To make sense of the massive amounts of online video flooding the broadband pipes, the Internet video business is in desperate need of better context, metadata and video SEO. That's the conclusion of Ashley Swartz in this commentary on the state of the business.
By all accounts, the business is on track for another stellar year with $3.1 billion in ad dollars expected to flow to Web video in 2012, coupled with continued investment from giants such as Google and YouTube, Swartz points out. The problem lies in sifting through billions of videos so they are findable and usable. After all, Cisco has said that by 2016 there will be 1.2 million minutes of video flowing through the Web every second. But if audiences can't find videos, then marketers can't either, Swartz warns in her commentary.
Being able to track, tag and log video will go a long ways to serving advertiser interests, she predicts. Keep an eye on companies that can handle complex tagging, metadata and visual data, such as Watchwith and Veenome. Tune into Swartz' commentary for insight on how each company is driving key opportunities.
"If content is king, then context is his queen," Swartz said. "Advertisers and content providers will start looking at optimizing their video tagging."
Ashley Swartz is a principal of the New York-based consultancy Furious Minds. She is former head of the interactive television practice at Digitas. She is a regular contributor to Beet.TV
