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Mediasmith Anvil |
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Volume 6, Issue
6
October 14, 2007 |
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Learn the
Secrets of Video Search |
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By Bob
Heyman Major players in the video
search field confide in Mediasmith's chief search officer about current
possibilities and future potential. I have been fortunate over the last few months to
be able to discuss the present and future of the video search business with
some of those executives best positioned to comment on this nascent industry. The executives who were generous with their time
are: Tim Tuttle, founder and CEO of Truveo senior vice president, AOL. Let me share with you their answers to some
questions pertaining to video search and its likely future. Heyman: How
does video search differ from traditional web search? Karnes:
There is a big difference. Web pages have lots of data for text search. But
there is not sufficient information for video search. The question is,
"How do we get more meta-data so we can provide a more relevant user
experience?" Tuttle:
There is a lack of published information about video. It is far more
difficult than (text) search to find millions of videos. Standards are a
mess. There are many different formats of embedded flash players. This will
not be resolved soon. Chandratillake:
Unlike textual content that typically exists in a structured form, with
individual website pages representing individual topics or articles, video
content often "lives" inside dynamic players powered by newer
technologies like JavaScript and Macromedia Flash, which makes it extremely
difficult to locate. Secondly, even once discovered, it's difficult to
describe the content. Searching text is relatively straightforward because
computers can read text easily and make it searchable based on the words that
appear in each piece of content. In contrast, audio and video content is
fuzzy, and there is no direct way for a computer to readily understand the
meaning contained within a piece of audio or video. Norlin: At
Pixsy, we've realized that half our user activity is browsing, and therefore
video search is more about discovery than it is necessarily about algorithmic
search and relevance. Relevance is important, but not the Holy Grail. Heyman: It
sounds like there's a different paradigm at work in video search, in that in
"enquiry search" users are often looking for purchase information
while in video search, users are looking for entertainment. Is that correct? Karnes:
Video certainly has more of an entertainment usage for the mainstream
audience. In web search, the users usually know what they are looking for. In
video search, like Chase Norlin said, there is more an element of discovery.
Yahoo is working with personalized viewing guides featuring channels that get
the user started with the discovery process. Norlin: In
regard to "intent to purchase" vs. entertainment, obviously video
search is geared towards the latter. But there are many other highly
monetizable categories in video search that fall outside of entertainment,
like automobiles, health, fitness, travel, et cetera. Ultimately, as I said,
video search is really about discovery and keeping users engaged and
informed, which of course is an effective tool for advertisers. |
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Mediasmith Morsel According
to a recent survey published by the Online Publishers Association,
online video viewers are highly receptive to online video advertisements. The
below chart highlights the actions online video viewers have taken toward
making a purchase after viewing online video ads:
*An online video ad is defined as
a product or service advertisement that incorporates a video clip Q25: Which of the following have you
ever done as a result of viewing an online video ad? n=1135 Source: Frames
of Reference: Online Video Advertising, Content and Consumer Behavior |
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Heyman: How
is video search likely to be monetized? Norlin:
Video search is currently being monetized through PPC text ads, graphical and
in-text ads. Obviously, if the search engine is playing the video, then an
opportunity exists for pre/mid/post roll ads. However, there are still a host
of unresolved copyright issues associated with resyndication of video content
and the area is still gray. The recent Perfect 10 vs. Google thumbnail ruling plays
well for companies in the thumbnail category, like Pixsy, who exist to serve
as massive thumbnail aggregators so that users can find what they're looking
for and go directly to the source to watch it. Tuttle: We
are in an experimentation phase. As an industry, we are trying everything;
pre-roll, post-roll, display alongside, overlay, hot spot. There is no
favorite yet, but the 5-second spot is becoming an emerging standard. Karnes:
Monetization will evolve going forward. While ads seem most likely to be the
prime means of monetization, it is likely there will be room for such models
as direct-to-own, rental and subscription. Chandratillake: Today, the most popular form of
advertising is actually banners on the side of the video, which isn't video
advertising at all! But, increasingly, we're seeing various forms of in-video
advertising (pre, post, inter-roll and also banners that appear in the video
stream itself). At Blinkx, because we're able to know what is going on in a
specific video at a given point in time, we're working on a contextual video
advertising platform. So you could be watching a video about luxury cars, and
when the narrator mentions "Lexus," you'd see a small ad appear at
the bottom of the screen that would take you to your local Lexus dealership's
site. Later, when the narrator says "BMW," the ad will switch. Heyman:
Agencies and brands are posting videos on the web. How can they best optimize
them for video search? Tuttle:
There are no technologies yet that do an effective job of automating analysis
of the video stream and pulling out data. Broadcast video has closed-caption
text data but most web video does not. So, therefore, in VSEO (Video Search
Engine Optimization) you need to provide text info. Most effective is to
provide RSS feeds. Karnes:
Invest in meta-data as you produce the content. Enter descriptions as you go.
