Video Analytics

Cantaloupe's Backlight video management platform was designed to help marketers publish, distribute and measure the success of their videos across the web. It's continuing to evolve and will soon become an even more powerful solution for our clients. Enough with the fluffy salesy talk, though.

As your Video Success Manager, it's my responsibility to ensure you are getting the most out of your videos and the tools at your disposal. I wanted to touch on one often underutilized feature of Backlight: the ads.

Video ads are more than just a place for your advertisement to display. They are truly calls-to-action that you can place in your video player as you wish. Use ads to underscore a point, drive viewers to take a specific action ("Register for our webinar!") or lead them to additional information ("Learn more about our solution!").

This empowers you - the marketer and online video content manager - to create, update and place these calls-to-action when and where you want without having to make edits to the video itself - the message, placement, duration and destination webpage are completely within your control.

Below is a sample video. At the 5-second mark, you'll notice an ad pop up and hang out for 10 seconds, then fade away. Clicking on the ad pauses the video and directs the viewer to Cantaloupe.tv's 'Request a Demo' form. (Feel free to request a Backlight demo while you're there.)

As an added bonus, Backlight's analytics tracking allows you to report on how many viewers engaged with each ad. 

You have powerful tools and information at your fingertips - are you taking advantage? If you need help using any of the Backlight features or would simply like a demo to see what all the chatter is about, drop me a note or give me a call at 317.594.9999!

Strategy. Production. Publishing. Distribution. Measurement.

These five elements make up the Cantaloupe online video marketing life cycle. There's nothing magical in these five words. The magic lies in the execution of each within your overarching plan. From time to time, we'll focus on each of these and talk about how they impact one another as well as how they impact your goals and initiatives.

Today, I have a question for you: How do you know?

How do you know that your online videos are working? How do you know they are being watched (and watched to completion)? How do you know if your video - the one you poured your heart and soul into - is being shared with others? How do you know who is using your videos? How do you know if your calls-to-action are working for you? Perhaps I should ask if you feel it's important to have this information (if not, give me a call and I'll climb on my soap box).

Answer: Analytics. 

As you and your visitors navigate websites, data is being collected about your behavior. This is powerful information to a marketer who is now able to gauge whether and how effectively his message is being heard by the masses.

Just like with website navigation, analytics data can be captured that report online video viewing behaviors. Combine this information with open and click rates from your email marketing campaigns, you site analytics and your offline marketing data, and you have a wealth of information at your disposal. With this, you can make quality decisions to maximize your potential with clients and prospects. 

We'll talk later about making sense of the numbers and data your have at your fingertips and making the information from multiple sources work together. The first step, though, is collecting the information.

As you evaluate online video management solutions such as Cantaloupe's Backlight, ask yourself how you will know if the video or online marketing campaign is a success. Make sure the tools you are using to manage your online videos help arm you with information at the end of the day. 

To wrap up the series on common web video mistakes marketers make, I thought I'd hit on the most fundamental - failing to ask for help when you need it.

Asking for help is super scary and failing to do so may be the biggest mistake we - as professionals and as people - can make. Whether it's crafting your company's new marketing message or determining that web video is a good tool for getting that message out, you are never expected to have all of the answers. 

Producing, distributing and measuring interactive, engaging, authentic web video is what we do day in and day out. Take advantage of Cantaloupe.tv's experience and expertise to round out your team - whether its in strategy, story development, online video production best practices, or interpreting analytics of your website and online videos.

If you don't know... ask.

It is estimated that Facebook.com has over 350 million users and over half of those are over 25.  Facebook is the 4th most trafficked website according to comScore, so the next question for your company is “why haven’t you posted your company’s videos to this free resource?”    If Facebook is part of your online marketing strategy, then you should post your online videos there.

When using Facebook for your organization, there are two different ways you can manage your web video.  You have to first either setup a Facebook Page or Group.  Pages seem to be a better solution for companies since they can handle longer conversations with end users.  You can learn more about Pages vs. Groups here.

