The Ultimate Guide to Creating Online Video Content That Works, Part 2

The final issue on this front is whether or not to shoot in HD. The general consensus seems to be that, wheneverpossible, you should shoot in the highest possible quality,as you can always reduce bits but you can never getthem back. The attitude of major media companies is toshoot once in a way that allows them to use it across allpotential distribution channels.

But not everyone sees a need to shoot in HD all thetime. Kedersha shoots in HD for MAKE Magazine’swebsite, which makes that high-quality video availablefor download, but he uses his standard-definition camera when he’s creatingvideos for Metacafe. He has no plans to distribute those videos anywhereother than on Metacafe, which doesn’t yet support HD, and he wants tosave the hours he has to put on his HD camera.

How Long Should Online Videos Be?
In addition to calling into question the need for high production values,the dawn of YouTube also introduced the possibilities of short-form videos.And on that video-sharing site, best practices still hold that shorter is better.

"Resist the temptation to make it too long," says Nalty. "I used to say 3to 5 minutes; now it’s pretty much 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Rememberthe first-30-second rule; you’ve got maybe 15 to 30 seconds to convincethem to stick with the video. And for God’s sake, surprise them or havesomething interesting at the end because that’s where you make the decisionto share it with others."

Major media companies also seem to recognize that shorter videos aremore likely to go viral. "Our content tends to really fall into two buckets:short-form and long-form," says Clayman. "On the short-form stuff, that’swhat people tend to share and blog about and put on social networks.Long-form content, people tend to just sit and watch the whole thing."It’s also important to consider when and where you’re expecting youraudience to view your content,according to Zehr. "Unlike our brethren atABC, where you have people doing catch-up TV, our style of programmingtends to be a little different, as there’s not as much you have to catch upon from ESPN," he says. "So I think shorter is probably better in terms ofthe nonevent programming. Under 10 minutes is a good length. We’re takingadvantage of users that are probably in the office environment sneakingaway for 10 minutes during lunch."

Yet, at the same time, viewers are watching longer form content online,especially when it comes to events. "The month of June was very good to us,"says Damon Phillips, vice president of ESPN360.com. "Between the U.S. Openwith Tiger Woods’ win … Euro Cup 2008, and other events, we saw incredibleusage. The average viewer spent more than 3 hours on our site that month."

In addition, there have been reports on StreamingMedia.com of otherevents, such as CBS’s online March Madness coverage, in which someviewers were investing multiple hours in a single sitting. So even thoughshort-form content is more likely to go viral, viewers are willing to watchlong-form as well.

"The biggest thing on the format front is don’t lock yourself into thebroadcast-cable format of 22 minutes of content with three or four adblocks," says Louderback. "What works for regular TV doesn’t necessarilywork for the internet. And on the internet you can be 2 minutes, 5 minutes,10 minutes, whatever. Just do enough for what you’re trying to do and thestory you’re trying to tell. People say it’s got to be short-form, but we’vefound that if it’s the right content and the right host, people will watch forhalf an hour and even longer."

And because of the ability to put up content of all shapes and sizes, takingclips from longer form programs and reworking them into shorter pieces(either by mixing and matching them with clips from other shows or bycreating highlight reels) is another successful trend cited by Revision3and MTV.

But here’s what this all really comes down to: "If you sit down and ask a16-year-old if they like short- or long-form content, they’ll say, ‘I don’t knowwhat you’re talking about. I like the internet,’" says Clayman.

Formulating Success
When it comes to making decisions about what video to produce foronline distribution, not only is there not a magic formula for success,there aren’t even any rules that are instantly transferrable from one brandto another. "What’s interesting is that we have no formula that we useacross multiple properties or channels," says Clayman."Every single thing we do online, all of it is really predicatedon the specific show, the creative needs and requirements,who the people are that are producing it, who the audienceis, the feedback we have from the audience, how well wesee it doing on air, and advertiser interest. If it soundscomplicated, it is, but you’ve got to do it that way."

Unfortunately, despite your best efforts, there’s still noguarantee of success or even a clear awareness of whatimpact your production decisions are ultimately having on"viewsage." "We are in a constant feedback loop with ourfans and always creating new stuff. But it’s hard to draw aspecific line and say, ‘Yes, when we listened to Bob on theiCarly site, views went up X," says Clayman. "Right now,we’re in a world where more and more people are watchingour stuff online every day, which is a great place to be. Wejust need to make sure we’re constantly serving that loop.That’s true not just for us but in general."

And while having an unprecedented amount ofcreative freedom in this new medium can be daunting, italso presents exciting opportunities, Clayman says. "Itmakes things more complex because in the old days, youknew if you had your half-hour block of programming,you had 22 minutes of video," he says. "We’re now in thisgreat age of experimentation, and it’s now not justexperimentation, as we’re seeing real returns from it too."

But despite major media’s many advantages—includingmore data, bigger budgets, and professional crews andequipment—don’t think that’s leading them to exude anair of arrogance. "One of the things that’s interestingabout the internet is that anybody can create anything andput it on YouTube," says Clayman. "We’ve discoveredthat we can have hits and misses, and the internet doesn’tmake it any easier. In fact, having a flat distribution systemmakes it harder because your competition is everyone,anybody who’s created any content and put it online."