Trends in Video to Web

Distribution of video over the web has reached its tipping point.

All social network video consumption aside, there is a massive trend in pushing video to the web. Television networks are doing it, educational institutions are doing it, certainly advertisers and agencies are doing it. Even the Whitehouse is doing it.

Whether you're just getting started or you've been at it for years, you might be thinking about how the hell you'll be able to manage all of it. Especially while your web production team is already busy keeping up with the current state of affairs.

He who fails history is doomed to repeat it:

As history typically dictates, the rush to provide better [video-based] information to the web, probably lacks a defined method, repeatable production process, or an appropriate attention to distribution rights and authorizations.

As we experience the early 'tremors' of what looks to be the next big 'bubble' in the internet age, NOW is the time to atone for your sins of the past: Mangage the process before the process manages you. In the early 90's we all rushed in to get that first company website up and running (all 8 pages of it. By 95 web were scrambling for navigators and site statistics. By the late 90's, web content management systems emerged to save the day, and we spent almost a decade buying and building to regain control over it.

Video: Not your average piece of content!

Those of you who have tried would agree. Those of you who are planning to, stop. Web video production and management DOESN"T FIT into conventional WCM  and  (arguably) some ECM  systems. From the very beginning it requires special attention.

Maybe you need to down-code it , where you transform broadcast quality down to a streaming format that works well for your low-bandwidth visitors. You do have a couple streaming servers around, right? Maybe you need to trim it down, where your video editors cut it down to a 15 minute highlight from a 2 hour production. You do have video editors on staff, right? (ok, another time).

First Things First:

Well, you've already accomplished the first step (that's how you got here). You recognize that you need to manage digital video content as an ASSET; you need a specific system designed to manage digital assets. And this digital asset management system needs to support how you create the video, how you manage the video, and certainly, how you distribute the video.

Sure. They're out there. Plenty of them. All the bells and whistles you need. But which bells do you need? How do you figure it out?

We'll do that here! Just ask, we'll tell you. And maybe you'll tell me...

Next time, we'll start at the end and work our way back:

Video Distribution format considerations - Flash? Quicktime? Windows Media? What works best and how important is the digital distribution format when it comes to the production and management aspects of the new Digital Asset Management systems.