Indianapolis Media Production

Cantaloupe has got its hands in something big: Internet video marketing.  Of the 150 million Internet users, about 85 million are viewing video online at this point in time.  The future of online video may seem mystifying, but if one thing's for sure, it’s not going away. 

Online video spending was at $225 million in 2005 and then $640 million in 2007 (these numbers include video advertising dollars, digital media production costs, and online media firm fees, etc.).  eMarketer projects that by 2009 spending will reach $1.5 billion.  With the increasing popularity of this entertainment medium there's good reason to expect that kind of growth.

According to a study by F.N. Magid Associates for Online Publishers Association:

-       5% of consumers view online video daily

-       24% view it at least once a week

-       46% view it at least once a month

Marketers want web video because it engages viewers.  Viewers want it because it’s engaging (and entertaining).  Online users watch many forms of video, but news video ranks highest in popularity (except with younger viewers), and humorous videos came in second place (probably because these videos are most likely to be shared with others).  According to the study conducted by Pew Internet & American Life titled "Online Video," professional videos are preferred among viewers over amateur content.  Thankfully Cantaloupe can help you out in the area of professionalism.  That's not to say if you really want amateur-style video we wouldn't do it though...

The more popular and available online video becomes, the more people will view it.  Google and Yahoo already have video search options making it easier for people to find video on websites.  Strides like this will only amplify viewer numbers.  

Since the emergence of Internet video marketing, companies have looked for more and more ways to incorporate video into their own marketing plan.  We all know people don’t want to read through a bunch of mumbo jumbo to figure out what you/your product/your business is all about.  Just show them.  Through video.  It can be fun, entertaining, informative, and chock full of your wonderful marketing messages (but not blatantly full of them of course).  Soon there will be a day when people expect video.  Might as well start giving it to them now.  

Hi everyone, welcome to my first blog EVER.  I've never blogged before so I'm going to take this opportunity to talk all about myself.  Everything from Indonesia, web video production and my epiphany when I started working at Cantaloupe.TV  I'll get the boring stuff out of the way first.

I have been working in digital video production since my junior year in IUPUI's New Media program.  While there, I focused on all different types of digital media production. I worked in web design, 3D animation, video production, streaming video etc.  At the end of my college career I had to come up with a project that told a story.  We could use any of the skills we had honed while in college in any combination we wanted.

Some of our crazy ideas:

An online interactive roller coaster experience
3D animation about a kid trying to create every digital image possible
An Interactive Marketing Kiosk for a restaurant

All of these ideas sounded exciting but the possibility for STORY in each project sounded less appealing than what we ended up doing.  I decided to travel to Indonesia (with 2 video classes under my belt) and interview survivors of the 2005 Tsunami that killed over 250,000 people.  While I was in Indonesia my project partner started working on the website that would house the video stories I collected.  

This project, called notseennotheard.com, ended up being used as an internet video marketing tool for the not-for-profit we were working with. (island-aid.org)  They were able to use it to show their donors the types of people they were helping.  We had to use streaming video because Island-Aid's donors were all over the world and hard copies such as DVD or simple text emails just wouldn't work to get the message across.  We wanted a way to capture the real emotion and strife of those affected by the tsunami and effectively have people view these stories. Viral web video was the only way to do it.  

Our greatest accomplishment was using the website as an avenue for people to donate money so two little girls in a remote mountain village could get surgery.  Without telling the stories of these two little girls, Erinawati and Soteria, they may still be living with debilitating burn scars that covered half of their bodies.

Here are a few things I learned after completing the project:

EVERYONE has a story
Video on Websites works

These were important lessons starting out in my journey towards finding my first post college job but my real lesson was yet to come.

By chance, I met Jon DiGregory (founder of Cantaloupe.TV), and my esteemed boss) and he explained his concept of a Video Magazine.  We talked about the world of online video advertising, online marketing, viral marketing etc. and my eyes were opened.  Just when I thought throwing a little video on websites was good enough I realized I had a lot to learn.  Thus begins my journey in online video production and working for Cantaloupe.TV

You can look forward to my future blogs probably being about myself just like this one.  I'll try to entertain you, tell truthful stories, maybe throw in some useful information and I hope you'll keep reading on an ongoing basis.  

DISCLAIMER:
If you want to be entertained by riveting stories about things you are interested in this blog is only a mediocre resource.  Do yourself a favor and go find a video blog if you want compelling emotional content.  

THANKS!!! and keep reading!

Zachary Nischan Shields