To get oriented with the Brightcove video player I watched the webinar that is advertised on the home page. I was impressed with the customization and ease of use of the Brightcove player. I was also impressed with the integration of video with other content such as advertisements and viral distribution. The demonstration of adding content was also impressive. It looks like an incredibly easy UI.
After getting a feel for how Brightcove works, I explored National Geographic Wild. I was surprised that the featured video, Journey Into Amazonia, was 55 minutes long (after the Waste Management ad played of course). It turns out that National Geographic features a full-length “Program of the Week.” The other videos are shorter. Anywhere in the range of a minute to 20 minutes.
I watched about 15 minutes of Amazonia. It would have been more, except the video would just stop about every 5 minutes and I would have to reload the video, watch another ad and then skip to the part where it had left off. The third time I did this, while watching piranhas in a feeding frenzy, I gave up on Amazonia. I’m sure my broadband connection was probably acting up again – but I wish that the video player had handled it better. It didn’t say buffering or anything, it just stopped.
I do wish National Geographic Wild would find a few other advertisers. I got rather tired of watching Waste Management ads. Surely they can find some more sponsors?
The search function also did not work. I tried typing in a few of the animals that I had already watched short pieces on (and whose names were in the titles of the movies) – bears, elephants, lions – none of them returned any hits.
It was easy to browse the videos, but it would probably be difficult to find anything specific. None of the tabs are very specific. I finally realized the “On Air” tab was to show previews of upcoming programs that will appear on National Geographic. It seems like National Geographic would want to promote these programs higher up in its list.
I like that National Geographic has customized its player, though I do think they need to make some changes in how their video content is organized. I enjoyed watching the videos, however, and watched several. The video looks good in full screen too, with just the basic controls for the player. The embedded player on the web page includes the “share” information button.
Digital Media 