As the opportunities for consumers to select their video consumption environments changes, content producers -- and, more importantly, their distributors -- will want to watch carefully for trends that signal just where the average American family is getting their entertainment, and at what bit rate.
Advertisers and content sponsors will want to know if their message is not only getting through, but if it is going along for the ride or left at home to gather digital dust.
As you begin to embrace new video opportunities, here are a few key things to bear in mind as you work to get the most out of your marketing dollar.
Video's lack of standards: Even given the clear early lead that Apple has developed for the iPod device, a multitude of video formats persist, and lack interoperability between rival devices and operating systems. These include but are not limited to:
- QuickTime
- RealVideo
- WindowsMedia
- MPEG-2
- MPEG-4
- H.263, H.264
- Adobe Flash
Why this matters to marketers: It's not clear who will be the first across the finish line in the mobile video race. Remember, when Google first launched its superior search engine in 1998, internet users quickly abandoned other search engines. In video, the same thing is likely to happen the moment a company comes along that rivals the video iPod's ease of use and gives consumers more options for transferring their digital video from the TV to the laptop to the mobile device and back again. So don't commit all your marketing dollars to one mobile video format: you might regret it.
Does all video content scale? Content that was once intended for a large format like a 70 millimeter movie screen can for the first time be easily trans-coded to virtually any targeted playback resolution or size. Cable and satellite set-top boxes now have connection ports to allow for the transfer of video material that was recorded beforehand onto new on-the-go players.
The true consumer benefit of this change is that, by way of example, the dramatic impact of an IMAX film can be modestly reproduced on that wristwatch or car stereo screen, fundamentally changing the concept of high fidelity experiences only being available in high fidelity environments.
Why this matters to marketers: On the other hand, if you've invested in a paid product placement on the silver screen or the television screen, will it even be visible on a video iPod? Fortunately, for every lost opportunity there is usually a new one, and branded on-the-go players are an exciting new way of keeping your brand in front of the consumer no matter what he or she is watching.
Are consumers really embracing mobile video? Most new parents will tell you that the greatest pacifier ever invented was the portable DVD system that attaches to the rear of the front seats in a car or SUV. In addition to allowing a parent to focus on the driving instead of sneaking glances into the back, it actually captivates the young viewer long enough to allow Mom and Dad to recompose themselves before taking on the parking lot at Gymboree.
Grown-up content is starting to take hold as well, as evidenced by the millions of episodic downloads from Apple’s iTunes store of the steamy, yet somehow saccharine-wholesome "Desperate Housewives" (Only the guys at Disney could have figured out how to walk that kind of content tightrope).
When the ABC/iTunes deal was announced last October it was as if a starving man had been introduced to the buffet line; consumers gorged on episodes of "Lost" as if they were themselves shipwrecked and starving.
Why this matters to marketers: What is most interesting about the iTunes video phenomenon is that it has not impacted the appointment viewing behavior that networks count on for the preponderance of their ad revenue. Instead, it has shifted that appointment behavior to include DVR scheduling and playback.
Is it any wonder then that ABC is the first network to insist that media buyers include DVR viewing as part of the audience whole when negotiating advertising rates?