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Review: Marketing with Video Report (MarketingSherpa) Reviewed by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson Web Marketing Today - Apr 21, 2009

Marketing with Video Report: Online, TV and Mobile
by Tim McAtt and Shawn Baron
MarketingSherpa, 2008
8-1/2" x 11", spiral-bound, 390 pages
ISBN 978-1-932353-87-7
$397

Marketing through television video advertising has long been considered by itself. The authors of this Report have compiled a huge amount of data about both television video, online video, and mobile video, since companies are moving towards advertising in all these media. Much of the data comes from a November 2008 Video Marketing Survey conducted by MarketingSherpa drawn from 1,083 respondents.

The book begins with an introduction that considers the various issues emerging in video marketing -- in particular, the nature of the convergence of TV and Internet, and struggles with monetizing video content. It is followed by an executive summary, and a rather comprehensive glossary of terms used in the online and television advertising industries. Chapters examine:

1. Video Business Benchmarks. Tracks video usage, media spending, and outsourcing among marketers.
2. Video Business Benchmarks for Broadcasters and Publishers. Examines monetization models, publisher benchmarks, and media monetization for broadcasters and online publishers. Particularly helpful was a study of the ideal amount of ads per content-hour of linear video.
3. Consumer Attitudes Toward Video. Studies how consumers decide what to watch, TV vs. online video, and online video ad opinions.
4. Video Background Information - Facts and Figures. Uses an amazing amount of data to provide a holistic view of video, especially TV video (broadcast, cable, and satellite), digital vs. analog, cable vs. satellite, time-shifting technology, video on demand (VOD), and online video. Offers site profiles of the most popular online video sites (Amazon, AOL, CBS, Disney, ESPN, Fox, Hulu, MSN, Yahoo!, and YouTube). Looks at viral benchmarks, video overlay ads, and mobile video benchmarks.
5. Effective Video Marketing Strategies. Examines current approaches to video marketing, considering such issues as ad-skipping, online in-stream vs. in-banner video advertising, viral video marketing, and SEO for video content. There are several research graphs concerning the current use of mobile video.
6. Creative Execution. This chapter is made up more of tips than surveys. A number of pages are devoted providing survey respondents' answers to the question: "What advice would you give to a marketer who is about to create their first video ad?" The chapter also includes tips on making effective infomercials and TV commercials.
7. Ratings, Buying, and Placing Media. An understanding of video metrics is important to determining effectiveness. There's a discussion of ratings vs. impressions, as well as live vs. time-shifted viewing. Also included are explanations of ROI, advertising relevance, hyper targeting, video ad networks, and geo-targeting.
8. Video Testing, Research and Analytics. The final chapter explores various types of video testing and analytics.

Here are my impressions of the Report:

• Data quantity. This book contains a huge amount of data, most of it displayed in bar graphs. Indeed, the authors have done a superb job in collecting in a single volume a comprehensive view of video marketing. Much of the data, however, consists of results of a survey that tells you how various companies are approaching video marketing, how much they're spending, and what they think is effective. In my opinion, there are far more graphs than are really useful. Just because you have data available, doesn't mean that it's particularly helpful or interesting. I suffered data overload from a lack of selectivity and too much undigested data.
• Executive Summary. This isn't the kind of report for which an executive summary is very helpful. The author tries to highlight trends, but the report is far too massive for this summary to be useful. Graphs shown in the summary aren't adequately explained and only hint at the points being made. You can read the Executive Summary online at no cost.
• Scope. What the authors were trying to do is to provide an overall view of all kinds of video marketing. I think they erred on the side of including too much material. For example, Chapter 6, "Creative Execution," shouldn't have even tried to offer "tips" concerning a subject that needs several books to cover adequately. "Tips" trivialize the importance of the topic.

While I have been somewhat harsh in my evaluation, this book provides a unique and comprehensive view of the rapidly emerging field video marketing that can't be found anywhere else. If your company is serious about making video marketing an important element in your marketing mix, you'll need to acquire and master this Report. It's not an easy read. But one can't expect to comprehend the entire field of video marketing without a very steep learning curve.

The book is available only through MarketingSherpa Store.

The review by Mark R. Robertson in ReelSEO.com highlights some of the Report's important contributions to the field.