Business Video Analytics
When it comes to measuring online business video viewership, many executives don’t even recognize the information power they have at their fingertips.
Most of today’s video technology platforms can produce an amazing array of metrics tracking the extent to which audiences are engaged with the rich media content they consume. Even the most basic solutions can keep tabs on how long viewers watch a specific webcast online, what questions they ask presenters during a live event, and which answers were given to polling questions and surveys served up during a presentation.
This type of analytical data can provide keen insight for communicators seeking to better understand how their message connects with their audience. The opportunity for understanding increases exponentially when webcast attendees are identified – either by registration data provided up-front, via the use of online trackers, or via information culled from corporate databases.
For internal webcasts, companies can measure the impact that participation in specific video events has on an employee’s long-term performance. For customer-facing events, sales and marketing staff can differentiate between lukewarm prospects and hot sales leads.
Unfortunately, many executives have yet to recognize the power behind the data that can be collected from webcast events. Often organizations use the same old standard they use to measure the success of an in-person event; they count how many people are in a room.
This is not a bad thing, of course. It’s useful to know how many people attended an online event. But executives are only hurting themselves – and their organization – by not fully capitalizing on the information that can be gleaned using analytics tools that track viewership.
The blunt truth is that not all business video analytics tools are created equal. Some vendors offer solutions that do a better job than others of actionable information than others.
Decision makers considering an investment in a video platform should look carefully at the reporting / analytics engine within the solutions under consideration. Key features to note include the ability to create new reports and the ease of integration with other platforms (e.g. Sharepoint or Salesforce).
Indeed, it’s not enough that a specific system can track specific viewership behavior. The true value is when the system can package that information in a format that is insightful and easy to consume. By not leveraging webcast data more effectively, organizations are simply wasting opportunities to learn more about the employees and sales prospects watching their videos.
Steve Vonder Haar is a Senior Analyst at Wainhouse Research and can be reached at svonder@wainhouse.com
