AMSTERDAM – In this video
interview at the IBC show, Brightcove
VP of Digital Media Solutions, Chris Johnston, tells Beet.TV that while it’s
important "to be in the places that your audience is interested in finding
you," Facebook is a much more effective platform than Twitter for online video
publishers when it comes to driving views.  This is especially true for brands that have a good presence
on Facebook and an engaged audience.

The main reason is
that Facebook offers a "built-in" video viewing experience, which is harder to
come by on Twitter.  The Brightcove
player, for instance, is white-listed and allows publishers to have videos play
automatically from their Facebook pages. 
Johnston explains, "you get the actual player instead of a link to the
player and you can actually run your own advertising in there, which is
something that’s very powerful if you’re a media company."

Additionally, when fans
share a brand's video on Facebook the actual Brightcove video player is embedded
directly in that fan’s newsfeed—not a link.  This makes for a much more engaging and viral viewing
experience.

Johnston explains that "the
Twitter story is a little bit different." 
He points out that although Twitter does offer a built-in experience on
an individually negotiated contract basis, typically people share videos on
Twitter as links, which takes viewers to the video player on a separate page, "which
is a fine experience," says Johnston, "but not the built-in experience."

Megan O’Neill