Risks worth taking in the current online video landscape.

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• Opt-in overlays and clickable video
  • A number of publishers and networks (VideoEgg, ScanScout, Digitalsmiths) are offering solutions that involve opt-in messaging overtop video that is currently running on a publishers site. This can come in the form of flash overlays -- or watermarks -- that users can click on (pausing existing video play). This enhanced opt-in interaction can provide marketers with a much richer and arguably more consumer friendly solution than pre- or post-roll. Overlays can also be served in a highly targeted manner, being triggered by quality of the video (professionally produced vs. UGC), keywords and demographic information.  
  • Also in the nascent stage, clickable video -- or hotspotting -- is a solution that allows users to click on elements in a marketer’s video for more information. Companies such as Vimation and Avant Interactive are some of the frontrunners developing this space.  With the amount of product tie-ins/placements in entertainment nowadays, clickable video could provide a healthy solution for marketers looking to further monetize video assets online – as well as simply differentiating advertisers as online video becomes increasingly ubiquitous. 

• Non-video engagement
  • Competing with the choices consumers have for entertainment, marketers need to create differentiated “brands” within a relatively short window of time. This is a particular challenge in the linear offline world, where options for deeper engagement don't exist at scale. Online, however, the options are plenty for marketers: alternate reality games (Halo 2's "I love bees," Court TV's 'Save My Husband'), user-generated content (YouTube's Democratic Debate, Bourne Mash-up), widgets (Superbad, Universal Music) and other forms of advertainment (Ice Truck TV, Night Gig) scratch the surface in an entertainment marketer’s arsenal, assuming there's a willingness to risk time and money.  (Money, by the way, can also be had by partnering with relevant brands to bring these experiences to life.)

• Rich media/video distribution solutions
  • Achieving scale and targeting with online video distribution has been a challenge to date, with only a few publishers bringing affordable solutions to the table with enough reach to make an impact. The landscape is changing fast, though, with publishers such as Google and Broadband Enterprises bringing affordable solutions to the table that will guarantee targeted scale for the video wares of many an entertainment marketer.  Establishing deeper distribution and advertising relationships with these frontrunner publishers should be a certain stop on that roadmap. 

5. Optimize all assets for search
The launch of Google’s Universal Search in late May brought into focus the need for entertainment marketers to ensure ALL assets -- from images and video, to websites or viral efforts -- be optimized for search engines. 

While video search remains in its hopeful stage, it will continue to be the case in a cluttered environment that video content is only as good as consumer’s ability to find it. Marketers looking to stand out and break through must consider search optimization with every online effort.   

6. Make money
Embracing online hyper-syndication and community broadcasting can translate into more than “brand-building” and driving offline tune-in and ticket sales. Many of these efforts can be monetized by either having other advertisers surrounding the content (pre- or post-roll; overlays), as partners of the content (sponsorships, et cetera), or advertisers on a destination site (banner inventory). 

By producing quality programming specifically for the online experience and online communities, or even repurposing existing video/assets that users would want to consume online (trailers, behind the scenes, et cetera), entertainment marketers can realize a healthy new revenue stream.   

While everyone’s grocery list will be unique to their objectives and point of view, the above should at least provide some of the staples all entertainment marketers can reference. It’s the milk, eggs, toilet paper and ,yes, even the giant pretzel barrel, of online video marketing, as well as a list that will ensure (for the next few months) you will be ahead of the competition and following your consumer's lead.

Eric Druckenmiller is media director at Deep Focus. Read full bio.