What Bebo’s Open Media Platform Means For Branded Content Owners
Yesterday, Bebo, the UK’s top social networking site for 13-24 year olds, according to comScore, announced the launch of Open Media, their social video publishing platform which gives each Bebo user a personal TV channel within their profile page on the social network.
High Profile Media Launch
Open Media launched with branded channels from an impressive list of media companies including the BBC, CBS, MTV Networks, ESPN, Channel Four and BSkyB.
Content owners using Open Media are not charged to create branded channels on the platform and can use whichever video player technology they choose.
Content owners can sell video advertising within their branded channel and retain 100% of the revenue generated. Bebo will charge content owners to promote content within the network, however.
Bebo is one of Real Fresh TV’s publisher partners and so the Open Media announcement comes as no surprise.
What makes Open Media so interesting, however, is the way it firmly places the onus on content owners to publish content directly onto social networks.
It is a tacit acknowledgement that content is no longer king. Attention is.
Personalised Internet TV
By giving Bebo users their very own TV channel within their Bebo profiles, Bebo is creating a new kind of content distribution partnership.
One that is directly with each member of the site.
Let me explain.
User engagement on Bebo is very high because it is a very effective direct communications platform for quite possibly the most active of online users, teenagers. The average user spends 40 minutes a day on Bebo, according to comScore.
By delivering a steady stream of professionally created TV content and empowering each user to recommend and share that content amongst their friends, Bebo is converting its already impressive user engagement stats into … gold.
Beboers get what they want –professionally-produced TV shows from BBC One’s Robin Hood to CBS’s Kid Nation– when they want, and Bebo, in return, gets increased advertising sales.
It is a win-win for all involved.
Content owners monetising content shown on branded Bebo channels using their own advertising sales team (or using video player technology incorporates pre-sold video advertising) also stand to benefit financially from using Open Media.
Real Fresh TV provides content owners with one stop branded channel setup and support for publishing content through Bebo and all our publisher partner sites.
I’m sure Open Media will be a success for Bebo. Expect more high profile content partnership announcements in future.
This is the dawn of micro-TV-programming. Let a thousand channels bloom.
What do you think? Woul you use Open Media if you were a content owner?
I’d love to hear from content owners exploring ways of distributing their content online.
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