webqem blog

Hanging Up the Moon is a beautifully executed website which promotes a self-released, home-recorded music album by Sean Lam. While the music might not be to everyones tastes, it’s worth seeing just for it’s unique design – and well thought-out navigation and usability. We love the subtle bits of animation which really bring the site to life – all tastefully done in HTML5. Site design by Singapore based Plate Interactive (who have a pretty cool site themselves, albeit Flash).

Here is an incredibly minimal, but lovely and colourful portfolio site by Russian web designer, Alexander Zhestkov. One big long expanding page, which renders identically on mobile devices – is a incredibly simple but very effective approach. The tasteful colour palette and the small type are what make it work aesthetically, putting the viewers focus on the portfolio of work. If you dig the design, give the guy some support with some FB likes and Google +1′s.

Website for media companies usually fit into two categories – overly shiny and uninformative, or over informative and dull. We like how Diablo Media have rode a careful between the two. They’ve managed to put together a site that isn’t light on the content, but dressed up well enough that it is anything but dull. The single long page layout, crossed with a traditional horizontal navigation works well with the striking big images. The icing on the cake is the clean and modern typography.

These days social networks like facebook have brought people together to connect, share and discover new things and ideas. And since the beginning film and tv have captivated and brought audiences together. Now Ooyala Social is bringing these worlds together, allowing publishers to harness the power of social to grow their audiences.

Powered by the same core technology that runs Ooyala Everywhere, Ooyala Social enables publishers to grow audiences, boost engagement and drive revenue on the world’s biggest social network.

Built-in social features promote sharing and content discovery. And Facebook Connect-based authentication ensures viewers enjoy seamless viewing, whenever and however they connect. With Ooyala Social, users can:

• Share videos with friends and family, and chat while viewing
• Discover what their friends like and recommend
• Watch on nearly every kind of screen and device
• Rent or buy videos easily with Facebook credits

Facebook is just one piece to the growing social TV phenomenon. Ooyala envisions a future where video viewing, content discovery and engagement all have a connected social dimension—a future that’s enabled by Ooyala’s backend social API integration. Social meets big data, meets HD-quality video on all devices.

One of the first publishers to take the plunge with Ooyala Social, is one of our favorite movie studios – Miramax. The guys that brought you classic films such as Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Good Will Hunting and Clerks – are now available to rent right within Facebook. You can even view them on any other device like a smartphone, tablet or connected TV.

We’ve just checked out this video previewing Google Wallet, and we’re convinced that this kind of this is most definitely the future. NFC chip’s in phones have been standard in Japan and Korea for some time, but they were locked into your mobile provider – generally only being able to make payments from a single account (like your Mobile credit). Google Wallet wants to open this up, so you can carry multiple accounts, credit, debit, gift and loyalty cards – all in the one system.

You can imagine it won’t be very long before you will be able to leave the house with nothing but your phone, gone will be the days of fat wallets filled with prehistoric bits of plastic. This is obviously going to have a huge impact on traditional retail – but we suspect that Google have some interesting things in-store for online retail (ala Paypal).

We’re keeping a very close eye on this, interesting things happening.

Ooyala has a high profile implementation in Australia with the Austereo Group, one of Australia’s most progressive and exciting entertainment based media companies headquartered in Sydney.

Ross Forgione, CIO at Austereo Group Ltd, said, “We’re delighted with how Ooyala has made online video a real and simple success for us. And now Ooyala is an even better option, given it’s always better to do business with a company that’s investing in the local market.”

The Hamish and Andy Farewell Tour is available as an on demand recording at 2DayFM. The boys got the surprise of their life when U2 dropped by their last Thank You tour show. Check out the quality of the recording.

The popularity of online video has surged in the last 12 months as more people have access to faster internet connections.

Arsenal is a digital brand, delivering multiplatform content, wanting to drive audience engagement and transactions, and to develop new insights into Arsenal’s fan base. They were looking for a comprehensive solution for delivering video on demand.

Arsenal recently relaunched their subscription-based services, which includes a major online video user experience overhaul in preparation for global expansion of their membership services.

Arsenal opened up a previously UK-only offering to their worldwide fan base, which saw their subscribers overnight going from approximately 20,000 to almost a quarter of a million.

The subscription service included both a £1.50 day-pass and a £36 annual membership. While Ooyala had previously powered the free content on arsenal.tv, it is now behind all the live and video-on-demand (VOD) content delivery on their redesigned Arsenal player.

The new player features an intermediate size player view which mimics a popular BBC iPlayer option.

