Between spending long hours at the office and juggling responsibilities at home, it’s tough to make time for continued educational training. Fortunately, Fitch Learning has addressed this by providing convenient, live stream e-learning opportunities to busy professionals worldwide.

As a global provider of employee training for the financial services industry, Fitch Learning helps accelerate the professional development of staff at a variety of financial organizations, including investment banks, private equity firms, and asset management companies, among many others. In fact, Fitch Learning services 80 percent of the world’s top 20 banks. And it’s all done through classroom instruction, online learning, and customized training solutions that meet the learning, regulatory, and certification requirements for clientele across their respective enterprises. More importantly, these blended learning solutions include video instruction. Victoria Green, Global Recordings Manager for Fitch Learning, explains the perks of digital video:

The benefit of blended learning with video is that it allows users to participate in class and also review content online at a time that’s convenient to them, which therefore enhances the learning experience from that of a traditional classroom.”

Live stream e-learning, powered by Brightcove

Fitch Learning’s catalog includes over 10,000 hours of video-based content, and each year, the organization offers more than 200 lectures and classes via live stream and on-demand video. Thanks to Brightcove , Fitch Learning is able to distribute these video sessions securely and with exceptional quality.

The company uses Brightcove’s Video Cloud platform to manage, host, and deliver course content to customers throughout Africa, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and the Americas. Fitch Learning also employs Brightcove’s Live solution to stream course lectures, conferences, and introductory informational sessions to both customers and prospects. Within the live stream, viewers can use a variety of additional features, including cloud DVR capability, live clipping, interactive Chatroll, and live-to-DVD asset creation. By combining all these elements, Fitch Learning gives its viewers the chance to experience a collaborative, classroom-like learning environment without ever having to leave their home or office.

Increased attendance and conversion, and a better user experience

Convenience is key when it comes to Fitch Learning’s customer base. Since adopting the Brightcove platform and transforming its course content to include more accommodating live stream instruction, Fitch Learning has boosted its numbers in viewer attendance, user experience, and customer conversion. And as a result of this success, the company is now expanding its live stream learning initiatives, producing even more video content, and offering people everywhere the opportunity to take part in any one of Fitch Learning’s educational courses. Says Green, “We would not be able to deliver the number of training days or the amount of content to our global audience without being online and using platforms like Brightcove.”

To learn more how Fitch Learning uses live stream video, read the full case study here .

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Throughout the years, premium sports coverage has remained a hugely valuable content vertical. In fact, according to analysis conducted by Nielsen and MoffettNathanson, 85 of the top 100 most-watched telecasts in the United States last year were sporting events — up from 48 in 2011.

But during this age of profound media disruption, when more video is being consumed online than ever before, sports right holders recognize the need to go beyond linear broadcasts in order to satisfy viewers’ appetites. Developing a variety of engaging, immersive over-the-top (OTT) digital experiences for fans is no longer optional; it’s a requirement. In this increasingly crowded marketplace, differentiation is key. Thankfully, digital platforms provide a variety of additional destinations and experiences for viewing beyond the live broadcast — empowering you to expand the reach of a sporting event. Here are a few tips on how to get creative with your distribution to supplement your live sports streaming content and reach new audiences.

Create Shoulder Programming

By creating valuable shoulder programming that can serve as a companion to live event footage, you can take your content strategy to the next level. Many of today’s top sports broadcasters leverage their websites, apps and social channels to share their live stream footage before, during or after a broadcast. This multi-channel approach empowers them to reach their audience in exciting new ways.

Clip Live Sports Streaming Footage to Create On-Demand Assets

Another way to extract greater value from event content is to clip live footage to create on-demand assets. Take a page out of the Premier League’s book and consider establishing a dedicated online platform to host a variety of non-live content. The English soccer league currently provides fans with a slew of engaging content — such as player interviews, iconic game moments and coverage of the various community initiatives sponsored by the league — that takes their game-day experience to the next level.

Capture Social Audiences

Developing and engaging a passionate audience plays a critical role in the success of a live sports stream. Take the time to establish a strategy for how you can leverage your social channels to increase viewership. For instance, consider publishing clips to your social platforms while the main event is taking place. Doing so can help you channel casual viewers toward the primary broadcast. The NBA, for example, actively promotes its video content via social media. They’ve even taken a non-restrictive approach to their content distribution — permitting fans to share game highlights on channels like Twitter in near real-time.

Want to learn more about extending the reach of your live sports video content? Check out our whitepaper: Harness the Power of Sports Video .

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Traditional publishers who embark on an online video strategy tend to quickly realise that they are wading into unfamiliar territory. Operating from a traditional print standpoint is an entirely different ball game than running an online digital business.

When publishers think about monetising their online properties, revenue sharing is often a quick-fix solution to a complex revenue decision. Here are the top three reasons why revenue sharing is one of the worst business strategies for publishers looking to build a sustainable business online.

Revenue share = low effort, low return

The old adage goes that if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Video content is an important strategy for digital publishers as a means to drive audience engagement and monetisation. With the likes of YouTube, DailyMotion, and Vimeo all offering revenue share options, publishers may not realise the extent to which they are relinquishing a certain level of control of their businesses to these companies — leaving their business and revenue outcomes at the whim of any changes these companies make to their platforms, publishing technologies, or policies.

When publishers adopt a revenue share model, they often come to a decision that an in-house sales team is redundant. Without an in-house sales team, the publisher relies solely on the revenue share platforms to fulfill its sales targets. Any illusion of true partnership is lost when the platform partner fails to sell enough inventory or does not meet sales targets. The only revenue streams available on these platforms are through programmatic sales. In the current Asian market, programmatic-sourced revenues form only a fraction of the total available advertiser revenue.

