Symphony halls around the world have one thing in common: they’re all designed to be “acoustically wonderful,” says Christine Wood, Vice President of Marketing & Communications at the Seattle Symphony.
So when the Seattle Symphony had to shut down operations and cancel their shows when COVID-19 hit (just like every other performing arts organization), the live music stopped … temporarily.
“We always wanted to go online and have a more digital presence, and we were on our way to do that,” says Wood. “But we weren’t prepared to bring our whole business online.” That’s when Christine and her team reached out to Brightcove to help catapult the Seattle Symphony to a video-first model.
Christine recently joined us for a live panel discussion, where she shared six benefits the Seattle Symphony team discovered by pivoting to video.
GETTING UP AND RUNNING IN JUST 5 WEEKS
The Seattle Symphony reached out to Brightcove to help build an online video platform for two main reasons: to quickly reconnect with their audience and to sell subscriptions and pay-per-view shows. “When the pandemic hit, it was the first time we went to some of the material we have in our vault. We thankfully had recordings of different concerts that we were able to piece together for the rest of the season and stream,” says Wood. “We were really excited that we were able to pivot so quickly and to launch on the platform in five weeks.” The organization has live-streamed 20 concerts since launching, with plans to do even more in 2021.
STAYING CONNECTED TO A LOYAL FAN BASE
In the beginning, the Seattle Symphony wanted to make sure their subscribers were still able to “see the symphony” and offered some free broadcasts. “They’re our family,” says Wood. “We wanted to make sure that we were still able to perform for our patrons and to give them something that we’ve promised them.” With video, the Seattle Symphony made good on that promise.
REACHING NEW AUDIENCES AROUND THE WORLD
With the Symphony on Brightcove’s platform, people don’t have to be in downtown Seattle to see them perform. “We really have been able to expand our footprint,” says Wood. “We have audience members now in Texas, California. We have people watching in Norway. We’re excited about where it’s going to take us and the reach its given us outside of Seattle.”
CREATING OPPORTUNITIES FOR RICHER CONTENT EXPERIENCES
The musical content is compelling enough, but the Seattle Symphony isn’t stopping there. “We just finished interviewing videographers so that we could build more behind-the-scenes content,” says Wood. “We’re looking at what next season looks like, what can go live, and how we can maybe piece together some of those programs and have them on the platform longer.”
GETTING MORE MILEAGE OUT OF EVERY PERFORMANCE
Not too long ago, if you couldn’t get a ticket to the symphony, you were out of luck. Now, the only limitation is deciding if you prefer to watch a performance live or on-demand. “We have 2,500 seats in Benaroya Hall,” says Wood. “But now, on our Brightcove video platform, we have almost 4,000 people watching the live broadcast, and then we’re getting another 3,000 people on the replays within the first seven days.”
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF A HYBRID APPROACH
The Seattle Symphony is currently working through their five-year plan around a hybrid strategy to continue to offer in-person and virtual performances. “The great thing about being digital right now is you go to one performance, and if you really want to see it again, you can on the platform,” says Wood. “Brightcove has just helped us open so many doors and to so many new fans. We’re really excited to continue to explore how much further we can push it – the sky’s the limit!”
Nick Iuliano is Brightcove’s Senior Director of Content, helping to tell our best brand, product, customer, and partner stories across global marketing channels.

