Deploying international online video

Zia Daniell Wigder | July 17, 2008, 04:49 PM

One of our reports this summer will look at how companies are deploying online video outside of the US. Having spoken with several companies helping to enable online video on international sites, it’s clear there’s a great deal of interest in deploying video in international markets, but still limited action to date.

Today’s international online advertising revenues for US sites remain nowhere near international traffic levels (last week an article in the WSJ claimed a 5%-50+% ratio for many US sites), yet companies are still counting on growing global advertising spending to boost their long-term revenues. Video is increasingly a part of the new content being integrated into new international offerings, albeit at a tempered pace.

Today’s launch of Glam Media in Germany exemplifies this trend. According to the press release,

“The site will feature original stories, photos and videos as well as content from German publishers”

Currently, however, just two videos from Elle appear on the site (the US version offers almost 5,500 in total). More video content will certainly be added over time, and Glam is taking the right approach in adding local partners rather than trying to create all of its own content or localize existing content for the German market. Such a strategy allows them to build a library of content while developing their own offerings and potentially localizing existing video content.

Indeed, the creation of new localized online video for markets outside of the US - and the localization of existing online video assets for non-US markets - is a strategy that many companies are just starting to pursue, but one that US publishers will increasingly embrace as part of their global expansion.