Expanding Distribution
Getting our video in front of as many potential viewers as possible is of paramount importance for our business. The quality of what we produce has allowed us to take our video and syndicated it beyond the Web and we’re pleased to be creating a Video on Demand platform with Charter Communications, one of the largest cable companies in the United States. They join our existing efforts that have us in roughly 30 million homes where our video can be seen on the biggest monitor in the house – the living room television.
As we all know the only constant with the Internet is change. And one aspect of the Internet that continues to see rapid and often disruptive change is with video delivery. Cable operators are grappling with the fact that the programming they once monopolized is being distributed, for free, on the Internet. We’ll be seeing more and more big screen TV’s hooked directly to the Internet, enabling companies to bring their programming direct to consumers. These efforts are a threat to the traditional cable model with both viewers abandoning the set-top provided content, and advertisers who may bolt for the more measurable on-line environment. The push back from cable is seen in their recent negotiations with programmers, as they no longer want to pay premiums, especially if they lose control of where the audience can view it.
Voyage and our type of HD, interest specific programming is a part of the solution. We don’t require cable to pay for the content; we create value around it together. As our cable partners roll out interactive functionality like click-to-call and telescoping, viewers end up with an interactive experience that was once exclusive to the web. With “retail” TV we don’t just show viewers beautiful places, we take them there as well. –John Pasmore
Design Directions
Voyage.tv has been “live” since August. As with any new idea, we have learned a lot and we are beginning to think about how we incorporate those learnings into the design of the site, so as to improve the experience.
Our learnings are that 1) people like the content; 2) see value in having a variety of different but related content (e.g. hotel videos or points of interest videos); and 3) that the getting around the site is generally OK.
We have also learned that when user first land on the site they aren’t really sure what it is exactly. They know that it relates to travel, but the combination of original video, a booking engine and travel deals is a combination that they have not previously encountered. This results in most visitors bookmarking the site and then returning later in the day to explore the site (on any given day 50% of visits are same day return visitors).
We have been thinking about this and working on a number of alternative designs that might better communicate what Voyage.tv is all about. We wanted to share this with you and ask you for your thoughts. You can email them to us at Customerservice@voyage.tv. –MJM
Engagement Is The Objective
Voyage.tv is about finding experiences that we believe our Members will find interesting and creating programming around them. Is it working?
I thought the attached slide that Tedd presented at the PhocusWright Technology Conference in Orlando this week is worth sharing. It shows that Voyage.tv is generating significant time on site for new visitors (most of our visitors are new given how young we are!). It’s pretty cool. –MJM
Travel Video: The Next Big Thing
Earlier this week I had the opportunity of presenting at the Phocuswright ’09 Conference in Orlando as part of the Travel Innovation Summit. Nearly 1,000 people attend this conference every year geared towards the leaders of the travel industry – a great opportunity to showcase the amazing things the team is doing here at Voyage.tv, to get the word out.
Sometimes, though it’s better to have a third-party state your case for you, and in this case we were fortunate to have Google and YouTube present video as “The Next Big Thing” for the travel industry. While most of us know that video — and in particular online video – is mainstream, it still remains somewhat futuristic for an industry used to data entry (think keywords and destinations entered into text boxes) as the place for travel discovery to begin.
At Voyage.tv we think video is a disruptive technology that will revolutionize the way travel discovery happens. Think about it, wouldn’t you rather let your interests guide you to a fantastic place, viewing bite-sized segments about a destination rather than hunting and pecking around the web for ideas?
That was part of the gist of our message, and the Google/YouTube presentation underscored and truly validated our approach to the marketplace and what we’re about. Their studies show that a majority of all travelers – some 56% — view video before making travel purchase decisions. This is an amazing statistic considering how few sites have actually embraced the medium, and it shows that we are indeed creating something that our viewers appreciate.
That’s a quick update for now – we’ll post the video of my presentation so you can follow along and understand better how we are out to make the travel discovery process more exciting, engaging and enjoyable than ever before. Now enough reading, go check out some of The World’s Best Travel Programs on Voyage.tv! – Tedd Evers, Chief Revenue Officer
A Few Changes With this Week’s Technical Release
There is a lot going on the technical front. Let me update you.
We released a new version of Voyage.tv today which resolves some of the bugs that we discovered after the release in late October. We tested rigorously for 5 days prior to the release, but we still encountered a couple of minor issues.
Specifically, we have fixed the issues with top 4 thumbnails on the Deals page and have cleaned up some alignment issues on the Home Page. We have also brought the H1 headline into conformity with our graphics standards.
If you are a frequent visitor to the site, you will see that we are adding new pages for each of the Signature Videos, as well as for Hotels. The idea is to have a landing page for each of the Signature Programs or Hotel videos that a Member can land on, grab an embed code or simply bookmark a page.
