Overlay Video

The overlay format is exactly as it sounds… it literally overlays onto your site. No alteration of your site is needed since the video player is a transparent background. This is a great option for anyone who does not want to or does not have the manpower to change their site design. Using an overlay player gives you the option to choose a specific section of your site where you would like the video to deploy from, such as the lower left or lower right. This location can also be changed at any time when using Oculu.

Embedded Video

This is the most common way to deliver video onto a website. With an embedded video, a specific space on a webpage is dedicated for video placement. This provides a seamless look with your site, but it also requires planning with your web designer. Problems can arise when using this format if your page is already designed. If you would like to utilize the embed format, be sure to communicate with your web designer about both the size and placement of your video on your webpage. The standard video size on Oculu is 640×360. But you can change these dimensions based on the needs of your site.

Lightbox Video

A lightbox video is the best of both worlds. A full size video, like an embed, that performs like an overlay. The lightbox format works as a link or button on your page that is set up to display your video. Once your viewer clicks on this space, your video pops up and plays on your site as an overlay, leaving the rest of your webpage blacked out. With Oculu, you can even choose the background color to match the aesthetic of your site. Although a great option if you want to minimally affect the design of your site, it is not the best format for conversion activity since your webpage is hidden while the video plays.

Remembering these three formats before you go into production, will help you find the perfect video delivery option for your site.

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Over the last 6 years, Oculu (www.oculu.com) has evolved as Innovate Media’s technology arm, with the aim of helping clients easily deliver the videos produced by Innovate Media onto the customer’s website. To expand its services, Oculu now offers anyone with a video to upload their work and use the platform to deliver and manage their video campaigns.

“Oculu is the culmination of our experience as online video professionals as well as the insights of our clients,” said Dave Winters, VP of Production and co-founder of Innovate Media Group. “Our goal was to create an easy to use yet sophisticated method for video delivery anyone could use. With Oculu, you don’t need an IT degree to have quality video delivery.”

The Oculu system is unique because it allows users to upload an array of video files and then receive code in three distinct video formats: overlay, embedded, or light-box. Customers simply choose their format, place the code on their site, and are then able to manage their accounts and see the results of their work through a full range of reporting data.

“We created our delivery technology out of necessity,” said John Cecil, President and co-founder of Innovate Media Group. “Our clients made us realize how difficult it actually was to take a finished video and have it delivered properly on their websites. Oculu alleviates the headaches associated with serving video on the web.”

Oculu provides professional yet easy to use online video delivery, management, and reporting. Plans start as low as $19.00 a month.

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For additional information on Oculu please visit www.oculu.com or contact Robert Ardell at Robert.ardell@oculu.com

About Oculu
Oculu is a new, full featured online video platform that allows customers to upload and manage their online video campaigns with ease. Developed from the ground up by Innovate Media, an online video production company, Oculu was created from the needs of video professionals and their clients. Oculu is currently delivering videos on hundreds of customer websites and served over 100,000,000 video plays in 2010.

About Innovate Media Group
Innovate Media is a full-scale production company specializing in producing and delivering video for the web. The company brings scalable online media solutions that incorporate video to make any client’s website come alive. The Innovate Media team has been at the forefront of the online media revolution for over a decade with qualified specialists who are experts at producing, encoding and delivering video for the web. Headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, Innovate Media’s technology-driven marketing solutions help to dramatically increase sales and conversions. Products include the video spokesperson, video snacks, and premium video projects.

Media Contacts:
Robert Ardell
www.oculu.com
@yooculu
1-888-966-2858
robert.ardell@oculu.com

Anyone who is remotely interested in the video business knows that there’s no shortage of commentary, insight and perspectives out there. So this blog is written to review and distill the latest thinking on online video communication’s best practices among other things in order to understand not only what the “experts” are saying, but also what’s actually being done on the ground.

Just a few years ago the internet began embarking on this major transition. Incredible marketers had no idea of what to do. They could produce video just like they could produce a television commercial, but they did not know how to serve it to the consumer. In 2002 the online medium was not ready for primetime. Ad agencies could develop a television commercial, and when the television commercial was done, the process of getting the commercial seen by consumers had already been established.

However video was proven to work on TV so it was not a stretch to believe that it could work on the web as well. For me the light bulb went on when I saw that generating reach through the Internet by using video was a temporary problem.

My passion for video and this transformative period goes back to the days right after I left Yahoo! (circa 2001). The glory days for me at Yahoo! Was when everything was new- when as salespeople we were basically inventing online video advertising programs. There were no rules and I guess I wanted to be in that space again – what would be next? When I thought about it the video thing was just starting and obvious would transform a medium that at the time was so completely dominated by text. I connected with Dave Winters and we got serious about the online video “production” business. We produced videos for clients and sent them the files and didn’t deal with how these videos were delivered to the consumer. No production company was at the time.

