Highlights

  • Utilizing YouTube for video content posed challenges including multiple logins, poor quality, slow uploads, unexpected breaks, and inaccurate closed captions, impacting business efficiency and necessitating extensive involvement for setup tasks.
  • Resolving these issues was vital for increasing the monetization of the new digital hubs.
  • Switching to Media Embed resolved all previous issues encountered with YouTube, including problems with captioning, slow uploads, and video quality. Additionally, the embedding capabilities of the Cadmore platform allowed for seamless integration into Taylor & Francis’ systems, aiding content distribution.
  • Taylor & Francis was able to implement DOIs for videos.
  • This case study is based on an interview with Peter Olima, Head of IT & Operations, Taylor & Francis. All quotes are attributed to him.

At issue

With a foundation in cutting-edge, peer-reviewed scientific journals, Taylor & Francis was expanding to offer a video journal, increasing video content within journals, and enhancing their digital hubs.  The digital hubs started as complementary eCommunities to pair with the journals, but were growing to include the latest news, key opinions, panel discussions, videos and more.

Taylor & Francis was using YouTube, which led to issues with multiple logins, poor video quality, slow upload times, unexpected video breaks, and inaccurate closed captions. YouTube’s transcription capabilities were also not effective for scientific terminology.

Additionally, Taylor & Francis wanted to start selling ads on the digital hubs, but needed improved functionality before they could go to market.

Ultimately, these issues impacted business efficiency and required extensive involvement for even minor tasks during the setup of the digital hubs. Addressing these recurring issues was crucial for monetizing the websites and maintaining the reputation of their work.

Why Cadmore

Taylor & Francis met with two of Cadmore’s founders, Simon Inger and Neil Gilstrap. They proposed solutions and were able to provide technical details that demonstrated a deep understanding of the necessary changes and how to implement them.

“I don’t really have any confidence in sales pitches, but when I spoke to Neil, it did help quite a lot actually because he knew exactly what the issues were. It definitely made me want to carry on because I knew any kind of problems would be looked at by people like him.”

Taylor & Francis was able to select Cadmore’s Media Embed with complete confidence, knowing that it had the technical specifications to improve efficiencies, support advertising, and to add DOIs in their journals.

“It just was clear that it was going to resolve a lot of problems. I didn’t look at anyone else because it was clear I didn’t need to.”

Results

Switching to Media Embed resolved all previous issues encountered with YouTube, including problems with captioning, slow uploads, and video quality. Additionally, the embedding capabilities of the Cadmore platform allowed for seamless integration into Taylor & Francis’ systems, as they could simply utilize HTML widgets for content distribution.

All previous issues were effectively resolved, particularly in embedding videos, through collaborative efforts involving iterative processes, consultations with digital editors, and adjustments made to ensure functionality and alignment with expectations.

“All the problems that we had previously kind of went away, to be honest.”

Not only were previous issues resolved, but Taylor & Francis was also able to implement DOIs for videos.  Initially, registering DOIs for the Video Journal of Biomedicine wasn’t anticipated, but with assistance from Cadmore and others, including from DataCite, the process was facilitated, enabling the incorporation of multimedia content and ensuring its proper registration.

Taylor & Francis are currently utilising Media Embed on their digital hubs:

Inspiration

“The Cadmore platform enabled us to expand the capabilities of our digital hubs, providing us with the flexibility to implement new ideas and features with confidence, eliminating any concerns about implementation and functionality.” – Peter Olima, Head of IT & Operations, Taylor & Francis.