Online video has experienced unprecedented growth over the past 5 years, fueled by a proliferation of content, devices, improved broadband and monetization. With online video now a completely mainstream behavior, what are the big trends that will power the industry over the next 5 years?
MODERATOR
Will Richmond
Editor and Publisher
VideoNuze
PANELIST
John Bishop
CTO, Media Business Unit
Akamai Technologies
Ted Middleton
Chief Product Officer
Verizon Digital Media Services
Sorosh Tavakoli
SVP of AdTech
Ooyala
Mike Weismann
General Manager, Creator Platform
Vimeo
Moderator- Bundles and direct to consumer content...What’s the current status, and the future?
Ted- We are on a cusp of a sea change in that consumers are having more choices and publishers wanting more direct access. Explosion of micro-segmentation, we've got some interesting things in the works at Verizon.
Josh- I think we are just seeing a little more of the same. Now there's a validation of the bundle, just a skinny version. More choices...more flexibility.
Moderator****- If you had to bet on 2 different choices, 1 being consumer subscribing to million OTT offerings vs 1 multi-channel bundle, it's a no brainer.
Ted- As long as consumers can find the content they want easily. Whether that's a few larger aggregators or new models that emerge, we'll see.
Josh- Bill fatigue IS happening though. There’s a validity of personalized bundles. Late 80s - 14 channels watched, 15.2 then 15.8...same amount of content being watched but just more choices.
Mike - HBO never sold direct to consumer before so now they dealing with churn, customer service, etc. people may stop retaining
**Moderator - Arguably, Netflix has learned from this subscription biz already. It takes time to understand. **
Sorosh: We've seen Netflix be a big disrupter in markets they've launched - 10% now in overseas market...makes you wonder who will be the winner?
Moderator - Who’s the loser?
Sorosh- Ratings / viewership online takes time from other media, broadcast for sure. Money didn’t know where to go , people were handing money back. TV advertising is peaking in most countries this year and next year. Digital went from interesting/exciting opportunity to “omg, it now equals our future or we'll start to disappear.”
**Moderator- Gordon Smith quote from earlier – “relevance is the key question.” You could argue it's almost past the peak. Double digit declines in ratings...up fronts are soft. If you get any 20 buyers in a room, they will tell you TV money is moving to digital. **
Josh- Ability to go programmatic- tectonic shifts. When Netflix started flattening out, created their own content, then 4k innovation...and it will be interesting to see what they do next. The next hurdle beyond 4k isn’t an obvious transition.
Moderator - Back to programmatic advertising. To pick up on your point - is this a big shift? Why?
Josh- I’m getting the audience I want, higher CPM value - better than demographics e.g. male / parent / out of dog food. More value than other demographics.
Sorosh- increased value is the big driver. What do you think about programmatic TV? I ask "what do you mean by programmatic and what do you mean by television? Since both being used in a million different ways. On the sales side, can figure out how to expose your product. Bulk of ad spend is currently non-programmatic.
Moderator - What’s yet to come to take industry to next level?
Josh- For the first 12 years online, chasing precedent of television. Didn't get HD online until 4 years...TV was the ceiling and now it's the floor. There's no more excitement. Future content will be born in online.
Mike- Vimeo launched HD streaming online in 2009. New technology is web first - next evolution of quality and speed.
Ted- Beyond video itself, creating communities around content, and having associated content.
Sorosh- I don't think 4k will drive growth. The right content in the right place. Continue to be on YouTube, on Facebook, that accessibility interesting to see. It's not about 4k, it's about the fact you can watch your fave show from your phone.
Ted- Trends are definitely around mobile and smaller devices.
**Moderator- at recent event, Mark Zuckerberg threw out the idea of virtual reality, video experiences in new direction (oculus, etc...) drones. **
Mike- We (Vimeo) got the first dronie - first drone selfie. Ton of drone content and VR is more techniques than storytelling now. Very early days now, just 360 degrees of house or flyover of house etc.
Josh-Greater interactivity, more you can do w/storytelling with VR experience.
Ted -Drones enable new production capabilities (small prod. co. doesn’t have to get a helicopter, etc.) VR stuff - has applications in different niches.
Sorosh-Amazing experiences, but marginal from a business perspective.
Mike -Embedded player from video in Facebook, so we see unique trends and insights. Growth rate is astonishing. Facebook may be better than YouTube in the future. Auto play is goosing numbers currently, but the size of Facebook audience and interstice to text and video feed. Especially on mobile.
Sorosh- the way YouTube is building business model is not sustainable for content creators.
**Moderator - heard that resoundingly. **
Sorosh- I hope Facebook can come in and shake that up.
Ted- YouTube you already in watching mode.
Moderator -Let's talk about content....
Mike -Some of the content starting to be sustainable. Not enough revenue as they’d see from cable side but, starting to make some money.
**Moderator- minority though... **
Mike- These are issues we are trying to solve. Unless you generating hundreds of millions of views it’s tough to sustain. Platform for upload and sell content - all parameters you would see in ecommerce solution. Can sell on web page, via twitter, etc. approached by cable but didn’t want to be restrained.
Josh- Still room to grow there. So much content. Content has to be enriched and find them, lot more intelligence and personalization.
Ted- content discovery will be key. Owners and publishers want to be a content destination in their own right.
Sorosh- understanding what are people watching and why/whats trending / then mechanisms to recommend . more sports buyers - let me push more of that..same with ad load. can tweak
**Moderator- live streaming in sports especially **
Ted- Big area for us. Trying to build workflow/set of tools to make delivery as seamless as possible. Help publisher have to even differentiate between live or not. Personalized programmatic content, etc. whether it’s UGC or production...
Sorosh- it’s not about workflow, it’s about the maturity of the workflow. Can’t miss a catch in a sports game. how do you build intelligence when its live, its only happening once...amount of planning that goes into a live event.
Audience Question - any interest in tapping into smart watch?
Ted- lot of interest but still maturing and still trying to figure out what you can do.
**Moderator - one thing diff in 5 years. **
Mike- more direct to consumer channels. More content creators launch their own channels
John - online first view, then back to traditional distribution for run of mill content
Ted- lot of shakeup, trials and errors. Where you go and how you select / how you manage subscriptions etc.
Sorosh - on tech side, systems integrators will larger part of market.
