Opportunity Assessment
Project: Enhanced Video Support
Author: Date: February 21, 2007
1. Exactly what problem will this solve? (value proposition)
Today it is difficult to both load and view videos. Given that the use of video on the web is exploding, this deficiency is moving from a minor complaint to a major competitive exposure.
Background:
Today our sellers that wish to load video must concern themselves with formats and size requirements beyond what many can understand.
Further, if the video is loaded, the buyer needs to install and use a separate video player (i.e. Microsoft Media Player) when he wants to view an included video.
Today viewers expect to be able to view videos directly from the listing’s detail page. Further, we believe that listings with videos will convert to sales better than those without, all other things being equal.
Given that our role is to maximize the leads we provide to our sellers, it is essential that we enable our sellers to easily utilize this powerful new marketing tool.
Value for Seller:
1) Simplify the process of uploading a video, and not have to worry about format
2) Enhance the quality of the listing
3) More detail page views per listing, and more leads per listing
Value for Buyer:
1) Better description of the item; buyers will find more listings with videos, and these listings better describe the item.
2) Ease of use; buyers can watch those videos directly from listing without the delays involved with separate viewers.
2. For whom do we solve that problem? (target market)
We intend to provide the improved video upload capability to all sellers, and enable video viewing on all supported core listing types.
Note that we do not intend to move this capability to our partner managed sites. However, once these listings are moved to the core platform they will have these same benefits.
3. How will we measure success? (business metrics)
Within 3 months after launch, we intend to:
1) Increase the number of uploaded videos per month from 10,000 to 15,000
2) Increase the number of viewed videos to 200,000 per month
3) Increase the detail page views by 5 percent for listings containing a video
4. What alternatives are out there? (competitive landscape)
At the moment there are no competitors that are offering the described service. However, this is expected to change rapidly due to the explosion of video-capable cell-phones, cameras, and low-cost video camcorders, and the subsequent use of video on the web (e.g. YouTube).
5. Why we are best suited to pursue this? (our differentiator)
Our core strength is in providing sellers the best online marketing services available. We have the relationships with the sellers, we have the buyers, and we now have the technology to manage videos easily and effectively.
6. Why now? (market window)
1) Video sharing is now an established technology and paradigm, and is rapidly becoming a common and expected service. See also youtube.com.
2) The growing penetration of broadband internet, combined with the improved camera technology (in phones, digital cameras and camcorders)
The result is that this form of video sharing is now a proven technology that can demonstrably improve contacts per listing.
7. How will we deploy this? (gentle deployment strategy)
There are significant system considerations when deploying video. We must ensure that we either have a partner that can perform up to our expected load, or we must manage these videos ourselves.
We will need to deploy this gently to ensure we do not overly stress our network with the expected rise in demand, especially once the word gets out on the degree to which a video can increase leads.
We will design the video upload so that no training is required by the sellers in order to begin using videos, although we will communicate to our sellers the availability and effectiveness of videos.
8. What is the preliminary estimated cost? (small/medium/large)
While the development cost is not expected to be high, the operational cost may be significant. We expect in the range of medium to high. A more detailed estimate will be presented after a joint assessment between product management, engineering and site operations.
9. What factors are critical to success? (solution requirements)
1) The YouTube model is based on a flash-based player for viewing. We need to explore the same and determine if this is viable for us. This represents a change in our design center.
2) The process depends on the ability for sellers to upload without worrying about formats and sizes, and the system just converts as necessary and does the right thing. We need to determine if this is achievable.
3) We have already had issues with our image provider, and video may exacerbate these problems. We need to determine the best way to get this service available.
4) This project will require an especially tight collaboration between product management, design, engineering and site-operations.
10. Given the above, what’s the recommendation?
We recommend that we proceed to the prototyping and investigation phase to determine if we can design a cost-effective user experience, run-time technology and deployment strategy.