We hope the changes enhance the usability of the site.
Our next release is scheduled for mid December and is focused on improving the presentation of the Hotel Page, the Special Offers Pages and some of the interior pages. The main change to the Hotel Page is the move to an embedded video player on the page. We have found that having a pop-up player on the Hotel Page is not working well for many users as it is taking hem away from much of the surrounding information.
We are also re-working the Special Offers page to improve the information presented and to highlight the main “selling points” around the offer. You will see some great new page layouts on both the Hotel Page and the Special Offers Page.
There will also be some new pages available – we have created a Points of Interest Page for the POI videos that we are launching with the New York Cycle. You will also that we have changed the interior pages to make them a bit easier to navigate.
Outside of the Voyage.tv site, we continue to work on extending the availability of our programming and hotel clips. We have a new YouTube Channel that we are launching in early December in partnership with YouTube and have a revamped FaceBook Page that will be available about the same time. We are also working on the launch of several iPhone applications in January.
Stay tuned! –MJM
On-Line Video, An Evolution In Programming II
In a previous post, I wrote about using on-line analytics programs to identify the points in a program where viewers “fallout”. I noted that fallout is extremely concentrated with a significant percentage of the audience falling out at specific points (we cal these “failure points”).
In our past lives as television producers, we had always assumed that fallout followed a standard distribution pattern. Sure, a poor edit might change that for an individual video, but aggregated across many videos we were sure that, viewer fallout followed a standard distribution curve.
Our experience over the last ten weeks illustrates that fallout is “causal” and can therefore be addressed. We also see that having re-edited a program there is a significant improvement in the average duration of viewing (engagement). This means that over a short period of time – say several weeks – Voyage.tv is able to publish a video, aggregate views, analyze fallout and then address the failure points in a second edit. It is an approach that gives Voyage.tv a significant advantage over traditional television broadcasters and one of the reasons we believe that will make “on demand” viewing the future of television.
So what causes viewer fallout?
Our first learning is that the length of video doesn’t directly relate to the percentage of an audience that views a complete segment. We see high percentages of viewers “carried” to the end of a 15 minute video and we see high fallout in videos of a much shorter duration (say 2 minutes). The adage that the average viewing time is of 2 to 3 minutes in duration for online video is likely statistically true for user generated content on You Tube, but it is not a gating factor if the quality of the video is high.
Essentially, the optimal duration of a video segment relates to the quality of the story. If it is of interest to the viewer, they will stay with the story.
Our second observation is that the definition of a story line is much “tighter” for the on-demand viewer than the television viewer. Story lines have to be more “linear” in their presentation with fewer “back stories” or “interludes”.
Let me give you a real life example. One of the programs on Caribbean Golf took the viewer around one of the region’s premier golf courses. The focus of the story was on the course and the spectacular ocean views and vistas it offered. In reviewing the segment using the analytics tools, we saw that the “failure point” was at the moment the host – a PGA Tour Pro – changed the storyline from the course and its design to ‘how to hit a fade as the proper approach to the 16th green”. In the view of the producer and the editor, this was consistent with the storyline and added a bit of visual variety. But the audience did not think so - 50.1% of the viewers fell out at that exact second.
Why the fallout? The story the audience was watching was about the course – not about how to hit a fade. What seemed like a natural segueway to the editor appeared to the audience as a “new story”. And so the programming communicated to the them that they were at the end of the original story and that it was time to leave.
The level and the nature of the fallout demonstrate the very fine tolerances that on-demand programmer must meet. Story lines must be very tight and and even small deviations in the story line – techniques which are quite common in television programming – can dramatically impact viewer retention.
A recent review of one of our gourmet food segments shot in Bermuda provides another illustration of just how fine the tolerances are. The segment had a Voyage.tv presenter descending a very grand set of stairs on the way into a restaurant. The shot was very graphic – a tight shot of this attractive woman’s rear in a tight fitting evening gown. She is an attractive woman and it was very well shot.
The result? Over 30% of the viewers fell out at that exact frame. Why? Because the shot did not add to the story line. We see this time and time again. Television is about telling a story in pictures – and each time a frame is presented that does not advance the story, the viewer has a reason to leave. The tolerance are very tight.
To date, most of the programming available on the Internet is either User Generated Content or re-purposed television content. Both have their place, but the opportunity to advance the art of programming lies in creating new program models for the On Demand viewer. Programmers, like Voyage.tv, are creating much higher engagement with their audiences than traditional broadcasters by tailoring the programming to the needs of a “micro” audiences. Yes, network television will always deliver “reach”, but it is the new generation of On Demand Channels that advertisers will look to for “engagement”. –MJM
On-Line Video, An Evolution In Programming
As some of you know, Voyage.tv distributes our programming across the Internet, as well as on the Video On Demand services of many major cable television providers. We don’t do a good enough job of publicizing this – so I thought I would throw in a plug.
