Couldn’t be at #PLAY2018 ? 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.

Usually, Andy McCarthy is found behind the camera. This time around, we got him front and center, dishing on all his top tips for shooting video interviews.

As co-founder of multimedia production company, Starpilot Productions , McCarthy’s a whiz when it comes to crafting talking-head style interviews. From prepping interview subjects to shaping thought-provoking questions, he gives us a how-to guide to producing A-plus on-camera interviews.

Watch as McCarthy shares his tricks and tips and reminisces on his most memorable interview to date. Plus, find out who he says tops the list as his all-time dream interviewee.

Want more #PLAY2018 content? Check out our chat with Katie Martell , the self-proclaimed marketing truth-teller. Or read up on Matthew Luhn’s five tips to great storytelling .

To view our Partner blog, click here

There’s nothing more nerve-racking than exam day. Whether it’s for certification, university admission, or professional development, you can’t help but feel anxious when it’s time to prove you got what it takes. CFA Institute understands this. It also knows proper test preparation is key to relieving those exam day jitters. That’s why the organization has recently implemented a video marketing strategy that not only helps test takers get ready to pass with flying colors; it also prepares them for future success.  

CFA Institute is the world’s premier association of investment management professionals. It’s a non-profit, membership-based organization that provides professional training, educational opportunities, thought leadership, and advocacy for the investment management community. As the official administrator of the Chartered Financial Analyst® Program , it offers the highest distinction in the investment management profession: the CFA credential. To earn this credential, candidates must pass a series of three exams, complete a work experience requirement, and attest annually to the adherence of professional conduct guidelines.

To further promote CFA Institute’s overall mission, increase brand awareness, and connect with CFA candidates across the globe, the organization opted to refine its marketing strategy and target a broader audience beyond its existing membership. CFA Institute then turned to Brightcove to help bring this strategy to life, using video as the organization’s core communication tool.

First, CFA Institute began by creating a number of brand awareness video campaigns aimed at the worldwide community of financial services professionals—not just those associated with the organization itself. Then CFA implemented Brightcove’s Video Marketing Suite to manage, host, and distribute these video assets throughout its entire communications network. Along with the platform, CFA Institute was also able to take advantage of Brightcove’s many features and capabilities, like global video delivery , analytics , automated social media publishing , and live stream distribution . And while each of those solutions proved indispensable to the organization’s new video plan, one in particular was found to be the real game-changer: video analytics.

Equipped with critical video performance data, CFA Institute was now able to pinpoint which of its videos played well to viewers, and which ones missed the mark. The organization’s digital production team was even able to identify specific elements in need of improvement. This way, they were able to take a stale video and recraft it as an engagement-driving machine, just like they did with CFA Institute’s test prep video, “What to Expect on Exam Day.”

Released bi-annually in conjunction with the CFA credential exams, “What to Expect on Exam Day ” highlights all the helpful tips CFA candidates need to know in order to have a successful, stress-free testing experience. In its initial run, Brightcove analytics showed the video failed to make a significant impact on viewers—it was too long and unexciting. So CFA’s digital team went back to the drawing board and created a more polished version to better suit the needs of its audience.

“Now, ‘What to Expect on Exam Day’ is a high-quality video that gets tons of views,” says Mitchell Forst, global video production manager for CFA Institute. “It also has a huge engagement rate because it’s a short story about a candidate going to exam day, and it talks about what she needs to bring, what she needs to remember, and any information that’s vital to having a successful exam day…It’s one of our most popular videos.”

In fact, the re-launched video drew 53,000 views and more than tripled its original engagement score, moving from the low 20s to an impressive 71 percent, all within one year. Out of CFA Institute’s 4,000-plus video assets, it’s one the organization’s highest-ranked videos for engagement.

“We’ve learned a lot about engagement,” says Forst. “It’s definitely higher than it was five years ago, and we attribute that to the better content we’ve been able to create using Brightcove.”

Learn more about how CFA Institute scored record-breaking engagement using Brightcove-powered video here.

To view our Partner blog, click here

Couldn’t be at #PLAY2018? 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.

Cameron Church is all about making ad monetization simple, point blank. As founder of the London-based company Watching That , he’s made an entire career out of taking inefficiency out of ad tech.

“What we essentially do is connect what are currently disconnected piles of data from your ad server and various sources across the organization into one unified view,” says Church. “So you get a lot more intelligence—the sum greater than its parts.”

Not only does Watching That’s data intelligence platform help digital media publishers get a holistic view of video ad data; it also allows users to pinpoint critical issues in need of attention. For example, in a recent case study, Watching That was able to help one of its customers double their ad fill rate by analyzing a collective pool of raw, unprocessed data. “That was really done by turning on a light in a very dark room, seeing where all the issues were, and then just refocusing efforts on solving those issues,” Church says.

And since his finger is always on the pulse of all things ad tech, Church chatted with us about current trends, possible implications, and future predictions for video media ad monetization.

Watch the video above and listen as Church talks header bidding, Google’s Exchange Bidding Dynamic Allocation (EBDA), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and how digital media publishers plan to differentiate themselves to increase ad revenue opportunity.

***

Want more #PLAY2018 content, check out last week’s blog highlighting Katie Martell. 

