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It should come as no surprise to you that video is being “consumed” across multiple platforms; TV, Internet and Mobile. In fact, the viewing of video is now considered a “global phenomoenon” according to Nielsen’s Global Consumer Report – August 2010.

70% of global online consumers watch online videos. That is good news. The even better news is that North Americans and Europeans lag in adoption. Why is that good news? Because it means that you still have time to be on the forefront of this booming trend by developing a quality video* and get it on your web site to help your customers, members or students understand what exactly it is that you do, sell or teach.

Whats next for us? Since 1904 we’ve been staring at screens. The new screens hitting the market are 3DTV, “Over the Top” (a TV with an internet connection) and Tablets, like the Apple iPad.

*Quality drives quantity in the video arena. If you want your video to be viewed, shared and remembered, it needs to be concise and professionally produced – luckily you know us here at MCG and our reputation for quality.

Those of us who live in the virtual world of web development have been watching the great debate that Steve Jobs has set off about whether the end of Flash is near, with HTML5 being the new standard. In fact, Apple confronts issue head-on in this article posted prominently on their site:

http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/

However, as much as we like Apple and their fantastic products, one recent article sums up our current thinking much better than we can on this topic:

http://www.longtailvideo.com/support/blog/11887/html5-video-not-quite-there-yet

Here’s one quote from the author:
“Flash will remain to be the technology of choice for some time. Right now, HTML5 is preferred for streaming to the iPhone/iPad.”

In other words, Flash will be around for quite some time with the main notable exception being “touch” based devices like the iPad/iPhone. While it may be true that HTML5 is the future, it’s not ready for prime time yet.

The goal of most business web sites is to convert prospects into customers. Visitors will give your site a couple of minutes of their time to hear what you have to offer, but not much more. They’re also much more likely to watch a short video than read a lot of text or click through several web pages.

A short profile video is inexpensive to produce and gives your prospects a reason to stay on your site longer and contact you, converting their visit into a sale. Video is the perfect medium to get to the point and sum up all of your key messages quickly and effectively. This example demonstrates how a value proposition can be made in less than two minutes with video:

Check out our short commercial:

Have you ever noticed that video on the web can run the entire spectrum from horrible to fantastic?  I’m not talking about the content itself or how it was compressed, but rather the way it plays back.  Sometimes videos load fine and play back smooth, while other videos load slow and play back choppy.  Chances are, the good video was playing from a streaming media, or streaming video server and the bad video was playing from a standard web server.

Standard web servers host web content and are often tasked with hosting video.  However, video and Flash animations play back much better from streaming servers.  Why?

Streaming servers:
- Are specially designed for high bandwidth and large files.
- Can handle larger traffic loads.
- Have the ability to detect connection speeds and deliver the appropriate files automatically.

Streaming servers are complex and specialized requiring certain hardware and software.  The way they work is quite different from standard servers as well.  Any web developer can set up a web server in their basement and serve up web sites.  Not everyone can afford the investment required to set up a truly streaming media server.

As a production company that does video and Flash for the web, we prefer to load our clients’ content on streaming servers to make sure it loads and plays back smooth.  Rather than trying to set up a costly streaming server, we recommend using a streaming media service like screencast (www.screencast.com).

We use this service for creating preview versions of videos so clients and their colleagues around the world can view and provide feedback.  Once approved, the final video can reside on screencast servers indefinitely.

Services like screencast allow for customized branded user interfaces and other controls through an easy-to-use interface.  That way, when the client sees preview versions directly from screencast, they see their logo in the corner.  Screencast includes standard linking and embed linking, so our clients can embed video from the streaming servers on any web site with full screen playback as an option.  When visitors to their site click on the video, it’s playing back from screencast’s streaming media servers, but this is transparent to the visitor, who never leaves the client’s site.  All of the videos on this blog and our web site are embedded from screencast.

How much does it cost?
That depends on the bandwidth used, which is a factor of file size (length of video and how it’s compressed) and how many times it’s viewed.  But it’s not expensive by any means.  This is a service we provide free of charge for our clients as long as the bandwidth used stays reasonable.  Sites like You Tube and Vimeo stream videos for free, but then your video is associated with other videos you might not want your company to be associated with.  Screencast and other streaming media services are like your own private You Tube without the unsavory characters.

For more information on streaming and video on the web, call us for a free consultation at (763) 231-1881,

Video used to be a luxury only large corporations could afford. The decline in the cost of production tools, the speed of producers to tell an effective story and web delivery have all contributed to making video an affordable option for small businesses. This example highlights a small accounting firm and their capabilities: