March 4th, 2008
Will "No Video Watching" Rules Cut into B2B Video Downloads?
Today’s Wall Street Journal has an article about how companies are cutting employees’ access to sites such as YouTube.
Video downloads cut down on a company’s bandwith and slow the Internet connection — and, waste time, too. One company learned that its employees were watching an hour of video a day!
However, watching video also has a business purpose because many companies are using video to help communicate their messages. If you’re a marketer, you want to view video to see what your competition is doing. And, if you’re searching for products and services, a well-done video can help with lead generation and branding.
What do you think? Will “no video watching” rules cut into the effectiveness of B2B video?
March 4th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Dianna-
The only insight I can offer is that on my employer’s Web site videos increase time on site. Additionally, pages that feature a video appear to be more sticky than pages that do not have videos.
In my opinion if an employer wants to ban video watching it’s their bandwidth bill and an employee doesn’t have much choice.
March 5th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
It’s a slippery slope. The “no video watching” rule should be replaced with the “no fantasy sports” rule. Guilty!
March 5th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
My secret guilt is reading non-business related blogs i.e. I got sucked into the Sarah Connor Chronicles on Fox and have been following the bloggers who write about show! Even worse, I read the comments — which are sometimes better than the blog posts.
March 22nd, 2008 at 4:10 am
This question reminds me of the “trade show” issue. Many employers are reluctant to let employees travel to events (like trade shows) that are held in fun cities (like Las Vegas). The question is, “Will The ‘No Fun Cities’ Rule Cut Into Trade Show Attendance?”.
To this question, and to the “No Video Watching” question I say the same thing: hire good employees, people that lead, people that are dedicated, people that are hungry to do an awesome job, people that are accountable for results, then let them do whatever they want.
If a company can’t trust employees to not watch an hour of frivolous video every day (or to not blow off a day at a trade show in Vegas to run wild) then the employee probably shouldn’t be working there anyway.
Hire great people, open the video floodgates, and watch the creativity (and use of enhanced communications like video) soar.