Videos to generate revenue

Blackshirt

Blackshirt

Team HuskerBoard
We were approached by a new company offering video highlights for sites, generating revenue with every play. It should be a bonus for us, b/c it's a valuable service to our members, and also brings in some cash.

I've reviewed this with the other admin, and we'd like to give this a demo to see how it goes over.

Frank, can you please lead the implementation of a player, using the login info below? I'm sure zoogies and/or daveh would be willing to give you a hand, since they have experience with design.

http://marketplace.athletixnation.com

id: chad@huskerboard.com

pw: sk3rs!

I was thinking it could go in the right margin, or on the bottom of the site - but am open to ideas.

 
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Looks like we have three options for the player. They are:

1. Simple - This one is 300 (H) x 305 (W), and allows for the selection of a single playlist that the user can navigate with next/previous buttons, without the playlist being visible.

2. Horizontal. This one is 600 x 305. It allows for multiple playlists to be defined, listed as tabs to the right of the video.

3. Vertical. This one is 300 x 605. It allows for multiple playlists to be defined, listed as tabs beneath the video.

We can place the selected player at the top (above or below the HuskerNation/Little Husker banner), to the right, or at the bottom (above or below the Big 10 Helmets strip - or even in place of the strip). Each of these have their strengths and weaknesses. Here's my thought.

1. Simple. This would fit well on the right side. The only drawback is the lack of multiple playlists. To me, not a big deal.

2. Horizontal. This one would have to go at the top or the bottom of the page. Not sure we need multiple playlists, but if we want to place it at the top or bottom, this would be the one.

3. Vertical. I really like this one, but it would take up a lot of space on the right. 605 pixels is a pretty good size. We'd almost have to kill the Status Updates, Top Posters, and Recent Topics lists to make it fit. I think the members would scream about that. But if we didn't, the page would roughly double in vertical size.

Placement, to me, is the issue. I don't favor the bottom of the page - who's going to notice it? A lot of members head right to the Football Forum and nowhere else; if we put it at the bottom, I don't see it getting a lot of looks, but I may be wrong on that. Placing it at the top would be fine - but above or below the HuskerNation/Little Husker banner? On the right, the issue is whether it would go above or below the Status Updates. If it's above, it would get a lot of eyes - below, not so sure.

Chad, do we need to ensure that it's seen by everyone? Or can we place it anywhere and still generate the same income from it?

So, there you have it - top, bottom, or side? Above or below the HuskerNation/Little Husker banner? Above or below (or in place of) the Big 10 Helmets strip? Above or below the Status Updates?

There's a version of it implemented on a Minnesota board. You can see it HERE. It appears to be the Simple version.

So - thoughts?

 
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I'm just basing this off the demo AR linked from the Minn board, but my goodness, that is obnoxious. A big old out of place box in the middle of the page that takes seconds to load, and once it does, it comes with sound. I don't think any website homepage should come with sound. Every single visitor to their homepage is greeted with a 30-second advertisement - I don't know how their users can stand it! Very intrusive.

I'm often listening to music, or maybe watching a show or something, and having those auto-load ads really kills it, IMO...even say, the highlight videos section of NFL.com, doesn't load ads automatically when you go to it: http://www.nfl.com/videos. You have to click a 'play' button before you get any sound, which is how it always should be with...no taking over the speakers without the user's consent. I don't understand why the ads don't come on playing the highlight videos instead.

Unless we have a dedicated page just for viewing highlights, I can't think of anywhere else to put it. I suppose it would be acceptable on the Schedule page. Even without the ads it still looks rather awkward but that may just be that particular implementation. IMO, regardless it can't fit anywhere on the main page. What are the details on how this will all work? Revenue/cost wise, if there are any costs. I hate to sound like a party pooper but I'm skeptical.

 
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I'm with zoogies in loathing auto-play ads. And I would really rather not see that thing every single time I click the front page, which is quite often. Also, with an auto-loaded ad, odds are good you're just going to have a bunch of folks adblock the thing and you've lost your revenue forever. The more annoying, the more likely it is to be blocked, and adblockers are everywhere.

If we implement this, I would strongly suggest a separate, dedicated page. I would put it as a subforum to Husker Football, where it will get plenty of traffic, and you don't have to be imposed upon every time you open the site.

 
zoogies said:
I'm just basing this off the demo AR linked from the Minn board, but my goodness, that is obnoxious. A big old out of place box in the middle of the page that takes seconds to load, and once it does, it comes with sound. I don't think any website homepage should come with sound. Every single visitor to their homepage is greeted with a 30-second advertisement - I don't know how their users can stand it! Very intrusive.

I'm often listening to music, or maybe watching a show or something, and having those auto-load ads really kills it, IMO...even say, the highlight videos section of NFL.com, doesn't load ads automatically when you go to it: http://www.nfl.com/videos. You have to click a 'play' button before you get any sound, which is how it always should be with...no taking over the speakers without the user's consent. I don't understand why the ads don't come on playing the highlight videos instead.

Unless we have a dedicated page just for viewing highlights, I can't think of anywhere else to put it. I suppose it would be acceptable on the Schedule page. Even without the ads it still looks rather awkward but that may just be that particular implementation. IMO, regardless it can't fit anywhere on the main page. What are the details on how this will all work? Revenue/cost wise, if there are any costs. I hate to sound like a party pooper but I'm skeptical.
Click to expand...
I think there is a way to have the sound muted or accessed only when the user clicks the button.

