Lean Forward Whitepaper Ramp May2010

Lean Forward VideoThe New Rules of Publishing Video on the Internet

www.RAMP.com

MAY 2010

2Lean Forward Video – The New Rules of Publishing Video on the Internet 2

©2010 RAMP

IntroductionVideo has undergone transformation over the past few years as a result of the web and its impact on video publishing, distribution and consumption. Online video continues to evolve as a result of a virtuous cycle between technology providers, publishers, and end-users. Online video is interactive and relevant to users in ways not possible with the traditional broadcast video environment.

Most media companies now recognize that the web is critical to their businesses. Both for audience development and new revenue, the web offers unique opportunities for video publishing and distribution.

At the same time, media companies need to recognize that successful online video publishing creates unique demands on the publisher. The single most important one is that the web is a lean forward medium. The implications of lean forward behavior for video publishers are discussed in this paper.

The lean-forward experience is largely driven by the publisher’s ability to extract specific facets of video content through use of sophisticated semantic technologies, which are in turn rendered as specific usability features through applying additional publishing and playback technologies and solutions.

Specific features that are unique to video on the web in lean forward viewing include:

Search across a catalog of videos with precise keyword search capability;

Search within a video using keywords and keyphrases to find the precise areas of interest to the viewer;

Navigate within a video using tags or markers that correspond to specific events in the video or specific topics of interest to the viewer;

Navigate a video using thumbnail scenes that render the video as a storyboard of clips that users can select and watch according to individual preferences, usually for sports or news content;

Clip, share and embed video clips for reuse on blogs, websites, social networks such as Facebook and social recommendation engines such as Digg and del.icio.us.

In addition to extracting value from online video with such features, publishers also need to note that lean forward video capabilities offer an important means of driving improved web site metrics and business results. Data collected from RAMP’s customers demonstrates that lean forward video capabilities offered on the site have exponentially improved site metrics for publishers.

Among the three major publisher websites analyzed for data for this whitepaper, lean-forward features generated on average 400% more time on site than users who did not use lean forward features, or where such features were not available.


©2010 RAMP

Using this data as a reference point, the whitepaper examines the reasons why lean forward video features are among the critical elements for online video publishers to consider. Key among these is the essential role of lean forward features in making video relevant to:

Online search and SEO;

Web browsing behavior of users;

Social media platforms and trends, including social syndication;

Web based targeting and personalization for driving higher end user metrics and monetization, including targeted recommendations and advertising with higher CPM; and higher advertising revenue

Lean Forward VideoWhile the term “lean-forward video” has been popular for at least a decade, the implication of it has never been more significant for video publishers than it is now. As we’ll discuss later, for the first time, lean-forward video has gone mainstream, and may well become the predominant mode of video consumption in the future.

In this section, we introduce lean forward video as a concept whose time has come. Lean-forward video is a metaphor for users taking control of their video experience by actively engaging with video – by ‘leaning forward’, similar to how users interact with other applications on a PC, for example. This is in contrast to the metaphor of ‘lean back’, as one does when watching television passively from a couch in the living room.

The idea that television would one day become interactive and create lean forward behavior has not materialized in a significant way. In the meantime, the phenomenal rise of video on the Internet has vaulted lean forward behavior to the mainstream. Every video site features the ability to share, rate (thumbs up/down), embed, and save video. While this is a significant change to how video has been consumed over the previous half a century, is already considered table stakes as far as online video users are concerned (Figure 1).


©2010 RAMP

FIGURE 1: A common set of lean forward features, while inconceivable even a decade ago are table stakes for online video publishing

Taken to the next level, however, lean-forward video is the cornerstone of video publishing as a business going forward.

FIGURE 2: RAMP MetaPlayer represents the next level of lean forward video capabilities required for commercial online video business applications


©2010 RAMP

These lean forward capabilities that publishers must adopt are critical to the confluence of technological, business and end-user trends that are deciding the future of video. Major publishers are already benefiting from such features, as is discussed later in the paper.

