The State of Corporate Video 2018
Across the board, 2017 saw explosive growth in the consumption of video. But how has the increase in generation and consumption of content in the corporate arena affected the approaches of corporates and the platforms they use?
We can turn to Facebook for the answer. Video now accounts for 50 percent of all mobile data consumed using Facebook, and Facebook expects that number to rise to 75 percent in 4 years. There has also been a massive increase in the amount of live video being created, with it accounting for 10 percent of all mobile data consumed using Facebook. Interestingly, on the platform, live video is generally watched three times longer than on-demand video, which suggests that corporates should be considering the possibilities that live offers to drive user engagement.
Live video's value comes from its unique ability to add a level of interactivity to digital communications, ranging from the audience simply interacting with the participants through Q&A to fundamentally altering the nature of the live content. As a result, corporates are leveraging three main types of streams to connect with their viewers: product launches, advice/tutorials, and exclusive or behind-the-scenes footage and interactions.
Many content publishers, such as broadcasters and magazine owners, have expressed disappointment in the returns delivered by Facebook Live and live video on Twitter; in some cases, they’ve even begun to reconsider their strategies for the platforms. But most corporates have found that when content is specifically designed for their target audiences, it can deliver results. Many corporate live streams can deliver engaged audiences of hundreds of thousands, or even millions, if the content is correctly targeted.
Many of these live streams are focused on growing engagement with the corporates’ Facebook pages to gain more Likes, expanding the audience that can be reached by ongoing social activity through organic reach. Corporates are also becoming more sophisticated when it comes to gaining value from live video by giving audiences a straightforward call to action such as asking them to purchase a product or take part in an activity. In the case of charities, this can be done using the Donate button to raise revenue.
As an example, Groovy Gecko has seen some projects grow brand awareness by more than 5 percent, while others have increased paid user activity on a website by 20 percent or helped sell out a product in only 8 days as compared to the expected timescale of 8 weeks.
Corporates’ use of the platform has not only grown in terms of the amount of content being produced, but also in the type of corporate engaging with the platform. This time last year, the vast majority of content was coming from publishers of media, film, and entertainment. Over the last 12 months, however, content has rapidly diversified to cover sectors such as fast-moving consumer goods, energy, sportswear, retail, and pharmaceuticals, proving that Facebook Live has the ability to reach and engage a wide variety of audiences.
Video Consumption and Creation on the Rise
In general, the growth in video consumption looks set to continue as 82 percent of all consumer traffic will be video by 2020, according to a recent report by Cisco. More specific to corporates, however, is the annual Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Video Content Management” report. But Gartner didn’t publish the report in 2017, and so it is much more difficult to get a holistic view of how the various online video platforms (OVPs) have developed and could benefit from the increase in video content being created.
Kaltura’s annual “State of Video in the Enterprise” report, an international study of around 650 enterprise professionals, does, however, give us some indication of the growth in corporate video usage. Unsurprisingly, given its source, the report reveals that large organisations now consider the integration of video content workflows into their key technology platforms an important requirement.
Kaltura’s 2017 “State of Video in the Enterprise” report found that 53% of all respondents’ organisations were creating more video content in 2017 than they did in the previous year. (Source: Kaltura)
More interestingly, the survey found that active video creation by employees seems to be on the rise, with slightly more than half (53 percent) of all respondents saying that their organisations were creating more video content in 2017 than they did in the previous year.
More than one-quarter of large companies (29 percent) create video for between five and eight different use cases, while 91 percent use it for at least two. These use cases include brand awareness, employee-generated content, public event broadcasting, learning/training, internal communications, and internal live broadcasts.
In terms of live broadcasts, again there looks to be significant growth, with almost three-quarters of respondents from large organisations using webcasting for communications involving their senior executives, and almost half using it for employee training.
In parallel, many large organisations are focusing on improving the way video is managed internally. When asked about plans to consolidate multiple systems into fewer centrally managed solutions, two-thirds of large organisations had already deployed a video portal to achieve this.
Kaltura’s research also showed that 29% of large companies create video for between five and eight different use cases, while 91% use it for at least two.
OVP Market Leaders
In that context it is important to look at some of 2016’s leaders (and closest challengers) from the Gartner Magic Quadrant—Panopto, Qumu, Kaltura, and Brightcove— to see how their offerings have developed in the last 12 months to better exploit the maturing corporate market.
Panopto continued to show considerable growth— 142 percent in the last 3 years. This growth was enabled by a gradually more specialised approach—the company has looked to become, in its own words, “the largest repository of expert learning videos in the world.”
A deal with CERNET Education (CEREDU), announced back in May 2017, enabled expansion into China where CEREDU now offers local hosting, support, and billing, which will be essential in driving growth in the region for Panopto as continued growth in this and other developing markets is going to be key in continuing Panopto’s future.
As part of developing the platform, Panopto also announced a partnership with Zoom to incorporate its software. The technology allows video meetings or video conferences to be delivered using Zoom’s functionality directly into the Panopto platform, allowing seamless integration into the OVP. This in turns allows the video to be searchable by any spoken word or shared text from the broadcast.
This kind of seamless capture and integration of live video is essential when trying to decrease the complexity that organisations both educational and corporate face when trying to acquire live content.
By specialising more in the education/knowledge sector, Panopto continued to grow this year and looks likely to continue growing in the year ahead.
Qumu has taken a different approach by trying to be a more generalist platform for a range of corporate clients. The strategy seems to be working, since it continued to add clients throughout the year, including 12 new global enterprise video clients in the third quarter of 2017, making it one of the company’s most successful sales quarters in nearly 2 years.
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