Things have changed since then. Video is on its way. It is a proven digital medium that helps increase sales leads and conversions, yet is only being used by a small fraction of the online marketers who could be benefiting by it. A study by eMarketer reports by 2012 approximately 190 million people will be watching online video.

All the while, the growth of online video is skyrocketing, as evidenced by the adoption of Rich Media, Pre-Roll, YouTube, G4 mobile and other video technology. However, the frontier for the online video marketer is just beginning. You Tube started this the online marketer will finish it

According to the IAB, it took 38 years for radio to reach 50MM users, 13 years for TV, 10 years for cable, less than 5 years for Internet, and less than 2 years for Internet Video. Consumers of all walks of life utilize more online video now than ever before. Heavy online video users continue to increase their online video consumption while decreasing their offline TV consumption. Despite these trends, online video advertising remains just a fraction of overall advertising spending.

By combining visuals, text, and audio together, a viewer can absorb much more information in a shorter period of time. Learning studies have shown that content is up to 3x more likely to be retained when delivered with video, partly because we only remember 10% what we read, but 50% what we hear and see.

Now when a company would come to us to produce a video we separated ourselves from other production companies due to our video serving capability. It was a big differentiator. The early pitch was more evangelistic. We garnered customers due to our evangelism. The good news was that we did not have to explain to marketers what video was. No, we had to explain that this was coming and why they communicating with video. Our message was simple; that they would increase conversions with video. That said we didn’t have a lot of data back then to support that message.

Its almost like what online marketers need right now is a “guide” to the online video revolution. Something about media technology and how production and professional video delivery work together to provide the key to generating impressive ROI. It is not exclusively about video production. The market is saturated with books written by video directors and producers which educate readers on how to shoot a video for personal or commercial purposes. Marketers need to learn how to use video to promote their messages online. When they do and realize how powerful it is, they will end the online video revolution.

Online marketers: think about the “ifs” and “whens” of whether you should be thinking about video for your business – at this time or in the near future – and if so, how to insure that your video campaign is executed successfully.

“The campaign was completely turnkey,” said Robert Talbot, Napster’s VP of marketing. “We provided script input, collateral and guidance. Innovate Media provided everything else including flawless delivery of the videos they produced. We couldn’t be happier.”

Napster initially created the campaign to increase online conversions of its seven-day trial subscriptions. The company tested multiple versions of each video using different spokespeople and scripts, and then used the videos in rotation to determine the best performing video spokesperson. The results were significant. Napster continues to use the best performing videos, and subscriptions continue to grow apace.

“We were very pleased with the results,” said Jud Hogan, VP of Sales for Innovate Media. “Like the vast majority of our clients, Napster saw an increase in site conversions once the video was deployed. Napster’s users responded positively to the friendly face and helpful information provided by the seamless delivery of our video spokesperson to their landing pages.”

“After seeing the daily reports of how the tests performed with the Innovate Media Video Spokesperson on the splash page vs. no Video Spokesperson on the splash page, we were shocked to see such a substantial lift in our conversion trial rate with the Innovate Ads!” said Michelle Fields, Senior Marketing Manager of Napster.

Innovate Media has seen various clients reap conversions increases of up to 150 percent using its Video Spokesperson, Video Snack and Premium Video products.

About Napster

Napster (www.napster.com), the pioneer of digital music, offers the ultimate in interactive music experiences, creating better ways to discover, share, acquire and enjoy music – anytime, anywhere. The company’s flagship service, Napster, is the ultimate digital music package, offering unlimited on-demand music, streaming as well as downloadable MP3s for one’s permanent collection playable on any MP3 compatible device, including iPod®, iPhone® and all MP3 music-enabled mobile phones. The company’s online service is available in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany and Japan. Napster Mobile, one of the industry’s fastest growing mobile music platforms, provides the premier mobile music experience for customers in select markets around the world. A wholly owned subsidiary of Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY – News), Napster’s headquarters are in Los Angeles.

About Innovate Media

Innovate Media is a full-scale production company specializing in producing and delivering video for the web. The company brings scalable online media solutions that incorporate video to make any client’s website come alive. The Innovate Media team has been at the forefront of the online media revolution for over a decade with qualified specialists who are experts at producing, encoding and delivering video for the web. Headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, Innovate Media’s technology-driven marketing solutions help to dramatically increase sales and conversions. Products include the video spokesperson, online video ad units, and premium video projects.

The results are in! Innovate Media helped Napster increase conversion rates for Napster.

How?

Through online video of course!

With the deployment of an online video spokesperson onto the Napster homepage, the company saw a dramatic lift in subscription rates of its interactive music delivery service. Using Innovate Media’s overlay video technology, an online spokesperson came onto the screen each time a visitor went to Napster.com. The spokesperson clip gave a direct call to action, to sign up with the service, which is how Napster saw such a significant increase.

And it’s not just Napster seeing these results. ALL of our clients see an increase in conversions once they add video to their online marketing campaigns.

To learn more about Napster’s success story, click here for the full press release. And to learn more about our video spokesperson product, please visit Innovate Ads.