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How to monetize videos

22 Feb 2018 - 12:42

Live video is one of the most efficient marketing channels. With stream you can build a community, promote your business and advertise products. Thanks to different types of monetization, you can make your videos a profitable tool. A very profitable one.

Prerequisites for the Successful Monetization of Video Content

If you are serious about monetization, it is crucial to always target the right audience. It is the audience that is the alfa and omega to your success. The audience is your social capital which you can exchange for cash.

Don’t be mistaken; the right audience doesn’t necessarily mean an especially numerous one. It always depends on what you are offering, who you are offering it to and whether you can make the audience act. Immediately or in the long-term.

Types and possibilities of live video monetization

Live video offers you several monetization options. Your final choice depends on your objective, character of the video content produced, type of stream (events versus 24/7) and/or the technological possibilities of the platform hosting and presenting your videos.

In real life, naturally, different forms of monetization are combined and it is not always possible to draw a clear line between them.

Partner programs to display picture and video advertisements

Probably every Internet user has come across this type of video monetization. Similar to the TV commercial, it is the most common and easy to produce way of video monetization.

On one side it’s you, the content producer, aiming at a certain audience. Through the advertising platform you offer a paid advertising space. On the other side, there’s the advertiser, who chooses from the advertising formats available and pays for their display. Part of the profit from the advertisement goes to the system, part will be yours.

Platforms on popular servers and social networks fall into this category. On YouTube you can find things like pre-roll ads, which are displayed before streams or mid-roll ads displayed during live streaming. Facebook Live offers its own Ad Breaks or in-stream ads.

YouTube Ads

Tailored applications for graphic video monetization

Live stream monetization through advertising spaces has some disadvantages which may negatively impact their effectiveness to varying extents. Among the main flaws are the following:

disturbing the viewer while watching video content, obvious especially with full-screen formats
limiting the advertising system to live videos only on certain platforms – e.g., YouTube, Facebook
limiting or banning promotion of certain content – e.g., alcohol, erotic products etc
limited number of advertising formats
limited possibilities of advertisement configurations

All these limitations can be avoided to a great extent by using your own application. This can insert additional information into your video in a desired form. If you are streaming with the CamStreamer application, you can use the CamOverlay ACAP application for monetization.

CamOverlay is a smart application for Axis cameras allowing you to insert your own graphic into the stream. Thus you can display different types of information in the video, combine information from different sources as well as control the look, timing and position of the display of the graphic in the video. The space and time configuration gives you, especially with 24/7 streaming, great possibilities to turn even a relatively static video into an interesting and marketing-efficient channel.

Own graphics

Dynamics graphics

Own ad channel

Affiliate commercial offers

Products and services can also be promoted directly in the stream content itself, be it only by talking about them or showing them. If you have a large enough and/or interested audience to present to potential partners, you can try and approach them with an offer of cooperation yourselves. Another, widely used option is involvement in a reliable affiliate program.

Sponsorship

This form of stream monetization offers you two basic options.

The first option is to have one general sponsor who you usually find yourself. Or they find you, if you are a rising streaming star. You will then connect a greater part of the content with them.
You can also ask your viewers for support, who can contribute to the production of your video a sum at their discretion. In this case, the importance of the technical solution of the payment process increases – its form and efficiency can significantly affect the success of crowd funding. Such solutions are best if they allow for the payment to be sent without the user having to proceed in a complicated way or log into their Internet banking. An example of a suitable solution is a “Donate” button, which opens a small window where the user can process the payment easily. Another option is the so called SMS donation.

YouTube Donate button

Paid content

If you are convinced that your streams are of high value for your audience, you can start charging for them. This may be by offering unlimited access to all videos for a monthly or annual subscription, or by a pay-per-view system, where viewers pay for watching a particular video.

The whole model of paid content is often based on the creator offering a part of the content for free (freemium) while charging for the rest. This solution caters for the mechanisms of human mind (temptation, free trial) and often leads to higher profits than by charging for the whole content. Many info-products or on-line media operate in this regime.

Lead capture

Monetization may also take the form of lead capture. That is collecting contact information of users who you may expect to approach with a similar or connected issue successfully.

The contact principle is the same as the newsletter subscription or an e-book download. You offer your viewers the possibility to receive the videos they have subscribed to by e-mail or premium content in exchange for the contact.

Author
CamStreamer Team