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Last time I checked, publishers schedule and conduct events – whether live and in-person or virtually – for a singular reason. To generate additional revenues.
Publishers have increasingly grown their live events businesses with the knowledge that the costs and efforts associated with generating a true live audience can be daunting. However, the real value of a live event comes in its life after live. Live is fleeting but properly curated video-on-demand (VOD) lasts forever.
The key to winning in this arena is to start with a keen understanding of what attendees want to consume, when and how. Success then comes down to active curation and content control.
Those who attend in-person events walk around throughout the day talking with people. They stop to work, answer business calls and emails. By the end of the day, with so much going on, these attendees typically want to go back and listen to some of the speakers or sessions they heard earlier in the day. But attendees don’t necessarily want to watch an entire day-long event or even a full session to locate the exact segment of content that is most important to them. This is where AI-driven video archives allow for pinpoint discovery of exactly the key piece of content desired for further consumption and consideration.
In many instances, viewers want to go back and watch the segment more than just once. In fact, from our internal data obtained by supporting VentureBeat’s Transform and GamesBeat Summit events, we know that people want to go back and listen again and again and not just on the day of the event. Our event metrics for VentureBeat proved for them that not only is their content valuable, it’s sellable with a fairly long shelf-life. In fact, utilizing AnyClip’s holistic video distribution strategy and data (using our AI-driven Visual Intelligence Platform) gave VentureBeat the opportunity to take the most-viewed video highlights and produce an entirely new piece of searchable video that can be separately monetized.
The result: viewership levels that increased 24X vs. VentureBeat’s prior virtual events, including an exponential increase in unique viewers within five days of the live event, with video replays more than doubling the number of live/same-day streams. What’s more, this helped VentureBeat exceed the previous month’s editorial video engagement rates by a whopping 161 percent.
In addition to registration fees, the publisher – by prioritizing “life after live” – was able to generate significant income by successfully offering event content on a monthly subscription basis. In fact, VentureBeat is still deriving revenues from this content over a year later by continuing to attract even more new subscribers.
We’ve had potential clients tell us that they just upload event sessions on YouTube. By doing so, they’ve eliminated the opportunity to track who is watching and what they are actually watching. Instead, by keeping control of and properly managing the content, publishers secure the ability to collect data about their subscribers, learn what content they’re searching for, understand what kind of viewers are being attracted and which kind of content has the strongest appeal. In turn, such discoverability provides opportunities to surface content more efficiently to a hyper-targeted audience.
As well, savvy organizations like the IAB are using content created around their events to collect the names and email addresses of users, thus further building their customer database for future events and product offerings. All of these data-driven learnings are helping the IAB to produce even more audience-appealing events going forward.
And don’t forget the additional value that is also passed along to your sponsors and speakers. Riding the coattails of the publisher’s content, sponsors are having messaging regarding their products and services consumed multiple times following the initial event. Thus increasing the ROI on their initial event spend. Speakers gain increased opportunities to promote and sell their books or white papers as part of post-event viewings by attendees as well as having their wares introduced to a whole new audience from new subscribers who searched and were attracted to the curated content that featured them.
I recommend publishers begin thinking of their events in terms of how programmers and media buyers measure and evaluate the reach and viewership of their advertising and feature content. For them, it’s no longer only about the premiere date. Today it’s about Live +7 – the days post live which provide exponentially increased revenue opportunities way beyond the premiere.
Publishers, marketers and event producers alike seeking to broaden their revenue streams need to exploit the long tail of VOD – continually surfacing and serving up content from their events, long after they have ended. This includes full conference programs, segments, clips (and even gifs!) – all of which can reach relevant audiences across owned, earned and paid media channels.
When used properly, these VOD assets can be used to drive a company’s core KPIs. Whether that’s audience growth, engagement, subscription or transaction – long after its original live date. The associated event costs can then be amortized over an extended period of time. While live has an expiration date, a VOD asset – when properly enriched and exploited – can be a renewable resource.
Long live the long tail!
Gil Becker
President and CEO of AnyClip – The Visual Intelligence Company
About: The AnyClip Platform for publishing, media, and business is the next evolution in video management, distribution, analytics, marketing and monetization. Intelligence Lockbox by AnyClip leverages this platform to unlock the value of video for internal communications and collaboration. In early 2021, the company announced a $47 million (US) investment, and in November 2021, it ranked No. 5 in New York, and 64 in North America, on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500™ list of fastest-growing companies in North America. For more information, please visit www.AnyClip.com.
