When digital video emerges, given its obvious potential, it is the advertising industry that drives all eyes and creativity towards monetization models, also giving rise to standards in the way of delivering content to users.
By Juan Pablo Morales Sarmiento*
Some concepts such as cord-cutters and cord-nevers have appeared in the common language of television and although it is easy to understand them, the challenge will be to keep up with their pace of demand and consumption.
It is not necessary to go further from our own homes to know the habits that are being cemented in the new generations. Alejandro, eight years old, cord-never, like every child, is comfortable with the series and children's content he met on the cable channels that once tuned into his home. However, at present, there is no option to enter a linear channel, when you can binge watch or, at least, watch any episode of the series you want and stay updated with the latest content, thanks to Netflix and YouTube, among other platforms, either from a TV, your tablet, your home PC or a phone.
In Bogotá, Juan David, 45, decided to terminate his contract with the cable company after more than 20 years of continuous use. This cord-cutter did not watch conventional television again. Their hours of entertainment in front of a screen are limited to online streaming platforms.
Although in Colombia this practice does not yet have the dynamics, much less the trend that can be seen in other countries, it is a reality that the industry, from advertisers, producers and television channels, will have to face by producing more and better content, hooking the audience and retaining their attention.
According to Business Bureau, in a period of one year, between February 2014 and February 2015, the number of platforms present at the pan-regional level, which includes Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico and Venezuela, the number of online platforms grew 69% from 74 to 125 registered platforms. In its study Manifesto of New Media 2014, it is also highlighted that in Colombia 85% of the population consumed at least once online content, during the last three months of the year.
According to the same study, 36% of users in Colombia who canceled their Pay-TV subscription in 2014 said they have a subscription to online content services and 11% of the population that has never had subscription TV, said they had contracted SVOD (VOD by subscription) or TVOD (VOD by transaction) platforms.
Colombia is a country with very high cable penetration. It is only a matter of a short time before the international trend begins to be reflected in these numbers. Primetime is starting to be personalized. The time will come when each person in a home consumes the content they want on their own device, there will be as many primetimes as there are people at home.
Content and its kingdom
If the content is king, it is the audience who pays tribute and who decides in which kingdom to live. Content is the critical success factor and remains at the heart of every strategy. Only now he must be, more than ever, surrounded by some ministers.
Ministry of Transport. The channels. An initiative like Los Creadores, from Aula 365, which is airing in Argentina on Telefé, is an example of what the future of television will be. Real-time experiences, where screen, games and learning go hand in hand building stories and bridging the gap between new forms of consumption and traditional TV. Each program of The Creators has a mobile application and a game, an animation in augmented reality and a programming of posts and questions on social networks, seeking that the audience is not only of viewers, but of interactive users and co-creator communities.
The concept of "Ido" tainment that arises like this, is where the user builds, motivated by the content of the TV, and at the same time consumes TV, motivated by his digital experience. Christopher Eich, Product Strategy Manager at Disney ABC, recently suggested at the Streaming Media West Congress: content is as important as context.
The Ministry of Finance. Monetization. Paths there are many and all are of persistence. One of them is the creation of short formats for digital such as Branded Content, where advertisers, almost with their own concept of OTT, create content with the values of their brands and deliver it to users for consumption. Here the strategy is creativity in communication; the path should be entertainment and/or learning; the technique: interactivity; the method: transmedia and multiscreen; and the end, the long-term hitch. Tip: All live streaming is Branded Content, and this must be understood in all its range of requirements.
There are models of subscription or payment for content, where the user, in exchange for a certain value, enjoys a content for a while or for a number of reproductions to which he is entitled.
When digital video emerges, given its obvious potential, it is the advertising industry that drives all eyes and creativity towards monetization models, also giving rise to standards in the way of delivering content to users. The use, techniques and metrics of video advertising, whether in-stream, such as pre-rolls, mid and post-rolls, and others, have been extensively studied by the IAB video committee so compliance with these VAST, VPAID and VMAP standards are essential when thinking about monetization and when choosing a video platform.
Other monetization models have emerged recently, such as the case of platforms such as PayLive that allow charging for content consumption, with a micropayment model related to the consumption time, even per second, of a particular content.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Communication strategy. Social networks are elements that should not be missing. YouTube by its nature, is one of the best ways to have scalability in communication and in the number of views, and to the extent that it is pertinent to use it, the advice is that: use it.
Becoming a video-based medium on social media is a reality with huge local potential. The strategy is to make global content based on local experience, easy to understand, entertaining and humorous.
Monetization on a platform like YouTube is a time-consuming alternative, a structured management of tags and metadata for the optimization of your traffic and above all, persistence.
The most important thing is that social networks should not be seen as the strategy, but as one of the axes. A communication strategy must originate in knowing the audience, identifying the media, understanding the messages and continuously monitoring. Success depends in large part on the thoroughness of these steps.
What NAB 2015 left us
To finish I want to leave a reflection on the focus that we were able to detect in NAB. Without neglecting the new launches of brands such as GoPro, BlackMagic and Newtek; as well as the boom of drones, which awakened in passing to the technology of video transmission by radio frequencies, attention was directed this year to two topics in particular: production in 4K and the revolution of content and OTT and VOD platforms.
The trend does not lie. The technique begins to become more widespread with a greater acceleration than before. Access for video processing capabilities is becoming more flexible every day, the media approaches its users in a more natural way and the transformation of audiences is in a process that has no way back.
And you, are you already thinking about video?
* Juan Pablo Morales Sarmiento is VP of Distribution Provideo. You can contact him through @JuanPMoralesS
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