Thursday, December 16, 2010

Online Video Trends: The Complete Media Industry Report - Part 1

Brightcove and TubeMogul: Online Video and The Media Industry

by TubeMogul and Brightcove

Key Findings

Newspaper Online Video Growth Surges

In Q2, broadcast networks and pure-play Web media properties remained in the top two positions among media industry verticals for overall video stream growth.

Online video streams from newspaper websites surged in Q2 by more than 65 percent. This can be attributed to the sustained coverage of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, which started on April 20th and ran through May and June.

Video stream growth slowed among magazine website properties, as well as music label and artist websites in Q2.

More People Watching More Videos

The volume of unique viewers accessing online video grew across all media verticals in Q2 by an average of 2.8 percent per month compared to .05 percent month-over-month growth in Q1.

Viewers watched 11.8 percent more videos per month in Q2 than last quarter.

In Q2, across media verticals, the average viewing time per video stream was 2:00 minutes.

Broadcast networks and magazine websites saw an increase in the average length of viewing time per video in Q2 by 3.1 percent and 2.1 percent respectively.

The online video content of media companies has an average completion rate of 38 percent per video view. Magazine website and pure-play Web media properties had the highest overall completion rates per video view.

Referral Traffic From Facebook and Twitter Growing Faster Than Search Engines

Google continues to generate the highest volume of traffic to online video content followed by Yahoo!, Facebook, Bing and Twitter.

Referral traffic from Facebook and Twitter is growing faster than traditional search engines as a source of video views.

At current rates, Facebook will surpass Yahoo! within the year to be second only to Google in referral traffic to online video content for media companies.

On-Site Viewing Generates Deeper Engagement Than Syndicated Video Players

Broadcast networks have the smallest percentage of video content viewed through embedded players on third-party websites.

Newspapers, on the other hand, have the highest percentage of off-site viewing.

For the majority of media verticals, viewers watching videos via off-site player embeds tend to watch fewer minutes per stream than on-site viewers.

Facebook and Twitter generate the most engaged viewing audiences for online video content from media companies, followed by Bing, Yahoo!, and Google.

Brightcove Online Video Platform Usage

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The following analysis is based on aggregated Brightcove platform data from a sample of more than 200 media companies representing media industry verticals, including:

broadcast networks,

magazine publishers,

music labels,

newspaper publishers,

pure-play Web media properties, and

radio broadcasters.

The data set spans 2008 to 2009, as well as the first half of 2010.

Online Video Stream Trend Data

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Broadcast remains top media vertical for online video streams.

In Q2, broadcast networks maintained their top position among media verticals for the ninth consecutive quarter with 406 million online video streams.

Video stream totals for broadcasters in Q2 represent a 25 percent increase compared to the same quarter last year.

Pure-play Web media properties in second place, newspapers gaining.

Pure-play Web media properties continue to show strong growth with nearly 300 million video streams in Q2.

While relatively flat over the past five quarters, online video streams surged in the newspaper vertical more than 65 percent to almost 225 million between Q1 and Q2 of this year as a result of the sustained coverage of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, which started on April 20th and ran through May and June.

Video stream growth slows for magazine publishers and music labels.

After eight consecutive quarters of growth, online video streams for magazine publishers declined by seven percent between Q1 to Q2 of this year.

Despite the decline, Q2's 174 million video streams represent a 45 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

In the music sector, Q2 brought a sharper decline of almost 40 percent in video stream volume from artist and label sites with 134 million streams. This significant reduction in overall online video stream volume on music label and artist sites could be attributable to the growing popularity of the VEVO.com music video portal.

Music label and artist stream totals are still up by 13 percent compared to the same quarter last year.

Radio broadcasters continue steady growth in online video streams.

Q2 of 2010 marked the tenth consecutive quarter of growth for the radio broadcast sector with 9 million video streams.

Online Video Publishing Trends

A player load represents the graphics, data and other components rendered on a webpage in order to view a video stream and monetize the content.

