Vquence, an Australian start-up in online video technology, and SignUp Media Limited, a media measurement and analytics company, today announced an exclusive strategic sales and marketing agreement covering North America and the United Kingdom.

Vquence was founded by veteran entrepreneur Chris Gilbey, former CEO of Lake Technology, Dr Silvia Pfeiffer, former Multimedia Science Leader at the CSIRO ICT Centre, and John Ferlito, serial entrepreneur with several network service providers.

SignUp Media will offer Vquence’s VQmetrics service as an integral part of their suite of measurement tools to effectively measure and track viral video campaigns using Vquence’s database of 50 million videos. SignUp Media will have access to metrics on videos on YouTube, MySpace.TV, Dailymotion, Vimeo and other social media sites providing online quantitative metrics for brand and reputation monitoring.

“Internet video has become a critical component of the overall media landscape,VQmetrics will help our clients better monetize their content and show them how viral video may be contributing to successful campaigns with consumers” said Paul Mewett, COO and founder of SignUp Media.

Dr. Silvia Pfeiffer, Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder and Director of Vquence, is very excited about the new sales opportunities. “SignUp Media have very experienced and extremely well connected sales and marketing executives which will open up markets to us that we would otherwise not reach. Our respective visions of the future of the measurement market match and we can foresee huge opportunities beyond video together.”

Terry Foster, CEO of SignUp Media said, “We are excited to announce this strategic partnership with Vquence. Dr. Silvia Pfeiffer’s vision and thought leadership in social video metrics are second to none”. Foster sees tremendous growth and demand in this space over the next 3-5 years and believes this partnership is a key element in the next phase of SignUp Media’s growth.

About SignUp Media Limited

SignUp Media provides tools and content that allows companies to use information to make better and more informed decisions. SignUp Media’s monitoring tools and products combine research intelligence, quality content, text-mining methods and visualization capability into powerful solutions that give you the ability to track and document the effectiveness of your communications activities. www.signupmedia.com

About Vquence PTY

Vquence’s mission is to measure every aspect of the consumption of socially published video online. We provide enterprises, marketers and consumers with detailed statistical data to satisfy information needs relating to social and online video. Vquence captures quantitative measurements of video use, and further provides audience reach and behavior information. www.vquence.com.au

With the help of Australian video company Vquence, Senator Kate Lundy started a YouTube and a Vimeo channel in June this year as part of a new effort in using social networking technology – also known as Web 2.0 technology – to better communicate with her constituency.

Many of her federal colleagues have started using YouTube for publishing videos. The success of the Obama campaign has impressed many politicians and encouraged trying out the new approach – in particular to connect better with the younger generations. However, the majority of YouTube channels of Australian politicians are barely more than “Trophy channels” – they just republish TV appearances and best speeches from parliamentary recordings of the particular politician. But there is so much more to be done with video.

A YouTube channel that follows the Obama example needs to be part of a well thought out strategy. According to Maxwell Harper, Obama’s video strategist during the 2008 campaign, “Video is an investment and if you think about it really strategically it’ll pay for itself through the impact it has.”

Senator Lundy made her YouTube and Vimeo channels an integral part of a wider campaign to improve her own communication with citizens and to allow citizens to have more input into government decisions. Her twitter presence, her blogging site, as well as her consultative Public Sphere events are other parts of the picture that forms a complete, modern communication strategy for a politician.

The strategy is paying off. According to video metrics prepared by Vquence, the more than 50 videos posted since June have seen more than 3000 views by the beginning of August. More importantly, the time that people spend on her website has increased by 45% because of the videos. Clearly, visitors are finding the videos a valuable addition to her communication mix.

The videos that are showing the most impact are the vodcasts or video blogs. “Vodcasts are regularly produced short pieces of video that provide a focused message, similar to a blog post but in video format.” says Dr Silvia Pfeiffer, Vquence CEO. “Senator Lundy’s first three vodcasts have achieved more than 1000 views within the first month – more than any other videos on her channels. Clearly, people like the direct way in which the Senator tries to communicate with them.”

“One of the concerns often expressed when considering video amongst a range of Web 2.0 strategies is the perceived complexities of recording, posting and assessing the effectiveness.” Senator Lundy says. “I was aware of the success other politicians were having with their video and You Tube channels but had always presumed the need for resources would put video beyond me. The good news is it is indeed possible!”

“If you are not publishing video online, you are missing out on an opportunity.” states Dr Pfeiffer. ” YouTube is now the second biggest search engine on the Web and that means visitors are trying to find you there. If all they can find are fake channels about you or your brand, your reputation may suffer.”

Vquence is now helping Senator Lundy with video search engine optimisation, seeding, daily metrics, and quarterly comprehensive reporting. Senator Lundy and her team have become self-proficient in video production and are continuing to try out new production styles, trying to provide even more value to her constituency.

Senator Lundy YouTube Channel