James Creech Delivers Expo Keynote on the Online Video Revolution

Anyone can create.

Content production, delivery, and monetization used to be the exclusive domain of film and television—industries dominated by media monoliths. But tooday, technology has democratized access to the resources of production, distribution, and promotion, enabling anyone to be a creator.

UCG reins supreme.

User-generated content (UGC) creators include vloggers, “let’s play” gamers, unboxers, makeup tutorialists, and many more. They are building loyal audiences that rival, and in some cases actually eclipse, those of traditional media outlets.

Creators become licensors.

The most successful of these creators have become licensors—building brands and harnessing e-commerce and affiliate marketing to push product. Among them is Michelle Phan with her successful brand, Ipsy, and Bethany Mota’s clothing and fragrance lines with Aeropostale.  

Content sells merchandise.

Not only can content create a brand and engage an audience, it can also sell merchandise. Disney’s studio business generated $7.4 billion last year, but it saw seven times that much—$52.5 billion—from retail sales of licensed merchandise.

Seize the opportunity.

For licensors, it’s important to seize the opportunity provided by online video: to monetize IP, engage with your audience, and gather data insights that can help make decisions about your brand and inform future content creation.  

Listen to fans.

Take audience engagement and the “superfan” seriously, as they make a huge difference to your business. From online fan engagement, you can learn the following: which characters are the most popular, and how can they be incorporated into the next film, series, or episode? Where in the world are these videos being viewed, and in what languages? What merchandising opportunities can be generated from all of the above?