I occasionally get asked to master a DVD for public consumption and even though iTV offer this as a service we try and talk our clients out of that medium. There are a number of reasons why we do this:
1) Change of business model:
Not everyone has a DVD player and if you do have one it’s more likely to be at home and if you have a business and/or corporate video you would like your clients to watch they more than likely will not have one in their workplace.
2) Alterations are costly and time consuming for DVD:
If you want to change a small part of the video (i.e. product changes, contact details, etc.) changing a DVD is time consuming and takes days or weeks depending on how many DVD’s you require. If you have a YouTube video a change can be made over night and costs are a fraction of what a DVD master and duplication would cost.
3) The Internet:
YouTube, Vimeo, web streaming you name it. It’s easy, fast and most likely you can access it from your pocket via your smartphone. Distribution is at a click of a mouse and if you have the right kind of content your video can make money for you via advertising and the likes.
4) USB key: The last resort.
There may be a situation where you would like to hand out your video in an exhibition, conference or a promotional event. A USB key is small and everyone has access to a USB slot on their computer. Another good reason for a USB is that you can have your company logo printed on the outside. Everyone likes a free USB key. However use this option as a last resort as this option is also expensive and you may not get your intended audience to actually ever view the content on it.
So next time your thinking about distributing your promo video, think internet.