If you’ve been following along with my PLAY 2019  Daily Recap series this week, you’ll know that it’s been an eventful few days—filled with thought-provoking content and discussions around what’s new, what’s next, and what matters in the world of video.

During Day 1 , we hosted a series of hands-on workshops on establishing your OTT service model, overcoming today’s developer challenges, and more. Then, we officially kicked off the conference on Day 2 , with sessions covering everything from converting OTT subscribers to making video accessible. Now, let’s go through a few of today’s highlights.

Finding your breakthrough self

The day began with a general session about maverick behavior, led by Brightcove CRO, Rick Hanson. Rick was joined on stage by Pat Macfie, global director of media at Xero , who shared this major takeaway: In order to break through, “you have to dare to be different”—and potentially fall flat on your face.

Peter Bozinov, director of multiplatform video and editorial at Pelmorex Weather Networks , then shared how his company strives to meet people’s personalized weather needs through video, when it really matters, wherever they are and on any platform. As Peter called out, Pelmorex Weather Networks can’t get a reporter to cover every active weather event, so their viewers have become their reporters—sending in images and videos to help keep people safe. “They’re a critical part of our storytelling,” he explained.

This morning’s opening keynote session then finished off with a presentation by classical music’s number one maverick, Jade Simmons . The world-class concert artist thrilled the crowd by performing piano classics in a new, unique way—and went on to share the inspiring story of how she became a breakthrough musician. According to Jade, there was one question that changed everything: “What would you like to play?”

Session highlights

The day continued with a series of morning sessions, including Your Company’s Got Talent: Let Them Shine! During this session, Ben Johnson, CS video manager at HP , discussed how his customer support team established mobile video studios to create valuable, engaging SME-produced videos. This strategy enabled HP to reduce their production and publishing costs by a whopping 90%.

Today’s agenda ended with a final selection of sessions on topics such as protecting your content with digital rights management and improving your video quality and experience. During the Getting the Most Out of Your Video Budget session, Mimi Rosenheim, senior director of digital marketing at Demandbase , shared her three-step guide to maximizing your budget: define your goals, determine your metrics, and establish your content and distribution strategy.

Thanks again for tuning in to my PLAY 2019 Daily Recap series this week! This was one of our best PLAY conferences yet, and it was a privilege to be able to share insights from our workshops, sessions, and customer stories with you. We hope to see you next year at PLAY 2020! Be sure to keep an eye on this space for some exciting post-PLAY content.

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While many PLAY 2019 attendees enjoyed our first-ever, full day of hands-on workshops yesterday, the conference officially kicked off this morning with an opening keynote by Brightcove CEO, Jeff Ray.

The power of breakthrough video

Jeff discussed how video can break through the noise to establish human connections, and then welcomed two different customers to the stage to share their powerful stories.

First up was Sharifah Niles Lane, vice president of digital marketing and social media at Eastern Bank . “Video is really breaking a number of barriers for us,” she explained—providing attendees with details on how Eastern Bank activated their audience with emotionally fueled video content for their inspiring Join Us For Good campaign.

Next, Mike Thyken, chief technology officer at CaringBridge , joined Jeff to discuss how video empowers CaringBridge to bring personal, human connection to individual healthcare journeys. As Mike pointed out, “video is a natural and powerful medium that allows you to tell your story so much more richly.”

This morning’s opening keynote session then finished off with a presentation by best-selling author Andrew Davis , who discussed “curiosity gaps,” an audience’s need for closure, and how to make sure your video’s payoff is proportional to the tension you build. During his informative (and often hilarious) talk, Andrew hammered home the point that “our audience will make time to consume video that maintains their interest.”

Session highlights

The day continued with a series of morning sessions, including From Free Trial to Loyal Fan: The Life Cycle of a Subscriber. During this panel, industry experts from Xarxa Audiovisual Local , Wicket Labs , Hallmark Labs , OUTtv , Brightcove, and Cleeng discussed various strategies for maximizing the lifetime value of OTT subscribers—from initial acquisition to maintaining engagement. One of the many highlights of the session was when OUTtv’s Anthony Jiwa gave some insight into the channel’s paid campaign around their marquee content, RuPaul’s Drag Race—which converted an impressive 75% of free trials to paid subscriptions.

