Online video ready for prime time
Oon YeohPublished: Oct 5, 2010 3:29 AM | Updated: Oct 5, 2010 4:38 AM
When I wrote my first book 'Transition' about ICT back in 2003, I devoted a whole chapter to online video. I said that while this form of new media had a lot of potential, bandwidth costs were prohibitively high.
When I wrote my first book 'Transition' about ICT back in 2003, I devoted a whole chapter to online video. I said that while this form of new media had a lot of potential, bandwidth costs were prohibitively high.
Bandwidth is still expensive today but online video is now ready for prime time, thanks largely to YouTube which is easy to use and it’s free (courtesy of Google). Many news websites today use embedded YouTube videos as a means of providing video content to their audiences.
BFM 89.9, the business radio station that I do some consulting for, is no exception. Scheduled for launch later this month, BFM’s revamped website will in fact feature two types of video: live (via Ustream) and pre-recorded (via YouTube).
Why video for a radio station website, you might ask. It’s true that most people would naturally associate a radio station with podcasts, not videos. But we wanted to offer the audience more than what they would expect and we figured video was one good way to do this.
Initially, I thought only in terms of pre-recorded videos (or video on demand) but someone suggested we also provide a live feed straight from the studio.
The thinking is that audience members would like to know what the guests and the presenters look like and how they actually behave and interact in the studio.
It’s kind of voyeuristic, yes, but we believe it’ll be quite popular, especially if you can hear some studio chatter sometimes, could be more interesting than the interview proper. As for the video on demand, this is something important because people would naturally expect us to have some videos that are available even when there’s no one at the studio. We can’t rely just on live video.
Pushing the envelope a whole lot more
Websites, unlike radio stations, are not regulated, so there’s more leeway to do cutting edge things when it comes to online video content. Online video basically allows us to push the envelope a whole lot more than we could through the airwaves. This is something I think more media companies should consider.
Some people have asked why we are using free services like Ustream and YouTube. Why don’t we get our own servers and so on? The answer is simple economics. The video service is something new that we are still experimenting with. So free services are the prudent way to go. It’s what I would advise any start up to do.
Of course there are some drawbacks to using free services. In the case of YouTube, for example, the videos can only be 10 minutes long and you’re not allowed to incorporate advertisements in them. Instead, YouTube will dish out some ads to go along with your videos. No such things as a free lunch, right?
Another project I’m looking to work on later in the year are interactive e-books for iPads. I've been involved in the book publishing business since I graduated from university but they’ve always been print books.
I’ve long had my doubts about the viability of e-books but with the emergence of iPads, and the kinds of things iPad Apps can achieve, I’m now a true believer of e-books. In fact, I believe they will hasten the demise of the printed book, magazine and newspaper.
The beauty of interactive e-books made in the form of iPad Apps is that they can incorporate all the good things about print books and marry them with cool multimedia content such as audio, video and animation.
A boon to marketers
Online videos should be a boon to marketers. They are relatively cheap to produce compared to broadcast quality commercials and the witty and funny ones can go viral very quickly, spreading like wildfire through the online community, especially if you share them through social media.
If you share a video link through a Twitter posting, for example, all your followers will get it. If it’s funny, interesting or useful, they will retweet it and all their followers will be made aware of the link. And so on. You can see how viral it can be.
The same for Facebook. If you post up a video there and someone likes it, they can actually click a button that says they “like” it. Once they do that everyone in their network will see they like this particular video. A few might actually click on the link and if they click that they choose to “like” it too, their networks will be alerted. And so on. Very viral.
All of this will come to naught if consumers don’t have the bandwidth though. Luckily, that situation is fast changing . High speed broadband is being rolled out through the Klang Valley and eventually the rest of the country.
Don’t forget mobile phone users will sooner or later get 4G or LTE or some form of advanced network that will give them super speeds. Then there’s WiMAX which has started being rolled out. Pretty soon, bandwidth will not be a problem here.
Now you see why I believe online video’s time has arrived?
OON YEOH's new social media book 'Like Me, Follow Me' is published by MPH. You can connect with him via Facebook and Twitter.
Bandwidth is still expensive today but online video is now ready for prime time, thanks largely to YouTube which is easy to use and it’s free (courtesy of Google). Many news websites today use embedded YouTube videos as a means of providing video content to their audiences.
BFM 89.9, the business radio station that I do some consulting for, is no exception. Scheduled for launch later this month, BFM’s revamped website will in fact feature two types of video: live (via Ustream) and pre-recorded (via YouTube).
Why video for a radio station website, you might ask. It’s true that most people would naturally associate a radio station with podcasts, not videos. But we wanted to offer the audience more than what they would expect and we figured video was one good way to do this.
Initially, I thought only in terms of pre-recorded videos (or video on demand) but someone suggested we also provide a live feed straight from the studio.
The thinking is that audience members would like to know what the guests and the presenters look like and how they actually behave and interact in the studio.
It’s kind of voyeuristic, yes, but we believe it’ll be quite popular, especially if you can hear some studio chatter sometimes, could be more interesting than the interview proper. As for the video on demand, this is something important because people would naturally expect us to have some videos that are available even when there’s no one at the studio. We can’t rely just on live video.
Pushing the envelope a whole lot more
Websites, unlike radio stations, are not regulated, so there’s more leeway to do cutting edge things when it comes to online video content. Online video basically allows us to push the envelope a whole lot more than we could through the airwaves. This is something I think more media companies should consider.
Some people have asked why we are using free services like Ustream and YouTube. Why don’t we get our own servers and so on? The answer is simple economics. The video service is something new that we are still experimenting with. So free services are the prudent way to go. It’s what I would advise any start up to do.
Of course there are some drawbacks to using free services. In the case of YouTube, for example, the videos can only be 10 minutes long and you’re not allowed to incorporate advertisements in them. Instead, YouTube will dish out some ads to go along with your videos. No such things as a free lunch, right?Another project I’m looking to work on later in the year are interactive e-books for iPads. I've been involved in the book publishing business since I graduated from university but they’ve always been print books.
I’ve long had my doubts about the viability of e-books but with the emergence of iPads, and the kinds of things iPad Apps can achieve, I’m now a true believer of e-books. In fact, I believe they will hasten the demise of the printed book, magazine and newspaper.
The beauty of interactive e-books made in the form of iPad Apps is that they can incorporate all the good things about print books and marry them with cool multimedia content such as audio, video and animation.
A boon to marketers
Online videos should be a boon to marketers. They are relatively cheap to produce compared to broadcast quality commercials and the witty and funny ones can go viral very quickly, spreading like wildfire through the online community, especially if you share them through social media.
If you share a video link through a Twitter posting, for example, all your followers will get it. If it’s funny, interesting or useful, they will retweet it and all their followers will be made aware of the link. And so on. You can see how viral it can be.
The same for Facebook. If you post up a video there and someone likes it, they can actually click a button that says they “like” it. Once they do that everyone in their network will see they like this particular video. A few might actually click on the link and if they click that they choose to “like” it too, their networks will be alerted. And so on. Very viral. All of this will come to naught if consumers don’t have the bandwidth though. Luckily, that situation is fast changing . High speed broadband is being rolled out through the Klang Valley and eventually the rest of the country.
Don’t forget mobile phone users will sooner or later get 4G or LTE or some form of advanced network that will give them super speeds. Then there’s WiMAX which has started being rolled out. Pretty soon, bandwidth will not be a problem here.
Now you see why I believe online video’s time has arrived?
OON YEOH's new social media book 'Like Me, Follow Me' is published by MPH. You can connect with him via Facebook and Twitter.
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