle: A chaotic arms race involving the video search companies.
Norlin: The next great wave in search is the trend toward personalization and automated content delivery. Ultimately, consumers will want to spend less time on the web and extract more value from it. The Pointcast model will be back in a big way. My Yahoo is an example of this.
Bob Heyman is chief search officer for Mediasmith -- a full service advertising media agency headquartered in San Francisco, California -- and is the co-author of Net Results.2 (New Riders) and the Auction App (McGraw-Hill). Read full bio.
