Update and Refresher on Monetization with VideoPublishing.com

Hello everyone!  We’ve gone quite a while without a blog post, but rest assured we have been busy working on new features and improvements to the VideoPublishing.com offering.  As we have added monetization methods over the course of the last year, we realize that perhaps we have not fully communicated it to everyone.   So, we’d like to take a moment to review the various industry and company-specific standards VideoPublishing.com supports ‘out of the box’ to help you monetize your great content.  Here is a complete, up-to-date list:

 

VAST – (Video Ads Serving Template)

The VAST specification is an XML schema for ad serving to digital video players and their interactions with the ad servers/network(s).  This schema enables publishers to support advertising solutions and inventories from a broad variety of advertisers and ad networks, including OASIS, 24/7 Real Media, Doubleclick, Scanscout,Liverail, Tremor Media and Microsoft. From the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) website:

VAST provides a common protocol that enables ad servers to use a single ad response format across multiple publishers/video players. In 2008, the IAB introduced the first version of VAST to the video advertising marketplace, which has since been widely adopted throughout the industry. In 2009 features were added that enabled additional functionality and more clarity. Today, as the in­‐stream digital video advertising market becomes more sophisticated, additional features and functionality are required to improve support for in-­‐stream ad display and reporting.

 Our VAST 2.0 integration was completed in 2011 and has been in use by clients for some time now.  Click here for instructions on how to set up your VAST advertising campaign(s) with VideoPublishing.com.

 

VPAID (Video Player-Ad Interface Definition)

VPAID is a solution, used in conjunction with VAST, which defines dynamic and continued interactions between video players and ad servers/networks to enable more interactive ad experiences and user reporting. Our VPAID integration was released this month and is already being used by some clients. From the IAB:

Layering VPAID onto VAST offers an enhanced solution. VPAID establishes a common communication protocol between video players and ad units that allows a single “executable ad” (one that requires software logic to be executed as part of ad playback) to be displayed in-stream with the publisher’s video content, in any compliant video player. Furthermore, it enables the executable ad unit to expect and rely upon a common set of functionality from the video player. VPAID enables the video player to expect and rely upon a common set of functionality from the executable ad unit. The significance is that advertisers using VPAID ads can provide rich ad experiences for viewers and collect ad playback and interaction details that are just as rich as the ad experience.

 

Tremor Video’s Acudeo®

It has been a couple of years since we completed our initial integration with Acudeo and clients began using it, but it remains a very strong tool and valuable asset for monetizing quality online video content. From Tremor’s overview (link provided above):

Acudeo is an equal-opportunity technology, [...] ad server/format/network and video player agnostic. Third-party ad server tags — Pointroll, Atlas In-Stream, DoubleClick In-Stream, and more — are supported so you can use Acudeo to serve ads sold and trafficked through any of the major ad servers. [...] Acudeo is VAST and VPAID compliant to ensure you can deliver the widest range of current and future in-stream ad formats while creating a fully customizable viewer experience.

Click here for instructions on how to set up your Acudeo advertising campaign(s) with VideoPublishing.com.

 

Adap.tv

Adap.tv, one of the world’s leading online ad networks, provides a platform and a public marketplace for trading digital advertising.  From our last blog post:

Adap.tv integration is now available in the customer console on a one-click basis. [...] You can enter your Adap.tv tag when creating a player in the /advanced options area.

 

Custom Ad server

Since its launch, our system has supported the use of a Custom Ad server solution, enabling publishers who prefer to independently operate their ad serving solution.  Essentially, a VideoPublishing.com client can configure player(s) to use video clips in their own video library as pre-roll and post-roll video ads.  A more detailed description of this is available in our help section here.

We strongly encourage all current and prospective clients to explore these options for effectively monetizing their video content.  Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have questions or would like to discuss your needs and choices.  Thanks for reading!

Some hidden gems

Just a quick announcement to highlight three features that have been in production for quite some time but that might have gone unnoticed (as they are a bit hidden in the UI)

(1) Adap.tv Integration: Adap.tv integration is now available in the customer console on a one-click basis.   Adap.tv is one of the leading video networks in the world. You can enter your Adap.tv tag when creating a player in the /advanced options area.

(2) iOS failover: All Flash player formats, by default, now fail over to an iOS compliant format when they are accessed with a iOS device.

(3) Multiple default encoding formats: For those users who use different encoding formats on a regular basis, you can now set more than one default encoding format (unlimited, in fact) so videos are encoded to all your regularly used formats automatically

As always, all these features are available by API as well.

