YouTube is one of the biggest social media networks in the world. More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube every month. Over 6 billion hours of video are viewed each month on YouTube—that’s almost an hour for every person on Earth. What is more, YouTube reaches more US adults aged 18-34 than any cable network. From now on, YouTube videos can be used by PressPad publishers and viewed from inside of their magazine apps.
YouTube’s viewership is extraordinary. More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month and 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every single minute. That shows how powerful this online videos platform have become.
What does that mean for digital publishers? It means that, if they want to build a rich experience and engage their readers, they should be using that medium, too. That is why PressPad decided to go a step further and introduce in-app video support, including YouTube and Vimeo support.
Video support
Our Publishers asked us to implement online video support. But we were thinking about the accuracy of these requests in the past. In the meantime, the online video became an efficient content marketing medium that started engaging people on a planetary scale. The mobile world is highly visual and we believe that magazine publishers should utilize that trend, too. In-app online video support is another way publishers can overcome the seeming obstacles of the PDF format. We wanted to create a smooth and frictionless experience both for magazine publishers and the readers.
Smarter apps – a design decision
How to improve your magazine without having to put in any additional editing work? We decided to avoid any additional widgets and design operations for publishers. Instead, we created smarter magazine apps.
How to use online video in the magazine-app
The apps simply became smarter. Once you create a hyperlink inside the PDF, that’s it. Your readers will experience rich content inside the app after tapping on it. It’s that simple!
PressPad apps recognize specific hyperlink formats that trigger a video player in your magazine.
YouTube link formats
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDhttps://www.youtu.be/ID
YouTube link examples
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-4S2asYIWkhttps://www.youtu.be/t-4S2asYIWk
Vimeo link format
http://vimeo.com/ID
Vimeo link example
https://vimeo.com/109566849
Takeaway: Please note that links have to have a proper format in order to launch the media player inside the app. Both YouTube and Vimeo allow the use of various link formats. If you decide to use a different type of link, the video player may have problems launching.
Sound bonus
As a bonus, we would like to challenge you with the beta version of SoundCloud support. SoundCloud is the extraordinary community of music authors and people who enjoy listening to music. Currently, this medium is supported through API url that has to be extracted from SoundCloud’s embed code.
SoundCloud link format(beta)
https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/ID
Example link that has been extracted from the above embed code:
https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/165006924
If you have any questions about SoundCloud beta support, please let us know in the comments (please bare in mind this is a beta support).
RichMedia (online video and SoundCloud music) is supported for all PressPad Pro accounts and for existing customers.
Q&A
— I am an existing customer registered before October 10th, how can I turn on rich media support?
It is free for you. We have already started updating all our apps. This process will take time because each magazine app must go through Apple review process.
— I have the free magazine app, how can my readers experience rich media support in the PressPad app?
If you have rich media support turned on, simply use hyperlinks to link to the supported media formats from your PDF magazine
— How to create a hyperlink in my PDF?
Use DTP tool of your choice to create hyperlinks. You can link text or even image elements of your PDF.
— How will online videos look like in my mobile magazine app?
Videos are being open inside the app, “above” the magazine’s page. Full screen mode is possible.
— What is PressPad Pro?
With PressPad Pro accounts, professional digital publishers get the opportunity to customize their magazine apps and bring new functionalities that are sure to create a fantastic user experience and adjust to the published content automatically.
— I’ve got some questions about online video support
Awesome, we really look for to hear your questions. Email us at support@presspadapp.com or use this contact form