Day 4 of the Banff World Media Festival and I am suddenly starting to realize I’m getting old. I don’t quite know how I managed to put my body through all 4 days and nights of conference on little to no sleep. Plus, did I mention I wore heels the entire time? Girls are crazy.
Anyways, the first morning keynote I attended was the nextMEDIA Digital Innovators Series with Albert Cheng, EVP and Chief Produce Officer of Digital Media at Disney/ABC Television Gro Group. It was actually at 10:00am, I actually was there earlier but I couldn’t pry myself away from the breakfast table to make it to the 9:00am session.
One of the topics up for discussion this morning was VOD: Video On Demand, and how it is ever increasing. Viewers want to watch what they want, when they want it .
There was also mention of a product called Second Screen, which is a way to monetize and place targeted ads on social TV. I would tell you more about how it works but I’m still rather lost.
Then there was mention of this thing called the “post-pc future”; a.k.a, the prediction that in the future most media will be consumed through smartphones, tablets and via smart TV instead of the computer.
One panel I was very presently surprised with was the New Economics of Web Based Entertainment, although it originally sounded like a money nerd talk, it was very insightful and I learned tons.
There was discussion on “social influence” and investing in content producers (like myself, hint hint). The panel through the lovely buzz word Branded Entertainment around and discussed whether or not it was worth trying. Pro: it’s cheaper content. Con: viewers might be turned off by it.
Nobody wants to be sold, they want to be entertained.
They talked about global and local monetization and geotargeting: when you click on a video and get that annoying “This video cannot be played in your region” message. That is because currently advertisers don’t want to pay for eyeballs outside of the country their brand , product or show is in. (It makes sense if you think about it.)
One of the most useful sessions for budding content creators was the YouTube Workshop. While lots of the tips can be found online on the Youtube Playbook, here are the most important ones everyone seems to care about.
How to get more views on your videos:
- Consistent schedule. This is something I need to practise doing more of.
- Post about holidays and what’s trending– Will people share this? A conversation is happening online, step into the conversation.
- Collaborate and cross-promote– Reach out to other people creating the same content as you.
- Leverage social media– Use it as a way to draw viewers to your videos.
- Embedded views– Find blogs that post about things related to your video.
- Thumbnails and titles– Very important for attracting the initial views.
- Keywords and research– Tag your videos correctly so Google search engines can find them.
- Involve your audience– Personality wins, talk to people!
- Call to action– Ask for people to subscribe, follow, retweet, etc.
- Common sense and continuity– Find something that works and keep at it.
Hell on Wheels BBQ
What’s a conference without a final celebratory bash? This final BBQ was hyped up and talked about all conference. “Are you going to the BBQ?”, “I can’t wait for the BBQ” . Yes those are actual quotes.
Well I am glad to report that the BBQ was indeed amazing! So much fun. Costumes, bonfire, horses, free drinks and of course food.
Now apparently there was cast and crew members from the show there; however, since I don’t watch Hell On Wheels I couldn’t really tell which ones they were. I did get a photo with Common, he’s suppose to be this big rap star, if I ever find the photo I will post it.
What a wonderful way to toast off the final night at the Banff World Media Festival in what was surly an epic and unforgettable learning experience. I will most definitely be back next year. Farewell!
Missed something? Check out my previous posts on Banff:
Day 1: That time I got a police escort home from #Banff2012
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