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In this post, we review the key steps publishers can take to ensure they maximize the value of

their virtual events in the moment and in the days and weeks after.

Tips to Ensure Success with Virtual Events


1. Develop and Test Infrastructure Early
2. Select Clips After the Event
3. VOD Programming
4. Optimizing Entry-Points

Summer is traditionally the season of music festivals. Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC), an


electronic music festival held in Las Vegas normally in mid-May, became the largest dance
music festival in the world in 2019. The 2020 iteration has already been moved to October and it
is unlikely that metrics similar to 2019 will be seen anytime soon as restrictions relating to social
distancing will remain in place until a cure is found. 

This dilemma will affect events of all sizes, from global franchises like EDC to more intimate
gatherings organized by companies and digital media publishers. However, publishers have
something that traditional festivals, concerts, and events don’t. Established publishers not only
have the know-how but the digital audience to take these events online. Yes, there will be a loss
from ticket sales but monetizing the content and developing a strategy ahead of time to ensure
maximum viewership offers a way to generate revenue.

Develop and Test Infrastructure Early


Online video players across the web have options that enable publishers to orchestrate live
streams on their owned-and-operated sites. Ensuring that your OVP supports this feature and
knowing how best to use it is the first step to taking your fireside chat, concert, or festival online.
Having a plan or backup in place is a vital part of the infrastructure required to host your online
event.

Select Clips After the Event


An event that might only be seen by those who attended in person has the capability to scale
limitlessly when recorded and edited for on-demand viewing. Picking and choosing the most
alluring aspects of the live stream and cutting them down to easily-digestible segments that are
optimized for search engines and can be promoted across social channels increases the return on
investment of the performance or event and virtually never loses their value.

VOD Programming
IRIS.TV enables publishers to develop programming strategies to advance revenue and editorial
goals. Once the live stream has been edited down to segments and the clips are uploaded to your
owned and operated platforms, IRIS.TV programming strategists can help you customize
programming automation to insert featured concert or event videos directly into the stream. The
result is an increase in viewership and ROI that would not be possible by the live stream alone.
Additionally, such content is likely to drive increased engagement and retention of your
audience, prompting them to come back to your site as the only destination for exclusive concert
or event footage.

Optimizing Entry-Points
Some videos will perform better than others. Some will receive significant volume in the initial
position (first video in a playlist) but if these initial assets have low completion rates or limited
follow-on views in the playlist, the potential to maximize engagement with video
recommendations is lost.

The IRIS.TV Initial Asset Leaderboard enables publishers to choose the right video to place on
landing pages, promote via social channels, and emphasize on homepages. The IAL, for short,
ranks assets by their initial views, completion percentages, follow-on views, and revenue
opportunity (RPM) based on a publisher’s eCPM. Editorial teams can use this tool to optimize
entry points to the recommendations by choosing assets with high completion rates, guaranteeing
more users make it to the recommended videos. 

Have an upcoming virtual event? Contact your IRIS.TV programming strategist now to start
developing your strategy for upcoming virtual events. If you are not a customer, contact us to
learn more about how to increase video engagement and maximize revenue on your owned-and-
operated sites and apps.

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