It’s doesn’t take a scientist to observe the impact of video these days. (Plus, scientists? Who needs ‘em.)
A quick glance at your Facebook or Twitter feeds says it all, really — especially when compared to the feeds from 5 or 10 years ago. YouTube announced last year that visitors were watching 1 billion hours’ worth of videos on the site each day, and according to HubSpot research, the site’s mobile consumption grows by 100 percent year over year.
The stats start coming and they don’t stop coming, to paraphrase Smash Mouth (whose video for “All Star” has 150-plus million views of its own). It’s estimated that, by 2021, internet video traffic will account for 81 percent of all consumer internet traffic.“Get the show on, get paid” indeed!
For everything from mindless entertainment to genius-level instructional courses, there’s no end in sight for digital videos. At the same time, production standards are changing; creative teams and amateurs alike are realizing that people will watch videos shot on an iPhone and tossed online, so as long as the content is valuable. The key is getting the right content out there — to the right people, at the right time.
Prior to the digital age, marketing videos and the like were typically outsourced to video production companies, as they were the only resources with the equipment, editing savvy and means of distribution. The game, as they say, done changed. Corporations and startups are now churning out videos from the inside, for use across the company (e.g., recordings of meetings, training supplements) or to reach thousands (or millions) of potential customers. And though countless companies have media experts on staff, the rest have been empowered to make perfectly acceptable videos with high-quality cameras right on their phones, along with low-cost, intuitive video editing software.
But what then?
With the exploding importance of the video medium, there comes a sudden demand to store and access these files independently of others, and light the way to their respective final destinations. There’s nothing wrong with throwing video files into a secure folder or file storage platform, particularly if you can count the number of videos you’ve created on one hand. As your collection swells, though — along with your viewer engagement — the right platform can be pivotal. Video content management systems (CMS) — a new addition to G2 Crowd’s software categories — are the bridge between video production and mass consumption.
The technology landscape related to video grows increasingly wide with this latest carved-out corner. Video hosting remains a cornerstone, as a place for completed videos to be viewed and enjoyed by your intended audience. Video editing and video effects software transform your scraps of footage into the masterpiece you so desire. Digital asset management is perhaps the closest relative to Video CMS; these tools help businesses tag, sort and access multimedia of all kinds, such as images and sound clips, with a focus on branded content (e.g., logos, PR supplements).
It doesn’t end there: Additional video-related categories include business content management and video advertising software, to name a couple. Video CMS joins a crowded web of tools, to say the least. But it’s a category all its own, and a fundamental piece of the puzzle in our video-hungry world. In adopting a video CMS tool, your business can give video content the workflow space it deserves, without overlapping and getting mixed up with other content. After all, as the stats will tell you, video isn’t just another form of content; in today’s digital economy, it’s THE content.
Another focal point of video CMS software is its ability to assist with publishing and streaming. Developers of these products understand not only the importance of finding the right channels for your videos, but also the sometimes precarious nature of their varying processes. Video CMS tools often help with “transcoding,” or converting the code underneath the hood of each video as needed for a given situation. If you want your video on YouTube, Facebook Live or even a corporate LMS for employee use, a unique set of steps must be taken for each platform. Video CMS solutions hold your hand in getting your videos to any and all of the preferred outlets.
They’ll also help with understanding and maximizing the impact of your videos — including monetization, aka getting that paper. Even if turning a profit isn’t the end goal for a certain video, video CMS software can reveal opportunities you didn’t know were there, and help manage income streams across your distributed video assemblage. There’s no telling when a video will go from nothing to worldwide dominance overnight — ask the Gangnam Style guy or the Nintendo 64 kid. Video CMS software ensures you don’t miss the boat with performance insights and ad stitching features.
It’s a killer category that is sure to scale from this point forward. No matter your industry, it’s probably not a matter of if, but when, as far as videos are concerned. And video CMS tools will be there, ready to declutter the mess and set you up for success.
According to our research specialists, who determine the requirements for each category on our site, in order to be able to be included in this new category, a product must:
- Assist with storage, organization, and sharing of video files
- Provide tagging and metadata features to optimize organization and video search capabilities
- Assist with the distribution of videos through various channels with encoding and/or transcoding features
- Offer video editing tools or integrate with video editing platforms so video files can be easily uploaded into the CMS at different stages of completion
There are currently 23 products in this new category, only 7 of which have reviews as of March 16, 2018. As category awareness spreads, the quality and quantity of reviews will usher transparency into the video CMS buyer’s journey, and help companies around the world make the most of their awesome video content.
As a brief showcase of the tools at your disposal, here are a few of the products in this new space.
Jessica spends 12 hours a day on the internet managing security for web assets and loves her macha tea
