SpotMixer offers templated video formats to local media
As local media sites continue to look for ways to create and sell low cost high quality video to small businesses one contender is Spotmixer. The product is simple enough: a set of 200 video advertising templates by industry which local media can customize for advertisers by adding voice overs, text, music, photos, mood and pacing. Production can either make the changes by a wizard or use one of SpotMixer’s experts for a fee.
Leslie Latham, Vice President of Business Development, said Comcast Spotlight in San Francisco is customers who signed up to capitalize on easy low-cost production.
“Television stations are killing themselves to find revenues. Many of them have been leaving money on the table for years because local has gone unsold,” she said.
“We say two things: Heh, your local operations are being squeezed because the production staff has shrunk, and your local sales staff is crying out for more ways to get more local ad revenues. We are a super-cost effective tool to help the production team and create a competitive benefit to offer advertisers.”
A little history here: The division was created as a division of One True Media in 2005 as a consumer service aimed at “making video production available to everyone." Today 3000 consumers use the service every day to make quickie home movies.
“We discovered a year or so ago that a lot of people were using the service to create videos for their businesses,” Latham said. "So we looked at the requirements...and changed the service for small businesses and media companies. It’s actually now easier for businesses to use than it is for a consumer.”
SpotMixer has also added output options to post video ads to Facebook, YouTube and networks.
Like Mixpo, SpotMixer is targeting broadcast companies first.
“The wonderful silver lining in local broadcast and TV is that prices have come down. For small businesses the cost of TV used to be out of reach. These guys are now going after very small buys with $500 to $600 minimums. Customers can create that TV spot for $149 in a way that looks very very professional.”
Unlike Mixpo, however, the software is focused on helping stations develop new, smaller businesses by creating ads from scratch. The ads can be used for either broadcast or web sites.
There are some problems trying to build generic templates (the interior shot of the restaurant shows wood tables while the advertiser has tablecloths), so minimally some uploads will be required. Still Latham claims the service is cheap and simple enough that it is being used to create spec ads. Unlike Mixpo, however, the ads don’t have conversion tool overlays.
The cost ranges from $149 to $400 per campaign depending on whether the clients need Spot Mixer to build the video, and Spotmixer is negotiating prices with media companies.
So far SpotMixer has signed up both Cox and TimeWarner, and has deals with SuperBook and the Yellow Pages. But the service may be a good choice for newspaper sites who need to find extra ways to sell and create video ads online.
The author, Alisa Cromer is publisher of a variety of online media, including LocalMediaInsider and MediaExecsTech, developed while on a fellowship with the Reynolds Journalism Institute and which has evolved into a leading marketing company for media technology start-ups. In 2017 she founded Worldstir.com, an online magazine, to showcases perspectives from around the world on new topic each month, translated from and to the top five languages in the world.
Keywords
spotmixer, review, leslie latham, camcaast, cox, tomewarner, superbook, yellow pages
