In my previous three blog posts, I highlighted why video should be at the heart of your digital strategy and how to maximise video content. I also outlined some of the best practices for integrating video into the daily routine of your newsroom without stretching your resources.

If you’ve followed my advice, what’s next?

The next step is determining how to measure the success of your efforts so you can continually optimise the returns from your video strategy.

My advice is that you set the two groups of goals I outline below: internal goals (how are we benefiting?) and external goals (how do our audience and advertisers benefit?). Also, break these goals into easily digestible, quarterly targets, so you can monitor progress, make corrections, and celebrate success.

Internal goals

The internal goals define the success of your video strategy within your organisation. Key metrics could include:

• Viewership. Clear goals could be set and tracked for monthly video views as well as the time spent on your site(s) watching videos.
  
  
• Total videos produced/pushed across your site(s). This might simply be a total number of clips. However, a more holistic goal could be measuring the percentage of articles produced that contain video and are more likely to increase the time spent on your site. This goal could also be tracked by an editor, for example.
  
  
• Revenues. This can be tracked as gross revenues, eCPMs, or other metrics.

External goals

For long-term success, you must ensure your video strategy is also meeting the needs of your readership and advertising partners. Key metrics to monitor could be:

• Audience sentiment. Connect with your audience members through a survey to determine:
  
  
  • Their opinion regarding the new video content you are publishing.
    
    
  • Their need for additional content you are not currently offering.
    
    
• Viewership. How is your audience reacting to specific content?
  
  
• Performance. Are you ensuring your videos are meeting the most stringent KPIs for advertisers: 
  
  
  • Viewability?
    
    
  • Completion rate?
    
    
  • Bot/non-human traffic benchmarks?

In summary, Yogi Berra said it best: “If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” With clear internal and external goals and measurable milestones, you’ll stay on the path to a success with your digital video strategy.

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