Please let us know at any of our support methods if you have any questions.

Congratulations to Ultraslo.com!

VideoPublishing.com congratulates our client/partner UltraSlo.com on being selected for inclusion in the motion picture, Life in a Day, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Thursday, January 27th 2011.  We are pleased to be working with UltraSlo.com, making their beautiful and extraordinary content available to the world on computers, mobile devices, and television screens.

 

About UltraSlo.com

UltraSlo.com is the leading 2D and 3D content producer on the web specializing in UltraSlo motion content from silly to science.

 

About VideoPublishing.com

VideoPublishing.com is a leading provider of enterprise oriented digital asset management systems that help innovative firms in the media, education, financial services and internet space manage video, audio and photo assets in an integrated platform.

The platform includes live and on-demand video streaming, video encoding, syndication, analytics and workflow; audio delivery; photo management and content management services.

 

VideoPublishing.com Streams the UN General Assembly Live to Mobile

We are extremely happy to announce the release of NGB News, an iPhone and iPad app delivering mobile video on the VideoPublishing.com platform.  Built in partnership with NetworkGlobal Companies, NGB News is the first mobile live broadcast of the United Nations’ UNTV Live video stream, which will deliver this month’s 65th UN General Assembly proceedings live to all compatible iOS devices.

“We are pleased to be working with NetworkGlobal Companies to support this innovative and important mobile application and make the proceedings of the UN General Assembly accessible to a wider audience,” said Kiran Ponamgi, vice president of Client Services at VideoPublishing.com.  ”NGB’s focus on important global social issues sets them apart from many other online and mobile video initiatives and we look forward to helping them grow.”

The NGB News app can be downloaded from the App Store via:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/networkglobal-news/id391268019?mt=8

The full text of the press release is below.  Please contact support@videopublishing.com with any questions or if you are interested in streaming your video to iPhone and iPad from VideoPublishing.com.

Contact:            Jason Frye

212.774.6329

For Immediate Release

NETWORKGLOBAL TO STREAM THE 2010 UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY LIVE ON THE iPHONE and iPAD

Free Mobile News App Broadens Reach of NGB.TV’s Rich Video Library of Unbiased, Uncompromised, Independently Produced News

NEW YORK – (September 14, 2010) – NetworkGlobal Companies, a leading producer of premium online video spanning from Hollywood and Broadway to world news features, announced today that its NGB.tv video library can be streamed on the iPhone and iPad.

To celebrate the launch, the company will produce the first-ever official live mobile video stream of the upcoming 2010 UN General Assembly, providing viewers worldwide with an unfiltered look at how their political delegates address the urgent issues of the global community.

The latest NetworkGlobal app, available for free from the iTunes Store, also allows mobile users to stream the pre-recorded libraries of NGB.TV’s news, politics and social issues videos uploaded by independent contributors from around the world. In tandem today, NetworkGlobal Companies launched another iPhone app for its Red Carpet Network, RCN.TV (entertainment and celebrity features) channel. Both channels currently enjoy millions of online streams each month, a number that will surely increase now that they’ve gone mobile.

NetworkGlobal began after the young executive team noticed the ethics they learned in journalism school weren’t being practiced by many of the major media outlets. Some networks were either playing it safe to protect advertiser relationships or veiling sponsored advertiser-paid placements as actual news content; others were pandering to religious and political persuasions with agenda-driven programming disguised as objective journalism. Instead of joining the machine, NetworkGlobal decided to build a better one.

While NetworkGlobal is headquartered in Manhattan, just like the major networks, their production facilities lie wherever their independent contributors can shoot a camera and plug-in a laptop to edit and upload the video. By eliminating the costly overhead that burdens most media outlets and delivering video exclusively online, NetworkGlobal has reached profitability more quickly with less revenue than traditional broadcasters. With tens of millions of streams per month, NetworkGlobal ranks alongside many cable news outlets in terms of audience reach.

The NGB.tv mobile application is powered and delivered by VideoPublishing.com, a leading online video platform.   VideoPublishing.com helps enterprises manage the workflow associated with managing, syndicating and monetizing digital media content across platforms.

“We are pleased to be working with Network Global Companies to support this innovative and important mobile application and make the proceedings of UN General Assembly accessible to a wider audience,” said Kiran Ponamgi, vice president of customer relations at VideoPublishing.com.  “NGB’s focus on important global social issues sets them apart from many other online and mobile video initiatives and we look forward to helping them grow.”

