Frequently Asked Questions
What business problem does Multicast solve?
What solutions does Multicast offer?
What value do Multicast’s solutions deliver?
Who are Multicast’s solutions most valuable for?
How does Multicast support its clients?
How long does it take to implement Multicast’s solutions?
How much should we expect to pay for Multicast’s solutions?
What are Multicast’s development plans?
Is Multicast healthy financially?
Why do business with Multicast when I can post videos on YouTube for free?
How is Multicast different from its competitors?
What business problem does Multicast solve?
Modern life is noisy. Everywhere we turn, people and things vie for our attention. Organizations struggle to connect with people; traditional methods such as printed materials, static web sites and standard e-mails are no longer as effective at gaining and holding attention as they once were. Now, to reach people, your message must be available to people when, where and how they want it.
From feature films to television to video games to YouTube to corporate web sites, video is ubiquitous. People like video and it works–in a recent survey by Adobe, about 90% of the respondents rated video an effective or very effective communication media.
Communicating effectively using video, audio and rich media presentations requires successfully overcoming many technical hurdles, from capturing the content to storing it to preparing it to publishing it to tracking the results, all while keeping costs under control. Few organizations, large or small, have the specialized expertise or in-house resources to support the live and on-demand communications they need to achieve their goals.
Multicast is the leading online video platform provider for organizations who communicate via live and on-demand video, audio and rich media presentations. Multicast’s proven, hosted solutions make it easy for organizations of all types and sizes to effectively use video, audio and rich media presentations to inform, educate, entertain, promote and inspire.
What solutions does Multicast offer?
Multicast’s proven solutions and acclaimed client services staff make it uniquely able to serve the communication needs of organizations who want to:
- Capture and stream live events over the Internet and on the iPhone
- Make video, audio and rich media presentations available on-demand
- Maximize the value of their content
For more information about Multicast’s solutions, visit our Solutions page.
What value do Multicast’s solutions deliver?
Multicast is the leading online video platform provider for organizations who communicate via live and on-demand video, audio and rich media presentations. Our proven, hosted solutions make it easy for organizations of all types and sizes to break through the noise, communicate more effectively and get better results.
Multicast’s solutions deliver more value than traditional communication methods:
- Added reach. By leveraging the Internet’s global footprint, Multicast’s clients are able to easily take their message to more people in more places. Whether your target audience consists of business colleagues or consumers, the “every desktop, every device, always available” nature of on-demand Internet-based communications gives you reach far beyond what is possible with broadcast television, direct mail, or scheduled on-location or telephone-based meetings or events. For example, event promoters can expand their audience and increase their revenue potential by making an event available to a practically unlimited online audience.
- Improved engagement and retention. People love video. In a recent survey, 79% of the people who used the Internet in a given month chose to watch a video. If you’ve ever been part of a misunderstanding that started with an email, you know first hand that more than 90% of communication occurs beyond the words themselves. When you actively involve more of your audience’s senses, and your audience can see and hear your enthusiasm for a topic, they are more likely to stick with it and to retain your message.
Two key ways Multicast helps you go even further to improve engagement are:
- Easily creating rich media presentations. Multicast’s streamlined workflow makes it easy to assemble a variety of media assets into a more engaging, more effective rich media presentation. With Multicast, you can highlight key points made in an audio or video with accompanying slides or illustration. Or, you can supplement presentations by easily adding links to related materials, such as detailed descriptions of how to perform a task, or even to web sites with reference materials.
- Using mediatags–words and phrases as metadata–to expose important content within your videos and audios. Once you’ve created mediatags, they appear in a click-able Table of Contents that empowers your audience by letting them know what is coming, and by giving them fast, direct access to the content they want to see.
