General How Producers Adapt to Global Digital Content Production Maarten VerwaestJune 18, 2021 It is not easy to overstate how digital content consumption has recently gone up. As a result, brands and businesses actively invest in video production to gain more eyeballs where audiences spend the most time. The ‘post-lockdown’ picture does not look much different. In the latest Media Nations study, viewers claimed they would continue to spend the same amount of time watching streamed content in the future as they did during the lockdown. Therefore, as long as viewer behaviour continues to perpetuate this trend, companies will continue to allocate ad spending to video production and reap the benefits of digital content in lieu of TV advertising. For digital video content agencies and video producers, this means most of your clients will be looking to embrace a global cross-platform approach to their digital content. In many cases, they are aware of ‘Ad Fatigue’ from traditional video advertising. They are looking to produce content at the same level of entertainment as what audiences are already watching on streaming platforms. In the era of social media and mobile phones, people “watch TikTok like Netflix and Hulu”, according to Sandie Hawkins GM of US Global Business Solutions at TikTok, thus making versioning and distribution vital components of any campaign. Unsurprisingly, advertisers consider digital video their most effective tool when planning and running their campaigns. Despite this accelerated growth, there are contrasting themes. On one end, video ad spending is experiencing steady growth, 31% year over year to $19 billion, according to an eMarketer estimate, yet many digital video agencies are seeing their budget sliced. This dilemma raises the question: Can producers continue to create high-quality video production fast, at scale, while also meeting global demand across time zones with a remote creative team? How Digital Video Agencies Are Thriving Today Over 80% of overall internet traffic in 2021 comes from video. Today, digital video content agencies operate as a marketing agency and a full-service video production company and produce content ranging from short-form videos for social media, commercials to full-length documentaries. To stay on top of the industry, producers thrive on simplicity and speed to manage clients, creative directors, editors, creative teams, account managers, sound designers, and all the crew involved in the process while keeping post-production on schedule and keeping the budget in check. These digital content agencies turned production powerhouses, streamline their workflow and rely on a single repository. They leverage the cloud for media asset management, content sharing, and team collaboration to make the process more efficient through storing all the media, real-time client feedback, and team review in one place. Whether remote or between the different departments, team collaboration can no longer rely on numerous in-person reviews, long chains of emails, and upload links that waste valuable post-production time. When assets, comments, and approvals are centralised in one place on the same interface, it allows your team to focus primarily on their creative output. What’s happening in commercial video production in 2021? Short-form content is vital for cross-platform and global distribution Aside from playing a pivotal role in trend culture, short-form content sits at the core of any global campaign. It allows brands and marketing teams to entertain and engage their audiences by seamlessly fitting into their content consumption schedule. It’s inherently more familiar and matches audiences behaviour while also allowing producers to leverage spin-off content. Long-form content on social platforms Long before the year 2020 and the global impact it brought with it, social platforms invested their efforts in long-form video content. This focus has been intensified over the last year to capitalise on audiences’ increasing demand for content. Twitter recently announced their range of premium video and live video content that includes the Tokyo Olympics to expand to video programming partnerships with Genius, Refinery29 and Tastemade. A platform that started as an SMS-based communications platform now has over 70% of users sessions include video. Increased demand for branded digital content series Whether in the form of digital content series or docu-series, companies leverage storytelling to spread their ethos to their audiences. Earlier this year, the mediation app Headspace, in partnership with Netflix, released the first of three series on Netflix’s platform. While branded series or movies are nothing new, an increased interest in producing such content for brands is stronger than ever. Few examples illustrate this better than the LEGO movie, with box office receipts of more than $250m in the US and £31m in the UK back when released early in 2014. After its successful release, sales skyrocketed by 25%. It is no surprise brands worldwide see the value in branded series and films. Other companies like IBM Science & Star Wars and AT&T’s Guilty Party are using this medium to communicate brand relevance and reach new demographics while simultaneously entertaining and communicating brand value. Conclusion How You Can Bring Added Value to Post Production? Speed and flexibility are facilitated by taking the guesswork out of your client’s and team’s mind by simplifying team collaboration and client feedback. The ability to make real-time notes on the editor’s work is an absolute game-changer that will save your team and your client precious production time. Take advantage of automated subtitling and localisation, allowing you to optimise your content without adding more manual tasks Distribution and versioning are essential components of the final output. Through tools like Limecraft Flow, the interview and dialogue transcription are very accurate and easy to use, making post-production a breeze when handling interviews or corporate videos. What’s Next? You can sign up for a free trial today.