About NetworkGlobal:

NetworkGlobal Companies, a consumer lifestyle brand founded by Gunnar Larson, launched NetworkGlobal.tv in 2007. The site quickly grew to an advertiser-supported media company, drawing millions of video streams monthly to its fresh video content. NetworkGlobal’s NGB.tv focuses on world news and social issues. Broadway.tv showcases the best shows Broadway has to offer. OZtralia.tv sets its sights on Australia’s limitless travel destinations. Red Carpet Network, RCN.tv, talks to A-list celebrities at the premieres of top films, TV shows, and Hollywood’s most exclusive Red Carpets. BMI.tv (Body Mass Index) and BodyArchitect.tv feature health and lifestyle programming. Beyond television, NetworkGlobal Companies owns two retail ventures, Virtu New York fitness apparel and Canine Caviar in Manhattan.

http://www.networkglobal.tv/

About VideoPublishing.com:

VideoPublishing.com is a leading provider of enterprise oriented digital asset management systems that help innovative firms in the media, education, financial services and internet space manage video, audio and photo assets in an integrated platform.

The platform includes live and on-demand video streaming, video encoding, syndication, analytics and workflow; audio delivery; photo management and content management services.

http://www.VideoPublishing.com

iPhone Developer SDK Available

VideoPublishing.com now has available our Software Developer Kit (SDK) for building iPhone apps to stream video from our service.  We are also expecting to announce some groundbreaking, first-to-market functionality in this area, so please stay tuned for another update on it in the very near future.

If you are interested in obtaining this SDK, please contact us for the most up-to-date version.

Release of Acudeo Video Ads Integration

We are very excited to announce that we have completed integration of Tremor Media’s Acudeo video advertising platform with the VideoPublishing.com player & streaming systems.  Clients can now connect their video advertising campaigns through the Acudeo systems to generate advertising revenue from the streams served by our service.

Acudeo is the world’s leading video ads platform on the Internet and serves well over 150 million video ads per month for all variety of video content.  Our implementation supports pre-roll, mid-roll, post-roll and companion banner functionality, with flexible implementation options including the following:

- Access from both VideoPublishing.com client GUI and API code

- Full customization of companion banners’ size and placement as HTML or Flash objects

- custom player integrations for both video ads & companion banners

If you are a Tremor Media client/partner or use any of the various other networks which serve video ads through the Acudeo system, please explore the feature by choosing the Acudeo option in the Advanced section of the player create/edit page.  We welcome questions and other communications concerning this exciting new feature.

iPhone Encoding Format Added

Today we have included a new video encoding format to our system intended for mobile devices, particularly Apple’s iPhone.  This format has been tested to be appropriate for use on the device and can now be embedded in Flash video player objects as well as an device-compliant HTML5 video player for streaming to the device from our system.

We are very pleased to have this feature added and will also keep you posted on the upcoming release of the first iPhone apps built to stream from the VideoPublishing.com service.

Announcing Beta Support for Audio Files

As part of our continuing effort to extend and improve the VideoPublishing.com service offerings, we would like to announce the start of beta testing for On-demand Audio Streaming.  This new feature is accessible through the Audio tab when logged into your VideoPublishing.com client GUI account.

Like all of our features, Audio content & streams are also manageable through new extensions to our VideoPublishing.com API for web and/or applications developers.  In short, anything you can do through the GUI can also be achieved in code via the API.  If you are interested in using our system to manage, transcode or scalably deliver your audio files through the Internet, please give this new feature a try.  As always, questions or inquiries are welcome.

Announcing Real-time Video Slicing for Live Events

VideoPublishing.com is pleased to announce a unique new feature for use while streaming through the Live Events component of our service. Through the Live Event console, users are now able to insert start and stop markers in a live event video, which will then automatically create & save on-demand clips of the live event to the VideoPublishing.com client account upon event completion.

These new video streams can then be used like any other on-demand videos for purposes including publishing, transcoding and insertion into playlists.  For users of the Live Events section of our service, this feature addition can serve as a valuable time- and labor-saving tool to make excerpt clips available very quickly after the finish of a live event.  Please let us know if you’re interested in learning more about or trying this feature.

Live Events Streaming Release

VideoPublishing.com is pleased to announce the completion of our beta testing period for Live Events video streaming.  As indicated in the feature’s beta launch post in August, users are now fully able to create, manage and stream live video events through our platform and embed in traditional website pages as well as custom web applications.

Current and new users are encouraged to try the feature, accessible via the Live Events tab within the VideoPublishing.com client GUI interface.  Please contact us with any questions or implementation inquiries.