Don’t Get Left Behind on The Business Video Revlotion

January 13, 2012 No comments »

Business Video Conference

Guest post from Steve VonderHaar of Interactive Media Strategies

At the beginning of a new year, sometimes it pays to pause for a moment and reflect on the basics.

So much is happening in the Business Video sector these days, it can be easy to overlook the fundamental building blocks of what makes video a compelling tool for fostering engaging video communications.

Lots of people like to talk about social media and how to use it to draw viewers to business video content. Others are enamored with the concept of making video available on a mobile basis through users’ tablets and cell phones. Still others get excited about how today’s technology platforms make it possible for almost any desk-bound employee to upload their own videos and distribute them throughout a corporate network.

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2012 Online Video Predictions – OVPs

December 15, 2011 No comments »

In our third annual OVP Predictions piece we look back on the online video space from a general practitioner’s view (mine) and ahead from a leader’s view (the OVP founders, CEOs, VPs, etc.). It’s been another amazing year filled with record breaking events, ups and downs, foundings and shutterings (neither of which are words) and the addition of 10+ new OVPs. It’s a crowded space indeed, a theme you will see often in the words below. Over the years at VidCompare we’ve watched over 100 platforms ebb and flow with the threat of commoditization while roughly 15 OVPs were acquired or rolled-up into other OVPs, and 13 shut their doors. All this while video viewership continued at a breakneck pace. In September 2011 comscore reported that 182 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content for an average of 19.5 hours per viewer. The total U.S. Internet audience engaged in 39.8 billion video views (Wow).

We’ve seen several OVPs begin to specialize in an attempt to pull away from the pack with one OVP in particular making a unique move into the world of cloud-based application management (Brightcove), while Ooyala honed in on analytics and monetization, RealGravity into the world of advertising and syndication, Unicorn Media and Twistage sharpening their workflow management skills, and Magnify.net dominating the world of curated content.

Enough of the obvious, let’s move onto the interesting stuff. This year we’ve culled together an impressive list of predictions from 10 OVPs, and 2 OVP gurus. Continue on to get the inside scoop from those whom have been in the trenches since the early days and don’t forget to leave your comments.

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Learn To Be a Pro Video Marketer

October 13, 2011 No comments »

As an online marketer by profession I’ve come to know and appreciate MarketingProfs over the years with their deep and current marketing insights, so I was honored when asked to host a webinar for them in a series called Video Marketing Made Simple through their educational arm, MarketingProfs University. It’s an eleven course series with great topics and top-notch professionals offering years of experience and expertise along with some great course materials including:

  1. A free copy of the book How to Shoot Video That Doesn’t Suck: Advice to Make Any Amateur Look Like a Pro by Steve Stockman (a $13.95 value)
  2. Access to the How-To Guide: A Quick Guide to YouTube and Creating Your Own YouTube Channel (a $49 value).
  3. Access to the MarketingProfs article 8 Ways to Create Enough Video Content to Last 18 Months.
  4. Access to the MarketingProfs online seminar: Creating Fresh B2B Video Content All Year Long (a $129 value).

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Online Video Platform YouReview – Kaltura

August 15, 2011 No comments »

By special guest blogger, Charlie Davis. This post originally ran on his blog.

In the jungle of OVPs, Kaltura is one of three open source video platforms according to our trusted resource,VidCompare.com.  Among the experts and journalists in the U.S., Kaltura holds rank among the most popular OVP providers, sharing press with Ooyala, KIT Digital, and Brightcove.  And, you’ll find Kaltura sharing industry insight into hot topics like DRM, mobile, and tablet delivery, as well as being a founding member of the ‘Open Video Alliance’ (www.openvideoalliance.org).

So, what makes Kaltura’s OVP stand out?  Well, from my review of their 30-day trial SaaS offering below, Kaltura offers more flexibility than most OVPs that will likely appeal to the technically saavy user or service provider.  With a role-based content management backend that provides batch processing of media files, content moderation, and insight into content origin, activity and usage, this OVP should be on the short list of anyone who wants more granular control over their content, their contributors, and the software that supports it all.

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Online Video Platform YouReview – Limelight Networks (Delve)

August 1, 2011 No comments »

By special guest blogger, Charlie Davis. This post originally ran on his blog.

In 2010, Limelight acquired Delve Networks, and with that acquisition came an OVP (now known as their LVP – Limelight Video Platform) whose content manager platform has been described as, “Apple in front, and Google under the hood.”  As I mentioned in my earlier post when covering Streaming Media East, Limelight was certainly one of the sexier, more colorful exhibits because of its flashy platform.  I wasted no time speaking with a Solutions Engineer and we got into talking about Delve, some of its 100+ customers, and how it has kept most of its personality since the $10 million acquisition last summer.

Such an acquisition is a natural fit for a Content Delivery Network such as Limelight, however they still continue to offer Akamai as an alternative CDN provider for their existing customers (couldn’t find out if new customers have Akamai as an option).  They offer many of the standard OVP options like on-demand and live-streaming (though live-streaming is not available for all accounts and needs to be enabled by contacting Limelight), metadata management, customized players, and playlists (also called Channels).  And, like many of their OVP competitors, Limelight offers a 30-day trial of their platform that will give you access to upload, publish, and analyze the results of your video content.  The following is another OVP overview based on the vendor’s 30-day trial.

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