Only large publishers with mainstream content–like CNN and Disney–should expect to make significant money from video ad revenue online, according to Benjamin Wayne, CEO of white-label plug-and-play video solution Fliqz. "It really doesn’t get interesting from a revenue perspective unless you can get to 20 or 30 million impressions a month. And when you consider that the top ten consumer sites start at like 40 million impressions a month, you understand that it’s a very small market of people that have the impressions," he says.
But hope is not lost for small video publishers. They just need to approach video differently: "What we try to do is help people focus on doing video in ways that
drives key business initiatives as opposed to just video for the sake
of video," he says.
Competitors like Brightcove have nailed down a lot of the big-name clients, and although Fliqz certainly has some, such as MLB and VH1, honing in on the small business niche seems like a good way to diversify its offering. Fliqz clients typically use video to help sell a product or service–like realtors creating video of the houses they’re showing–or to drive viral traffic to their site, Wayne explains.
He also echoes a point we heard Brightcove Senior VP Adam Berrey make at the Beet.TV online video roundtable: Publishers should focus on monetizing the entire page isntead of focusing on in-video advertising as the sole remedy.
Wayne spoke to me from the Fliqz offices in Emeryville, CA via video Skype in October.
—Kelsey Blodget, Associate Producer