The afternoon kicked off with another series of eye-opening sessions, such as Making Video Accessible to Everyone. During this session, Örjan Wallén and Carl Håman of Wallen Media gave an overview of the European Accessibility Act and the different levels of accessibility:

• Level A: Captions

• Level AA: Audio descriptions

• Level AAA: Sign language interpretation, media alternative, and extended audio description

The Wallen Media team went on to describe how the City of Malmo built a best-in-class model for the public and private sector to better communicate with its residents through video. From captioning considerations to different track types, Örjan and Carl shared a variety of proven insights into how to make videos accessible—a topic that’s increasingly timely, as it’s Global Accessibility Awareness Day tomorrow.

Next up for attendees this evening is the annual PLAY Party, where everyone will have a chance to discuss today’s sessions and connect on all things video. Be sure to check back tomorrow for a recap of Day 3!

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In the past few years, the evolution of video on social channels has skyrocketed. We started with only being able to host videos on YouTube with no live streaming capabilities at all. Now, not only can we can post videos to every social network, but we can live stream to almost all of them.  In fact, according to CMSCMedia’s Social Media Trends to Watch and Capitalize on in 2019 report, video accounts for 85% of total internet traffic in 2019 so far, with the live streaming market expected to double by 2021. Live streaming to your brand’s social profiles is incredibly powerful and here’s three reasons why you should start now.

1. Live streaming on social media expands audience reach

Each social channel has a unique audience. Twitter is the go-to place to see real-time content, whether it is breaking news or a great moment in sports. Live streaming to Twitter captures the audience that wants to get the most timely information. Facebook is where viewers go to connect with brands, friends, and family. When streaming to Facebook, you’ll capture an audience who is looking to engage with you and your brand directly. And finally, YouTube is where many viewers go for long-form content. From how-to pieces to chaptered stories, YouTube is the platform for learning new skills and product enhancements.

2. It enhances brand awareness

A natural benefit of expanding your audience reach across the various social platforms is that your brand will reach new people. In addition,  Live streaming to social channels brings a sense of authenticity to your brand. Anything can happen when you’re live, giving your audience a reason to tune in and a sense that they’re watching real people.

3. It builds unique content

Building unique content is a personal favorite of mine. By live streaming to social channels, you build new video assets that you can use again once the event is complete. For our recent Live to Social launch at NAB, we did seven show floor interviews live on Facebook, including two interviews with Brightcove Partners, four separate interviews with Brightcove’s C-Level staff, and Product Managers. Because we covered the evolution of video and where we think it will go in the future—a topic that’s timely and evergreen—we can use that content in future campaigns. In fact, you can check out our Live from NAB Showfloor videos on-demand now, in Brightcove’s NAB Facebook Live playlist .

By now, you should be convinced that live streaming is the next wave of social marketing. Already a Brightcove Live user? Click here to learn how to start streaming live to Facebook right from your Brightcove dashboard. Learn more about Brightcove Live by clicking here .

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The race is on for direct-to-consumer OTT services. We saw game-changing mergers and acquisitions in 2018—with the likes of Disney-Fox, AT&T-Time Warner, and Comcast-Sky all gearing up to transform the OTT battlefield in 2019 and beyond. Not to be outdone, content owners and pay-TV service providers have also launched OTT services as an extension of their legacy offerings, with a mission to profitably capitalise on streaming content to all connected devices. For consumers, their needs are relatively simple; they seek a combination of high-quality content, a low price, and frictionless user experience.

Understanding this consumer mindset and targeting the most valuable customer segments will be crucial to the success of OTT platforms. So how can media companies gain an understanding of the current sentiment towards OTT offerings in their markets—including user preferences towards subscriptions, payments, advertising, user experience, and even ecommerce habits? Speak to the Brightcove team at BroadcastAsia2019 , which is taking place from 18 to 20 June, 2019.

This year, we’ll be  returning to this regional flagship event to showcase our full OTT solutions tech stack, which covers VOD, Live, and OTT Advertising. We will also be hosting a special Asia OTT Video Forum 2019 luncheon on 19 June 2019, where we will unveil findings from our Asia OTT Research Report 2019.

To compile this research, Brightcove partnered with YouGov , an international data and analytics group, and conducted a study that polled 9,000 participants across nine countries in Asia. The study investigated which factors motivate consumers to sign up or unsubscribe—as well as their payment preferences, tolerance for ads, and views on OTT TV ecommerce.

