The future of video

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What is the future of video?

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We’ve seen rapid development in video formats, codecs, camera equipment capabilities, production methodologies, distribution networks, and of course the rise of video platforms and channels. So what lies ahead for video?

Well, I’m not a futurist, I’m a content strategist. I’m forced to live in the here and now, helping clients to uncover the potential for their business to utilise content as a means of delivering value back into the business.

This presentation brings together a number of ideas, technologies and innovations that are helping to shape the future of video content. Whether they happen or not is not up to me. It’s up to you.

Instead of my hypothesising on what the future holds, I went out and discovered what others think the future holds.

@pablochappo

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SD to HD

Higher quality

More control

More options

Less expensive

Time shift

On-Demand

What they want

When they want

More niche content

More channelsMore screens

Analogue to digital

More visualMore social

More personal

CHANGE

is the only constant

The Rise of the Independents

We’re already seeing a rise in the number of brands seeking out independent content creators to deliver bespoke, stylised videos.

The future will see more of this…

WHAT THE FILM DIRECTOR SAYS…

Music StoreTip JarVimeo on Demand (90% funds go to filmmakers with Vimeo Pro account)

Brand Creator Fund (Lincoln 4 part video series – four different directors)

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Poptent is now offering a fully crowdsourced content production model not unlike 99Designs.

Provides hosting and optimisation

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ZoomTilt’s CREATE+TEST+SHARE model allows brands to crowdsource their video content production, test it on audiences and then distribute the content that performs best.

Backed by some big hitters including Forbes, Hub Spot and Verizon

The Rise of Viewable Media Trading Desks

A move away from traditional ad placements and an increasing investment in viewable media. ROI needs to be worked out to ensure the trade of video is based on performance and has escape clauses when viewership dwindles.

WHAT THE MEDIA BUYER SAYS…

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LOLCats up by 17%

The Rise of Platform-Agnostic

DRM DRM is a huge issue and one that needs to be addressed in order

for video to truly reach its potential on the internet.

WHAT THE TECHNOLOGIST SAYS…

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DRM is very much a concern driven by the consumer experience. The mantra behind UltraViolet is “Buy once, play anywhere.” It makes sense to consumers!

In the BitTorrent age, content creators like Universal, Paramount, Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures and Fox need to protect and profit from their content. The biggest challenge that we face, is that to date, it is actually impossible to create an unhackable technology to ensure media cannot be stolen.

The Compression of Video and

Expansion of the Internet

Video codec that reduces the file size of video content, coupled with wifi and 4G into 5G broadband networks means that the Internet can

grow and grow

WHAT THE DISTRIBUTOR SAYS…

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VP9

Google has announced a new open-source, royalty free codec called VP9 aimed at cutting bandwidth. An alliance of companies have finished work on video compression technology called HEVC or H.265 (most devices now use H.264). Promises better video and paves the way for higher-end extensions next year.

The Ubiquity of Screens

Screen technology across any platform, any surface, in multiple dimensions

WHAT THE INTERACTIVE DESIGNER SAYS…

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Check this out for your own enjoyment! http://whitemenwearinggoogleglass.tumblr.com/

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The technology is called OmniTouch and was born in Microsoft’s Research labs. This prototype unit is wearable and projects images onto various surfaces. The interactions can take place on the go with no calibration required.

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OLED technology is being used by many manufacturers including Samsung. Textiles incorporating OLEDs are being adopted in the fashion world allowing the integration of lighting into inert objects to create a whole new fashion experience.

The Immersive Game Experience

Bringing games experience out from the screen and into the playing environment adding new immersive experiences

WHAT THE GAMES DESIGNER SAYS…

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IllumiRoom combines the virtual and physical worlds of a TV and living room for true augmented reality. Here is a projection showing an Xbox console scanning the room before images are projected onto the walls. Features a combination of a Kinect for Windows camera and a projector

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This is just a series of videos from Sony (PlayStation), but it opens up a world of possibilities for home-based games experiences. Combining the efforts of live actors with 3D projection mapping, head-tracking (with attached PlayStation Move controllers) and a steadicam for three augmented reality scenarios.

