SOURCE: The NewsMarket

January 31, 2008 08:00 ET

Corporate Video Spend on TV and Branded Sites Jumps in 2007

The NewsMarket Predicts Corporate Communications and Marketing Professionals Will Decrease Focus on User-Generated Video Sites in 2008

NEW YORK, NY and LONDON--(Marketwire - January 31, 2008) - As major corporate marketers and institutions continued to increase their reliance on video to reach their audiences in 2007, The NewsMarket registered a dramatic jump in the number of clients posting content on its site, as well as in the volume of news organizations and online outlets downloading video content for easy insertion into news reports and other editorial offerings.

The NewsMarket (www.thenewsmarket.com), the leading web-based video marketing and delivery platform, reported a 41% increase in news organizations accessing video on its site in 2007, while the number of clips ordered soared by 70% to more than 400,000. More than 13,000 media outlets in 193 countries now use the site.

Mirroring the increased demand by the media, many of The NewsMarket's clients significantly increased their video postings: Pfizer increased its content on the site by 80%; Volvo Cars by 45%; Verizon Wireless by 28% and Rolls-Royce, plc by 25% in 2007.

"In 2007, we saw a pronounced spike in usage by news outlets and journalists accessing our content worldwide and very solid increases to our customer base," said Shoba Purushothaman, CEO and Co-Founder of The NewsMarket.

She noted that The NewsMarket added more than 90 clients in 2007 including Facebook, Ericsson, DHL, IBM, Dannon, VISA, Hyundai, Porsche, Samsung, Volvo Ocean Race, and Ali Baba, who started using the platform to market and deliver their video content globally.

"2007 marked the end of the experimentation with online video by PR and marketing professionals. Video has become a cornerstone in most communications and marketing plans and as a consequence marketers are looking for greater control than they have had on video sharing sites." Ms. Purushothaman added, "We see a clear trend towards brands and organizations investing in their own websites to make them video-rich."

"With a busy news year ahead -- the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the US election and the UEFA Euro 2008 Championships in the summer -- PR and marketing professionals will focus more on reaching consumers via TV, online media, blogs and corporate "owned-and-operated" online video sites."

Although online video growth rates continue to be explosive, data recently released by Bain & Co. shows that in the next five years, time spent watching television will rise faster than leisure time spent on the Internet. "We recommend that all organizations develop a multi-pronged video strategy with a heavy emphasis on video for the off- and online media, branded video destinations on their own websites and presence on the leading user-generated sites, if it's relevant for their audiences and fits their brand."

2007 also saw an increase in content requests by media in emerging markets. The NewsMarket reports that registrations by media outlets in India, China and the Middle East are growing faster than any other region. Last year, the company launched an India Channel (www.thenewsmarket.com/india) and a Chinese version (www.thenewsmarket.com/mandarin) of its global site to allow multinational marketers to better reach media outlets in China, a popular service ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games later this summer.

About The NewsMarket

The NewsMarket is the leading online platform for corporations, government and non-profit organizations to deliver original video content to the media, consumers and other key audiences globally. The company connects content providers with more than 13,000 media outlets and news organizations, as well as the blogosphere, in 193 countries. BrandTV, our corporate branding platform, allows clients to use Web video to communicate directly with consumers, employees, investors, partners and other constituents. And MarketPlace, our global video exchange, is the first online platform for buyers and sellers of licensed non-commercial video content. Customers include IBM, GM, Volvo Cars, PricewaterhouseCoopers, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Google, Yahoo!, American Express, Intel, UNICEF and the U.S. Department of State, to name a few. The NewsMarket is headquartered in New York, with offices in Beijing, Delhi, Dubai, London, San Francisco, Munich, Singapore, Hong Kong and Mumbai. For more information, visit www.thenewsmarket.com/postingcontent.