Lean Forward Video is MainstreamThe idea that video is more than a passive viewing experience is firmly entrenched in the habits of new generations of users who have grown up on the Internet. Given the median age of online video users is now hovering at 41 years in 2010i, this trend is fast pervading those among us who grew up in a passive television culture as well.

Fast forward to where online video is the fastest growing segment of Internet traffic as well as the fastest growing segment of the video industry. Starting with 3 to 5 minute long user generated clips on YouTube in 2005, the popularity of online video extends to all types of content destinations as the comScore Top 10 US video site rankings demonstrate (Figure 3).

Top U.S. Online Video Content Properties by Videos Viewed – January 2010 Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations | Source: comScore Video Metrix

Property Videos (000) Share of Videos (%)

Total Internet : Total Audience 32,410,886 100.0

Google Sites 12,816,043 39.5Hulu 903,078 2.8Microsoft Sites 491,753 1.5Yahoo! Sites 435,487 1.3Viacom Digital 361,228 1.1Fox Interactive Media 293,008 0.9Turner Network 283,244 0.9AOL LLC 241,991 0.7Vevo 226,125 0.7CBS Interactive 217,407 0.7

FIGURE 3: Top U.S. Online Video Content Properties by Videos Viewed, January 2010

The second largestii video streaming site, Hulu features exclusively full length prime time television shows (Figure 4). YouTube is also joining the trend with support for high resolution publishing of premium content with advertising supportiii. Such development combined with major industry initiatives underway, such as TVEverywhere, online video is no longer for the alternative content that could not find a home elsewhere or for alternative audiences for that matter.


©2010 RAMP

FIGURE 4: Full length prime-time TV shows are also lean forward on the web

What started with humble user generated videos of short 3 to 5 minute clips has given users an appetite for snacking, searching, navigating, and sharing that up until then had not been possible with traditional video services. Such usability is shaping major trends in the future of video publishing.

The New Rules of Video PublishingThe changes described above lead us to a new set of rules for video publishing. The appropriate way of looking at video publishing for the future is about how lean forward capabilities will drive not only end-user engagement, but also how broad Internet trends, technologies, and business models are harnessed through such features and capabilities.

Making Video Relevant to Online Search and SEO

Lean forward features are based on extracting specific attributes of videos by way of transcripts and metadata. These attributes enable lean forward features by providing interactive capabilities along the video timeline. The tags and cue points associated with this metadata make the video searchable using keyword search common on the Internet and can also be used to drive search engine optimization, or SEO.

For example, in order to jump to points in a video where President Obama is talking about TARP or healthcare reform package, these words must be intelligently tagged in the video and presented as cue points either using the transcript as an aid to users, or providing cue points on the timeline. In either event, presenting this information in a way that search engines recognize now makes the video searchable and search engine friendly.


©2010 RAMP

FIGURE 5: The use of transcripts and metadata for search, navigation and SEO

Making Video Relevant to Web Browsing Behavior

Web browsing is based on non-linear navigation popularized by hyperlinks central to web publishing. As a result, web users navigate across pages, even across sites in the course of a single session. They also tend to seek relevance and context; act on recommendations; and prefer to be in snacking mode much more than when consuming offline content.

Video, while inherently a linear medium, is not immune to these proclivities of web users. If users do not have the option of interacting with video either to navigate within videos to find what they are looking for, or to have the ability to discover additional contextual information, the web video experience is going to be disconnected from their overall online experience and expectations.

By providing such interactive browsing features, publishers allow deeper and more meaningful engagement with online video, thereby delivering better performance metrics for the video as well as the site overall, as our data indicates.


©2010 RAMP

FIGURE 6: RAMP index pages with faceted search based on transcripts and metadata applied to natural language processing and key search terms used on major web browsers

Making Videos Relevant to Social Media

Another vital aspect of the online video business is viral syndication, sharing and personal recommendation that drives traffic and site metrics. Social media is as much a phenomenon as online video, and now the two are intersecting with remarkable results. One can only imagine what the coming together of these two mega trends bodes for the future of video publishing.

