Anatomy of a VideoKey Measures of a Video’s Life Cycle

1 | Anatomy of a Video Playbook

When it comes to measuring how and why viewers engage with video, what is most important? Is it the volume of plays, how long it was watched, or the rate of completion? Is it the number of embeds? Or the amount of ad impressions it generates?

Answer: All of the above. Each metric provides insight into how videos perform, but together, an even richer, fuller story emerges. This Video Analytics Playbook breaks down the fundamental metrics that reveal which of your videos are performing the best, why some do better than others, and—most importantly—how you can improve your video strategy. Ready to measure how your videos are doing? Let’s get started.

The Story is in the Numbers

2 | Anatomy of a Video Playbook

Key Measures of a Video’s Life CycleHow and why do viewers engage? Discover the full story in these 5 measures.

AD IMPRESSIONS ►Maximize your monetization by growing ad impressions

EMBEDS ►Estimate your web traffic with the volume of video embeds

COMPLETES ►Assess audience engagement

with the complete rate and the all-important Content Score

TIME WATCHED ►Track the amount of time that a

video runs to gain a more nuanced measure of engagement

PLAYS ►Gauge how enticing

your content is by the quality of your plays

3 | Anatomy of a Video Playbook

EMBEDSEmbeds, DefinedTo embed a video is to surface a player by inserting a code to a website, linking to media offsite. An embed counts each time a page is refreshed—it’s any instance when a player is shown.

Why Do Embeds Matter?Embeds estimate the total number of viewers coming to your site—they’re a proxy for web traffic. The ratio of plays (see p.5) to embeds is known as the play rate. A high play rate shows that a video is enticing; for every instance that a player was shown (or embedded), the video played most or all of the time.

JW Player TipUse embeds to divide up your site. Place different embeds in various sections or pages so you can identify the ones that draw the most viewers. Slice your data by play rate using our Segmentation Tool.

Embed Ad Play Complete

Time Watched

4 | Anatomy of a Video Playbook

AD IMPRESSIONSAd Impressions, DefinedAn ad impression counts when an ad is delivered in the first frame, even if the rest of the ad is skipped. Impressions can occur before a video (preroll), in the middle (midroll), or after the end (postroll).

Why Do Ad Impressions Matter?As the monetization units that turn plays into profits, ad impressions provide valuable insight into audience loyalty and fatigue. If you’re sensing that your viewers aren’t interacting with ads, you might strategically hold off on serving ads in certain instances—with the hope that users will return later.

This move is an investment in the lifetime value of the customer, an approach that improves audience loyalty—and total ad revenue—over time.

JW Player TipConsider video length when deciding the best way to draw ad impressions. For example, a midroll could make sense for a 10-minute video, while a preroll is a better fit for a 2-minute video. Dig deep into which pages and configurations are driving the most ad impressions with our Segmentation Tool.

Embed Ad Play Complete

Time Watched

5 | Anatomy of a Video Playbook

PLAYSPlays, DefinedNot all plays are created equal, and the definition goes beyond a simple click of a button. A play could be:

• The moment when the player receives the request to play• The three seconds after a preroll completes• The first frame of a piece of content• The autoplay

INTENT TO WATCHApplicable to any type of play, “intent to watch” supports a better viewer experience with:

• Quality video that’s relevant to the page it’s on

• Consistency between what the viewer expects and what is played

• Non-clickbait tactics, like engaging images that compel users to click

• Trusted content that encourages viewers to watch more

Why Do Plays Matter?Knowing the quality of your plays is crucial in understanding the true level of audience engagement. Depending on the type of play you’re measuring, you may see a different Quality of Experience for your users.

For example, a play that supports an intent to watch is often less disruptive and has a better chance of keeping viewers on the page. When plays are measured as a proportion of embeds, you can analyze play rates, a telling indication of how likely viewers are enticed to watch.

JW Player TipAlways question how well your plays are actually doing rather than assume all are performing to their fullest. You may see 1,000 plays for a video, for example, but only 300 of them actually engaged a user and resulted in completion.