What is interesting about distributing programming across both platforms (and yes we are working on mobile) is that the viewers consume the programming differently. Let me expand.
One of the best things about Voyage.tv is our backend. We have a world class booking engine with direct contracted rates from 15,000 hotels and resorts and access to thousands more via Pegasus. We also have a world class analytics implementation utilizing both Omniture and Google Analytics, as well as Clicktale.
What does this have to do with programming? Well that’s the cool part – at least if you are a programmer. With our analytics programs we can see viewer fallout from a video by one second increments. Meaning we can see the exact frame at which viewers (collectively – not individual viewers) loose interest and exit the video.
Before we had this analysis capability we assumed that viewers “fallout” was spread across a video in a standard distribution, with perhaps one or two peaks. The reality is very different. What we are seeing from our analysis is that viewers all fallout at the exact same second. Fallout is very concentrated with as high as 30% of the audience falling out at the exact same frame.
That is the good news. Now, how is fallout good news? Well the fact that everyone falls out at the same frame means we can fix it. And that has become our standard operating procedure; 1) Publish a video and aggregate views; 2) Analyze the fallout; 3) Re-edit the video to address the fallout.
Does it work? Yes! We are seeing that Generation 2 and Generation 3 edits of individual videos are able to hold the audience thru the “failure points” in the original edit. Occasionally a change in the edit will create a new failure point, but never of the same magnitude. And after 2-3 generations we are achieving very high levels of viewer engagement – holding upwards of 75% of the audience to the end of a 6 plus minute video segment. This compares very favorably to the 2 minute average duration for the average video segment on a Video On Demand systems.
What causes fallout? That is a subject for my next blog post. Its an interesting topic. -MJM
Voyage.tv Release 2.1 Preview
Today’s post represents a shift in Voyage.tv’s blog. In response to the queries that we have been receiving, we have decided to focus Voyage Insider on the developments within our community and on our development as a company.
I thought I would kick off this new direction with an update on Release 2.1 and some of the enhancements that you will find in early November. Release 2.1 is coming to the end of the development cycle and moving into testing at the end of this week. We have a planned test cycle of about 3 weeks prior to the roll as part of the development methodology, so it should be out in early November. The release is a significant release with over 100 different modifications, bug fixes and new features. So what’s new? We have added a Special Offers Page to each of the destination sites to allow us to showcase the best deals available that week within a destination. We have also added individual landing pages for our Signature Programs and for individual Hotel videos. This will make it easier to bookmark or share media, as well as enhances our video SEO. What’s different? You will find that the Home Page has been “tuned” a bit to enhance the presentation of the Signature Programs above the page fold, as well as the retail offers on the lower third of the page. It’s a cleaner, more legible presentation. You will also note changes to the top navigation. We have added three of the principle lifestyle themes (Spa, Gourmet and Culture) and removed several of the navigation options that were not being utilized by members on the site. The purpose of these changes was to differentiate the left column navigation from the top navigation bar as there was some overlap that members found confusing. We also are trying to give more prominence to our “lifestyle” program as we evolve, as lifestyle is really what Voyage.tv wishes to feature. The largest change you will find is a new player – or rather the next evolution of the existing player. As you can see from the attached, we have worked to enhance the size of the video in the player, as well as add several new features and removed several others. The new features include a text scroll which indicates the name of the video and the duration, as well as a new option – the “View Offers” button – that allows viewers to call up special offers in the resort property or destination that relates to the video they are viewing. We have also worked to bring the design of the player closer to the current site design.
We are excited about rolling the site and getting your feedback and comments. -MJM
This Summer, MoMA Wants To Help You Plan Accordingly
There’s a lot to see at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) this summer — a Young Architects exhibit, In & Out of Amsterdam: Travels in Conceptual Art (1960-1976), Stage Pictures: Drawing For Performance, a Punk Rock look at music, Sculpture in Color, even two screenings of the Scorcese classic “Goodfellas”. Those are just a handful of the events that caught my eye. The Museum of Modern Art acquires modern and contemporary art from around the world and hosts exhibits and film programs that, according to its mission, “fuel creativity, ignite minds and provide inspiration”. And since there is a plethora of options to choose from, MoMA has brilliantly created a website that integrates with your Facebook to tailor your museum experience based on your personality and profile. A very modern move for what looks to be the hippest museum in town.
Visit mydayat.moma.org to fill up your calendar.
More Voyage News: Travel Weekly & Dennis Schaal Blog
Last week industry trade Travel Weekly published a lengthy piece on voyage.tv in its hard edition. The article has been the feature item on their technology channel since last Friday.
Taken by venture to sell travel through cable tv and the web, writer Dennis Schaal drilled down further on his blog
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