Already, social media sites such as Facebook are driving more traffic to certain types of video sites than Google and other search enginesiv. Such sharing and recommendation takes place contextually, and users share specific video segments that are relevant to their social interactions. The same features that enable lean forward capabilities also allow tagging, sharing and embedding specific segments of video towards viral and social behavior. This topic is explored in more detail in an upcoming white paper from RAMP.

FIGURE 7: Sharing videos on Facebook and other social networks is becoming the main source of discovery and audience development for some websites


©2010 RAMP

Granular Tracking of User Interests and Behavior

By giving users the facility to navigate video viewing according to personal preferences and interests, publishers are rewarded with precise and more granular information on users’ interests and requirements. Lean forward events therefore become markers for publishers to improve the user experience and provide additional recommendations, promotions, advertising and offers specifically tailored to end users.

This virtuous cycle of deeper engagement and monetization is driven by highly targeted recommendations and advertising. This further delivers higher advertising CPM with increased inventory towards increased advertising revenue.

Discussion of Performance Data Resulting from Lean Forward Features

The above factors must manifest themselves as measurable online user behavior for publishers to derive value. A snapshot of 3 major US publishing sites provides a strong endorsement of the thesis that lean forward video features dramatically change the user engagement.

RAMP has identified that a key metric to gauge the effectiveness of lean forward features is the average time on site that lean forward features enable versus average time on site in the absence of such features. In order to minimize the external variables that can affect the results, we have been tracking the average time on site of users who use the specific feature of (Jump-to) versus those that don’t use these features. The data has been captured in aggregate over different time periods using Google Analytics. In order to maintain the privacy of our customers and confidentiality of their data, we do not disclose the names of the publishers or provide actual traffic numbers, but we will provide the magnitude of the data to give the reader a perspective on the scale of the results.

The sample results shown here represent activity from February 8 to April 19, 2010 of all users who watched video on the site.

‘Click Play’ represents aggregate users who clicked ‘Play’ on a video file. It aggregates all users and all files – i.e., the number does not distinguish how many videos a user watched or how many times any video file was played. This is inclusive of ‘Jump-to’ users.


©2010 RAMP

FIGURE 8: Click Jump-to feature allows users to jump to various points in a video based on transcript or event based tags embedded in the video and surfaced in a custom player

‘Click Jump-to’ represents users who used the lean forward feature that allows users to ‘Jump-to’ specific points in a video based on the video transcript, cue points or other metadata thereby giving users lean-forward engagement.

Case I: Major Broadcaster News website

Total Video ‘Click Play’ starts – 369, 505

Total ‘Click Jump-to’ event users – 58,747

Average time on site for all users who initiated ‘Click Play’ but did not initiate ‘Click Jump-to’ – 202.7 seconds

Average time on site for users who initiated ‘Click Jump-to’ events – 680.6 seconds

Ratio of Average time on site of users who used ‘Click Jump-to’ versus those that only used ‘Click Play’ - 3.36

Number of viewers that initiated ‘Click Jump-to’ events relative to all who initiated ‘Click Play’ – 15.9%

Total time on site by viewers who initiated ‘Click Jump-to’ events relative to those that only initiated ‘Click Play’ – 38.8%


©2010 RAMP

FIGURE 9: For the major broadcaster news website, 15.9% of click jump-to users accounted for 34.8% of total time on site, effectively spending 336% more average time on site.

Case II: Major Broadcaster Business Information and News website

Total Video ‘Click Play’ starts – 102, 657




Ratio of Average time on site of users who used ‘Click Jump-to’ versus those that only used ‘Click Play’ - 4.29

Number of viewers that initiated ‘Click Jump-to’ events relative to those that only initiated ‘Click Play’ – 10.8%



©2010 RAMP

FIGURE 10: For the major broadcaster news website, 13.9% of click jump-to users accounted for 34.4% of total time on site, effectively spending 429% more average time on site.