To view our Partner blog, click here

Like many performing arts organizations, the COVID-19 pandemic was the catalyst for a drastic shift in strategy and a complete digital transformation for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
In the spring of 2020 the pandemic forced the ASO to cancel their Q2 concerts, which had an immediate and significant financial impact, with roughly $3 million lost in anticipated revenue for the organization.
These cancellations also had a ripple effect on the broader ASO community. “We heard a lot of feedback directly from our patrons, our donors, and our subscribers about how much joy music brings, and especially in a time where people feel really isolated and disconnected,” says Natacha McLeod, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. “They really needed us to show up for them.”
As the organization looked at the road ahead, the team knew they had to get creative, and quickly. “Many of our peer organizations around the country were forced to cancel their entire 2020 seasons, but for us, that was not an option,” says McLeod. “We were challenged by our senior leadership and our board to get really creative about how the musicians could perform safely, first and foremost. And then determine how our music could be delivered to our most loyal patrons.”
McLeod and her team quickly adapted and experimented with some pre-recorded videos and even a few drive-in, and socially distanced outdoor concerts. But it wasn’t enough. They also needed to strike the right balance of providing greater access to their music without devaluing their product by offering all of their concerts for free. “So that’s when our relationship with Brightcove started.”
RETAINING SUBSCRIBERS AND GROWING REACH, IN PERFECT HARMONY
Before 2020, the marketing team at the ASO used video sparingly, maybe a few times a year. “It was a minor part of our strategy,” says McLeod. So in the beginning, the ASO started small and remained laser-focused on just retaining their loyal subscriber base by pre-recording their Delta Classical Concert Series and offering that video-on-demand for fans to watch at home. Then came a musician spotlight series and special behind the scenes footage. “For us, video quickly became an opportunity to give our patrons an up-close and personal view so they could feel more connected to our musicians and the ASO.”
To broaden appeal and access, the ASO also decided to offer some flexibility with their virtual subscription model, where music fans could customize their own concert package. The ASO also wanted to surprise the people who were helping to keep the music alive with an unexpected perk. “For all of our subscribers, we gave them access to all of the concerts we streamed, regardless of the number of concerts they purchased,” says McLeod. “We just wanted to make sure they felt loved and special. Our patrons are part of our family.”
Interactivity and subscriber engagement is also something the marketing team has been experimenting with – everything from hosting pre-concert VIP virtual Q&As with musicians, to live chats during the show, giving patrons the opportunity to virtually “applaud” and “Bravo!” after a performance they particularly enjoyed. The ASO “tech squad” also takes questions and works through any challenges patrons may have up to two hours before the start of every virtual concert. “A lot of times, we find people just want to connect with someone else and have a conversation,” says McLeod. “We have made ourselves available to be there for them and really just make the experience a little bit better.”
Video has also helped the organization broaden its ambitions and look beyond just reaching audiences in Metro Atlanta and Georgia. “We have had views from 21 countries and 43 states. So we’re definitely growing and expanding our reach through this model.” In fact, the ASO earned more than 1,000 new virtual subscriber households within weeks of launching their new video strategy. “We continue to see the numbers grow, and we’re really proud of what we’ve done so far.”
VIDEO IS THE FUTURE OF PERFORMANCES
One question McLeod and her team have been thinking about: what happens when the world does eventually return to live, in-person performances? “Live performance is definitely our bread and butter. There’s no substitute for the live concert experience,” says McLeod. “We’re trying to figure out how video can complement and enhance that experience.”
While Atlanta, Georgia is known for being the home of many music genres, it’s also notorious for its traffic. “So imagine you’ve worked this really long day, you need to go home, eat dinner, get dressed, and go back into the city for a concert. Sometimes, some days, that’s just not what people are going to want to do,” says McLeod. So the ASO is turning this patron pain point into an opportunity when in-person performances resume, with plans to allow their subscribers the option to trade their ticket for the virtual show instead.
For McLeod, video is not just a nice-to-have, but something that will continue to be an essential part of the ASO’s audience engagement strategy. In fact, the ASO recently invested in robotic cameras thanks to a very generous donation. “So we have committed to video being a part of our strategy going forward, for sure,” says McLeod. “Video is a real area of opportunity as we continue to think about how we can make people feel like they’re deeply connected and involved in the full performance experience. Thanks to Brightcove, we can finally invite people, from all walks of life and every corner of the globe, to hear and experience our world-class orchestra. Brightcove is an essential partner as we continue on this journey.”
Nick Iuliano is Brightcove’s Senior Director of Content, helping to tell our best brand, product, customer, and partner stories across global marketing channels.

