After years of speculation, the vision for Connected TV is finally becoming a reality, as entrepreneurs take Web TV beyond the browser and give consumers more ways than ever to watch their favorite video content. For publishers, though, “more ways than ever” can be a double-edged sword. Yes, you now have unprecedented and constantly expanding opportunities to monetize your video. But to do so effectively, you’ve got to come up to speed on a complex new landscape of platforms, devices, technologies, and viewer habits. Otherwise, it’s all too easy to make choices that lock you into a specific approach or platform and make it impossible to capture the full revenue potential of your video content.
Here are a few things to consider as you develop the ideal Connected TV monetization strategy for your business.
It’s a jungle out there
Forget about the comfortable, familiar world of Web TV, where you could run and monetize your video easily across the full spectrum of customer access points. Connected TV is delivered through an interconnected ecosystem of applications, operating systems, and hardware, both standalone and integrated—and an equally complex variety of options for publisher connected TV solutions.
One size does not fit all
No single Connected TV platform can deliver the full universe of potential viewers. Each requires its own different video player—and most of them do not support ad standards like VAST or VPAID out of the box, which means you’ve got some choices to make. Lets’ start with the “connected” part.
To reach viewers who are watching or will be watching online video their TV sets, you can build apps for the Connected TVs being produced by companies like Vizio, Samsung, and the partners for GoogleTV, though you’ll have to write a different widget for each maker. To reach the set-top box crowd, you can write apps for devices like Boxee or Roku—again, starting over for each one. Alternatively, you can rely on a Connected TV app developer like Flingo to do the heavy lifting for you, enabling you to deliver your video across multiple Connected TV platforms.
If you have good video content but haven’t yet made your move into Connected TV, you may be able to get a headstart by working with the right publisher partner. There are several publisher aggregators with Connected TV apps who can spare you the work of building your own.
If you’re thinking about the direct-to-TV route, the market is still highly fragmented with no set standards. To avoid doing a lot of work for a small return, focus on the manufacturers whose platforms are actually being used for Connected TV in consumer households. It’s not just how many Web-enabled units they sell; it’s a question of how many are being activated once they’re installed. These numbers are a moving target, of course, but they’re moving in the right direction: according to recent numbers from Samsung, 40% of all their TVs sold in 2010 were web-enabled, estimated to reach X% in two years, with 50% consumer activation. Most leading manufacturers are already moving aggressively into Connected TV, and as they do, this model will gain more market share as well as mindshare among consumers.
Sounds like you’re going to be doing a lot of development, doesn’t it? It adds up fast—so make sure you’re focusing your efforts in the right places, or you’ll end up burning through a lot of resources without gaining the footprint you’re after.
Do your monetization homework
Becoming Connected TV-ready is a big step. As you think through your Connected TV strategy, pay careful attention to what it’s going to take to extend video ads onto each platform. What ad standards does each streaming solution support, if any? How will you deliver the ads? Remember, not every ad server is designed for cross-platform use. Without a well thought-out plan, you can find yourself developing loads of custom ad players and custom ad formats that end up locking you into a particular monetization scheme—or, worse, locking you out of cross-platform monetization opportunities altogether.
However you choose to approach Connected TV, the important thing is to approach it soon. During this formative time in the Connected TV landscape, there are ample opportunities to reach and build relationships with viewers in new ways, and lay the foundation for a loyal, high-value. As the channel continues its explosive growth, so can your revenue.