You can either load the web video directly to your page or share a link with your fans.  This decision is usually made by considering  whether you want the people on Facebook leaving Facebook and going to your web page to view your video, or allowing them to watch it right there.   You also need to track and monetize the video with a link.

In the example below you can see how media consumption is displayed within Facebook. By looking at the green line you are able to see web video views per day on your Page. With this, you can easily correlate the day that a specific video was posted and then relate those video views to that video.

Keep in mind that by posting your videos on the Facebook page, it allows fans an easy way to share video with their friends by posting it on their wall feed, hence encouraging viral sharing.

You can also share your videos with those on Facebook by posting a link to your video rather than uploading the video to Facebook. The best way for sharing video links on Facebook is to use link tracking software such as bit.ly. Bit.ly takes your existing link, shrinks it into a smaller URL, and then provides analytics on clicks and source of clicks. One weakness of this approach is that if the viewer copies the URL to share with others, you will not be able to track all the source of views.   It also requires the viewer to leave Facebook so they may be more reticent to view the video.   Want to see more online marketing video posting examples?  Become a Fan of Cantaloupe on Facebook.

 

 

Leading Indiana news provider and video services and software provider combine to offer viewers dynamic video content

Cantaloupe.TV, LLC, has just announced a partnership with the leader in Indiana business news and video content, Inside INdiana Business, to provide an enhanced video experience for its online viewers. Cantaloupe.TV is an online video services and software company headquartered in Indianapolis, IN. The partnership allows Inside INdiana Business to provide leading edge video viewing capabilities through its website via Cantaloupe’s online video platform, Backlight.

“Cantaloupe offers an outstanding video management, hosting, and analytics platform for our viewers,” explains Gerry Dick, President of Grow Indiana Media Ventures, the parent company of Inside INdiana Business. “It is easy to integrate into our website and allows our viewers greater access to high quality videos. Our partnership with Cantaloupe will enhance our position as the Indiana leader in video content.” With Backlight, Cantaloupe offers a software platform that takes the guesswork out of online video, making it easier for media companies and businesses to manage their video library, incorporate video content in their online properties, and track its success.

Cantaloupe worked closely with another one of Inside INdiana Business’ partners, Bitwise Solutions, for the rollout of Backlight. “We recommended Cantaloupe’s Backlight product as a good fit to incorporate into the customized media website solution built by BitWise Solutions. Integrating the Backlight product into the website not only extends the video capabilities desired to benefit site visitors, but also allows Inside INdiana Business to continue making the updates themselves,” says Curt Franke, Vice President of Business Development for BitWise Solutions.

“Inside INdiana Business is a natural fit for our online video platform,” says Stacy Billanti, Cantaloupe’s president. “The user will be able to view and engage with videos easily, and Inside INdiana Business will be able to point-and-click to embed videos into the website, upload pre-roll advertising video, track video activity, as well as manage all of its online video content in a single library.”

I have a friend who has decided January 1st to take up running. Not just a few times a week running, but every single day... outside... through whatever conditions he encounters. At first it was a chore, now it's just part of what he does and he has quickly begun to see the payoff (a few lbs gone from around the middle, a happier frame of mind and a boost in his energy, to name a few). He has formed the habit in order to achieve his goal.

What Doug has chosen to do and how he's executing against that commitment is no different than what our clients at Cantaloupe do with their web video strategy. You commit to a series of videos because you see the payoff - more bang for your online marketing buck, greater reach, increased brand fitness, a boost of energy within your target market...)

Like many clients, you start off strong. You invest time and energy in the strategic planning, you rally the troops and knock out the interviews for the first videos. You get them out through all the right online marketing channels, and measure your successes with your video analytics. You feel good, as you should.