Player loads are an important measure for the amount of video content included across website properties.

Newspapers and magazines continue to publish more online video than
any other media vertical.

For the third consecutive quarter, newspaper and magazine websites featured a larger number of videos than any other media vertical.

In Q2, newspaper websites generated 2.3 million player loads, up 12 percent from Q1 and nearly 40 percent compared to Q2 of last year.

Magazine websites generated 1.3 billion player loads in Q2, a similar volume of player loads compared to Q1, but up 38 percent compared to Q2 of last year.

Broadcast networks and pure-play Web media properties increased video
publishing activity.

In Q2, broadcast networks generated 685 million player loads, up four percent compared to Q1.

While slightly up in Q2, the player load number represents a decline of almost 60 percent compared to the same quarter last year. The decline seems to be further indication of a trend toward portal and aggregated video player experiences around longer-form content, as compared to the distributed, contextual and short-form nature of video content in the editorial and website strategies represented by newspapers, magazines and other media industry verticals.

Web media properties grew by three percent in Q2 with 788 million player loads, which represents an increase of nearly 40 percent compared to the same period last year.

After four consecutive quarters of growth, radio broadcasters publish
fewer videos.

In Q2, radio broadcast sites generated 90 million video player loads, which represents the first decline after four consecutive quarters of growth.

Despite the decline in Q2, player loads on radio broadcaster websites are up 18 percent compared to the same quarter in 2009.

Online Viewer Behavior

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The following section analyzes viewer behavior for a cross-section of media companies (broadcasters, magazines, music labels, newspapers, online media properties and radio).

Engagement

Minutes Watched Per View By Quarter

Overall, the number of unique viewers grew by an average of 2.81 percent per month in Q2, up from 0.05 percent per month in the first quarter.

Not only were more unique viewers watching, but they were watching 11.2 percent more videos per month.

Audience engagement levels across all of the media verticals were fairly consistent between Q1 and Q2, though some verticals saw a decrease in both minutes watched and completion rates.

Between the first quarter and second quarter, average minutes watched held steady across most categories at 2:00 minutes per stream, though growth was achieved by television broadcasters by 3.1 percent to 3:01 minutes and magazines by 2.1 percent to 1:21 minutes.

Radio saw the biggest decline, dropping from 1:32 minutes to 1:13 minutes in Q2.

Completion Rates

Completion rates, which refer to videos that were watched from start to finish, were also steady across most of the media verticals, though broadcasters, newspapers and radio saw a decline from Q1 to Q2.

Newspapers saw the sharpest decrease, dropping from 41 percent in Q1 to 33 percent in Q2.

Discovery

Average Monthly Growth In Referred Video Streams

Overall, 81.9 percent of video streams were discovered via direct traffic or navigation within a publisher's own site.

From third party referral traffic, 64 percent comes from Google, followed by Yahoo (11.9 percent), Facebook (4.3 percent), Bing (2.6 percent), and Twitter (1.2 percent).

In terms of number of video streams referred per month, Facebook and Twitter are growing much faster than traditional search engines as sources of video views.

At current rates, Facebook will surpass Yahoo! within the year to be second only to Google in referral traffic to online video content for media companies.

Distribution

Percentage of Views: On-Site Vs Embeds

For the first time, this report will include analysis of off-site embeds across media verticals, which varies widely by category.

Broadcasters had the lowest percentage of off-site embeds, which is not surprising given the premium, longform nature of their content.

Newspapers, on the other hand, had the highest percentage of off-site embeds, with 13.6 percent of all video content being embedded on third party sites.

Music videos represent the second highest percentage, followed by radio broadcasters, magazine publishers and pure-play Web media properties.

Minutes Watched Per View: On-Sites Vs. Embeds

Viewers watching videos via off-site embeds tended to watch less minutes per stream than on-site viewers.

Videos were watched for nearly double the amount of time on broadcast sites (3:00 minutes) as they were from off-site embeds (1:59 minutes), but the numbers were less dramatic across the other verticals.

