Screens are everywhere, boosting demand for quality video content, says Daniel Harrison, general manager of monetization at VideoElephant, in this interview at the #BeetRetreat Berkshires with Beet.TV contributor Rob Williams. Special thanks to Magnite, Mastercard and TransUnion for sponsoring our series. Visit Beet.TV for this video (https://lnkd.in/eGid5AJv) and much more! #ctv #fasttv Reserve your spot for the Beet Retreat Santa Monica, Nov. 13-15 🌴 https://lnkd.in/enYJtwfw
Transcript
So we are in the age of massive consumption of video. There is more content being created, more consumption by more audiences than ever in more media channels and in more environments. Just think about all of the high def TVs, screens, panels that are popping up all around us in the physical world as we go about our day. And so with this proliferation of content in all of these environments, there has presented itself a huge opportunity for any company in the business of video. >> Just so I understand, does that include, let's say, a digital, out of home and that kind of thing, as far as the screens that you're talking about, is that among this proliferation? >> Sure, it is. I'm certainly thinking macro, as a human consumer who is walking about my day and my world. Whether it's through my handheld device or the screens I'm seeing popping up in any environment that I walk through or stand in front of. Or it's in my house and the many different types of screens that exist there. There is just so much video available, and that's being distributed and that's being consumed by folks everywhere. So, as I shared that, there's a huge opportunity for those in the business of it, and that ubiquity, which means it's everywhere and all the time. It also presents just a reality that it takes more as a business to be profitable. And that's, in part, Rob, because of the just think of the competition for audience, or the competition for the attention of the audience. The inherent costs that are associated with the acquisition of production of the distribution of content. These are significant costs. And so when I think about this year, I think projected $230 to $250 billion globally, but for just OTT video content alone. And so this is what Video Elephant is primarily focused on, which is solving for driving up the revenue line and making profitable anyone in the business of video. >> Yeah, well, I was hoping you could elaborate a bit more on some of the challenges. Could you dig into that a little bit more and how Video Elephant solves for them? >> Sure, so when I think about our current client base, and we certainly listen greatly to what it is that they're up against and their needs are. Think about, from a client perspective, the top 50 to top 100 publishers or broadcasters and many of the top streaming platforms. So one of the primary needs is to be able to source high quality, trusted content to do so quickly, and to make sure that it's cost efficient. So this is a critical need for them, whether you are launching a new FAST channel and or you are growing an existing portfolio of web properties or a CTV mobile app environments. In fact, I'll often share. Even if you have thousands of hours of original, brilliant content of your own, there are always gaps to fill in a 24/7 schedule that needs to be programmed. And those gaps need to be filled with content that really aligns with what your core mission is as a media company or as a business. What the current content is and the audience that you currently have that it most resonates with, and the audience that you want to grow and develop and how it resonates with them. And ultimately, if your ad supported, it needs to align well with the kinds of content and audience that the advertisers want to spend budgets on to achieve their outcomes and their objectives. So this is certainly a critical piece of the equation. I'll add one more to this that comes up more often than ever is the need to turn on a dime. So who your audiences are today and how they're resonating with certain content may not be the content that resonates tomorrow. So to be able to swap out entire channels immediately in a day, or just some assets in those existing channels, this is, this is all necessary. So that thus is one of the big challenges, the sourcing of that content. And it is absolutely the primary value proposition of Video Elephant's since inception. So, to give you the quick summary of how we do that, Video Elephant is a massive library of premium, professionally produced video content. All genres, travel, entertainment, news, sports, and every genre in between. And it is short form, mid form, long form, episodic content. We are in all languages, most languages, at least, in the traditional orientation of landscape to the vertical orientation of content. And this is content that is 100% geared towards driving engagement from an audience. Without content, nothing else really can follow. And so we have been, we have become known as a one stop, trusted source for any content as needed as I've just described. And to be pulled into any endpoint, which includes, right out of home environments, from doctor's office waiting rooms, to restaurants, to bars, into airport executive club lounges. And in retail, connected commerce, retail, media, connected commerce environments. >> So, Dan, you joined Video Elephant over a year ago. Just over a year ago. What else are you seeing and solving for? So, we know that content is king, and we have the wind at our back because that's been our core solve since the beginning. >> It's the return on investment in content that's the king maker, right? So when you think about the different economic models that various content businesses, broadcasters and the like have had to evolve into. In order to drive up different revenue lines, they've started to hybridize. So from subscription into AVOD into FAST, free ad-supported streaming models, t-commerce. So we at Video Elephant have evolved ourselves to address client needs, which includes flipping the economic model and offering other ways to get access to content. Traditionally, it was straight out licensing and paying upfront and high risk for content. Now there are situations for some clients where we will actually take on the ad inventory associated with our content in their environments. And in essence, pay back a check of significant revenue for any monetization that we do. And so we've gone ahead and built out a successful ad monetization business, working all the way out to the brand side and demand partner side. Building out what our ad stack looks like and programming content and advertising in a way that is more holistically linked, which is something that I've firmly believed in for a long time. A need to solve for both stakeholders successfully, not one at the expense of the other. And so with this flip of the model, we've also looked at curating different programmatic marketplaces. Trying to solve for news situations with other partners in the market, where we know that these block lists are a blunt instrument which is causing a challenge to funding news. So this is an area that we have put a great deal of effort in. We're revealing much more context than many content providers out there today. Or at least allowing our partners to do so for transparency out to the advertisers to help them reach audiences more specific to who they intend to. The final piece is just in this past couple months, we launched a FAST strategic service arm, very smart folks out of LA, that we've hired in marketing here, 2,000 to 3,000 FAST channels alone. It reminds me of the early days in the web where it was build the website and they shall come. Build the mobile app and they shall come. The reality is it just sits on a shelf. And so there really needs to be smart programming, smart distribution of that, how you promote it, how you audience build and develop. So this is something that we've seen a need for and are doing. Final point, we mentioned the CTV in this out of home environment. More increasingly, we're asked to really program specific channels and content to those environments. You can imagine as you go about the day and everywhere that you are, the environmental context matters greatly to the kinds of content and advertising that you'll be receptive to. This is an expertise that we also have and are grateful to be more called to task to solve. >> Well, let's see the past, almost two years since ChatGPT came out and everyone understands what generative AI is. I was kind of curious what your thoughts are on AI as far as perhaps replacing humans and content creation. It seems to be the next step or I ChatGPT was for text, there's DALL-E for images. And now, I guess from what I've heard, is videos are around the corner. How does that affect you? >> Listen, I love this question, living and breathing that world right now. We at Video Elephant certainly deploy a variety of different tools, Gen AI or AI, to solve for a variety of end stakeholder needs. I think the question you're asking, though, comes to the point of the role of the human in. Well, actually in anything. And I'm fascinated by the technological advances for the augmentation of what a human is able to do. But I'll share that as a human myself, that there is something to be said about the role of the consumer in being the judge and jury on the value of that content. And what will you, what will I actually want to consume? Because that is the content that will really matter. And so if the content is created by someone who had to struggle a bit and had a real sense of working through all the facets, of taking an idea and envisioning it. And having it evolve into something that then we can consume and relate to, there's something more authentic to it that for me resonates. But who knows? Ultimately, it's not up to me or to you. It's what the consumer will engage with. And we at Video Elephant are in the business of ensuring that whatever content is being consumed and highly engaged is the content that makes it into these environments. That is the content that advertisers are spending money around to reach their audiences. This is our expertise, and we'll be in the business for a long time and growing.To view or add a comment, sign in