What happens next is critical. You have to make a decision each day (each month, each quarter - whatever your plan is) to keep the web video momentum going and to follow the plan you've laid out. Putting off your next video off until next month is no different than saying "I'll just run a little further next time." It simply doesn't get you the same results and makes it that much more difficult to hit your goals.

Producing and releasing new, fresh web video content can and should become a habit for your company. The scenery and message can change. The path you take can vary to keep the journey exciting. Get out there, put one foot in front of the other and maintain a healthy pace that is comfortable for you. You will see the tangible results of your continued efforts in no time. 

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When establishing web video into your online marketing strategy,  it is vital to purpose video content on your home page.  But how do you properly compare the video analytics of the video content on your homepage to the web analytics of the homepage in and of itself?

A few of our clients were confused by this very topic.  One company was concerned that the videos were not being watched.  Their web analytics showed around 500 unique visits to their homepage everyday.  But their Backlight video analytics showed that only 20 of those visitors were actually clicking on the video to watch it.

To the naked eye, it certainly seemed like prospects were not interested in the video they had purposed on their site.  But, when we dug a little deeper and looked a little closer, the truth was revealed.

Come to find out, an estimated 300 of those 500 unique visitors were existing clientele who were coming back to their site to purchase more products and services from them.  Why would they watch your "about us" video if they already know who you are?

Then we discovered that about 150 of the remaining 200 unique visitors were agencies coming to the homepage to log in to their reseller account page.  Once again, if they are selling your products and services, why would they watch your "about us" video?

So, that leaves us with 50 unique visitors that are probably first time prospects.  And 20 out of 50 isn't too shabby.  Furthermore, according to their Backlight video analytics, the video completion rate was a whopping 93%.  So, not only were most watching the video, most were watching the entire video to the end.

So, carefully compare your web analytics to your video analytics.  You may be pleasantly surprised.

To learn more about Cantaloupe's video content management system, Backlight, email me at bevans@cantaloupe.tv

The latest release (11/5/2009) of the Backlight Platform now directly integrates with Google
Analytics.  This integration provides the the ability for your video tracking to show up right along side of your existing web tracking in Google.

All current Backlight clients will notice a new section in the setup area of Backlight called "Google Analytics" (pictured in the image below).  The only requirements to use this integration are a Google Analytics account and a Backlight Account.  


To begin using this feature, simply click on Settings > Google Analytics and put in your Google Analytics Key. Once you enter your Google Analytics Key, all your videos will automatically start to be tracked.

What is being tracked?
Currently we are tracking 3 standard video events: Video Player Loads (player loaded on page), Video Starts and Video Completes.

Below is a screen shot of video tracking in a Google Account. Just click on the Event Tracking sub section of the Content section. You will then see all your Backlight Video Activity and can drill down, filter and do anything you currently do with your Web analytics.


 
We hope you enjoy this new feature and get good value from it.

Check out this article by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) on crisis communication.

There big takeaway, and I quote exactly: "Video dominates as online communications tool"

The article goes on to say:
Organizations need to already have an established video channel that informs — or entertains — your key publics so that you have built an audience and goodwill before a crisis hits. Having an online Web presence will increase the speed of distribution and reach of your crisis response.

This is exactly what our online video magazines at Cantaloupe.tv do. We specialize in producing authentic, online video content which is the exactly what you need when communicating a crisis situation. And our web video platform, Backlight.tv, makes it easy to get that video up immediately.

The last thing you want to be worried about in a crisis is about how to get your video online. Backlight handles everything you need to get that video up immediately. Things you don't need to worry about with Backlight:

• The file type. We handle mov conversion, mp4 conversion, mpeg conversion, flv conversion, and more
• The online video player. Backlight provides you with that as well as an easy to use embed code
• Online video hosting service. That's also included out of the box.
• Distribution. Backlight helps you get your video on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, email campaigns, Twitter, partner websites, or wherever else you distribute online
• Video analytics. Backlight provides you with all the online video tracking you'll need to determine the effectiveness of your story.