- Better results. For most of us, the number one reason for increased use of video and audio is the results they achieve. Here are just a few of many statistics quantifying the results video achieves:
- Adding video to email marketing boosts customers’ interaction by as much as 200-300% (Ogilvy Consulting)
- Videos are 53 times more likely than text pages to appear on the first page of search results (Forrester Research)
- Brands using online video have seen lifts of anywhere from 20-40% in terms of incremental buying with online video and rich media over other ad forms (Comscore)
- Reduced costs. The tight budgets that are the norm in today’s economy affect both you and your target audience. The statistics above are just the tip of the iceberg for how video, audio and rich media presentations can help you get a higher return on your marketing spend. You can also save money on travel-related costs as well when you replace, or downsize, costly on-site meetings and training sessions with live and on-demand Internet events. And, clients can access content and stay informed without the expense of travel.
Who are Multicast’s solutions most valuable for?
Whether you are multinational market leader, a nonprofit, a university, a government entity or a small business, Multicast can deliver value to you.
Over 2,000 organizations have chosen Multicast because meeting their goals requires more than just hosting videos and serving ads. It means using video, audio and rich media presentations to communicate effectively with their prospects, customers, colleagues, partners, shareholders, constituents, members, patients, students and congregants.
Multicast’s proven solutions and acclaimed client service make it uniquely able to serve the communication needs of organizations who want to:
- Capture and stream live events over the Internet
- Make video, audio and rich media presentations available on-demand
- Maximize the value of their content
For more information about Multicast’s value for different types of organizations and different groups within organizations, visit our Value page.
To see what Multicast’s clients do with, and say about, Multicast solutions, visit our Gallery page.
How does Multicast support its clients?
From rich media consultants to 24 x 365 monitoring, scheduling and product support specialists to broadcast engineers to content encoding experts, Multicast’s passionate team of talented, experienced, and service-oriented experts live out Multicast’s “your message is our mission” credo everyday, providing you with the ongoing support you need for live events, on-demand video and more.
Multicast client support includes:
- Client Managers. It all starts with your Client Manager. Every Client Manager is a skilled, experienced rich media expert, selected for this role because of his or her ability to quickly understand what you want to accomplish, apply their knowledge and get the results you need. Whether you need a problem solved quickly, an understanding of best practices or insight into other ways you use Multicast solutions to meet your goals, your Client Manager is there. And, unlike some companies that limit interaction to emails or callbacks to hold down costs, we encourage you to think of your Client Manager as your rich media partner and to interact with him or her frequently.
- 24 x 365 Support. Multicast’s “Above and Beyond” team of monitoring, event program scheduling, content encoding and product support specialists are available 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. Located in our Atlanta, Georgia headquarters, this well-trained team knows our solutions well and resolves calls from you–and even your viewing audience–promptly. They even proactively monitor your live broadcasts to ensure your intended audience has the best possible online viewing experience.
- Broadcast Engineers. Our broadcast engineers know their stuff! They’ve truly seen it all because Multicast broadcasts more live Internet events than any other company. Whether your event is one-time or part of series, point-to-point or multi-site, simple or complex, Multicast’s engineering professionals help you reach your audience in a way that makes you look good.
How long does it take to implement Multicast’s solutions?
Although the specific answer varies based on the solutions you choose and your specific needs, the general answer is that because Multicast offers software-as-a-service solutions with clear user interfaces, even non-technical people can get started quickly and see results much sooner than is possible with traditional on-site solutions or with hosted solutions that seem to have been designed by technical people for other technical people, or for uses other than business communications.
We strongly recommend that anyone considering an online video platform get an extensive demonstration of its workflow. To experience Multicast’s efficient workflow for yourself, call us at +1 (877) 664-6137 or send us an email.
How much should we expect to pay for Multicast’s solutions?
Multicast’s pricing is based on the principal that the price you pay should be related to the value you receive. Depending on which Multicast solutions you choose and how you plan to use them, your price may scale based on one or more of the following factors: length of your event, number of seats in your audience, number of views, amount of data transfer, amount of storage or transcoding time. Subscription for Multicast Media Suite with included data transfer, storage and transcoding are available for as little as $250 per month.
To get a price quote that is specific to your situation, call us at +1 (877) 664-6137 or send us an email.
What are Multicast’s development plans?