To view our Partner blog, click here

Always wanted to attend Brightcove PLAY but just never had the chance? Well, if you happen to be heading to Cleveland this September for Content Marketing World Conference and Expo , you’re in luck! On September 7th, the Brightcove PLAY Studio will be hitting the road and setting up at Content Marketing World, where we’ll be hosting an entire day of hands-on, expert-led sessions designed to inspire video greatness, no matter what industry you’re in.

Check out our amazing line up:

Borrow from the Best
10:00 AM – 10:20 AM
Everyone needs a little inspiration to spark their creative genius. So we’ve gone through hundreds of customer videos to bring you a look at what today’s top marketers are doing with video.Chris Bondus , VP of Demand Generation at Brightcove, will highlight the best of the best and share secrets of their success.

Do More with Less—Maximize Any Video Budget
10:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Marketing budgets—we all wish they were larger, especially when it comes to video. The truth is you can create killer video on any budget. Join Mykim Dang , Director of Video at America’s Test Kitchen, and Chad Lakin , VP of Shootsta North America, for proven tips on how to maximize your budget with simple tweaks to video production, resourcing, and technology. Come ready to brainstorm a piece you’re working on.

Create Content That Ranks—SEO Musts for Video
1:30 PM – 2:15 PM
Understanding consumer intent and creating content to meet that intent is essential to successful SEO. Join Katie Pennell , Senior Performance Content and SEO Manager at Nina Hale, for a hands-on session that will help you create a strategy that blends SEO and video content that’ll be sure to put you first on the search page.

Show Me the Leads—Video for Demand Gen
2:00 PM – 2:45 PM
You’re not just creating content for fun; you’re creating content for results! Join Kaitlin Bowes , Demand Generation Manager at Brightcove, to learn how you can leverage video throughout your campaigns, fill your pipeline, and boost ROI.

Q & A
2:45 PM – 3:00 PM
Our video bootcamp wraps up with a question-and-answer session, giving you the chance to ask our presenters all your burning questions about what you’ve learned throughout the day.

If you want to get in on the action, use our code PLAY100 to receive $100 off your registration . Limited tickets available. And just an FYI: Tina Fey will be delivering the closing keynote speech at CMW 2018 (not that you need another reason to attend).

To view our Partner blog, click here

Couldn’t be at #PLAY2018? 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

For three years in a row, Katie Martell has been named one of the top ten marketing and social media voices on LinkedIn, and she jokes that she has no idea why. But that’s just Martell being humble. In reality, she knows her stuff. We spoke to the multi-talented marketing consultant, writer, and speaker about what it means to be truthful in marketing, and why getting rid of the word content might be the marketing approach we’ve all been looking for.

***

Want more? Check out our blog with Matthew Luhn on Storytelling . 

To view our Partner blog, click here

Powerful, international and relevant. These are the words that encapsulated PLAY2018 for our Asia customers, and I couldn’t be more happy to hear how valuable our customers and partners in Asia have found the event. Asia remains an interesting and unique region, one that has emerged in the Internet age as a mobile-centric market. In fact, most parts of Asia leap-frogged desktop, heading straight to mobile, and for many consumers, their first experience in a connected world was via the screen of their mobile device. Given Asia’s scale of four billion in population, the potential to attract niche audiences bigger than whole markets in other countries is an incredible opportunity. The region continues to remain an exciting market for OTT, and PLAY2018 rose to the occasion, in providing great global insights and learning for our Asia customers to tap into. Here are some sound-bytes from our customers on their take of PLAY2018:

“It’s a long trip from Asia, but it so worth it! The industry continues to change quickly, and no event has this many people represented in a variety of industries and verticals, all with a similar passion, goal, and interest in video. The best part is, you can learn, discuss and share with your peers in a very easy, natural and informal way at PLAY.” – Hans Chang, Manager, IP Systems , Taiwan

“The group of people at PLAY were some of the top marketers, publishers, and broadcasters in the world and it was indeed an incredible experience. The networking alone was worth the trip. The contacts I met at PLAY have already been paying off for our business. Brightcove PLAY gave me insight into the future of video and where our company needs to be, to compete in that space. I want to thank the Brightcove team for a fantastic experience. Looking forward to the 2019 conference.” – Kris Cooper, Business Development Manager, RugbyPass , Singapore

“My first ever experience at Brightcove PLAY was simply wonderful. Two days of great meetings, got a preview of Brightcove’s suite of cutting edge products and partnerships, and most of all their wonderful team. As they say, people do business with people they like. I met so many Brightcove customers who have been with them for eight years or more, and it is a testament to their customer-centric attitude. It was also an opportunity to meet other players in the streaming and OTT ecosystem. I would highly recommend this event to anyone in this space. – Shampa Banerjee, PhD., Chief Product Officer, Eros Digital (Eros International), India

PLAY2018 was truly an effervescent event with quality time spent with our customers and partners. It was a powerful platform for us to share opinions, deep dive into ideas and explore ways to improve our collective business, all centred around online video. Amongst other numerous positives, it was incredibly exciting to see customer Batka Gankhuyag, vice president of Mongol TV on stage, share their amazing success story on how they launched their OTT service, ORI TV . Partnering with Mongol TV to launch the country’s first OTT service has been an equally amazing journey, and we are proud of how much they have achieved in just half a year. PLAY continues to shine as a way to learn about all things video, and I look forward to welcoming all our Asia customers to Boston next year for PLAY2019. See you there!

***

Get invited to PLAY2019 by emailing us at play@brightcove.com.

To view our Partner blog, click here