Mastering Online Video Amid Hulu's Launch and a Recession

Online video in 2008 sits between two pressures: a new, more polished competitor for viewer attention and shrinking marketing budgets as the economic picture worsens through the year. Here’s how to plan around both.

Know that professional content just got a real home

Hulu, the joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp announced back in 2007, launched publicly in March of this year, giving viewers a legal, ad-supported way to watch full episodes of TV shows online. That matters for marketers because it raises the baseline quality bar: viewers who spend part of their evening watching a polished sitcom on Hulu are less patient with a shaky, unedited branded clip elsewhere. Low-fi content still works, but it has to be interesting, not just cheap-looking by default.

Don’t abandon low-budget video, just be more deliberate about it

The blender company that built a following starting in 2006 by testing whether it could blend unlikely objects is still one of the clearest proof points that inexpensive, in-house video can outperform a bigger production budget, if the concept itself is strong. The lesson for 2008 isn’t that low-budget video stopped working. It’s that the concept has to be doing real work, since audiences now have more polished alternatives competing for the same viewing time.

Budget for video like the economy is tightening, because it is

As the year has progressed, the broader economic outlook has deteriorated sharply, and marketing budgets are getting cut or frozen at many companies. That makes this a bad year to plan an expensive video campaign around a single big-budget production. A better approach is a smaller, ongoing series that can be produced consistently on a modest budget, giving you more chances to find something that resonates rather than betting everything on one expensive shot.

Watch how this year’s election is using video, even if you’re not in politics

The presidential campaign underway this year has made unusually heavy use of YouTube for everything from full policy speeches to short clips, reaching voters directly without relying on television news coverage to carry the message. Whatever your politics, the operational lesson transfers directly to marketing: a YouTube channel used consistently, with a mix of longer and shorter content, can build a direct relationship with an audience that doesn’t depend on any other outlet choosing to cover you.

Plan for pre-roll ads becoming part of the landscape

Video ad formats that play before content, commonly called pre-roll, are becoming more common on both YouTube and newer services like Hulu. If paid video advertising is part of your plan, budget for the fact that these formats are still being refined, and that viewer tolerance for them is still being tested in real time. Early experimentation here is cheaper now than it will likely be once the format matures and pricing rises with demand.

Keep the production loop tight

With budgets tightening, the businesses getting the most out of video this year are the ones treating it like an ongoing, low-overhead practice, plan, shoot, publish, review results, repeat, rather than a one-off campaign requiring a large upfront commitment before anything airs.