Part 4 of 5 from our “Anatomy of a Video Series”
In our series of video fundamentals, we’ve explored embeds, ad impressions, and plays. We’re now at the end of the video life cycle: the complete. If your viewers have watched to this point, congrats! You’ve not only kept their attention, you’ve also unlocked a key component of the all-important Content Score.
Completes, Defined
Plain and simple: A complete is measured when the video has finished. In analytic terms, if a video is divided into four sections, reaching the end of the fourth quartile.
As we’ve seen, a play rate—the ratio of plays to embeds—reveals how often viewers are enticed to watch.
A complete rate builds on that story by looking at the ratio of completes to plays.
A high complete rate is an indication of excellent content and engagement. For every play, viewers watched until the end most (or all) of the time, and viewer drop-off is minimal.
The Content Score
The story really emerges when you look at complete rates in tandem with play rates. Together they form the Content Score, a metric that JW Player has developed to allow you to easily and accurately compare the performance of all your media.
In the diagram below, the Content Score sits at the intersection of complete rates and play rates.
Why Do Content Scores Matter?
As an overall measure of a video’s performance, the Content Score shows how you can improve your video strategy.
Let’s say your Content Score is at video A—low play rate but high complete rate. Not a lot of people are clicking play, but the good news is, those who do love it. They watch until the end because the content is great. The solution here is more a question of marketing and promotion. What kind of thumbnails are you using? Is the player visible on the page? Are you driving traffic through social media?
Conversely, your Content Score could be at video B—you have a video with a high play rate but a low complete rate. 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. The takeaway action here is to develop better content—raise the substantive quality so that viewers remain interested.
How Does JW Player Use the Content Score?
One of the initiatives we’re most excited about here at JW Player is our Content Score Lab. Run by our Analytics team, the lab allows you to look at your data in new ways (within a sandbox environment) and compare with real customer data across our entire network. We run at least 1-2 experiments each quarter with the goals of optimizing content, maximizing CPMs, and more.
Content Scores are also a key factor in powering our Recommendations engine. The Content Score calculation is part of the algorithm that we use to surface the most engaging, related content to your videos.
Want to improve the Content Score of your videos? Schedule time to talk with one of our video experts.
The “Anatomy of a Video” Series explores key measures of a video’s life cycle: embed, ad impression, play, complete, and time watched. Together, they provide a comprehensive picture of how and why viewers engage.