So don't wait for a crisis to hit before you start thinking about online video marketing and the video platform you need to distribute it. Take a look at our offering now.

You have video and you have social media channels. How in the world are you going to use it and measure it? Let's talk about the three current big social media channels Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Facebook

When using Facebook for your organization there are two different ways that you can handle video. You have to first either setup a Facebook Page or Group. Pages seem to be a better solution for companies because you are often times having longer conversations with your end user and Pages are setup for this. You can learn more about Pages vs. Groups here.

With your Facebook page you can either load the video directly to your page or share a link to your video with your fans. We'll get to how you can monetize the video with a link a little later.

This decision is usually made by looking at whether you want the people on Facebook leaving Facebook and going to your web page with your video or if you are comfortable with your branding on Facebook and allow them to watch it right there. In the example below Cantaloupe has decided to use Facebook as another channel aside from mass email and their website so they post their videos directly to their Facebook page. This allows fans and colleagues to share your video with others very easily. The example that we are going to show here is the laughter yoga video that Cantaloupe produced and you can see how Facebook returns information for video plays on your Facebook page.

 
In the example to the right you are looking at Video Views inside of Facebook's Insights. The first spike on the left was the interaction with the video the day that it was posted. There was a drop off in the next few days so what we did was go into our Facebook page and share the video with all of our fans directly, therefore not relying on them to see the video post in their news feed. This sends each person that is a fan of Cantaloupe a direct message to their Facebook inbox allowing them to watch the video. Over the next two days you can see the spike in video plays that this created for this video. With only about 50 fans on the Cantaloupe Facebook page you can see that there were double that amount of video views. This tells us that the video was shared to others outside of the Cantaloupe fan base which in turn means the video was exposed to folks that we were not having any type of conversation with. We like to upload our videos directly to our Facebook page because you can then see the interaction that is being made with the video just on Facebook.

The other way to share your videos with those on Facebook would be to post a link to your video directing the end user to the page that your video sits on. The best way for sharing video links on Facebook is to use link tracking software such as bit.ly. Bit.ly takes your existing link, shrinks it into a smaller URL, and then returns data around the number of clicks and where those clicks came from. One downfall here can be that if an end user clicks to the video and then copies the URL from the page they are on to share the video with a friend you are not going to be able to tell that the friends video view came form this campaign or post.

Become a Fan of Cantaloupe on Facebook.

Twitter

We all tweet, tweet now.

You have 140 characters and it has to be text. How in the world can you share your videos with your Twitter followers and be able to monetize it? Here's how.

You have your video placed on your website, so all you need to do is grab the direct URL to the video and shorten it with bit.ly. Once you have the shortened link all that is left to do is tweet your message with the link included. Below is an example of how you can measure the number of clicks on that link.

This graph is showing the number of clicks on a video link that was sent out via Twitter by Cantaloupe. The bar to the left is showing the number of clicks on the video link the first time that it was sent out. At the time Cantaloupe was pretty new to Twitter so 10 clicks was acceptable. As time went by and Cantaloupe started to gain more followers we decided that it might be a good idea to send the same link out again. The result is the taller bar to the right. Because there were new followers the number of views doubled from the previous post.

Ok, so they clicked the links but did they watch the video? The way to measure this is to log into your video content management system and check the number of views your video has prior to posting your link to Twitter and then checking those numbers a few times after posting the link. By comparing the change in video views and the number of clicks in bit.ly you can then begin to measure your success. The one good thing about Twitter is that most of the time the interaction is going to be immediate so the comparison between the clicks and video views becomes less of an assumption.

Follow Cantaloupe on Twitter @cantaloupe_tv.

YouTube

You have your video on your website, why would you need to post it to YouTube?

Simple. Numbers.

There are millions of video views on YouTube each month and when using a video content management system like Cantaloupe's Backlight, posting your video to YouTube can be done easily. By posting your video to YouTube you are giving access to millions of people that may have never even knew you existed. So, if they are on YouTube searching for a solution and your video comes up the conversation starts there. By setting up a YouTube channel you can store your videos in an orderly fashion as well as brand the channel with your companies branding and website URL allowing users to quickly engage with you.