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The future includes watermelon helmets

Shopping Moves In-Screen

Delivering in-screen shopping and virtual store experiences that enhance profitable transactions

WHAT THE eCOMMS MANAGER SAYS…

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Zappos.com have partnered with PinPointing, a service that recommends products based on the users pins and boards on Pinterest. The user can then shop that specific category on Zappos.com.

Target has also developed a webisode series called Falling For You where viewers can purchase the fashion word by actors using interactive video elements.

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Graymatics can match items shown in both still and moving images. So while viewers are watching a video and see an item that they’re interested in, they can simply hover their mouse, click and purchase.

The Rise of Video-Enabled Data

Capturing consumer information and behaviours via video technology, providing qualitative data like never before

WHAT THE DATA ANALYST SAYS…

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New York-based IMRSV has developed Cara, cheap face detection software that can scan faces up to 25 feet away and determine age and gender with around 90% accuracy using a standard webcam.

The technology has multiple uses including in-store, advertising, and art exhibitions. Cara is already installed on the wall of shoes at the back of the Reebok store on Fifth Avenue in New York City.

Who needs personal privacy??

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The future

Coca-Cola has 12,000 Freestyle machines which let consumers choose from 125 flavours and drinks and then feed data on those choices back to Coke HQ.Here’s my interpretation of the future. It has a screen embedded into the machine and uses some of that face recognition technology we just saw from IMRSV. This future thing is easy!

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Confused much?

clearer

more dimensions

more bandwidth

more apps

more trackable

sharper

faster

bigger

We’re living in a world that is moving at such a frenetic pace.Early adopters are the new elite class, taking advantage of all the new technology.

We have everything at our fingertips ready to be clicked, swiped, touched… It’s like we’re all swimming in this big pool of awesomeness

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We are now living in a world where the creation of content exceeds our ability to consume it.

Brands need to learn to create meaningful content that connects with the right audience in the right place at the right time.

The ability to cut through the clutter and to engage viewers with content they will consumer and share is only going to get harder.

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2013:

15M smart wearable devices

2014:

40B embeddable screens globally

Research by ARM

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The proliferation of screens and applications and interactivity does not equate to a better viewing experience. In fact, it can only add to the growing over-stimulated society we live in today. Screen fatigue is the next global affliction.Rather than focusing on new innovative ways to display screen content, we should be focusing on the utility and emotional value of screen content to ensure that our world doesn’t fill with trillions of pixels of coloured matter – that simply don’t matter.

A NEW VISION

A New Vision

The future of branded video content is really exciting and brands are only just starting to see the transformative power of great video content.

THE FUTURE NEEDS FORWARD THINKING

Brands are still struggling to understand the value that video content offers their business because most solutions providers (agencies, marketing consultants) don’t know enough about content marketing to help them.

Digital strategists are now a dime-a-dozen and I predict it won’t be long until content strategists are breeding just as fast. The more we understand how content fits within the marketing mix, the better we become at utilising its full potential.

TERRY TATE OFFICE LINEBACKER - Reebok

BACK TO THE START - Chipotle SUPERBOWL ADS - Volkswagon

AN ORAL HISTORY OF DFA- Red Bull Media Academy

Some brands are leading the way in branded

content. But what about the rest of

us?

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ONE BILLION MONTHLY

USERS

More than 1 billion monthly users

More than 4 billion video views per day

More than 72 hours of video uploaded to YouTube each minute

We’ve all seen the headlines and the infographics and presentations that reveal just how huge the online video market has become. The popularity of video cannot be disputed.

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“Videos in universal search results have a 41% higher click through rate than their plain text

counterparts.” ReelSEO.com

“Videos are 53 times more likely than traditional web pages to receive an organic first-page ranking.”