Case III: Major DIY Instruction Site

Total Video ‘Click Play’ starts – 518,952




Ratio of Average time on site of users who used ‘Click Jump-to’ versus those that only used ‘Click Play’ – 3.04

Number of viewers that initiated ‘Click Jump-to’ events relative to those that only initiated ‘Click Play’ – 13%



©2010 RAMP

FIGURE 11: For the major DIY instruction website, 13% of click jump-to users accounted for 31% of total time on site, effectively spending 304% more average time on site.

Analysis:

The conclusions derived from the above data is that visitors who watched videos on the site generated very different metrics depending on whether they used the lean forward features (as measured by ‘Click Jump-to’ tracking.) Such users on average spent 3.36 – 4.29 times as much time on the site compared to visitors that did not utilize lean forward features, or watched videos for which such features were not available. While lean forward viewers only represented 13%- 15.9% of the total video views on the sites, they accounted for more than 30% of aggregate time spent on each site.

What this essentially means that in terms of advertising inventory, less than 16% of site visitors accounted for more than 30% of such revenue assuming CPM parity between the two groups. However, if we take into account that the ‘Click Jump-to’ – i.e., lean forward users also provide publishers with key data about their interests and desired information on a real time basis, more targeted advertising at higher CPM can be served, thereby creating further value and disproportionately higher revenue from a smaller segment of the audience.

From a qualitative perspective, one can assume that greater average time on site (in these cases, exponentially greater time) translates to a higher end-user satisfaction and deeper engagement. How this translates into viral and social syndication has not been measured yet, but the correlation between the two is obvious.

A second degree effect of such syndication is the impact on organic SEO and discovery by other


©2010 RAMP

online users for further improved site and business metrics. (This is separate from direct SEO that metadata enables, as discussed earlier).

Based on the results discussed in the examples in this section, publishers and business owners need to evaluate implementing lean forward video features with an eye towards achieving business results with online publishing.

ConclusionsMedia publishers have new opportunity with online video, both as a means to build audiences for video and to improve website metrics. Online publishing however comes with new sets of rules for publishing video. The chief among these is the role of lean forward features that are defining video as a medium for the Internet, and also as the future of video as a medium.

These lean forward features are achieved through specialized technologies and publishing solutions. RAMP offers Content Optimization technologies that are proven to deliver results with online video. A sample of results of using lean forward video features indicates that such features organically drive up to 400% higher engagement – as measured with average time on site as a metric – than without such features.


©2010 RAMP

About RAMPRAMP is an advanced Content Optimization SaaS platform providing publishers’ workflow, discovery and engagement solutions to drive monetization of online content to users’ search and browsing behavior. RAMP offers publishers an open, flexible and modular capability to optimize large amounts of content, including text, audio, video and images, within dynamic publishing environments. As a result, publishers’ content becomes positioned for discovery and precise targeting, both on search engines and within publishers’ own websites. Users rely on such precision to discover and engage with content, thereby increasing the commercial viability of content for publishers while curtailing publishing costs.

Leading publishers using RAMP include – FOXNews, NBC, DowJones, Meredith, and others. For more information visit: www.RAMP.com, or contact us at [email protected].


©2010 RAMP

Referencesi http://newteevee.com/2010/04/05/online-video-viewers-the-young-the-hip-and-the-

well-off/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+newteevee+(NewTeeVee)

ii http://weblogs.hitwise.com/us-heather-hopkins/2010/03/facebook_users_prefer_broadcas.html http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2010/4/comScore_Releases_February_2010_U.S._Online_Video_Rankings/(language)/eng-US

iii http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2009/04/watch-shows-and-movies-on-youtube.htmls

iv http://gigaom.com/2010/02/15/facebook-driving-more-traffic-than-google/