High-speed modems are increasing and changing the demand for streaming video. Members can view content more quickly, and they're also more discriminating about the quality they expect from membership sites. Meanwhile, sites are adding more and more niches to provide precisely the type of content surfers are looking for. Thus the market is demanding high-quality streaming video in multiple categories. A diverse group of content companies currently supply these video feeds; their quality, content, and delivery system vary from one company to the next. But how do you know what content is best for your Website?
The first factor to consider is how the feeds are displayed. Some companies offer 10,000 channels with 30-second feeds; others offer full-length movies. Most are somewhere in the middle. The minimum length should be three minutes (though at least five minutes is recommended), while clips and full-length movies with DVD functionality are also very attractive. Most feeds are formatted in RealMedia, Windows Media, or QuickTime, but they vary significantly in frame rate and speed. Most sites offer feeds at 56K for low bandwidth users, but their high bandwidth feed can vary from 150-512K and from seven frames per second to 30 frames per second. For high bandwidth, look for at least 300K at 15 frames per second.
Most content providers either license content from video manufacturers or create their own. If a company licenses content, it's important to know which manufacturers they are using. Many content providers get all their content from one manufacturer, or a limited number of manufacturers. Diversity is good, so make sure several reputable manufacturers are represented in your content area(s).
Once you have decided on providers that offer quality content from diverse sources, you need to ask the most important question: How often does my content change? The answer is simple: as much as possible. Most content providers sell their customers the same content. So if a customer leaves one membership site and joins your membership site and you both buy from the same companies, they will see the exact same movies they saw at their previous membership site. Content providers load their consoles with lots of movies when you first put them on your site, but if you start out with 500 clips and the following month your provider adds 25 new clips, you are showing your member the exact same content with just a few new clips added. Your member may not even know you added new content because s/he will see virtually the same content viewed the previous month. Also, content companies tend to pile new content atop old content; thus your customer is never getting only fresh content every month.
The goal of the content company should be to ensure that members renew their memberships. What would we like to see content companies offer?
* Streaming video targeted to high-speed modem users with a 500K stream at 30 frames per second. This will allow members with high-speed modems to watch the videos at full screen with great picture quality.
* Diversity in the type of content offered; content should come from not one or two manufacturers but from 50 or 100. Diverse manufacturers mean a greater variety of content in all categories, especially for your niche membership sites.
* No short 30-second clips; your customers will have the options to watch full-length movies with DVD functionality or complete scenes.
With this content delivery system, all the content from the previous month is removed and replaced. Photo content companies have already adopted this practice and now it is time for streaming content delivery companies to follow their lead.
You can even change content daily. For example, by putting a show like All Nude Sports on your Website, you're providing your members daily sports scores, highlights, and news from hot naked girls. Consumption Junction is also now licensing its content, which updates daily. Daily content keeps your site fresh and automatically updated, which will help retain members longer.
For sites with large memberships, exclusive content should become prevalent.
Finally, content sites should allow you to purchase only the content you want and pay a fair price for what you use. Content should not be prepackaged, so you pay one price for your fetish content, another for your straight, and another for your gay. You should be able to pick and choose which content you want and create your own custom content package. Pricing may still be based on memberships, but each package should tell you how much bandwidth comes with that package, how your bandwidth usage is figured, stats to show you how much bandwidth you are using each day, and what price you pay for each gig of transfer.
This is what we see as the future of content delivery. If this type of content package appeals to you, then give us a call, send us an email, or come visit our site: www.aebn.net.
Scott Coffman is president of AEBN and executive producer of All Nude Sports and All Nude Wrestling.
