How Brands and Publishers Aim to Capture Billions in Social Video Dollars

We're proud to debut our newest TV[R]EV original report, about the unrecognized value of social video, and the industry's efforts to standardize measurement — the key to unlocking this value.

You can download the free report here. Report author Mike Shields tells you why you should:

Just a few years ago, every publisher under the sun was boasting about how many views they had. Venture backed startups were suddenly racking up millions of views seemingly instantly, with short, sometimes well produced but often not, clips designed to spread like wildfire on social media.

A few sobering years in the digital media industry later (as well as a few world rocking algorithm changes) and you don't hear so much view-bragging like used to. Web video remains a hot ad market, but it's not growing as fast as many would like. And social video — well, many in the industry aren't sure what to make it, or what bucket to put it in.

The thing is, even with all the dynamic changes in video consumption, and the scary economics of the publishing video, social video is indeed a medium. It's its own thing. Consumers regularly seek out content on their social feeds and phones from favorite publishers and creators - and a crop of media companies have mastered the art of programming to this audience in short formats that are ideal for mobile, but would never have a place in traditional media.

The big question for this pocket of the media industry, how do you legitimize social video at a time where skepticism is rampant? And even bigger, how do you measure it in a way that makes sense for both publishers and advertisers?

Because there's a big business to unlock here — or there should be, if the industry can get it right.

That's why a group of the most influential digital and traditional media companies have banded together to help establish a set of social video standards — and hopefully pushing a medium forward along the way.