What do major corporations think of online video production? How do they rate its performance, and what more would they like to see it deliver? The world’s biggest, most successful companies are investing a lot of money in online video, and StreamingMedia.com interviewed some folks from Ernst & Young, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, and Wells Fargo to figure how these companies perceive the value of corporate video production.
Professional services organization Ernst & Young (E&Y) has offices all over the globe and has been webcasting for the last 12 years to communicate both internally and externally. Today, E&Y produces more than 400 live webcasts a year for audiences ranging in size from 500 to 10,000 people. “We love it,” says Joan Dollard-Spooner, the videographer Chicago company’s associate director of Thought Center Webcasts, the firm’s “external-facing” live webcasts. “We’ve found that this is a great tool for communication, learning, and training.”
Webcasting at E&Y originally began with slides on the web and conference calls, moving quickly to streaming audio/slides and then video prouction. “But we don’t only use it in-house: We see streaming media as a way to showcase E&Y’s leadership on current topics while raising awareness of the company’s services and capabilities,” Dollard-Spooner says. “In fact, our external-facing webcasts constitute more than one-third of the total volume of webcasts produced by Ernst & Young. In addition, we have incorporated on-demand video across all of our intranet and internet portals.”
Lockheed Martin has four separate business units that employ streaming videographer Chicago media. “In general, the corporation uses online video for ‘all hands on deck’-type business meetings, executive briefings, program briefings, and training,” says Eric Hards, manager of web, media graphics, and streaming in Lockheed Martin’s Space Systems Co. “We also do webcasts when we have special speakers in to speak to a group. We negotiate with them to record and then distribute their talk using online video internally.”
Inside Microsoft, audio/video production presentations are produced by the aptly named Microsoft Studios department. It employs online video to deliver live and on-demand keynotes, product launches, training events, and team meetings to both internal and external audiences.
“Content ranges from a person and [his or her] PowerPoint presentation/ computer demo sitting on camera in our studio and talking through [the] material to a very high-quality video production with on-air talent and multiple guests to very large-scale productions originating in convention centers in support of keynotes or product launches,” says Travis Petershagen, Microsoft’s digital media services manager. “The production varies from low-end (simple and low-cost) to high-end (complex and higher-cost) depending on the videographer Chicago material and audience expectations.” Audiences range in size from fewer than 50 for a “niche team event” to more than “50,000 simultaneous viewers for a newsworthy event, product launch, or executive keynote,” he says.
In contrast, “Wells Fargo uses very little streaming media,” says Patty Perkins, team leader of Wells Fargo creative services technology department. Currently, “We deliver a 5-minute daily show called ‘Take Five’ that’s available to all 280,000 team members as well as a specific line of business programming,” she says. “We are exploring the capabilities to stream meetings to audiences under 200 participants using multicast. Our live broadcast channel to the enterprise is carried on satellite.”
Check out the full videographer Chicago story at StreamingMedia
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