Re: Real Videos Ads & Sponsorship

From: David Podgursky <david_at_video2net.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 09:38:33 -0600 (CST)

Greetings Cindy Alpers, Darren, et al,

I thought I would take a quick moment to respond to your
questions about streaming video for your advertisements. I
think that you have some very compelling and interesting
questions about the technology, and I hope to help you to
come to a better understanding of how Streaming Video clips
can help you improve your web marketing efforts.

I will tell you first that I work for Video2Net, a world
leader in streaming video on the Internet. You can find our
company info at www.video2net.com and see some samples of
our work.

You said: "We are also looking into the use of video as
advertisements. We're also looking at video to compliment
our travel articles and show off our catalog products.
(The swimwear should go over BIG.) ;-) So far we have not
come up with any sound pricing, but some of the factors
that we have been considering are:

"1. Novelty of Video-will the viewer be attracted to it
enough to watch it?"

- Will the viewer be attracted to a site with, say, swimwear
videos?...sure thing... No matter how you look at the
Victoria's Secret On-Line Fashion Show fiasco (Their
streaming video services provider could not handle the
traffic and vastly underestimated it), that type of content
drives traffic. - Will the viewer be attracted to watch
videos on anything you are selling? Well, that depends.
What else are you selling? Video will allow your viewers to
get a better idea of what the item will look like once they
get it. - Video also allows you to do some creative
commentary about the product. If HSN or QVC didn't have
great hosts/hostesses, they would not be so successful. -
Will people come just to watch your video? Why would you
want them to? Why spend money on people that are not your
customers? In hopes that they will soon become your
customers. If all they need is a gimmick, Streaming Video
is actually a very INEXPENSIVE way to promote your product.

" 2. Length of time it takes for a viewer to download the
ad."

With Streaming Video, viewing is almost instantaneous.
Streaming video was created to be able to: a) provide live
video on the Internet. -and- b) reduce the amount of
bandwidth that a viewer needs to view an online video. The
alternate would be *.mpg *.avi and *.mov files. These are
downloadable files. A 30-second mpg can be as large as
2Meg. Over a 28.8Kbps modem, this download would take 20-30
minutes. With streaming video, the viewer could be watching
in seconds.

" 3. Does the viewer have a video program installed on their
site and will they take the time to download one to watch
your video? Or, will streaming video solve this problem?"

Yes and no, no. There are "viewerless" streaming video
formats. They typically use a java viewer that quickly
downloads every time you play the file. They do not provide
the ability to stream LIVE though. (There are people that
claim they can provide such a product but they tend to be
reserved for the adult-only websites and are of poor
quality) Also, the image and sound quality is quite poor on
them. Your best bet is to stick with a streaming video
format such as Microsoft NetShow. We've found that NetShow
provides the best video in many ways. - the image is clear
and the framerate is good enough to provide smooth motion
and lipsynch. - the audio is clear and does not sound like
you are listening to someone in a can. - the compression
ratios are such that net traffic does not interfere with the
stability of the stream like in other programs. Now, about
software. Yes, you will need to have the viewer to watch
the video. What does this mean? For NetShow files you must
have the Windows Media Player. This is a free product from
Microsoft that can be downloaded from their website. It is
roughly a 2.4M download (30-35 min on a 28.8Kbps modem). It
only needs to be downloaded once and will play all NetShow
files. In the past 2.5 months, there have been over 5
million downloads of WMP, and it currently ships with
Windows 98. There is also a Mac version and a Unix version
is on the way. So, streaming video actually contributes to
this problem, but soon everyone will have the player built
in to their computers when they buy them.

" 4. When will it be worth the money to produce video?"

Video production and encoding your video for streaming over
the Internet are two vastly different things. If you have
an in-house video production facility, then the costs are
not so great. If you do not, then hiring an outside video
production team can be expensive. Another option is buying
a lower-end digital camcorder such as a Canon or JVC and
doing your own video work. If you do not need editing, then
you can get a lot of video shot for a small price and still
have a camera to use for the next catalog. If you need
editing, the new software packages on the market are quite
easy to use and provide a lot of power to the novice video
producer. Sometimes, renting a nice betacam and hiring a
cameraman is the best idea. Sometimes tech schools or local
universities will have a telecommunications department that
hire out their students for low-rate freelance work. They
many times have the tools to do everything you need at a low
cost so that they can add the work to their portfolios.

" 5. When will the technology come together so that the
average viewer will have access to it?"

The average viewer does have access. Bandwidth is scarce,
but not so much so that video does not work. Somewhere near
70% of Internet users have somewhere around 28.8Kbps
connectivity speeds consistently. We can broadcast very
good quality video at that speed. Check out
www.theautochannel.com 's Media Library to see some great
28.8 video that anyone can view with a computer and modem
from anywhere in the world. With the new $500 e-Machine and
idot.com computers out there shipping with 56K modems, we're
definitely ready to experience a jump in online video
viewership over the next few months.

" 6. How will the internet be broadcast in the near future?
Phone, cable or satellite?"

All three industries will have a hand in the future
connectivity issues to the Internet. The winner(s) will be
determined by which one(s) can provide the highest
consistent bandwidth at the lowest cost to the user.

"7. Quality of the video...will it be as good as TV?"

Right now, S-VHS quality over the Internet is possible. We
can do full screen, full motion video with a 32 frames per
second framerate to anyone anywhere in the world. BUT...it
takes well over 500Kbps to do so. This means that only
people with VERY high connection speeds can view it right
now. In the future, *I* feel that the Internet and TV will
be one converged technology. Both will be very easy to
access and the channel count will be virtually limitless.
Will TV be as good as the Internet is the better question.
Will people be tuning into the idiot box when they can tune
into a new information appliance that can deliver the same
content plus everything on the web?

"All of these factors should affect the cost of a video ad
over the next year or two. I suspect that the rates will
climb rapidly. I know Broadcast.com runs video ads and has a
rate card, but you'll have to call them for the prices.
Also, it looks like there will be a lot said about this
subject at the Spring Internet World Conference in Los
Angeles this April. I'm going!"

I think the rates are going to do just the opposite. It
really doesn't cost that much to get video on the Internet.
I think that choosing your service provider is going to be
the trick. Broadcast.com and other entities like us are
technically ISPs, Internet Service Providers. There will
soon be a change in the language of the Internet. We will
soon be called VSPs, VIDEO Service Providers. Once there is
an industry standard for streaming video formats, then we'll
see some real price competition. As it stands right now,
the big names (IPOs) rule the industry. In the next year or
so, people will see that the mid-sized, private businesses
like Video2Net can provide much better quality and pricing
because we simply have more technical experience than anyone
else.

For more information, feel free to contact me at any time.
I am more than happy to talk to anyone with questions about
this technology and what it can do for their businesses.

Sincerely,

David Podgursky
Chief Big Mouth
Video2Net, Inc.


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Received on Thu Feb 25 1999 - 11:24:51 CST