News

Social Video

08/04/2010
Social networking sites: Key innovation partners for the TV and video industry
Social Video

Not only have social networks emerged as new distribution and promotion channels for video content, but they also provide innovative social solutions for TV channels and online video sites. This makes them powerful, crucial partners for the entertainment industry at a time when the media and the Web are increasingly social.

Social networking and watching videos online are now everyday practices on the Web, just like search, e-mail and browsing. These activities have given rise to new Web titans that are increasingly interrelated.

Today we are seeing social networks and TV and video companies coming together to create innovative solutions for broadcast and online video content:

• Connected television sets are making social networking sites available directly on the small screen, in the form of widgets. Social TV, the ideal combination of TV programs and social networking, gives channels a way to capitalize on their program lineup and enhance the TV viewing experience.

• Data portability solutions developed by the leading social networking sites (Facebook Connect, MySpace Data Availability, Sign in with Twitter) make it possible for free online TV and video services such as a TV channel’s Web site, a VOD service or a community video platform, to integrate popular tools from those communities (Facebook’s Live Feed, Twitter tweets). This helps create and retain new audiences and/or additional traffic, thereby generating more ad revenue.

• More and more people are viewing and sharing video content on social networking sites. For the entire range of TV and video services, from traditional channels to YouTube to Hulu, social networks have the makings of a new social and viral channel for promoting and distributing content, allowing them expand their reach. But in order for these players to profit from the dissemination of their content across the social Web, they need to use an appropriate advertising strategy.

• Content recommendations are becoming increasingly important for pay-VOD players, which could boost the relevance—and as a result, the effectiveness—of their suggestions by using the social graph as a filter. Consumers would receive video recommendations from contacts in their social networks, since these people are especially reliable sources of information whose recommendations they trust. However, any use of the social graph must respect users’ privacy and keep personal data confidential.

Social networks have a lot to gain economically by working with the TV and video industry. These alliances can not only help them boost advertising revenue but also provide them new sources of income as purveyors of community-based solutions.

What challenges and strategies will these converging players take on, and what will be the economic impact of Social Video in the coming years?

IDATE has published a report addressing these questions, presenting key figures for the social networking and online video markets and describing the major innovations spawned by the meeting of social networks and video. The challenges and strategies of the players on the field are detailed in case studies.

Project Leader
Sophie Girieud
s.girieud@idate.org