In the digital age, online video content covering a wide variety of subjects like lifestyle and music is becoming much more popular on social platforms. To illustrate this point, ReelSEO stated in November 2015 that 400 hours of video are uploaded each minute to Youtube (Robertson, 2014). In addition to Youtube, where video is the sole focus, other sites that provide many services including video-sharing are also seeing more engagement. For example, at the beginning of 2015, Facebook saw “people around the world…posting 75% more videos to Facebook than it did [the year before]” (Marshall, 2015). With the ever-growing emphasis on these and other social media platforms, it’s hard for companies like Elite Daily to stand out in a vast array of content. Post-production is the last stage in content solidification before the video is distributed to viewers, so it is essential that this step is done well. Quality and length of content is crucial in enticing viewers to watch the video and perhaps engage with a like or share.
Company Background
Elite Daily is an emerging company trying to gain traction in the online video production sphere. Headquartered in New York City, the company’s team of about 100 employees is led by CEO David Arabov, COO Jonathon Francis, and President Miguel Burger Calderon (“The Voice of Generation Y,” 2016). As far as video is concerned, there are ten members on the video team in Los Angeles working on Elite Daily TV, and twenty-five members in New York City working on video creation (Gildin, personal interview, 2016). The company grew tired of traditional media and wanted to provide more engaging content for the millennial generation (“The Voice of Generation Y,” 2016). The site “has a primarily millennial viewership: 71 percent of its video viewers are between 18 and 34” (Blatberg, 2015). The company is growing, and certainly has quite a bit of room to expand. Elite Daily uploads directly to Youtube, Facebook, Verizon go90, Vimeo, and Dailymotion (Gildin, personal interview, 2016).
Revenue Model
The company’s main source of revenue is through sponsored content in the form of branded videos (Gildin, personal interview, 2016). It produced forty different videos over the last year for various clients. Brands often reach out to Elite Daily and the production team creates content that fits their personal brand and the company’s brand (Gildin, personal interview, 2016). For example, Elite Daily partnered with Audience Partners to encourage younger people to engage in politics and eventually vote (Guaglione, 2015). It’s clear that as an online content distributor, advertising revenue also contributes to the company’s finances, especially when it publishes content to Youtube. T-Mobile has been a big sponsor for some of their videos related to phones.
http://elitedaily.com/promoters/t-mobile/
Business Model
Tyler Gildin, a Syracuse University alum and Director of Video Production for Elite Daily, provided a lot of insight on what they do. Because digital video content has evolved so much over time and there are so many players, Gildin feels that a company doesn’t need to have a huge name to be a competitor. The scale at which it produces does not come close to that of companies like SocialFix, Demo Duck, and Poptent, but the company just wants to be an authentic, cinematic storyteller and make viewers feel something (10 Best Online…, 2016). The company is very audience-focused and considers viewers in all elements of production.
The production process varies from video to video, depending on the type of story. When the team pitches ideas for videos, the title is crucial to note direction during pre and post- production- the title says it all. The first thing viewers see is the title, so it’s imperative that the title accurately reflects what the video shows to keep viewer watching the video in its entirety. As far as post-production, the retention rate is key. It’s hard to get people to watch past the first two minutes of content . He says that the goal for any video creator would be to have maximum views, and quality content often reaches its full potential when initial viewers are engaged and share that content. When all shots are taken, the team must then cater towards the platform which means posting the extended version on Youtube and shortened pieces on sites like Facebook as people are more likely to keep scrolling. Short form pieces seem to be the way content is shifting towards as viewer attention span and free time are diminishing. This video about dating (still below) is a perfect example of how effective shorter content is, all made possible by editing in post-production.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPtwWoC1jA8
Music is a crucial element in most of today’s media content. Gildin says that music can make or break a video, and that the team has to play with passive, active, and no music for effectiveness. The company has a general subscription to a song database because there are too many legalities and fees that go into playing well-known music. Gildin was proud to report that the producers are quite good at matching music with the overall tone or emotion of the video. However, he said that it’s quite difficult to create a captivating video without music. Many people browse social media in public spaces and because sound may not be turned on, they have to account for this in post-production. The music in “What It Feels Like to Be Ghosted” (still below) adds to the humor/irony at the end of this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm8N1ngkrUk
The team uses Adobe software for editing because it’s easier to have multiple editors on the same project. Post-production can be even longer than the shooting process because there is so much involved with piecing the story. It is during post-production is when the real story comes alive; “sometimes you find the true edge when editing” (Gildin, personal interview, 2016). The team seems to have had various instances where they started with an original idea and changed direction when footage was logged and compiled.
Moving Forward
According to Gildin, the company and the video production team definitely have a lot of ambitious goals moving forward. The company wants to reach more people, explore other platforms, and perhaps get involved with interactive video. Gildin and his team of forward thinkers would be happy to get involved in the “next big thing,” whether that be in TV, film, or even virtual reality. It seems like the possibilities are endless for the company!
References
10 Best Online Video Production Companies February 2016. (n.d.). Retrieved February 10, 2016, from http://www.10bestproduction.com/companies/digital/
Blatberg, E. (2015, May 11). How Elite Daily is building a millennial video strategy – Digiday. Retrieved February 8, 2016, from http://digiday.com/publishers/elite-daily-linchpin-daily-mails-video-strategy/
Elite Daily. (n.d.). Retrieved February 20, 2016, from http://elitedaily.com/
Elite Daily Video Production [Telephone interview]. (2016, February 6).
Guaglione, S. (2015, November 9). Elite Daily, Audience Partners Team To Reach Dormant Millennial Voters. Retrieved February 8, 2016, from http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/262150/elite-daily-audience-partners-team-to-reach-dorma.html
Marshall, C. (2015, January 08). We’re Posting 75% More Videos to Facebook. Retrieved February 8, 2016, from http://www.reelseo.com/75-per-cent-increase-facebook-video-uploads/
Robertson, M. R. (2014, November 21). 300 Hours of Video are Uploaded to YouTube Every Minute. Retrieved February 8, 2016, from http://www.reelseo.com/youtube-300-hours/
The Voice Of Generation-Y | Elite Daily. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2016, from http://elitedaily.com/about/