Things are looking very bright in our industry based on some recent reports from comScore, Google and MediaCT.

If you’ve noticed more videos being shared via smartphones, it’s no coincidence and the trend is looking up. In Canada, video is accelerating in the mobile world with half of Canadians watching more online videos than they were last year. Specifically, 35% smartphone owners, 56% tablet owners, and 75% laptop owners in Canada are regularly watching videos on their portable and mobile devices.

Even further, Canadians watch an average of eight videos per week. What percent of our nation is still not willing to engage? A small portion – only 13% of Canadians do not watch any online video content. This is all pretty remarkable and the diversity and easily accessible nature of online video inevitably makes the medium more entertaining than live TV (according to 26% Canadians to be precise).  It’s all about convenience and on demand content with none other than YouTube leading the way.

For those who are using media dollars for the traditional media outlets – you may want to rethink your strategy as leading networks such as CTV and CBC, were popular with only 25% or less of Canadian online video watchers.

Last but not least, Canadians also don’t just watch videos – they take action. Out of those surveyed, 18% follow up after online video watching whether it’s searching for more information, social networking, sharing, visiting or purchasing.

Also, some great news from our neighbours down South:

US has reached a new record of video advertising impressions in one month! 

It’s true, online video advertising impressions surpassed 8 billion for the first time on the record with 181 million Americans watching video online in March.

YouTube is dominating but take a look at who is next in line:

Great month in our industry!

Let’s keep this up,

VMG Team.

Sources: TechVibes & REELSeo
Images:  DigitalTrends, Klaszter.

Measuring online video Return On Investment (ROI) is not much different than a traditional marketing campaign. If anything, it presents opportunity for analytics that a traditional campaign would not be able to deliver with a much more targeted reach. When videos on YouTube are able to receive millions of views within days and Comscore releases reports stating that on average a person watches 14.8 hours of online video a month; it’s not the matter of trying to prove that online video marketing is effective.The quick pace of new media in today’s marketing landscape has us trying to keep up with the latest trends more often than not with C-levels wanting to see numbers justifying these efforts. The C suite wants to know that the marketing dollars are achieving the highest value and ROI while receiving the desired results.

So how do you measure ROI of online video?

No matter what kind of video initiative your company wants to execute – whether it’s internal communications or consumer oriented – you’ve got to be able to show the results. Here are some tips that can help you.

1. Know your objectives.

The most essential component of executing a campaign successfully is having clear goals. The simplest way to measure return on what you’re investing is knowing your target audience and what message you are trying to deliver.

Your objectives may vary. For example, if you’re trying to promote product sampling, your objective may be to have individuals register for a coupon on your website after viewing the video. On the contrary, if you’re executing an online video for internal communications between various offices, your objective may be saving on travel costs. Whatever it may be, figure it out prior to execution.

2. Use Available Analytics.

With various analytics tools, it is easier than ever before to evaluate how others are interacting with your video. You are able to examine which videos are being watched until the very end, at what point others may drop off, the demographic of your audience and how far the video is shared.

You are also able to create a model to calculate what the engagements are worth based on your messaging objective and how others are interacting with your video. If you’re looking to promote sampling and want to calculate what the engagement is worth, assigning a value for each sign up is a great way to measure success. For example, every person who watches your video and engages fully by registering for your sampling promo can each equal to $100 of investment. Working with these numbers will make it easier to draw comparisons between media channels.

Similarly, ROI doesn’t necessarily have to equal a dollar figure. It can be social interactions, conversations around your brand and those very important recommendations by your brand ambassadors. If your video is getting shared by your target demographic and this audience is recommending your video to their friends, the reach and engagement is just as valuable as a dollar figure.

3. Partner up with experts.

There is no point in producing expensive high quality content without a distribution strategy. Online platforms have an advantage over traditional platforms in being able to target the right demographic and this is something your campaign should benefit from.

It’s rare that a video goes viral and is shared without a push and without a doubt, a successful online video campaigns require the same level of planning for a targeted distribution to ensure desired exposure to a relevant audience.

If you are able to, it’s beneficial to partner up with experts to help your campaign achieve maximum return – whether it’s perfecting your analytics or helping your video receive the target views it needs. Video marketing agencies like VMG Cinematic specialize in not only producing broadcast quality content for the web but also ensuring that the video gets in front of targeted eye balls.

