As consumers continue to shift towards streaming video services, faith-based organizations have new opportunities to spread their messages to a global audience. Word on Fire, a Catholic media ministry that supports the work of Bishop Robert Barron, uses Vimeo OTT to grow its organization through a new subscription video on demand (SVOD) service, Word On Fire Digital.
As with many media companies, Word On Fire found that DVDs were reliable outreach and revenue tools for many years. The DVD box set of Bishop Barron’s 10-part PBS series, CATHOLICISM, served as a consistent revenue source for Word On Fire.
As the Word on Fire team discussed how to stay ever more relevant, they knew they needed a streaming solution to reach younger people who may not have access to a DVD player. This trend is not unique to faith-based organizations, of course: In 2016, subscription video services surpassed DVD sales for the first time, and DVD sales have continued to drop another 24% since then. “We certainly saw that online streaming was where the industry was going,” says Sean Lee, Operations Director for Word On Fire. In order to remain relevant and accessible, Lee and his team needed to meet their users where they already were — through a transition to the web and mobile and TV apps.
Finding the best digital content platform
It was time to go digital, but finding the right video streaming platform to fit the needs of Word On Fire required some work. After partnering with a development firm that quoted them six figures — only to present a disappointing first round of proofs — Lee tried another path.
“We killed the deal, started looking elsewhere, and found Vimeo,” he says. “It definitely had all the features we were looking for.”
Vimeo OTT offered Word On Fire the flexibility and ease of use they needed to upload their pre-recorded content quickly, and begin engaging their community right away. What’s more, the short turnaround time to launch meant that Lee could introduce a new revenue stream in a matter of months.
Despite an initial concern of product cannibalization, launching Word On Fire Digital has not impacted their remaining DVD sales, which remain the medium of choice for some of the Lee’s older customers. “We were afraid that launching a digital service would cut into DVD sales, but we have not seen that,” he says.
Ultimately, the choice to transition to a subscription OTT service proved effective for growing their following and revenue. In only 10 months, they saw 45X the number of digital viewership, and 6X their total digital revenue. “Digital content is now a substantial percentage of our overall revenue,” he says.
Creating content for a global following
In order to speak to their worldwide audience, Word On Fire is currently uploading more than 10 subtitled translations of Bishop Barron’s Catholicism series to their OTT platform.
Previously, Word On Fire’s DVDs were only translated officially into English and Spanish, and required paying costly third party manufacturers to translate it into additional languages, from German to Tagalog. In some cases, Word On Fire lost money on manufacturing translated DVDs.
With Vimeo OTT, Lee and his team are now growing the Word On Fire Digital library to offer their content in both dubbed translations and subtitles in multiple languages. “We realized we can reach an international customer base easier with a digital product,” he says. As a result, Lee and his team plan to phase out translated DVDs entirely and drive all international customers to Word On Fire Digital.
Now, Word On Fire can reach more people, and save money while doing it. “We can offer content with translated audio and subtitles without manufacturing new DVDs,” he says. “We just use our existing assets, with no additional cost to us.”
But the depth and breadth of content doesn’t stop there. Lee and his team also offer complimentary study materials on many of their videos, viewers connect deeper to their content. “It would have been cost-prohibitive to ship these materials with the DVDs,” Lee says. “But now it’s all in the platform, and easy to access all of this additional information.”
We can offer content with translated audio and subtitles without manufacturing new DVDs. We just use our existing assets, with no additional cost to us.
Reaching viewers where they are
With help from Vimeo, Word On Fire launched their video content across all major devices and platforms, including iOS, Apple TV, Android, Android TV, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV. This minimal investment brought long-term payoff, with Word On Fire Digital already seeing incredible adoption and reach more people, in more places, than ever before.
“We got a lot of subscriptions natively through consumers’ own devices, especially for iOS and Apple TV,” he says. “It was very little effort for us to set that up, and a lot of traffic came in through those sources.”
In addition to their organic growth on TV and mobile apps, Word On Fire is growing their digital audience through their remaining DVD sales. His team is leveraging Vimeo OTT’s email automation to gradually bring those viewers to Word On Fire Digital. “We’ve been using the Vimeo API with Zapier, so whenever someone buys a DVD, they also get instant digital access through Vimeo OTT.”
More autonomy, more peace of mind
Partnering with Vimeo OTT has empowered Lee and his team with a level of autonomy that was previously impossible. “In our market, there were only one or two big distributors that everyone had to use to distribute content,” he says. “Vimeo OTT is a great alternative to distribute directly to customers.”
Beyond eliminating the need to work with pricey third party organizations, Vimeo OTT made content creation and distribution both simple and fast. “It’s the easiest, most turnkey solution to get your content on a digital platform,” he says. “With its ease of use and no upfront risk or cost, you can distribute content to your followers in a matter of days. In our space, that’s key.”
While Word On Fire can independently upload, distribute, and generate revenue from their content, the Vimeo team has always been there to help when they’ve needed it. “I love Vimeo’s customer support,” Lee says, referring to the Vimeo support team handling questions that come from Word On Fire Digital’s members. “Obviously there are questions the Vimeo team passes along to us, but often it’s taken care of, so we don’t have to hire additional staff to support this massive digital site.”
Obviously, there are questions the Vimeo team passes along to us, but often it’s taken care of, so we don’t have to hire additional staff to support this massive digital site.
Learn more about how you can build an OTT service that your audience will love with our free guides, white papers, and case studies over at Vimeo OTT.
