Where the Rubber meets the RoadPractical considerations for a corporate online video strategy

Contextualisation

• Experience• Low bandwidth networks• Live Content

Live vs. On Demand

• Factors affecting decision for live or on-demand– “Time-value” of information

• Topical information

• Sensitive corporate communication

– Live, Pseudo-live, on-demand

Marketing / Awareness

• Marketing / awareness campaigns essential• Create a common or familiar online destination

– Consistent branding between website and online video

• Build momentum for the content– Ongoing content refresh and addition

– Viral content

• Examples of momentum– Corporate results announcements

– SARB MPC policy statement

– Treasury Budget speech

– KPMG thought leadership series

– Parliament CMS

– MTN GLC

Low awareness, low impact, low ROI

Live Streaming Process

1. Capture 2. Encode 3. Distribute 4. Consume

Distributionservers

Capture

Encode

Distribute

Play back /View / Listen

Relay Link

Live Streaming ArchitectureLive Streaming Architecture

Questions to ask yourself

What is the nature of the event that is going to be WebcastIs it an audio or audio/video webcast?Is it once-off or repeat (what is the repeat frequency)?What are the event dates?What is the planned duration of the event?Who will be doing the Audio captureWho will be doing the Video captureWhat is the name of the venue (or if unconfirmed, what city will it be in)?What is the nature of the venue – auditorium/hall/building/stadiumDoes the venue have ISDN lines which can be dedicated to the webcast?If there are no ISDN lines, can temporary ISDN lines (30 days lead time) be installed, or can a mobile VSAT be used?What is the audience

– internal or external to your organisation, or both?– local (within South Africa), international, or both?

What is the anticipated size of the online audience?What is the web site URL that this will link to?What is the format

– Will someone be talking to a presentation with slides (e.g. powerpoint slides)?– Will someone be delivering a speech– Will someone be interviewing someone else

Do you want any of the following value adds– User Registration– Questions Facility– Chat facility– Discussion / Blog Forum– Catalogue Development (only applicable when you are doing multiple events or multiple presentations on one day).– Survey/Feedback/Poll Form

Audience

• What must you consider – Internal:

• on your corporate LAN / WAN / GAN

– External: • Outside your corporate network

• Generally on the internet globally

– Local• In South Africa

– International• Outside South Africa

International fibre connectivity

Image Source: “The Case for ‘Open Access’ Communications Infrastructure in Africa: The SAT-3/WASC cable– A Briefing”, Abiodun Jagun, ASSOCIATION FOR PROGRESSIVE COMMUNICATIONS (APC)

International vs. Local Distribution Pricing

Local distribution pricing – From R80/GB – As much as R160/GB

International distribution pricing– €0.08/GB, approx. R0.9/GB– Approx. 100x cheaper

Corporate Network Bottlenecks

H/O

Branch

Branch

Branch

Typical stream size: 150 (units)Example corporate WAN link size: 1024 (units)6 streams x 150 = 900 (units)i.e. 6 people max can stream

Image Source: “The Case for ‘Open Access’ Communications Infrastructure in Africa: The SAT-3/WASC cable– A Briefing”, Abiodun Jagun, ASSOCIATION FOR PROGRESSIVE COMMUNICATIONS (APC)

Distribution options - Content Distribution Network (CDN)

Corporate Network Bottlenecks

H/O

Branch

Branch

Branch

Capture Equipment and Crew

• Audio– Equipment

• Venue PA system• Professional AV hire

– Technician• Venue technician• Professional audio technician

• Video– Equipment

• Number of cameras• Camera stands• Lighting• Vision mixing equipment

– Crew• Number of camera crew• Vision mixer• Experience & training

Note to Andrew: insert demo videos of:Good lighting vs. bad lighting

Example of mixed content

Nature of Content / Nature of Venue

• Demo content illustrating differences in nature of content and streaming quality required:– High action, low bit rate– High action, high bit rate– Head & shoulders, low bit rate– Head & shoulders, high bit rate– Low bit rate, high resolution– Low bit rate, low resolution– Video only vs. video with slides

Relay Connectivity

• Live webcast external venue requires connectivity to Internet

• Dedicated connectivity is crucial– Permanent ISDN– Temporary ISDN– Permanent Diginet– Line of sight wireless– Fibre

• Avoid all shared connectivity (especially for video)– ADSL– 3G– iBurst– Etc.

Webcast Features

• Registration• Questions

– Private or Moderated Public

• Chat• Discussion Forum• Survey

Your nameYour email address