Let’s take Canadian luxury fashion retailer, Holt Renfrew, as an example. At one time, The HR YouTube channel hosted 22 videos with a total of 92,000 video views; however 84% of those views came from only 2 of the 22 videos with the help of VMG. Furthermore, these two videos have also accounted for total of 84% of total consumer interaction on brand’s channel. 

Partnering up with online video industry leaders can provide you access to numbers and reports that provide in depth analytics and more importantly, results that justify your online video ROI.

4. Don’t be afraid to get creative.

Measuring online video ROI isn’t always an exact science and with a non traditional platform, you have room to come up with creative and different ways to validate your efforts.

Online video can often drives traffic back to your website and one way is to look at what that traffic would have cost if it had been acquired by a push advertisement.

For example, comparing the pay per click model and the received traffic you can use the following:

Running banner ads on a website with $3 per click which results in 300 unique visitors to your website. This traffic of 300 people to your website is then worth $900.

Although this approach offers an easy dollar figure, it’s crucial to note that the difference in pay per click banner ad traffic and organic post video engagement differs greatly and the value through organic engagement is much higher.

To conclude, online video enhances and creates the most engaging online user experiences. When it comes to ROI, the measurement metrics differ greatly depending on the specific goals. However, success lays in in the ability to target a specific audience based on demographic, geographic and contextual parameters.

The Remix Project is a youth program for those between ages of 16-22 that acts as an incubator for youth in the Toronto Area. It’s for young people aspiring to start careers in the urban arts sector who would not necessarily get the chance. The program develops a 6 month action plan for success for these entrepreneurs by providing:

-Supportive and knowledgable staff.
-A 4,930 sq. ft. facility, with a full recording studio, business development centre, visual art lab, video editing suite & more.
-Mentors and industry professionals with wide range of experience.
-One on one guidance sessions.
-Regular workshops lead by industry professionals, giving practical steps and advice.
-Flexible schedules for youth.
-Meeting like minded individuals.

Specifically, VMG support the  City Life Film Project that finds young, talented filmmakers from Toronto’s priority neighbourhoods to tell their stories through film.

So why The Remix Project?

For VMG partners Mark and Reid Campbell and Nick Haffie-Emslie, it carries a personal interest. Spending their youth making films, they know first hand how important it is to be able to pursue your passions at a young age. In their case, it eventually lead them into starting their own business of making brand videos.

As Reid Campbell explains, “Filming, editing, video cameras…. film making as a hobby can get ridiculously expensive. Especially when you’re in high school! We wanted to give back to the community and give a chance for others to follow their artistic passions”

The Remix project works with priority neighbourhoods, of which over 30% of high school students are not expected to graduate resulting in higher unemployment, increased crime rates and deeper social divisions. The City Life Film Project trains talented youth and gives them the chance to work with top filmmakers from the Toronto film industry helping the youth expand their education.

TIFF Bell Lightbox hosted a red carpet and special screening of City Life Film Project on January 24th showcasing artistic excellence in film making created by talented youth from priority neighbourhoods, and VMG was proudly in attendance showing our support.

It was an inspiring event with many of our industry friends. So amazing to have a chance to be a part of something this great!

And you know what the best part about supporting organizations like The Remix Project? Reading stories like these:

Happy Holidays from the team at VMG Cinematic!

The past year has been a roller coaster of excitement for us at VMG. This accelerating journey has contributed to our growth on many levels as we constantly experienced change for the better. We were fortunate enough to work on some amazing projects with even more amazing people. 2009 has been full of late nights, early mornings, and great times. 2010 landmarks a special occasion not only because it’s the beginning of a new year or even a new decade, but because it’s a breakthrough in ways more than one – for our quickly flourishing industry, our continuously growing client base, and for us. The past has been encouraging and the future looks promising. Thanks to everyone who was a part of VMG in ’09, we can’t wait to see you all in the new year!

Cheers,

The VMG team.