Even though many of these platforms offer content owners the opportunity to sell against their own content, there is a pain and risk associated with this scenario. Pain, as in often-taxing reporting responsibilities, or risk, as in owing a fixed CPM to a platform that permits the publisher to sell inventory.

Who owns the data?

Publishers are beginning to understand that in addition to their content, their user data is one of their most valuable assets. User data drives content, distribution, and monetisation strategies and more granular user data drives more personalized, targeted ads, which lead to higher CPMs and performance. When using a video platform with a revenue share model, such as those offered by Youtube, DailyMotion, Vimeo, and Verizon, publishers are often handing over ALL of their valuable user data. With Brightcove, user data remains solely with the publisher — and this can be monetized throughout each user’s life cycle.

Low incentive for innovation

When publishers are served by revenue share-centric video platforms (RSPs) which focus on serving the masses, any publisher is one of many. These platforms are unlikely to create any custom experiences for a single publisher, because their focus is to only invest in innovation if it benefits all of their customers. By definition, publishers will not be able to differentiate. There is no incentive for the RSPs to further their roadmap as a means to evolve a publisher’s business.

So how does a publisher gain a competitive edge? There is no edge. Developing a publisher’s own unique user experience is not aligned with the RSP’s product strategy.

Brightcove actively maintains integrations with a number of hand-picked technology platforms that our customers can leverage (in many cases free of charge) to enhance their business offerings. For example, Brightcove has integrations with third-party ad tech companies, recommendation engines, interactivity tools, and analytics platforms . Brightcove offers a stronger partner ecosystem for publishers to integrate with than provided by RSPs.

Because RSPs operate on the basis of a one-size-fits-all approach, the ability to differentiate as a media brand is significantly compromised for the publisher. If a publisher wants to differentiate — be it by changing the UI, or adding regional-specific payment gateways like AliPay or WeChatPay , or adding regionally relevant social integrations like Line or WeChat — then that would be a change request which would prove to be costly.

For RSPs, improving the UI or adding new features will inevitably become a sticking point between the vendor and publisher if significant revenues are not being generated.  And it is not a priority nor part of the RSP’s roadmap to productise such features.

Permanent tax on success

The more YOU earn from ads, the more RSPs earn as well. In other words, publishers are ceding control of their revenues to third parties. With Brightcove, as your video streaming volumes increase, the per unit delivery costs come down so the percentage you pay (the overall revenue vs. the Brightcove cost) is not tied into ad revenue, nor is the percentage fixed as it would be for those revenue share models. It’s worth noting that a revenue share strategy often leads to a significant amount of unsold inventory, leading to disappointing revenue outcomes.

Revenue share models often will lock a publisher into utilising a limited set of features that the RSP offers (i.e. mainly integrations with their own platforms) with little ability to influence their roadmap. Publishers also need to be cautious that RSPs do not have the ability to glean additional insights into their audience through these platforms.

Be your own brand

BE SMART: As ad dollars shift online, premium online video offers a new revenue stream for online publishers. This means that publishers who are embracing digital need to retain complete control of their platforms in order to maximise their revenues.

BE BOLD: There is absolutely no doubt that premium video content is attracting an increasing amount of advertising spend. Now is NOT the time for publishers to be afraid of this exciting new world. They should find partners to help them grow, not partners whose brand goals are misaligned or may actually be competitive with their own.

OWN YOUR BRAND: Content is the product that viewers seek and publishers should continue to invest in. They should present their content in an environment that strengthens their own publishing brand, and not be at the mercy of global corporations who tend to be indifferent about local market requirements.

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Interactive video is still new, and the topic tends to generate a lot of questions: What is interactive video? How does it work? How can I use it to meet my goals? Well, in order to find the answers, you’ll have to answer a few questions yourself. Take the quiz below and you’ll not only see interactive video in action, you’ll also discover which interactivity tools align most closely with your video strategy.

Want to learn more about interactivity and how it can dovetail with your existing video strategy? Watch our webinar with Hapyak.

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Ad blockers are the bane of the publishing world—and Italy’s leading media publisher was no exception. Until recently, Conde Nast Italia was losing up to 50 percent of its annual advertising revenue to ad blockers. Marco Viganò, Digital Chief Technology Officer, went in search of a solution that would not just mitigate ad inventory loss, but also streamline the process of monetizing video content. After all, Conde Nast Italia has six digital properties, and that means a lot of individual videos to manage.

Viganò found his solution with Brightcove’s Server Side Ad Insertion (SSAI), and he’s now on track to cut ad inventory loss by 80 percent. Find out how he did it in this case study .

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Couldn’t be at #PLAYBoston ? Our #REPLAY series will cover themes and highlights from this year’s event. Catch up on all the takeaways we learned from our amazing group of presenters and attendees, and find out how you can apply these tips to your next video initiative.

Is your team ready to embrace a video culture? Then it’s time to start thinking about how you can create valuable sales video assets for prospects and customers. According to Marcus Sheridan , the owner of marketing consulting group, Impact , video can be a powerful tool to help you establish audience trust. Watch as he explains how video content empowers your brand to sell a feeling as well as a product. Plus, Sheridan shares his top tips for teaching your team to be more effective on camera.

Want more #PLAYBoston content? Click here to see Katie Martell discuss the importance of authenticity in digital marketing. And click here to hear Zach Basner explain what it takes to create great video.

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