Online Video Strategies for Publishers in India in 2019 and beyond
There are over half a billion internet users in India who regularly consume online video content, and videos are more popular than ever among smartphone users. This trend is driving artists, content curators, and marketers to capitalise on video as part of their content strategy. By catering to the engaged millennial generation through video content, publishers have the opportunity to enhance their portfolio with videos as their primary content.
While display advertising continues to be a key pillar for publishers, video has become a crucial part of their editorial monetisation mix since it is a highly engaging medium that enhances the news experience. Publishers today recognise the value video delivers, but often are unsure about how to monetise it effectively. However, the pivot to video for publishers does not come without its challenges.
Publishers in Indian and global media houses have a common goal: To distribute dynamic news content, including videos, which must be integrated across all digital platforms and adaptive to audiences’ preferences. Publishers are required to create compelling, thought-provoking editorials in order to captivate audiences, while also ensuring that they provide a brand-safe environment with meaningful returns to advertisers.
Publishers need to also consider their revenue strategy – whether to adopt revenue share/revenue tax model with a third-party partner or to own and control the monetisation model.
Revenue share often is a quick fix to a complex revenue decision. It is not revenue share, but revenue tax. Adopting a revenue taxation model will hinder a publisher’s objective to build a sustainable business online. Many publishers perceive publishing their video content on third-party video hosting platforms as the easiest way to monetise the videos; however, monetisation opportunities on such platforms are often limited. Optimising videos with ads, sponsorships, and branded content is impossible because third-party video hosting platforms do not offer such options. It is critical for publishers to retain complete control over their monetisation strategy, audience relationships and offer a brand-safe environment to advertisers.
Another challenge is ad blockers, which can lead to loss of up to half of their total ad revenues. This is why publishers need to invest in a solution that leverages server-side ad insertion (SSAI) or dynamic ad insertion (DAI), which mitigates ad blockers while expanding reach to all devices.
Cloud-based online video streaming platforms are designed to optimise video content delivery. They help digital publishers to offer immersive viewing and richer content experiences to viewers, ultimately increasing views for videos. This in turn, helps to increase traffic and advertising revenues for the publishers’ sites. Additionally, online video platforms enable publishers’ digital teams to improve the company’s overall video ecosystem by streamlining video workflows. With the latest technology, editors and contributors can efficiently ingest and transcode multiple videos in one sitting instead of manually uploading them one-by-one.
While social media platforms such as Facebook have been and will continue to vie for consumer attention, publishers must have a strategy to own their audiences. The capability to draw enough visitors to their own website is the key differentiating factor for publishers. Once they engage audiences through relatable video content on their own channel, the use of effective video monetization strategies will provide enhanced content experiences for viewers and drive more revenue for publishers.