The example for this again is the laughter yoga video that Cantaloupe produced. After getting the video up on our website and sent via mass email we posted the video to our YouTube channel. We were able to create some buzz among the laughter yoga world and even had a few laughter yoga websites embed or link directly to our video. The video helps them show what it is they do and allows us to get in front of new prospects.

In this image you can see that Cantaloupe has generated 210 views on this video from their YouTube video channel. You can also see the different websites that are linking to your video.

So, people are watching my video on YouTube but I want to know if we are getting conversions to our website from this. To solve this you would just need to use your website analytics and look at the referring sites to your website. You should be able to filter them down to the number of referrals there are from YouTube that you can then use for conversion rates.

Subscribe to Cantaloupe's YouTube Channel.

So we've covered the three current, big social media channels and how you can monetize your video content through these channels. I'm sure that there are more channels to come and there will be different ways to monetize your video through these channels, but for now why not get started with these?

Exposure leads to prospects that can in turn become customers. Internet video marketing is advancing quickly and the sooner that you can get your foot in the door and start building an online presence with your videos, the farther ahead you will be of your competition.

Learn more about how Backlight can help make your social media video monetization easier.

Follow Cantaloupe through Social Media:

It seems Bluelock has found a way to establish themselves as experts in cloud computing, and it seems a big part of that is their internet video marketing strategy.

I recently wrote a post about how their videos have shown up on a social network for cloud computing. Now it seems that someone else has grabbed the embed code for their LEGO demonstration of server virtualization and embedded it in their blog.

The ability to let others grab this video and spread it around is made possible through Backlight, Cantaloupe's online video platform. What kind of impact is this video having on Bluelock's business? Well, Bluelock can see exactly how many views their getting from this video placement by checking out the online video analytics report also provided through Backlight.

Another valuable feature is Bluelock's ability to change the ads in this video, that is, to change in-stream calls to actions. Even though this video is already embedded, Bluelock can control and change the message to viewers. (Check out the 2:20 mark in the video) Now they can actually convert these viewers into prospects or even customers.

I also think it's worth mentioning this quote from the blog:

Not only is Bluelock one of our clients, they are also a leader in "cloud computing," which at Cantaloupe we clearly get since our very own online video platform brings all kinds of cool things to the cloud like a video hosting service, video conversion online (many types including but not limited to mov conversion, mp4 conversion, flv conversion, mpeg conversion), video analytics, video uploading etc.

Well here is an example of how Bluelock has leveraged their videos to further their demonstration of expertise in the field of cloud computing. Using Backlight, they've embedded their videos into a community site specifically for networking around cloud computing.

What's really cool about this is that because the videos are embedded using Backlight, Bluelock maintains control over the messaging in the videos.

What do I mean? Check out the 56 second mark in the first video. Bluelock has inserted a video "ad" with a link back their website. This is the perfect way to convert otherwise casual viewers into potential customers.

There's no shortage of ways that Backlight can help you get more use and value out of your videos. Check out a demo today to see what Backlight can do for you.

The economy sucks. Got it. But does that mean internet video marketing is the first thing to go when budgets get cut?
Some people might think so, but then again, those same types of people probably thought websites were a luxury marketing tool too.

Without a doubt, video is a medium whose worth is only going to continue to be validated as time goes on. Most marketers today don't have the video analytics to justify their spend - the direct impact on the bottom line is still hard to capture, especially in a b2b environment where people rarely click "Buy Now."

So in this tough economy, there's something to be said about every dollar that gets spent. There's less experimenting and more focus on proven strategies, and guess which medium is expected to have the greatest growth in 2008, the year of the tough economy?

That's right. Online video advertising.