Embrace the social web by using tags and ratings. Chandratillake: You
can download our Video
SEO whitepaper from the Blinkx site. Generally speaking,
the big things are: a) think of what you do for image or text SEO and make
sure you are doing the same for your video (you'd be amazed how many people
don't!), and b) submit! It's important to ensure that the video search
engines all know about your content. Norlin:
Video Search SEO is a natural outgrowth of the algorithmic video search
business, very much like SEO was born from traditional algorithmic text
search. Detailed metadata is key to getting indexed. Content providers should
also take proactive steps to distributing their content by pushing out RSS
feeds and contacting search companies to index their material. |
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Mediasmith Morsel The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. In business, we often attribute 80% our profits to a select 20% of our clients or services, etc. Hitwise, a leading online competitive intelligence service, suggests that in the age of the participatory web, the 80/20 rule may be further refined with what has been termed the 1% rule. The 1% rule states that 1% of Internet users are creating user-generated content, 19% of users are interacting with that content, while 80% simply view that content as they might static Web 1.0 content. Source: Hitwise
US Research Note: Measuring Web 2.0 Consumer Participation, June 2007 |
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Heyman: Web
video has already had "Lonely Girl," but, as a medium, are we still
waiting for the equivalent of TV's "I Love Lucy"? Tuttle: I am
not sure that a big hit or personality will catapult web video into the
mainstream. There will certainly be web-only video success stories, but these
will not necessarily be the only catalyst to trigger mainstream adoption. I
think that new applications and websites might be a more likely trigger. That
is my two cents. Karnes:
Technology is lowering the entry cost and is leveling the playing field when
it comes to creating entertainment content. "The Blair Witch
Project" innovatively used the internet and had great success but it
couldn't be replicated. Creative is still an art form, even if distribution
has become a science. The audience wins because there will be more and more
content to choose from. Chandratillake:
There has been a lot of focus on user-generated content but ultimately that's
a shorter term success; internet fame burns brightly but briefly. The content
that has a lasting impact -- or stars that have that longevity -- will
continue to come from professional sources. It's true that Norlin: In
terms of web-based video, expect to see a universe of "prosumer" or
"semi-pro" content creators to emerge. To date, content production
has exclusively been the domain of major studios and production companies on
the high end, and consumer content creators (e.g. YouTube) on the low end. I
predict a rise of content creators in the mid-tier that create unique
original content for web-based viewing. As content can now be syndicated to a
wide range of devices and mediums, and as monetization of that content
becomes more successful and sophisticated, there will be greater incentives
for these mod-tier content creators. A mini-industry will emerge here. Heyman:
What's next for video search? Tuttle: A
chaotic arms race involving the video search companies. Norlin: The next great wave in search
is the trend toward personalization and automated content delivery.
Ultimately, consumers will want to spend less time on the web and extract
more value from it. The Pointcast model will be back in a big way. My Yahoo
is an example of this. |
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Mediasmith Morsel About 16% of US
Internet households are currently watching TV broadcasts online. eMarketer projects that by 2011 there
will be 200 million broadband Internet users. Of them, 183 million, or 91%,
will watch online videos. The chart below highlights corresponding key
metrics from eMarketer’s findings:
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A version of this article originally appeared in imediaconnection Bob Heyman is Chief Search Officer at Mediasmith, Inc. -- a full service
advertising media agency, specializing in digital media with an increasing
emphasis on emerging technologies. Mediasmith is headquartered in |
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Contact Mediasmith, Inc. |
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