Video Commerce: Profitable?
The next big leap in e-commerce will be video. Unlike your traditional television ads, embedded Youtube links are interactive. There will be floating 'clickable' text on the video which could lead visitors to the shopping cart. From Youtube:
last year we launched our eCommerce platform for YouTube, which allows users to easily "click-to-buy" products -- like songs and movies -- related to the content they're watching on the site.
Monty Python, a British comedy group, put it to good use.
When Monty Python launched their channel in November, not only did their YouTube videos shoot to the top of the most viewed lists, but their DVDs also quickly climbed to No. 2 on Amazon's Movies & TV bestsellers list, with increased sales of 23,000 percent.
Video commerce seems to be working indeed. Here's a quick analysis from VideoRetailer.org:
Summary on Get Elastic:
1. This is more validation that video ecommerce has a viable future, rather than just branding
2. By experimenting with overlays, Youtube recognizes links in overlay are more usable than links and calls to action on the page around the video
3. As a retailer promoting your own videos in Youtube, the last thing you want is Youtube to overlay an ad from your competitor when you upload content. Giving retailers control to include their own links (will this become a pay-per-click service?) can eliminate that chance of having competing Adsense ads displayed over your video.
Unfortunately for Asians this service is Geographically limited to the US right now.
January 30th, 2009 - 04:55
Great quick read and good video. Two quick items:
1. Clickable video is really about storytelling and deepening one’s message making the viewing experience lean-in and immersive, and
2) Make sure those ad overlays are engaging, relevant and non-intrusive or you will piss off the viewer.
February 2nd, 2009 - 11:50
First off, great post.
A couple of thoughts/opinions re: Scott’s comment. I agree that online video is about storytelling and deepening the message, but also believe making ads “lean in experiences” – or, entire videos “lean in experiences” is a concept a bit ahead of marketplace reality today.
People just don’t think about video as ‘lean in’ from a conceptual point-of-view. Presenting [relevant] interactive elements (overlays, product thumbnails, click-to-call etc) are the keys to success right now. Hotspotting will have its day, but I’ve yet to meet someone that ‘intuitively’ understood how to interact with a hotspot video player. Until the paradigm for how we consume video changes, hotspotting will continue to sit on the sidelines while clear, bold call-to-actions continue gaining momentum in the market. Just my opinion.