Maybe you're not convinced that you NEED video on your website, but when you look at this chart you probably need to ask yourself what other marketers know that you don't.






 

Today I had the opportunity to speak at a women's professional group - Network of Women in Business.  The topic was "Your website is your best salesperson".  The website plays a role in everyone's buying process, including mine - from where I eat dinner, to what yoga studio I go to, to what Sales Consultant I choose to help my business.  People are researching you on the web - can they find you and what are you giving them when they get there?  If you aren't drawing that visitor in with an engaging story via - web video, blogging, and other interactive marketing; you are losing your opportunity to convert them.  Because they are spending time on the sites that have the interactive marketing.

I met women from a myriad of industries - from Chai, Baby an online tea company, to Slingshot a company that scours universities looking for the next generation of sales people.  The same advice and tools apply to all industries - setup Google Analytics, search for yourself with the keywords you think your clients will use in looking for you, START BLOGGING, and incorporate web video.  Tell your story..... engage your prospects when they get to your site, make it your best salesperson.  If you don't - someone else will...

What kind of expert in internet video marketing would I be if I didn't share with you that Google can now automatically generate text from the audio in your internet videos and make it searchable?

The truth is, I've been sitting on this information for a couple weeks now. I just haven't been sure what to make of it.

The benefits are obvious. Search engines still rely nearly 100% on text to create relevant search results. Up until now, optimizing web video for search meant including the right text with the video. The obvious next step was finding a way to use speech recognition technology to convert the audio content that is already there to searchable text. The next step after that is making the image content searchable. (Which is well on its way. Here's an article)

What's been holding me back from talking more about this is I don't know what Google plans to do with this technology. Right now, your streaming video is only audio searchable if you upload it to YouTube (and actually, for the time being they're still testing the technology only on political videos).

YouTube is an amazing tool and has pioneered the online video industry, but it isn't always the best answer when marketing online with video. For one, the video quality output is too poor to use to put video on websites. And while YouTube does offer some video analytics, it's not as robust or as useful to business marketers as it needs to be or as you see with other video platforms.

At this point using YouTube for video marketing is a little like using hotmail for email marketing.

But at the end of the day, Google Audio Indexing (aka GAudi) is a monumental advancement for not just video marketing, but for search engine marketing as well. Everyone interested in either area should take 5 minutes and check out GAudi's FAQ page.

This is what a Cantaloupe client told me he wanted from us. I shouldn't have been surprised by this but I was.

Being at a firm that positions itself in the "internet video marketing" arena, I often get more caught up in the "internet" than the "video." I tend to spend more time thinking about video tracking and video analytics (it's probably worth noting that our blog posts around these topics are some of our most popular) rather than the "boring" digital video production side of things.

But anyone who has ever had to work with deliverables known as "the creative" has felt the pain of missed deadlines and misunderstood expectations. Manufacturing seems so anti-creative that sometimes people are apt not to apply the same principles that produce reliable and consistent gadgets to producing creative content - which if you ask anyone, they'd like to also be reliable and consistent, at least in terms of deadlines and results.

At Cantaloupe, we've experienced our own pains with delivering creative video production like manufacturing, but I'm happy to report that just in the past 4 months we've increased our success rate of hitting deadlines to 98% and there is really little to stop us from hitting 100% month after month.

The web side of things is important, but "content is king" as they say, and there's no point in knowing how to track and distribute your web video, if your web video isn't delivered on time and worth distributing.

A report put together by Convio, Sea Change Strategies and Edge Research tells fundraising professionals that they need to pay special attention to online video marketing. The report titled "The Wired Wealthy: Using the Internet to Connect to your Middle and Major Donors says:

5. Pay Special Attention to Video
Maybe this is the single exception to recommendation four. Relationship Seekers are heavy users of online video and express significant interest in seeing more. Hire a professional producer, and ask a test group of donors what they think before launching to a wider audience. No single video is going to change everything; a series of modestly produced short videos will get more mileage than one blockbuster. Most “viral videos” never go “viral.” Don’t measure success merely by looking at how many times a video has been viewed. The real measure is whether the right people – your wired wealthy Relationship Seekers – have seen it, and whether it has inspired them.