To view our Partner blog, click here

As Director of Digital Content for the Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center, Trent Casey produces just about everything, from livestream broadcasts to a radio series with listeners from around the world. Long before any of that, Casey was an opera singer. Benefitting from his many talents, the Chamber Music Society has been able to realize the full potential of video to connect with audiences through the power of music.
Unlike some performing arts organizations, the Chamber Music Society has been livestreaming performances since well before 2020. “I produced our very first livestream in 2010 with one single camera plugged into a laptop in our small 100-seat hall. That’s now grown to producing 25 to 30 livestreams, along with recording and post-producing an additional 40 concerts, each season,” says Casey. “We were already heavily invested in streaming, but this past year, streaming has been a lifeline.”
Coincidentally enough, Casey was scheduled to produce a livestream concert on the very night New York City canceled all performances last March. And as the saying goes, the show must go on. “We went on with the stream; we just didn’t have an in-person audience.” Since then, with a video library of more than 1,000 performances, lectures, and masterclasses, Casey and his team have been able to “remix” their library of video content to create “new” concert performances.
WANT MORE ENGAGEMENT? ASK FOR IT.
Last year, the Chamber Music Society streamed a new concert every Sunday evening for 14 weeks. “These concerts were curated by our artistic directors. We had some short films in a few of them featuring our musicians and how they have been coping during this time. Then, each of those ended with a live Q&A,” explains Casey. Switching from pre-recorded video to a live audience Q&A also helped create a sense of connection. “When we asked for people to send in their questions throughout the broadcast, we got questions. And it’s helped us feel more connected with our digital audience than we ever have,” he says. “If you ask for engagement, you get more engagement. We’ve seen a significant increase in web traffic, and the livestreams received more donations than they ever did before.”
A VIDEO PLATFORM IS A GLOBAL STAGE
After one full year of streaming performances, the Chamber Music Society has also gained new insights from Brightcove’s video analytics. After thinking about all of the potential metrics to track, Casey and his team decided to focus primarily on watch time. “We really boiled it down to, ‘How many people are coming to our website and watching our content?’ And the analytics for that kind of information is vital. People stay. The watch time is fantastic, and that’s the ultimate goal,” says Casey. Video analytics have also pinpointed where people are watching from to show the Chamber Music Society’s newfound global reach. “Others in the organization are understanding that allows us to be global. We’re not just restricted to the audience that can come to our halls in New York City. People can watch us from anywhere at any time. I have made that case internally before, but now, it’s just much more obvious.”
LIVE AND DIGITAL WORK BEST IN CONCERT
Like all performing arts organizations, the Chamber Music Society is anxiously awaiting the day when live performances in the concert hall can resume. “We will do live again. It’s not a question of if; it’s a question of when, but we’re ready,” says Casey. But this past year has given him and his team the opportunity to rethink how they’ll present future chamber music performances. “In the past, [our streams] were just one-to-one analogs of the in-hall experience,” he says, “[Streaming this past year] has allowed us to supplement the musical performances with introductions from the artist or our assistant directors, to add a little more context around the performance itself. We didn’t necessarily do that in the past. Once we get back into the concert hall and start doing live performance again, I hope it gives us the opportunity to reconsider how we are presenting these digital concerts to make them digital-native and something much more unique and true to the platform.”
To all of us at Brightcove and to music lovers around the world, that sounds beautiful.
Click here to explore the Chamber Music Society’s digital season and get a virtual front-row seat to the latest chamber music events.
Nick Iuliano is Brightcove’s Senior Director of Content, helping to tell our best brand, product, customer, and partner stories across global marketing channels.