Brent resigned a few weeks ago.  He had been with us almost from the beginning helping build VMG up from a small, basement operation into the successful company that it is today (and yes we have moved out of the basement).  I went to school with Brent, we were in the same Film Studies program at Western.  It was a terrible program, underfunded, understaffed, and dull.  So dull in fact that Brent and I and several others realized that if we were going to learn proper filmmaking technique there was only one thing we could do: teach ourselves.  And that’s what we did.  We wrote scripts in between essays, borrowed equipment between classes and begged favors from anyone who would listen. Those were heady times. We won film festivals, not big ones but significant enough to convince us that we had something, something that could be developed.  And from that hard knock, teach-yourself-education, friendships were forged, good ones, long lasting ones. The kind that inevitably define your life in some way for years afterwards.

Brent didn’t leave in anger or disgrace.  He wasn’t kicked out because of a raging coke habit or a pimp that would call late at  night demanding to know where he was and how much money he was making.  No, Brent left for his own reasons, and they are his to know and his alone.  As the character Laroche said about his fish collecting hobby in Susan Orleans’ “The Orchid Thief” (and later Spike Jonze movie “Adaptation”)- “done with fish”.  Brent was “done with VMG” and it was simply time to move on to see what else life had in store.

God speed good friend.  You helped us create something truly unique and you will be missed.

- Evan

Since the site is freshly launched, we don’t have much in the way of metrics yet. But our experience is that video-rich sites like this have a significant impact on visitors and encourage longer visit durations. When the goal is to communicate an open, accessible, authentic brand persona, video is a tough medium to beat.

It’s also becoming more popular not just on campaign-specific microsites, but – like in TSH’s case – as a fundamental component of a brand’s main website.

Nike is a great example of this. A slick video carousel serves as a portal to Nike’s portfolio of category-, product- and campaign-specific microsites. A home-movie microdoc spot about pond hockey plays next to a mashup of richly lit behind-the-scenes footage of industrial sewing machines with Beyoncé-like glamour shots of the finished kicks. Although the videos are unrelated, they all share the brand’s classic just-do-it messaging. The result is a brand entry point that speaks to both the core brand personality and the diversity of the company’s offerings.

-Nick

Search VMG Cinematic on Facebook and join the fanbase – (and tell your friends!)

VMG Racing dominated the OFFC over a rainy weekend, earning 2 wins in two days.

VMG Cinematic sponsored race driver Matt White reinforced his reputation in the A class as a rain master on Saturday, earning pole position and gaining 15 seconds on the second place car within the first lap.  By the time he was given the chequered flag, Matt had lapped all but seven cars. Sunday saw a somewhat drier repeat performance, with Matt again starting from pole and immediately distancing himself from the pack, leading the race from flag to flag.  With only 2 races left in the season, VMG Racing looks to clinch the OFFC Driver’s championship.  Way to go Matt!

“…online video is expected to be one of the fastest-growing emerging mediums in 2009, with a growth rate of 45% and spending of $800 million.

“It is the one medium that advertisers are most comfortable with,” [Magna's] Brian Wieser said. “The assets that are required can be the same as those with TV, and there has been an increase in supply of inventory of A-grade content.”

So ended a rather gloomy article from AdAge entitled “Coen Revises ’08 Forecast Down in Face of Grim Economy”.

The sum of the article amounted to a declaration from Magna Global’s Robert Coen, senior VP-director of forecasting, that 2008 ad spending would not be as high as originally anticipated. The paragraph quoted above was the only good piece of news to come out of the whole article and fortunately it’s good news for us (and possibly you) and reaffirms our long held belief that online video (in its various forms) is the new frontier of ad investment. The eyeball shift is in full force, shrinking economy be damned! People may be more cautious with their wallets in the months to come but they’re still going to go online for their news and entertainment. And that’s where we’ll reach them.

This has been my first post here on the VMG blog, expect more ranting and raving to follow as I rediscover my writer’s voice. But be warned, a grain of salt may be required for what I say from time to time, this is after all opinion and I’ve been known to stir a few pots with mine.

Article link:

- Evan VMG – CD

There’s also a rock climbing gym in the building (rock climbing is the new golf, if you didn’t get the memo), so bring your chalk bags to the next meeting.

Our complete address is:

29 Fraser Ave, #4
Toronto, Ontario
M6K 1Y7