Of note, while pure-play Web media properties had the second lowest percentage of offsite embeds, viewers watched off-site videos nearly 15 seconds longer than onsite video content for this media vertical.

Broadcasters, Music Videos, Online Media, Radio: Minutes Watched Per View

In most of the media verticals, Facebook and Twitter tended to refer more engaged viewers than search engines.

Broadcasters saw the highest engagement levels from Facebook, while Twitter held the top spot in terms of engagement for music videos.

Magazines and Newspapers: Minutes Watched Per View

Google referred the most engaged viewers for the newspaper vertical, while Bing was tops for the magazine and radio industry verticals.

Pure-play Web media was the only vertical where Yahoo! referred more engaged viewers than Twitter, Google and Bing.

Geography

USA: Top Regions By Category

Certain regions have outsized influence in specific categories.

For instance, viewers in the U.S. watched a larger share of videos from pure-play Web media properties.

Music videos and radio content represent the lowest percentages for viewers in the U.S.

Asia, Pacific: Top Regions By Category

65 percent of the total views for radio content came from Asia-Pacific.

Europe: Top Regions By Category

In Europe, music videos represent the largest share of total views, followed closely by broadcast and magazine video content.

Others: Top Regions By Category

USA: Minutes Watched Per View

U.S. viewers watched the greatest amount of content for the longest periods of time across the broadcast, magazine, music video and radio verticals.

Europe: Minutes Watched Per View

Europeans watched more video content on newspaper sites, but were slightly less engaged than the U.S. audience.

Europeans also watched the second highest amount of broadcast video content, but were the least engaged, dropping off after 30 seconds on average.

Asia, Pacific: Minutes Watched Per View

In the Asia-Pacific region, viewers tended to watch more video from pure-play Web media properties than any other category, but were most engaged when it came to radio content.

Others: Minutes Watched Per View

Methodology

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The data used for the analysis included in this report was taken from a cross section sample of Brightcove customers representing media industry verticals. While the sample aggregates a sizable data set, it is not intended to be statistically representative of the online video industry as a whole, or of Brightcove's entire customer base.

Instead, the data analysis is intended to provide a directional snapshot of media trends and inform additional research initiatives focused on the online video industry.

This research report draws on a number of data sources:

Platform data from a sample of Brightcove media customers; and

Consumer engagement reports based on TubeMogul's online video analytics from this aggregate data set.

In this Q2 research report, Brightcove and TubeMogul have included a special feature focused on brand marketers and on-site video initiatives. This analysis uses:

Platform data from a sample of Brightcove brand marketing and e-commerce customers; and

An anonymous survey of more than 300 senior-level brand managers from leading business-to-business and consumer brands, including dozens of Fortune 500 companies.

End of Part 1

Online Video Trends: The Complete Media Industry Report - Part 2

Originally prepared by TubeMogul and Brightcove, and first published on TubeMogul on September 13th, 2010 as Brightcove & TubeMogul: Online Video & The Media Industry

About TubeMogul

TubeMogul is an online video analytics and advertising platform that processes billions of video streams every month from the Internet's top publishers. More than 200,000 users rely on TubeMogul's distribution and analytics, and hundreds of marketing agencies and brand advertisers are among the company's clients.

About Brightcove

Brightcove is an on-demand software platform that media companies and marketers use to publish and distribute video on the web, mobile devices, and Internet-connected TVs. Brightcove has more than 1,800 customers in 48 countries, which operate video across nearly 10,000 websites, including many of the most popular news and entertainment destinations on the web.

Photo credits:
Graphs - Elia Lombardi
Newspaper Online Video Growth Surges -Vacuum3d
More People Watching More Videos - Rainer Junker
Online Video Stream Trend Data - SSilver
Brightcove Online Video Platform Usage - Kirsty Pargeter
Online Video Publishing Trends - Weim
Online Viewer Behavior - Dusan Jankovic
Methodology - Dmitriy Shironosov