To view our Partner blog, click here

It is common knowledge that broad access to the e-commerce market is a key component of a comprehensive e-commerce strategy. To support our customers in reaching their key audience, Brightcove is excited to introduce the ability to deliver video into China through a partnership with global e-commerce giant Alibaba. As the first video provider to offer this capability, our customers are able to reach a vast new market and significantly grow their e-commerce opportunity.
The past year has only heightened the importance of a strategic approach to e-commerce which includes the use of video, expansion to all markets and leverage social for awareness. In fact, global e-commerce sales in 2020 jumped 27.6% compared to the previous year, reaching $4.280 trillion – far ahead of eMarketer’s mid-pandemic assessment of 16.5% growth.
Now that we’re almost halfway through 2021, brands with merely adequate e-commerce experiences have to offer more: experiences that are captivating, engaging, and that increase cart conversions like never before. But where do you begin? With these 3 steps:
1. Use more video
Video connects with customers way more than still pictures or text on a page. With video they can see how clothing moves when someone wears it…or how to install an appliance…or the meals they can cook with the spices they’re buying. Video brings products to vibrant life and entices people to buy – why else would so many social media influencers turn to video first to sell their products? Video is versatile, too: no matter where a prospect is on her customer journey, there’s a type of video that will move her closer to a purchase. You can share video across social channels to expand your audience and attract new customers, add videos to product pages to encourage viewers to add it to their cart, and create areas where customers can learn more about a product or watch testimonials and reviews from actual users. Video is the thread that can weave your brand, your tone, and your mission throughout the sales process.
2. Expand into China
As we noted above, e-commerce saw significant growth globally in 2020 – but China made history, and it doesn’t look to be slowing down any time soon. Recent studies have shown that China accounts for over 50% of global ecommerce transactions. Think about that: more than half of all e-commerce sales around the world occur in China. It goes without saying that brands need to ensure that their e-commerce experiences are as engaging in mainland China as they are in the rest of the world, but this has been a challenge due to Chinese regulations…until now. Brands looking for a partner to reach this vast and enthusiastic market can turn to Brightcove. Our solution allows you to easily create a single video strategy and workflow that works around the world, including China. And it’s all backed by the reliability, scalability, and security of the Brightcove platform to bring you the extraordinary growth opportunities the Chinese market offers.
3. Build awareness on social
Though the fate of social commerce is still up in the air, social media continues to shine (and grow) when it comes to product discovery, education, and consideration. Instead of focusing on social commerce experiences, brands should use social media for top-of-funnel brand awareness and demand generation. We all know at least someone who found a brand on social media and made a purchase – I, for example, bought my wedding flowers on Instagram – but it’s an ever-evolving channel, with new platforms being introduced (hello, TikTok!) and viewer trends constantly shifting. Our favorite tip from marketing gurus is to learn from the experts: categories like fashion and beauty have already been successful at driving conversions on social media, especially with limited-edition product launches with a short path to purchase. Can other categories build on their success? That remains to be seen.
With these three tips, every marketer can benefit from the ecommerce explosion – but remember, it all starts with the most powerful way to connect with customers: video.

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It’s been a challenging year for retailers, and one in which the acceleration of digital initiatives has never been quicker. One of the strongest things that has come out of 2020 is the adaptability of the retail sector and their ability to pivot and deliver online solutions to bridge the physical gap with their customers.
Retailers and brands have adapted their business models to leverage Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) and focused on ecommerce as a way to drive revenue, maintain a competitive advantage, and reach and engage customers in the absence of traditional retail channels. While this was partly borne out of necessity due to the pandemic, there is now a more permanent shift to how consumers will purchase in the future.
The convergence of livestreaming and ecommerce has been largely driven out of China and is also gaining strong traction in the US with research projecting livestreaming in both markets to be worth billions. With livestreaming, geographical location is no longer a barrier to access, helping to bridge the gap between social, entertainment and commerce through a sensory, real-time experience between the shopper and the seller.
What is interesting, however, is that brands are emerging as the stalwarts of livestreaming. And while they may be ‘testing the waters’ so to speak, global brands like KitKat are experimenting with livestreaming as an avenue to drive mindshare, build loyalty and deliver experiences for customers that will ultimately drive sales. Established global brands, such as Nike and Adidas, have recognised the merit of D2C and are now focused on generating at least 50 percent of their revenue directly engaging their customers.
This sharp shift towards embracing all things digital has created a new omnichannel experience for consumers – one that is personalised, seamless and experiential across both online and offline touchpoints. From a customer’s point of view, this means increased convenience that allows them to shop whenever, wherever, on any device, creating an incredibly seamless experience from the first click to the last.
For retailers, this means increased exposure and reach, which allows them to:

Target new audiences and create unique interactions
Increase engagement, drive conversion and cultivate loyalty
Provide brands with key insights into their customers through the use of data and analytics

With video, retailers are able to establish a richer connection directly with their target audience.
Retailers must continue to understand the behaviours of consumers both in-store and beyond to attract new prospects while retaining loyal customers. In order to do this, brands must be agile to adapt and innovate, leveraging relevant technologies and solutions, such as video, to support them in this endeavour.
Over the past year, there has been significant growth in the use of video at all levels of the customer journey to create an immersive customer experience.
Pre-Purchase

At this stage, video is predominantly used for search and discovery via social media, websites or email newsletters, giving customers the ability to visually research and uncover features and benefits in a more contextual way.
Livestreaming is also gaining popularity as a way to ‘virtually’ launch a product or create a showcase event to engage prospective and current audiences.