Forrester Research

“Online video consumption in Australia is up

92% on last year.”AIMIA

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Australian businesses are planning to spend more on content marketing

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The most effective content marketers are those who have a higher buy-in from executive management. This makes sense – the more the company is invested in content creation, the better organised and more targeted the content will be.

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Content marketing is still focussed on more tactical than strategic ROI. And the challenge for many companies is in making content more ENGAGING. We need to consider whether we are creating content around the category OR around the consumer culture.

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SO WHAT’S THE PROBLEM HERE?

Even with all of this evidence that video content is highly trackable, measurable and delivers against ROI and engagement KPIs – it is still a struggle to convince brands to use video to help achieve key business and marketing objectives.

Marketers are still hesitant to invest in video even when their latest TVC (which cost $1.2M) failed to perform against any key brand metrics (True story. Sound familiar?)

The problem, as I see it, is two-fold.

1)Content marketing is still a new realm and most key decision makers are not educated enough (yet) to make confident decisions

2)Traditional thinking and management systems

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ATL

BTL

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ATL

BTL

WTF??

A big part of the problem has to do with traditional thinking. The whole ATL / BTL mentality still exists with many clients – in many cases because it is being perpetuated by their media and creative agencies. There is no line. It’s the imaginary friend of the advertising industry that has absolutely no relevance to the audience, and no purpose for an industry that is struggling hard enough to evolve as quickly as the consumers it feeds off.

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ATL

BTL

TTL

BrandDigital

SocialPR

Corporate

CreativeMedia

Brand

MarketingSales

InternWhere does video content belong?

Who owns content strategy and production?

Which part of the business pays for it?

CLIENTSClients need to start grappling with video content not at the middle management level but at the C-Suite level.

Video can be measured. It can be used to reveal both qualitative and quantitative data about customers, their needs, behaviours and motivations.

- Key audience metrics- Key engagement data- Key messaging priorities

AGENCIESWhere once content plugged a hole, it is now defining the user experience.

Agencies and marketing consultants need to get a grip on content and see the value it creates for clients. This might mean restructuring their business model around the provision of content.

PRODUCTION HOUSESThe traditional Production House is truly at the arse end of the marketing chain. To survive, they must start becoming strategic – or risk becoming redundant.

High value – production intensive content is being replaced by cheaper, more scalable and social content that doesn’t require sophisticated production values. New thinking around the business model will be required – and soon!

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Recently, Shazam deployed a product that enables brands to deliver additional content via their TV ads. By 'Shazaming' the TVC, users are led to a campaign site with more information and the opportunity to engage with the brand further.

The growth of applications like Fango and Zeebox are complementing Australians' TV experiences and giving brands and opportunity to utilise the multiple screens in any given household. In Brazil, Sky has deployed a convenient way for viewers to record their favourite shows using Twitter hashtags.

INNOVATION

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Moving from Client ID

To Universal ID

Cross-device measurement

Analytics is a really important factor in all of this.

Consider Samsung. They have sold around 30 million Galaxy SIIIs, 10 million Galaxy Notes, and 50 million SmartTVs all connected by an application called AllPlay.

It’s easy to see why a brand like Samsung is desperate to get analytics (big data) right.

Advertisers and marketers want to know where to spend their dollars based on actual data, not best guess interpretations. Universal ID will allow marketers to track one single user over multiple devices for much more accurate cross-platform analytics.

ANALYTICS

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SOCIAL RATINGS…for certain genres of TV, you can, in effect, 'watch' it on Twitter.

Mike Proulx (the guy who wrote the book on socialTV)

Brian Solis, President of Altimeter, has written a new book called The End of Business As Usual and in it he asserts that we are in the age of Digital Darwinism – based on the notion that no business is too big to fail or too small to succeed. His view is that the future of business comes down to one word… change.

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Change is the only

constant.

Paul Chappell is Content Director at The Story Lab, part of the global Dentsu Aegis Network.

He lives in Melbourne Australia

Reach him on Twitter: @pablochappo