Multicast is committed to serving its clients by continually bringing new capabilities to market. Whether they are additions to the award-winning Multicast Media Suite or to our other solutions, we strive to continue and extend our market leadership in the live and on-demand uses of video, audio and rich media presentations for better communication. We use a combination of strategies–build, buy and partner–to deliver more to the marketplace more quickly.
When we establish our development plans, high among the list of things we consider are:
- Streamlining workflow so our clients can work more efficiently
- Adding capabilities to support extensions of the use cases our clients are already doing
- Adding support for emerging formats and devices
- Delivering specific items requested by our clients
Because we employ an agile development environment and talk frequently with our clients about their needs and wants, we are continually delivering new features and updating our roadmap. To hear about our latest additions or to learn if features you are interested in are on the way, call us at +1 (877) 664-6137 or send us an email.
Is Multicast healthy financially?
Yes. Multicast is a financially healthy market leader, with growing revenues and profitable operations today. Multicast is backed by established venture-capital firms with concentrations in the digital media space, and management is confident that a variety of financing alternatives are available to support business growth, solution development and client support if needed.
Why do business with Multicast when I can post videos on YouTube for free?
Multicast considers YouTube, Facebook and other free services that enable people to share videos complements, not competition. Many of our clients deliver content to those sites among others.
Some of the reasons clients choose Multicast instead of, as well as in addition to, sites of that type are:
- Live streaming. Many Multicast clients combine live events with on-demand availability.
- Private content. Many Multicast clients publish content, such as training videos and corporate updates, that is intended for their staff, partners, etc. only and do not want to make that content discoverable by the general public.
- Brand building. Many Multicast clients customize the player to support their brand.
- Communication needs. Many Multicast clients use players that are designed for the type of communication they are doing. From multimedia presentations to supplemental materials to using mediatags to provide fast access to specific topics and beyond, using the player that best supports your communication needs can make a significant difference.
- Control over related content. Many Multicast clients want to eliminate the risks posed by the “related” videos free services offer when a video completes–they do not want competitive offerings, negative reviews or inappropriate content associated with their video.
- Content ownership. Many Multicast clients want to retain ownership of their content for intellectual property reasons.
- Return on investment. Multicast offers ROI advantages of two types:
- Many Multicast clients realize a return on their investment via a combination of business models that they can not execute via free video services. Others dislike that they don’t receive any of financial value associated with the video that is realized by these services.
- Many Multicast clients re-use their content in many ways. Multicast Media Suite makes it easy for business people and technical experts to prepare, manage, deliver, present and re-use multimedia assets in market-leading formats on market-leading devices.
In the end, the “right” decision for your organization is based on a variety of factors. Savvy organizations for whom free services can play an important role in achieving their goals make asset by asset decisions to use Multicast solutions and/or free services.
How is Multicast different from its competitors?
Over 2,000 organizations have chosen Multicast because meeting their goals requires more than just hosting videos and serving ads. It means using video, audio and rich media presentations to communicate effectively with their prospects, customers, colleagues, partners, shareholders, constituents, members, patients, students and congregants.
Multicast’s proven solutions and acclaimed client service make it uniquely able to serve the communication needs of organizations who want to:
- Capture and stream live events over the Internet
- Make video, audio and rich media presentations available on-demand
- Maximize the value of their content
We know of no other company that offers all that Multicast offers.
We are the clear leader in live Internet broadcasting, providing a complete menu of live event solutions from an encoding appliance through live Internet delivery. We are on pace to deliver about 50,000 live events in 2009–more than any other organization. Multicast Media Suite is the most complete, most unified online video platform. And, the combination of the wide range of communication tools included in Multicast Media Suite and our innovative Multicast Mediatag solution, which is available stand-alone or as an add-on module to Multicast Media Suite enable our clients to realize a high return on their rich media investment and to meet their communications goals.
For more information about Multicast’s value for different types of organizations and different groups within organizations, visit our Value page.
For more information about Multicast’s solutions, visit our Solutions page.
To see what Multicast’s clients do with, and say about, Multicast solutions, visit our Gallery page.