See it in action at player.arsenal.com

webqem recently announced that it had chosen Ooyala as the preferred solution for delivery of high quality online video for customers.

To demonstrate the innovative and exciting ways that Ooyala is being used, we’ll be posting regular articles about companies and sites that are deploying video with Ooyala.

The most high profile example has been the partnership with ESPN.

Over the past few weeks, Ooyala has begun integrating its video technology into ESPN’s website and is now officially powering all of the streamed video content.  The launch covers all of their sport specific site sections within the ESPN domain (MLB, NBA, NHL, NFL, College Basketball, College Football, Soccer, and Nascar). In addition to those sport specific sites are their local sites (Boston, Chicago, Dallas, LA, and NY).

ESPN wanted to standardise their approach to multi-device delivery, centrally manage custom video players to comply with different business rules for different sites, and increase video impressions and viewer engagement with the faster loading times.

ESPN,  powered by Ooyala.

For all you footy fans out there, we are excited to announce the launch the OPSM AFL and NRL Sponsorship Facebook game application ‘Team Colours Countdown’!

Off the back of an incredibly successful ‘Colour Match Countdown’ application, the game was repurposed to provide a competition mechanic around the OPSM sponsorship of AFL and NRL umpires and referees.

Players have the chance to win Grand Finals packages including tickets, flights and accommodation, priority seating and after parties.

webqem, Australia’s leading web solutions company, today announced it has chosen Ooyala to provide high quality online video for its customers. webqem will standardize on Ooyala to help its clients publish, analyze and drive revenue through video. Through this partnership, webqem’s 300+ customers around the world will have access to Ooyala’s video technology and analytics.

webqem will use Ooyala to provide leading companies in the IT, HR and marketing industries with compelling online experiences. With Ooyala’s technology, webqem is offering companies with unprecedented control over online video experiences and valuable insight into analytics in order to increase viewer engagement and generate more revenue. Ooyala’s analytics deliver real-time reports on 500 different metrics, giving webqem insights into user viewing behavior, content reach, and global distribution and sharing. With Ooyala, webqem will be able to extend their reach internationally through engaging online video experiences.

“We have always been committed to delivering cutting edge web experiences that drive our clients’ businesses and set them apart from competitors,” said Larry Adler, Operations Director, webqem. “With Ooyala we’re now able to provide the industry-leading online video platform to our clients so that they can create rich viewing experiences for their customers across all screens, including desktops, smartphones, and tablets.”

Online video is being rapidly adopted by global organizations as they look to maximize consumer interaction and engagement. According to Generator Research, the global online video market is expected to grow by 225 percent to US $14 billion in 2014.

“As online video is increasingly adopted by every kind of global organization, webqem is ahead of the pack in offering premium video solutions,” said John Treloar, Managing Director of Ooyala ANZ. “We’re proud to work with them to make it possible for their clients to monetize content assets and make better business decisions regarding their video audiences.”

About webqem

webqem was born in 1999 to meet the demand for a professional, highly skilled web solutions company. With unrivalled experience in IT, online marketing and training, the webqem team provides leading edge, one-stop web solutions. We take the time to get to know what our customers really need, bringing with us a passion for the possibilities that the web offers. Servicing IT, HR and Marketing departments within leading corporations such as MLC, Allianz, CommSec and oneworld, we also work with many highly successful small businesses online.

About Ooyala

Ooyala is the leading online video technology and services company. Ooyala provides online video publishing, analytics and monetization to leading global companies to help increase revenue and engagement. With Ooyala’s comprehensive online video solution, content owners gain viewer insights that enable strategic business decisions. Ooyala has over 500 customers including global media companies and brands including ESPN, Dell, REI, Sephora, Bloomberg, Endemol, Fremantle Media, Telegraph Media, Vans, and Vice Magazine. Visit Ooyala on Facebook and follow @Ooyala on Twitter.

Our friends over at Adobe have just released the eLearning 2.5. The eLearning suite provides you with everything you need to create online learning, from Photoshop to Dreamweaver.

Watch his video to see all the new features:

Understanding what you want to achieve from a website is critical, and it’s one of the key pieces of information that we ask our clients to define in our very first meeting. It’s fundamental to a project’s success for all stakeholders in the project to agree on what is to be achieved before the project starts. Do you want to increase traffic or sales? Or do you want to convey a clear message?  The answers to these questions will inform the solutions suggested for the website, and the best way to communicate with your target audience.

Have a look at this article on smh.com.au that covers this from a small business perspective, and discusses the importance of being clear about what you want to achieve, so that you can communicate clearly with your target audience.