If you’re interested in connecting at BroadcastAsia2019, schedule a meeting with the Brightcove team or register to attend the Asia Video OTT Forum. Please note that seats for the Video Forum are limited. Registrations will close on 10 June 2019 or when seats are filled. No walk-ins will be permitted.

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Here at Brightcove, everyone is preparing to celebrate the New Year. It’s time to celebrate—and what better way to celebrate the holidays than with a flurry of original content about video? If you’re following us on Facebook or Twitter , you may have caught a peek at our 12 Days of Video series, which we’re wrapping up in a nice package for you here.

We’ve got blog posts, a new video series, and a clever graphic that may just strike a chord with production folks. Check it out:

Blog post: Setting your New Year’s resolution for your website

The holiday season can be the perfect time to plan out your 2019 content strategy and set your New Year’s resolution for your website.

Blog post: OTT best practices

In order to thrive in the increasingly crowded OTT marketplace, you need to produce immersive digital experiences at scale. Here are some OTT best practices to keep in mind as you stake your claim in this space.

Blog post: 2018 Year in Review

We’ve rounded up our most popular blog posts of 2018, plus a recap of our year at Brightcove.

New series: Video Vocab

Thanks for celebrating a successful 2018 with us. Want to stay up-to-date on all things video, OTT, and more in 2019? Subscribe to our newsletter.

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As the year winds down, it’s the perfect time to take a look back at some major shifts in the video world. While media reporters, analysts, and executives made some predictions back in January, it’s clear that those shifts didn’t all come to fruition or play out the way we expected. Read on for our hot or not overview of 2018 media trends.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning: HOT

AI, as a technology topic, consistently tops various trends lists. But that’s for good reason! Everywhere you look, innovative machine learning applications continue to pop up. For instance, companies like IBM use this technology to power fun features like Chef Watson . Alternatively, ad tech providers are beginning to leverage AI to automate buying decisions and identify fraud.

This trend is very much here to stay, and it’s impacting more and more industries as time goes on. Here at Brightcove we leverage AI for Context Aware Encoding (CAE) . Using machine learning, we identify historical usage patterns across customers. For example, we can identify the probability that a video will be viewed on a smaller screen or at a lower bitrate (i.e., mobile in India with low bandwidth). In that case, we’d feed this into the algorithm to come up with the optimal rendition set. Alternatively, we’d do the same for high-quality content commonly viewed on an Apple TV, optimizing on the higher side of things. The impact of this constantly evolving algorithm — combined with the intelligence layer that scans the content itself to advise on encoding profiles — made CAE a winner of multiple awards in 2018 at conferences like NAB and IBC.

Virtual Reality (VR): NOT

We hate to be negative here, but VR is one of the media trends that hasn’t yet truly delivered on all the hype surrounding it. Sure, this technology has led to some really impressive gaming experiences, and it is a frontier of experimentation for sports leagues like the NBA . But it has not seen broad adoption across many other applications.

However, Augmented Reality (AR) has played a much more interesting role in the media space this year. For instance, apps like Snapchat are using AR games as Sponsored Snappable ads. And 360 video continues to grow — with everything from the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to the Winter Olympics offering this immersive viewing experience.

Interactivity: HOT

In 2018, interactivity was a force to be reckoned with in the media world. And that shouldn’t be particularly surprising. After all, this technology enables media companies to create engaging content — from interactive shoppable video to quizzes —  for a variety of different audiences and mediums. Here at Brightcove we’re supporting clickable ad creatives for Server-Side Ad Insertion (SSAI) , where interactivity historically hasn’t been available. And our partners like HapYak are making it easier for viewers to engage with video content in exciting new ways, such as choose your own adventure storytelling.

As we recently learned at the IAB Tech Lab Video Summit, this trend is so hot that IAB is deprecating VPAID and creating new standards like VPAID-i and SIVIC , specifically for interactivity. As we move into next year, we can expect shoppable video to be a widely used form of interactive content — especially with ecommerce giants like Amazon staking a claim in this space.

Overall, 2018 has been an exciting year of advancements that empower media companies to take their viewer experiences to the next level. And I for one can’t wait to see what 2019 has in store for us.

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