 
AR Husker Fan said:
Looks like we have three options for the player. They are:

1. Simple - This one is 300 (H) x 305 (W), and allows for the selection of a single playlist that the user can navigate with next/previous buttons, without the playlist being visible.

2. Horizontal. This one is 600 x 305. It allows for multiple playlists to be defined, listed as tabs to the right of the video.

3. Vertical. This one is 300 x 605. It allows for multiple playlists to be defined, listed as tabs beneath the video.

We can place the selected player at the top (above or below the HuskerNation/Little Husker banner), to the right, or at the bottom (above or below the Big 10 Helmets strip - or even in place of the strip). Each of these have their strengths and weaknesses. Here's my thought.

1. Simple. This would fit well on the right side. The only drawback is the lack of multiple playlists. To me, not a big deal.

2. Horizontal. This one would have to go at the top or the bottom of the page. Not sure we need multiple playlists, but if we want to place it at the top or bottom, this would be the one.

3. Vertical. I really like this one, but it would take up a lot of space on the right. 605 pixels is a pretty good size. We'd almost have to kill the Status Updates, Top Posters, and Recent Topics lists to make it fit. I think the members would scream about that. But if we didn't, the page would roughly double in vertical size.

Placement, to me, is the issue. I don't favor the bottom of the page - who's going to notice it? A lot of members head right to the Football Forum and nowhere else; if we put it at the bottom, I don't see it getting a lot of looks, but I may be wrong on that. Placing it at the top would be fine - but above or below the HuskerNation/Little Husker banner? On the right, the issue is whether it would go above or below the Status Updates. If it's above, it would get a lot of eyes - below, not so sure.

Chad, do we need to ensure that it's seen by everyone? Or can we place it anywhere and still generate the same income from it?

So, there you have it - top, bottom, or side? Above or below the HuskerNation/Little Husker banner? Above or below (or in place of) the Big 10 Helmets strip? Above or below the Status Updates?

There's a version of it implemented on a Minnesota board. You can see it HERE. It appears to be the Simple version.

So - thoughts?
Click to expand...

I like horizontal on the right on top. It needs to get views.

 
Some quick thoughts:

-I agree about not having a vid that will autoload with sound on the main page

-Frank, I believe we are paid on views, so placing it in a spot to get clicks is the key

-We are paid $5 per 1,000 views -- not great, but if we discreetly ask our members to click it every chance they get, we might make a few bucks

-Im not sure it should go on the top around the banners, unless it can blend nicely

-I like the idea of a separate page

-How about creating a screenshot image of the player, and posting a smaller version of that image somewhere prominent, and linking to another page with the full player? It could say "watch recent Husker highlights (support the board with every click)" or something along those lines.

Thoughts?

 
Some interesting info from the owner of the company:

Gopherhole.com (Minnesota Gophers board) has had A LOT of success with our video player being on the home page of the message board. We have the ads muted, so when a poster goes in between threads the ad refreshes and counts as an ad impression. This would be a problem if the ad had volume, but since it doesn’t posters don’t even notice.

Our largest ad campaign is with Sprint, of which we pay $5 per CPM on ad pre-roll. We use approximately 5 other advertisers in our ad network that range from $1.50-$3 per CPM. The ad pre-roll will run every other video play, with Sprint being played first as it pays the most (Sprint ads are limited to 5 plays per visitor in a 15 hour time frame). For example, if someone watches 20 videos in 10 hours, they will see 10 ad pre rolls with 5 being Sprint and 5 being ads in our network. Your overall CPM average will be around $4.50. We pay our publishing partners as soon as Sprint pays us for fulfilling our contract with them. Our contract for football runs through December, which we will be paid within 30 days after football season. Our revenue share contract states that we have to pay our publishing partners within 45 days, so you can expect payment no later than March for football season. We will send you monthly traffic reports with revenue estimations as well to keep you up to date.

 
Chad, assuming we can mute the audio, do you still want it on a separate page? From what you posted last, I would think we'd want it on the main page, on the right, just above the status updates. Can you check with the company and see whether we can mute it, or do they have to do that?

 
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Frank,

He said "The mute setting can be done on your end in the marketplace. You just have to click the box that says mute, and you guys will be good to go!"

I'd still think it would be nice to also install on a separate page, which will allow it to be linked from the schedule page, top of the homepage, our signatures etc.

Maybe we should all link a thumbnail SS from our sig's & say "Watch Husker Videos & Pay your member dues at the same time!"

 
I'll try and get something set up this weekend - I'd like to use the IP content to create a new page so that we have all the branding and the look and feel.

Chad, before we put that line in our signature - members are going to ask about the membership fee. Any way you want us to reply? It's going to raise a lot of questions.

 
Okay - got the page up and running. It's URL is a beast, but forunately, folks will see the link and not the URL. Here it is:

Code: 
http://www.huskerboard.com/index.php?app=ccs&module=pages&section=pages&folder=&id=5
And here it is for clicking:

HuskerBoard Videos

EDIT: Added a link in the black bar near the top of pages - the one that has the Schedule and Husker Watch Sites links.

 
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