If your business is looking to use live or on-demand video as a primary or secondary revenue stream, video monetization is key. For those businesses or establishments that are new to the world of video, the chances are you will be funding your own production costs, making it all the more important to earn money from the sharing of your videos. The value of your video content will be determined by the standard of the equipment used and the unique factor of what you’re offering.
Zidivo takes a look at the various ways to make money from your videos online and offer advice on the best strategies to follow…
In general, video monetization is based around the granting of access to your content. There are a variety of ways to monetize videos in terms of the methods you use to charge people to watch. For your video monetization methods to work though, you must have the necessary security measures in place. Once people have got hold of your content for free, it’s impossible to try and charge viewers for tuning in. So, be extra careful when sharing your videos to maintain ultimate control and security.
While there are a range of video-sharing platforms out there, namely YouTube, that allow you to monetize your videos with a click of a button, these features can only allow you to bring in a solid ROI if you have a significant viewer base. YouTube allows users to include ads before, during, or after their videos, whereby the revenue generated is dependent on the number of views or attention the video receives.
Strictly speaking, there are three main approaches to generating revenue from live streams or on-demand videos.
With this method, it’s completely free for people to tune in or watch a video, but there are adverts interrupting or overlaying the content. Advertising within your videos can consist of your own products or affiliate sites to generate further attention to your own brand, or you can include adverts for other companies in exchange for a fee. When it comes to using ads in your videos, it’s important to think about your target audience and their viewing habits. Adverts within the content, known as mid-roll ads, rather than pre-roll ads that play before your video has even begun have been found to be more successful. People are far more likely to stick around to watch an ad and/or listen to what an ad is saying if they’ve already consumed half of your valuable video.
Adverts are an easy way to make sure that your videos bring in some form of a consistent stream of revenue, though with this being determined by views, it definitely isn’t the most profitable method.
If you are a video professional and plan to implement large scale video campaigns online, you will need a dedicated platform/site to host and share these. This way, you can use the SVOD method and charge a monthly or regular fee for viewers to access your platform and videos as they please. This is arguably the most profitable way of doing things if you plan to create and provide many videos for your audience and is commonly used today by big players like Netflix, Amazon, and more.
The third main option for video professionals, institutions, or businesses looking to capitalise on their video content is TVOD, otherwise known as the ‘pay-per-view’ model. This largely does what it says on the tin, and charges people for access to individual videos, rather than a whole library of videos. TVOD is a viable option for websites that make videos about a whole host of topics, so users can pay a small fee to tune in and watch those that are of specific interest to them, rather than having to pay a subscription fee for numerous videos that may not be of interest.
TVOD is commonly used by entertainment sites that offer live streams or on-demand videos showing certain events, such as football matches, boxing, and more.
While these are the three over-arching online video monetization methods, there are some other ways to makes some valuable cash from the content you spend time creating. Charities and organisations, for example, could use video as an effective medium to generate donations for a certain cause. Think about capturing leads too, although adding lead capture forms into the beginning or end of your videos may not result in direct conversions, it provides increased opportunity for retargeting and can provide a stronger understanding of your audience’s demographics.
When deciding how best to earn money from your videos, it’s essential to consider your audience, your message, and your general aims. To reiterate this, while AVOD is a strong way to ensure you generate at least some revenue from your videos, ads can impede your message or reduce the entertainment factor. Essentially, by allowing ads to interrupt or overlay your video, you lose control over the viewing experience and how your video looks. For high production videos that have involved significant costs and resources, charging for access to your videos or site is the way to go, to maintain all control and rights to your content.
Live streaming, in particular, lends itself well to the pay-per-view method, where viewers can essentially buy a ticket for an online event, webinar, etc. You can drum up plenty of interest prior to the live stream and even share ‘trailers’ or sneak peeks of your stream to ensure that your ticket sales generate impressive revenue.
Zidivo’s platform is tailored to suit the requirements of a range of different users, whether you are an established company looking to host, share and generate revenue from many videos each month, or you are planning to create one or two. Using a dedicated VOD platform like Zidivo means you can keep your videos as secure as possible while maintaining complete creative control over how your videos look and feel to your audience.
It doesn’t matter what size of business you have, from solopreneur marketing professional to a huge corporate; there’s a way for you to get started with video marketing straight away. And you don’t need a big budget, though if you have one, of course, you can well and truly run with this. Many people simply start off filming with their mobile phone and then update their equipment and their budget for advertising as they grow. But whichever way you do it, it’s important that you start.
The reality is that a well scripted and produced video actually requires an enormous amount of work! Despite the fact videos may last less than a minute, they can take months to get right if you're new to video production. Not every business has the budget to bring in experienced professionals, so if you are considering writing your own video script, we've got some top tips to help you get the right results, as well as a handy step-by-step guide that ensures you don't miss anything out.
