Page 61 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 1 2013

THE CHANNEL | ISSUE 1 2013 | 61
1 billion monthly views on YouTube – those are the
figures that US-based premium content network ZEFR
can boast of. The first company to create technology on
top of the YouTube video platform, ZEFR has been very
successful in adding value and helping the movie
studios in Hollywood and the major music labels
distribute their content on YouTube. Now ZEFR wants
to help other rights holders get more out of YouTube.It
recently brought Daniel Adams on board as VP
Business Development International. We asked him:
What are the opportunities for broadcasters and
content producers?
V channels are
increasingly aware
of the value of
YouTube as a
distribution and
marketing platform.
The revenues that
YouTube was generating for the
broadcasters three, four, five years
ago just werenʹt interesting enough
but times have changed. YouTube
has continued to grow, and the
proliferation of devices such as
smartphone, tablet and Connected
TV has been driving the growth of
video views.
YouTube has been very good at
monetising by selling advertising
around premium content on its
platform, so all of a sudden over
the last two or three years YouTube
has been writing significant cheques
to content owners. More and more
broadcasters are interested in
leveraging their video content
through YouTube. Many of them
have now got relationships directly
with YouTube and are distributing
content one way or another, but
what we find is that YouTube is a
complicated technology platform
and can be difficult to understand
for traditional media people.
How can ZEFR help?
We have great technical insight into
how YouTube operates ‐ through
our close relationship with YouTube
and our experience of distributing
the Hollywood studiosʹ content on
YouTube. We can offer expertise to
enable the broadcasters to make the
most out of how they distribute
their content on YouTube. Often a
broadcaster has hundreds and
thousands of hours of archive
content from old TV shows etc. We
can help them work out how to
generate value from that archive
content thatʹs sitting in a library
somewhere ‐ perhaps not even
digitised. Also, when third parties
are uploading content that
broadcasters own – we call it ʹfan
uploadsʹ ‐ , we can help them claim
the content that is rightfully theirs,
generate revenue from it and get
data and insight on whoʹs watching
that video content. We understand
the challenges that the broadcasters
are facing and have developed
various technologies, products and
services that enable rights holders
to increase the engagement of the
content that they have on YouTube.
One of the challenges on YouTube
is that it is very hard as a channel
owner to keep your audience on
your channel because there are so
many fantastic things to look at on
YouTube. So ZEFR has built a range
of products to increase what we call
engagement which is essentially the
measure of how long people dwell
on your officially uploaded content
and how many videos they watch.
We are a technology company
working with YouTube to offer
tools and services that are of value
to premium rights holders. Our big
advantage is that we have a proven
track record of adding value to the
Hollywood studios and music
labels and are recommended and
endorsed by YouTube.
How can content producers get
involved?
We welcome approaches from any
rights holder/broadcaster who has
got premium content. Our
ambitions are global. Take China ‐
YouTube is not available so of
course there are opportunities for
Chinese broadcasters to distribute
their content outside of China. In
Africa, broadband penetration is
growing and there is a huge
appetite for example for Nollywood
content [Nigerian films] on YouTube.
What's the business model?
YouTube is an ad‐funded model,
itʹs about building an audience on
your channel and then monetizing
that audience through selling
advertising and sponsorship
around the content. Every time
somebody watches a video there is
an opportunity to serve an ad. So
what we are doing is enabling
premium rights holders to increase
engagement and therefore video
views of their content on YouTube.
The more people are watching this
premium content on YouTube, the
more advertising money can be
earned around it, which is
ultimately shared between YouTube
as a platform, the broadcaster or
rights holder, and ZEFR. Typically
we donʹt charge fees upfront to a
broadcaster to manage the service.
We say we can help increase your
revenue, letʹs say double your
revenue on YouTube, and weʹll take
a share of the value we create.
Looking ahead…
NBC was the host broadcaster for
the 2012 London Olympics in the
US who partnered with YouTube
and distributed a great deal of
content online which once and for
all dispelled the argument that
online video distribution is
cannibalising TV viewing for the
broadcasters. I think increasingly
weʹll see big rights holders more
relaxed about distributing their
content through platforms like
YouTube. Thereʹs a noticeable trend
of premium rights that were always
reserved for TV – for example big
sports rights like the IPL cricket
fanchise in India – being available
on YouTube.
Daniel Adams, thank you.
T
MAXIMISINGYOUTUBE
“
”
It is very
hard to
keep your
audience
on your
channel
www.zefr.com