Video consumption continues to accelerate, and traditional publishers need to keep an eye on this ever-continuing burgeoning market. 

Video ad revenue is expected to jump again by 26.1% in 2015 after an approximate expenditure of C$145 million in 2014. That is a huge market. So as a traditional media organisation, Postmedia continues to address video requirements with laser vision to ensure we are capturing market share and increasing growth in this ever-important vertical.

While Postmedia has continued to roll out its own accelerated in-house video strategy, the necessity remained to partner with top-tier video providers.

As a conventional news organisation, we needed to look beyond what we were producing organically and find categories and pockets of video to sell that would open up new advertiser opportunities, and hence drive more revenue. 

For this reason, we entered into a meaningful partnership with Send to News, a provider of broadcast quality, professionally produced, and rights enabled video content from top-tier professional and amateur sports leagues over two years ago. 

The demand for online sports highlights from leagues such as the NFL (National Football League), NASCAR, and the MLB (Major League Baseball) has never been greater. Postmedia saw this partnership as an opportunity to supplement our already healthy digital audience with net-new viewers with this premium content.

The decision to partner with Send to News specifically was made based on a variety of criteria. Given our audience is split 50/50 between men and women, we knew sports highlights would dovetail nicely with our premium news content, while meeting the needs of both important demographics. 

Send to News utilises large, beautiful, and appealing video players that fit nicely with the look and feel of Postmedia’s network. We needed to ensure that our video partner supplied not only premium content, but also a premium user experience. Both requirements were met with Send to News. 

Postmedia’s product team has seamlessly integrated the STN players throughout all of our sporting verticals, including even homepage placement during peak season, such as the Super Bowl.

We also chose this partner knowing it would enable our direct sales reps to leverage our in-house cross-platform solutions with advertisers. We’ve been able to bundle the STN premium video content with our print, Web, and mobile platforms, building out campaigns to meet the needs of our advertisers. 

For last year’s Super Bowl event, we ran an extremely successful ad campaign with Toyota Canada. Toyota Canada was relaunching the Highlander nameplate and tasked with generating excitement of the revamped vehicle by associating the nameplate with the NFL Super Bowl. 

Postmedia ran an extensive ad campaign across four platforms, including a combination of 15-second pre-roll and in-video brand overlays, utilising above-the-fold premium homepage placements coast-to-coast across Canada. 

We then layered in a robust desktop, mobile, and print component to drive increased frequency and reach for our advertiser. The results were outstanding, with digital viewing impressions increasing from 784,000 two weeks before the Super Bowl and climbing to more than 5.85 million impressions during the Super Bowl. 

Even more importantly, Toyota Canada’s pre-roll achieved over a 77% completion rate on views with an above-average CTR. All three parties were extremely pleased with the campaigns as all KPIs were met.

When seeking out a premium content video partner for your network, consider the following:

1. Does the content fit nicely with existing, organic content?
   
   
2. Can you monetise the new inventory?
   
   
3. Does the look and feel of the player complement your existing network of sites?
   
   
4. Can you bundle in the new content with existing assets?
   
   
5. Do you have the internal resources to support the onboarding and then sustain it?

All of the above requirements were met for Postmedia, and we are entering into our third year of this mutually beneficial partnership.

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