A streaming service for branded content?

Wrong question.

Last spring, I went to Copenhagen for an interview. I always try to add an extra day for some new inspiration. For this trip I scrolled down my ‘2nd’ LinkedIn connections in Denmark and I found Nina Nørgaard Jacobsen. She is co-founder of Biites.com. Biites is a streaming platform for branded content. And that got my attention immediately. A Netflix for brands to publish their great, audience based, quality content. But, probably just like many of you are doing right now, even I, as a great fan of bingable brand content, stepped into the traditional marketing pitfall by asking: “How is Biites going to get an audience? Who wants to watch branded content? Or commercials?”

A new mindset

And this is precisely what’s wrong in our current mindset. If you don’t believe your content is interesting enough for your audience, you should rethink it in the first place. If you ask Biites, just like I did: “How are you going to get an audience for our (crappy) content?” You are actually thinking of Biites as a media service where you just pay for the eyeballs. Would you also say that to Apple Podcasts? “I’ve uploaded my podcast, so you can start collecting my audience now.” No, that’s not how it works. And in our hearts we all know that by now. Brands should focus on a new goal: creating content that audiences want to consume.

Once brands have managed to do that, I believe that you’ll see the need for a platform like Biites. Why? I have been thinking about this for a while now. If your brand has created this great (serial), long-form video content. Where will you publish it? Of course, you’ll add it to your own platform, your website. And you’ll start a campaign to get an audience for it. Then, after two or three weeks your campaign budget is gone. You’ve either done well or you didn’t, but either way it is a waste of time and money if you can’t keep the audiences interested.

Don’t sell your soul

Yes, sure, we all want to sell our branded stories to Netflix or Amazon Prime, but maybe that’s a bridge too far. Especially when your audience is not a global one. The other option is to partner up with a broadcaster like RTL Group or National Geographic (Disney). But the counterpart of such a deal is that you sell your soul to them. Brands do not have ownership of the content that is created in partnership with broadcasters, nor access to, or ownership of the data. So, after their eyeball period is over, your content goes AWOL.

Differentiate fast tv from slow tv

That leaves you YouTube. Which is a social network where you can interrupt in the content your potential audiences are watching, to push yours. Great to advertise your content and, if it organically grows, even better. But, if you can interrupt in other content. Other content can interrupt in yours as well. So I believe we have to define the difference between two kinds of video platforms. I actually got that from arguing with my daughters. I see them scrolling and clicking from one video to another without real focus. That ended up into some weird new rule where we split fast tv, like YouTube and TikTok, and slow tv, like linear tv and the streaming services. Although it’s still hard for my daughters to accept that, I think marketers should adapt that too. That there is a difference between fast tv and slow tv. Brands can create great brand content for slow tv and advertise via fast tv and other (social) media. This is exactly what they do in Hollywood and at Netflix, to promote movies and series.

It’s not a higher level of creating content, it’s another level

I’m aware that this asks for a big shift in brand content. It’s not just a higher level of creating content, it’s another level. For the ones who know me already, this is where I connect the knowledge and learnings from Hollywood and Netflix to marketing. Because, why would you invest in single-used, disposable content if you can create evergreens? Content that can stand the test of time, maybe even for several years? I already know what some of you are thinking right now: “my brand doesn’t have the story, nor the budget to create a Stranger Things or a Queen’s Gambit.” But don’t worry, I believe the Copenhagen-Oslo ferry thought the same thing when they looked for new ideas for their brand. But, they’ve created one of my favorite binge worthy video series on Biites. The Copenhagen ferry asks a Michelin chef for help reaching a Michelin star in the future. Seven episodes of ‘The journey towards the star‘ in high quality. Another favorite of mine is Rental Cars with The Gran Tour. Rental Cars sent three English grandmothers on a road trip to Spain. Really brilliant and full of humor. These are series I want to watch. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I would ever have found them if I hadn’t been scrolling through this database of branded content.

The next big thing: Hollywood meets tech

Another promising database of video content comes from Booking.com. I believe it needs some work with the format, but I’m already a fan of the streaming experience and the binging opportunity. One of the stops for my holiday is Milan and so I’ve binged 5 episodes of Milan like a local. And yes, you can directly book a hotel in Milan from the Biites page. But, what I believe is even more interesting, is based on a quote from a podcast I’m working on. I’ve interviewed Ennèl van Eeden, partner at Price Waterhouse Coopers Amsterdam. She says that the next big thing is ‘Hollywood meets tech’: What if you were able to book the restaurant  right from the content, within the video? Or buy the dress the main character is wearing? You can already see this add-on at Amazon Prime. If you push the pause-button while watching a series, IMDB’s database of the characters in that particular scene appear at the bottom of your screen. It’s not a big step anymore to add other data to it.

I know we’re not there yet, but this could be a good time for brands to start practicing with creating great, episodic, evergreen content. Or, as I call it: Binge Marketing.