The online video market is a rapidly evolving landscape--we’re here to make it a bit easier for you. Here are the latest trends and news stories we’re seeing in the world of video:
Newsmakers & Latest Research
Dangerous implications for new AI video tech: The latest example of AI’s audiovisual magic comes from the University of Washington, where researchers have created a new tool that takes audio files, converts them into realistic mouth movements, and then grafts those movements onto existing video. The end-result: a video of someone saying something they didn’t. (Source: The Verge)
Online video ads to be "mobile first" by 2018: Driven by a surge in mobile consumption, the online video advertising marketplace will become mobile first by 2018, according to an update of a long-term forecast released this morning by Publicis’ Zenith unit. (Source: MediaPost)
Verizon accused of throttling Netflix: Verizon Wireless customers this week noticed that Netflix's speed test tool appears to be capped at 10Mbps, raising fears that the carrier is throttling video streaming on its mobile network. (Source: Ars Technica)
Amazon cozies up to video publishers: Amazon wants video publishers and creators to distribute their work on its streaming platform. And it’s providing free marketing and technical support — and in some cases, financial incentives — to make that happen. (Source: Digiday)
Social Video News
Facebook turns up the video volume: Facebook is making (sound) waves with autoplay videos on its mobile app that start running with the volume already turned up. (Source: Ad Age)
Snapchat rolls out ad creation tool: On Monday, Snapchat officially rolled out a browser-based ad creation tool, Snap Publisher, that anyone with access to its self-serve ad-buying tool, Snap Ad Manager, can use to create Snapchat’s vertical video Snap Ads, whether or not they have any vertical videos to use. (Source: Marketing Land)
Facebook cracking down on pirated videos: Facebook has acquired a startup to help it crack down on users who share pirated videos and other content without permission. Source3 builds technology to detect intellectual property that has been shared by internet users without permission. (Source: Recode)
Big opportunities with native LinkedIn video: LinkedIn just announced that it will begin hosting native video on its site. You may shrug, but this could be huge, depending on how new owner Microsoft exploits this opportunity. (Source: Tubefilter)
Video Marketing News
Echo Show as a marketing medium for brands: When Amazon’s Echo Show officially launched, publishers rapidly announced video-optimized skills for the device - but Amazon only partnered with a handful of brands to do the same. Reviewers swiftly critiqued the device for not having enough visual skills. But it seems the fever is building for the $230 audio and video device. More brands are now optimizing their Amazon skills for the new Echo Show. (Source: Digiday)
We recently launched Brightcove Jump Start for Echo Show, a new service enabling publishers and brands to quickly launch video skills on the new Amazon Echo Show. Learn more in this blog.
Mattress company finds success with social video: Since its launch 18 months ago, Purple has been running an ongoing video campaign on social media using a quirky education-and-entertainment approach that it claims helped drive $75 million in online sales in 2016. Taken together, Purple's videos have amassed more than 500 million views. (Source: Marketing Dive)
Social video presents a massive opportunity for brands and publishers alike. Brightcove recently conducted research outlined in our report, The Science of Social Video, here.