Gene Carr's Patron Technology Blog

Online Video Research Confirms My Thinking

Last week the ever-reliable Pew folks put out their first research report on online video, and it contains some interesting information. I won't bother to summarize all the findings; you can read them yourself here. 

 

But let me pull out a few things that surprised me and/or caught my attention.

 

First, do you know what the most frequently viewed video content is? Nope - it's not porn. You might think so, (and maybe people are just lying...) but the thing most people say they watch is the news. The report says, "37% of adult internet users say they watch or download news videos online." To me that points out something that goes against the common wisdom. Common wisdom says that we're a country that's becoming more and more uninterested in news. That's why the evening news has poor ratings and why Katie Couric got her job, and why a strikingly large percentage of Americans get their news from The Daily Show.

 

What this data tells me is that we're a country hungry for news - we just don't like the traditional way it's served up.

 

And why should we? Look, I'm a news junkie myself, and before the Internet, I'd plant myself in front of CNN Headline news for 20 minutes a day, in addition to reading the paper. But in that 20 minutes, there was probably 4 minutes of news that really interested me. And, often the stuff I really wanted to see was given short shrift.

 

So along comes the Web and now I can decide what I'm interested in viewing. Much of it I want to immerse myself in. And it's not only me - it's a lot of us.

 

Now, let's take one more example that's even more relevant to the arts and non-profits. Older adults are really interested in educational stuff online, as well as "do it yourself" videos. About 29% of young adults (18-26) look at this educational video compared to about 21% of those over 65. The similarity of these levels of interest is noteworthy, since across age categories interest levels in other types of video (music, humor etc.) are almost never so similar. 

 

So, here's my take-away. Even though there's a dumbing down of our society in general, there's still strong interest in *learning* things. Whether it's news, or learning about Shakespeare or Mahler or about Epilepsy, an older audience is beginning to recognize that video on the Web is a really valuable tool.

Let me close with yet another fantastic example of how well Cincinnati Opera understands all of this and is taking advantage of the opportunity. Here's a video of its Artistic Director, Evans Mirageas, giving a backstage tour of its upcoming production of Aida.

 

 

Summer Project Numero Uno: E-List Building

I'm guessing that many of you are finding time this summer to do things that you've been putting off. Me too.

I had promised many of you who attended my seminars this spring that I'd be revising my book Sign-Up for Culture: The Arts Marketer's Guide to Building an Effective E-mail List with some new case studies and updated research. I've been working on it for months, but you know how that goes. The good news is that with the summer in full swing we're actually getting it done, and it should be ready to ship in about two weeks.

Since it's the summer, perhaps the timing is good for you to think about how you'll be building your own e-mail list next season. In the book, I note that the average growth rate for e-mail mailing lists for all of our clients in the last year was 50%. That's a pretty decent number - how does that stack up with your experience? 

If you're feeling that you need some inspiration, I've added a case study from the Alvin American Dance Theater who followed an approach I outline in the book to build their e-mail lists during their performances. Here's a quick summary: 

.... the first year we did this [collecting e-mail addresses at our annual run in New York], we collected 20,426 new addresses in just those five weeks. This year the total was 18,626 - and 95% of those names were new!

Since beginning this list-building campaign two years ago, Ailey has grown its list from 12,000 names to 67,000, a whopping 458% increase!

I offer 21 ideas for building your e-mail lists in the book, and if you'd like, you can pre-order the new version of the book by clicking  here and you'll have it very soon.

And if you're interested in one-on-one training and guidance, we are working with clients in in a consulting capacity to help them build their lists, and we'd be glad to speak with you about that as well.

All in all, if you’re putting your plans in place for next season, add "Build my e-mail list" to your to-do list. In my view, there are few things as important. 

Video Contributions for the Arts?

If there's one thing that the web is good at doing, it's getting people to do things for free. From Wikipedia entries to bloggers, people do a lot of things just for pure enjoyment or personal satisfaction. Those marketers that understand how to harness this creative energy stand to gain a lot.

I saw this play out last week in an e-mail for Hillary Clinton's campaign. In preparation for the Youtube.com presidential debates, her staff sent out an invitation for people to create a 30-second video that they can use during the debate. It will be interesting to watch some of these entries.

I've been calling on the arts community to start using video in creative ways, and in my most recent post last week, I highlighted what the Cincinnati Opera has been doing.

How about taking the next step and soliciting your supporters and patrons to upload their own ads, testimonials or promotions for your events, or for your cause. The idea holds a lot of potential, and just like with political campaigns, the arts engender a lot of passion.

How about we put that passion to work? Let me know if you try this!

Video Arts Marketing - E-Holy Grail

For a long time, I've been doing a section in my seminars called "next generation e-marketing" in which I talk about the future of arts marketing. Recently, I've been focused a lot more on video which I think will be the e-holy grail for arts marketers.

And, what I've been saying is that video can help motivate participation in the arts like nothing else. But, I say, let's forget showing snippits of the play, or the opera or the concert. There are Union issues, rights isuses, and the like.  And furthermore, that stuff is usually really boring.

My call to the industry is to get really creative - and fun. So, today I'd like you to see an example of something I think is really great from the Cincinnati Opera. It's a promotional video meant to drum up interest in its upcoming production of the opera, Nixon in China.

You can Watch it here

Need I say more?