For those who prefer bullet points, the key takeaways are:

• Even with online video production, you should hire a professional
• It's better to do multiple, shorter, "modestly produced" stories than to do one expensive, flashy video. You'll use them more.
• As far as video tracking and video analytics, you need to look beyond number of views. It's about WHO saw the video, not just HOW MANY
• Finally, viral marketing does not mean getting millions of hits. It means making something contagious in the true sense of one to one marketing.

To Cantaloupe, this isn't news. It's exactly how our Video Magazines were designed to be utilized. Multiple videos, modestly produced for long term conversations directed at the right permission-based audience.

He doesn't call it that, but Johnny Cupcakes has created a video magazine to promote the grand opening of his second store. His first location is in Boston, his new store will be in L.A. The whole video series started 3 months and the anticipation has been building ever since.

What kind of stories is he telling? An authentic reality series showing the making of his new store. It's ongoing storytelling and internet video marketing at its finest.

Seriously, I don't even care that this is a marketing vehicle because I'm so entertained by the story itself. And really, at no point in the video do I feel like he's selling me something. He's showing me something cool and the fact that he's selling something is completely in the background.

No only that, now I'm actually aware that he has a new store launching. I didn't know before and if he'd just left it at a text email with no video (see an example of his email below, it's a lot of text) I wouldn't have bothered to read it.


What else does he do that should be a web video best practice? He encourages people to send it on. I haven't seen his video analytics but I'm sure this video is seeing a lot of traction.

But viral marketing as I always say, doesn't need to mean an "epidemic." The fact that he's even given me something to share his company with, a referral tool if you will, makes it viral. Even if only one person sees this, this is viral marketing.

Check out his video:




Johnny Cupcakes LA shoppe: Webisode #1 from Johnny Cupcakes on Vimeo.

Think about how nice it'd be to have a  web service software that allowed you to -

1. Show a video with your web cam and upload it to your website without help from developers
2. Create internet video landing pages
3. Rearrange your video magazines at the click of a button
4. Click one button and upload all your videos to YouTube and other internet video aggregators
5. Optimize all your videos for google video search and other internet video search engines
6. To store your website videos
7. To burn your website videos to a CD for use at tradeshows
8. To search your entire collection of videos so you can easily find the one with Brian the CEO talking about how his ski trip inspired the second generation product
9. Have more video analytics than you know what to do with

That list is alright, I have a ton more things I'd like to see in an online video software. I haven't even shared my best, but what would you like to see?

Update 7/28/08: A reader's comment (and thanks for commenting by the way) prompted me to clarify this post. The web service portion of Cantaloupe's product does some of these things (tracking and storing videos for instance) and we're currently gathering feedback for future developments. We'd love to hear from you.

 We've been searching for a magic bullet when it comes to web video analytics. Something that can help our clients determine what's working and what's not. How nice would that be, to have one statistic we can point for all our clients, one universal equation that applies to everyone doing video magazines and online video?

The thing is, it doesn't exist, which is both good and bad. It's bad, because frankly life would be much more comfortable for us pragmatic and rational folk who like to validate our decisions with hard logic and firm research. We can't lift our arms to brush our teeth without knowing that we're using the best toothpaste available to our budget and our dental hygiene needs, let alone spend our marketing budget on internet video marketing.

It's good, because it reflects how web video can be used in a multitude of different marketing capacities. You can use it for HR purposes, you can use it to promote an event to cold leads, you can use it to build your brand, you can use it to educate during your sales process, you can use it as a tool for your clients to refer you - the list is endless as are the internet audiences.

With each purpose so vastly different from each other, the video analytics you'll want to look at are going to be completely different. It'd be wrong to try and force fit one statistic for everyone.