Use our Segmentation Tool to group plays by location, player, and tags. You can monitor all your plays and grow the ones that matter most. Figure out which plays are working for you—and feature more of these videos to boost CPMs.

Embed Ad Play Complete

Time Watched

6 | Anatomy of a Video Playbook

COMPLETESCompletes, DefinedA complete is measured when the video ends. In analytic terms, if a video is divided into four sections, reaching the end of the fourth quartile.

Why Do Completes Matter?A complete rate is the ratio of completes to plays; a high ratio is good evidence of engagement. But a bigger picture comes into view when we look at complete rates together with play rates.

PLAY RATE COMPLETE RATE

CompletesPlays

PlaysEmbeds

That combination forms the Content Score, a metric developed by JW Player to allow you to easily view and compare data across all your media and placements with optimal accuracy. As an overall measure of a video’s performance, the Content Score reveals, at a glance, how you can improve your video strategy. (See diagram on next page.)

JW Player TipUse the Content Score to diagnose your videos' strengths and weaknesses, then adjust the content or cadence accordingly. Our Content Score Lab allows you to compare your numbers with real customer data across our entire network and experiment with new ways of looking at data within a sandbox environment.

Embed Ad Play Complete

Time Watched

7 | Anatomy of a Video Playbook

Let’s examine how to work with two common scenarios shown in the diagram below.

Video BHigh play rate but low complete rate.

Analysis: People are enticed to click and watch, but they’re not likely to stick around. In other words, the book isn’t as great as the cover.

Solution: Develop better content—raise the substantive quality so that viewers remain interested.

Video ALow play rate but high complete rate.

Analysis: Not a lot of people are clicking play, but those who do love it. They watch until the end because the content is great.

Solution: Promote the video better. What kind of thumbnails are you using? Is the player visible on the page? Are you driving traffic through social media?

COMPLETERATE

PLAY RATE

VIDEO CONTENT SCORES

25%

25%

50%

75%

100%

50% 75% 100%

B

A

8 | Anatomy of a Video Playbook

TIME WATCHEDTime Watched, DefinedTime Watched is the aggregate amount of time an individual spent watching a player, regardless of whether a video was completed. It’s measured by a heartbeat ping, which allows your player to automatically communicate with the JW Player analytics dashboard at regular intervals as long as the video is open.

Why Does Time Watched Matter?Time Watched reduces misleading conclusions that can arise from measuring completes alone.

For example, if your viewers watched 95% of a video and then shut down the player right before the end, you may infer that because there were no completes, engagement was poor. But by looking at Time Watched, you can see that the vast majority of the video was, in fact, consumed.

JW Player TipUse Time Watched to pinpoint exact areas of viewer drop-off and then revise your video strategy based on that insight. Where the heartbeat ping stopped is a critical clue to how you can improve.

For example, if people are exiting your video in the middle of a photo montage, make the montage shorter. If they are stopping right at the start of the montage, consider replacing it with another type of content. By maximizing Time Watched, you not only increase engagement but also the chance that your videos will surface in our Recommendations engine.

Embed Ad Play Complete

Time Watched

JW RECOMMENDATIONSWith the best in data-driven video intelligence, our recommendations engine surfaces related content to your videos and:

• Boosts plays and monetization• Encourages content discovery• Deepens viewer engagement

We’re the company that pioneered video on the web and became the world’s largest network-independent platform. Our world-class video technology empowers media giants like Univision, VICE Media, Hearst, Fox, and Business Insider.

We're in the Age of DataMastering a video’s data analytics is crucial to improving viewer engagement, ad revenue, and the long-term success of your video business. JW Player offers valuable tools to measure and leverage the 5 key metrics of a video’s life cycle: Embeds, Ad Impressions, Plays, Completes, and Time Watched. Talk with a video expert about diving into the full story of how your videos are really doing with our powerful Data Analytics.

contact@jwplayer.com