Online Purchase

Video can be used to showcase related products or solutions or recommendations to drive increased cart size.
For example, a fashion brand may show a video of a model wearing an outfit so customers can get a visualisation of the ‘look’ and fit, helping them imagine themselves wearing that outfit, followed by a ‘get the look’ video in-cart to drive additional sales.
Brands can also use interactive shoppable videos that come with a CTA or click to cart conversion to deliver a more seamless experience.
‘Shoppable TV’ is also expected to emerge as another potential channel, as the lines become more blurred between entertainment experiences and ways to reach consumers.

In-Store Purchase

In a physical storefront, retailers will want their video content to be interactive. This could mean having QR codes or apps that demonstrate key product features and benefits, customer testimonials or reviews, or how-to-use demos.
Through this form of visual storytelling, buyers have the opportunity to ‘test out’ the products in different settings. For example, a furniture store can use video to help customers visualise what a chair would look like in a virtual lounge room, giving them a visual context to help them make an informed decision.
Separately, video is also a great way to build staff knowledge, leveraging video to train and upskill staff on products or services.

Post-Purchase

At this stage, it is about supporting your customer with relevant information on the product or service that they have purchased.
In this instance, unboxing tutorials and how-to videos that educate your customers on how to get started are ideal.
Brands are increasingly using video for advocacy – using user-generated video content for testimonials, or to showcase a product or solution in action.

As we see more retailers looking to differentiate and use new and unique ways to engage and interact with consumers via the channel of their preference, video analytics is one of the most useful tools for measurement.
This goes beyond the traditional impressions and clicks and dives into actual audience behaviour. Robust video analytics provides retailers:

A comprehensive method to measure ROVI (return on video investment)
Viewer engagement data, including who is viewing content, how it is being viewed (devices, browsers, operating systems), how long it is being viewed, and where viewers are coming from
The right information to develop audience insights, target specific audiences with curated content that is personalised for them, and help form future video strategies and business decisions

Using an end-to-end online video platform like Brightcove also allows retailers to easily integrate with e-commerce platforms such as Adobe Magento Commerce and Salesforce Commerce Cloud B2C.
The digital habits consumers developed during the pandemic lockdown will continue to persist. If you’re a retail business, we’d love the chance to help you adopt and unlock the power of video across your online and offline channels to create a robust omnichannel experience for your customers. Get in touch with us here.
This content was originally featured in “Livestream and E-Commerce: A Total Breakdown with Greg Armshaw from Brightcove,” by Power Retail.

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What makes a video work? Why does one work and the other doesn’t? How do you get people to click, and how do you get your videos to make money?
I recently launched a three-part video series to explore those questions – it’s called Videos That Convert. This blog post will give you a taste of what I covered in the first episode. I’m hoping this post will entice you to watch the video.
Okay, to answer the question, “What makes a video work?” we’re going to break it up into two smaller ones:

What is video best at?
What do we want to talk about?

Let’s start by busting a myth
The myth is that video is too hard or too expensive. The reality is that most people overestimate the effort that goes into video and they underestimate the return they’re going to get on their investment.
There is so much you can do with even a single video without a massive budget or a ton of time. You just need to make sure your goals are aligned with the things video does best:

Getting someone’s attention and engaging them. Nothing does that as well as video does.
Connecting with someone on a personal level. Video conveys things like facial expressions and tone of voice, allowing you to make a personal connection.
Making you feel something. You can use music, dramatic locations, a fancy voice over, so many ways to evoke emotion…
Entertaining people. Videos excite people. What sounds more fun, “Read this PDF” or “Watch this!”
Explaining complex things concisely. Nothing beats video at that.

So what do you want to talk about?
Now let’s look at that other question: what do we actually want to talk about? Things like your new product release, solutions that you offer, your latest content, your white paper, your upcoming events? Uh-uh. You can talk about that stuff, but don’t lead with it.
Start with something that people can relate to. Connect with your audience on some level first. One of the easiest ways to do this is to talk about common challenges that people in your industry have. Ask your sales team; ask your support team – they hear about customer pain points day in and day out.
There are lots of other ways to create that connection, too, and I talk about them in the full episode. But right now I just want to focus on the main point, you need to start with something they can relate to. THEN and only then have you earned the right to talk about your product and your solutions.
So I just used about 500 words of text on a page to scratch the surface of a topic that video is perfect for. Remember when I said earlier that nothing beats video for explaining things? Well, don’t just take my word for it – watch episode one of Videos That Convert.

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