Innovations case study: Video strategy from the top magazine media companies
Video has quickly become the most effective, most powerful, and fastest-growing method of delivering content and advertising to the largest audience, all in ways that are increasingly accessible to all publishers, not just those with big budgets.
In 2012, internet video accounted for 57 per cent of global consumer web traffic. By 2017, internet video is projected to be 69 per cent of global consumer web traffic, according to Cisco Visual Networking Index (VIN).
Video is no longer becoming the dominant digital content consumption platform; it’s there.
This shift to video has not gone unnoticed in magazine editorial and advertising departments, as illustrated in FIPP’s 2014 Innovations in Magazine Media World Report. Video will also be one of the feature sessions at FIPP’s upcoming Innovation Forum in London on 26-27 June.
Most of the major magazine groups and many of the smaller companies are creating all sorts of videos, from scripted, high-production-value, continuing series to low-budget, one-time, stand-alone videos. Some are built around staff personalities, some are produced internally, some are farmed out, some are made with iPhones, and some with expensive, studio-quality cameras.
Want to take a peek?
Last May, Condé Nast Entertainment (CNE) unveiled plans to do a staged launch of 30 new web digital video series over a period of months in 2013. The channels create videos closely aligned with each magazine’s mission. Take a look a this Vanity Fair channel piece.
CNE also produces videos with content related to Glamour, GQ, Brides, and Vogue.
Time magazine also seriously raised the magazine video production bar in 2013.
In August, Time launched a video documentary division called Red Border Films (after the red border on the Time cover), a documentary film-making unit and interactive digital platform. Red Border Films draws on Time’s extensive network of photojournalists, filmmakers, and other contributors to produce both short documentaries and expanded films, presented along with interactive features at time.com/redborder, where users watch films, explore in-depth information about the filmmakers and their subjects, and view photo galleries and other multimedia elements around each project. Here is Time’s One Man One Dream.
Time aims to cultivate a daily habit of consuming high-quality, compelling video content across its platforms.
Partnering to grow explosively
Seventeen magazine partnered with AwesomenessTV, a video company massively successful in that target teen niche (60 million viewers).
Given its proven prowess with young audiences, AwesomenessTV was given the content creation responsibility for the relaunch of Seventeen’s YouTube channel. AwesomenessTV created a dedicated team of six for the editorial side of the project while Hearst handled ad sales. The content focuses on the typical teen fare: beauty, music, celebrities, and health.
Meredith ramps up video
Another magazine media giant, Meredith, which only produced one online video series in 2013, is seriously ramping up its efforts, adding five online video series in 2014.
The publisher’s existing series, Lords of the Playground, launched its second season in January of this year. Meredith is launching five new shows for 2014.The publisher is guaranteeing advertisers 2.5m video streams over the 12- or 24-week run of each series. They also offer advertisers the chance to get a tasteful and subtle integration of their products into episodes of the online video series.
These are just a few of the magnificent examples showing that the road to the future is clearly marked: Video will be the primary content consumption platform. And the leading magazine media companies are actually leading the way, demonstrating a wide variety of methods that have proven successful from both a readership and advertising point of view.
Innovations in Magazine Media 2014 World Report
The Innovations in Magazine Media World Report includes these and other great case studies from the top publishing houses leading the charge. From Condé Nast and Hearst to Meredith, Scripps, Time Inc, The Atlantic Group, Future and newcomer Vice Media, the industry leaders are producing countless amounts of video every day.
The fifth edition of Innovations features five of the major changes exploding on the magazine media front: mobile as the dominant platform, programmatic advertising, video, big data, and native advertising.
The report is available in digital, print and app formats. FIPP Members get the digital edition for FREE and 30 per cent off the other formats.
Visit the Innovations Toolkit for more on Innovations in Magazine Media.
For further information, including translation rights and bulk rates, contact Sylkia J. Cartagena or Helen Bland.
Not a FIPP Member? Contact Cobus Heyl to find out how to join.
FIPP’s Innovation Forum builds on five years of FIPP’s Innovations in Magazine Media World Report, which each year showcase the best magazine media innovations from around the world, and will not only bring the latest innovations from the 2014 report to life, but also beyond. Register today.
