As noted here previously in Video in Business: Benchmark Report 2017, “The average number of videos in a business library was 293, with an average of 18 new videos being added every month—a rate that will double the size of the library in just 18 months.”
While professional video production is still expensive, the improving quality of smartphone video along with the expanding array of low-cost online tools for video editing, animation, and screen capture make it possible for almost any business to produce acceptable-quality video.
These developments raise several interesting questions about the current state of online video and where it is going. Here are two dozen facts and statistics from recent research that answer five key questions.
How large is the demand for online video?
- More than 500 million hours of videos are watched on YouTube every day. (Medium)
- 10 billion videos are watched on Snapchat every day. (Medium)
- Online video traffic is predicted to triple from 2015 to 2020. (HubSpot)
- Video accounted for 74 percent of all Internet traffic in 2017. (V3+Broadsuite Blog)
- Video will account for 80 percent of all Internet traffic by 2019. (HubSpot) Or possibly by 2020. (Medium)
Who’s watching all that video content?
- The good news for big brand marketers is that millennials and GenXers trust TV advertising more than do older generations (e.g. baby boomers). The bad news: they watch less commercial TV. (MarketingSherpa)
- 78 percent of U.S. Internet users watch online videos; that figure is 90 percent for Americans between the ages of 25 and 34. (HubSpot)
- Men spend 44 percent more time on YouTube than women. (HubSpot)
- YouTube overall, and even YouTube on mobile alone, reaches more 18-49 year-olds than any cable network in the U.S.. (WordStream)
- 28 percent of smartphone users watch a video on their devices at least once per day. (Social Media Today)
Who’s using video for marketing?
- 60 percent of marketers used videos in their social media marketing in 2016. 14 percent of marketers used live videos. (Medium)
- Today, 96 percent of marketers say they make at least some investment in video marketing. (HubSpot)
- 86 percent of colleges and universities have a YouTube channel. (LinkedIn Pulse)
What are the key benefits of using online video for marketing?
- Four times as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it. Four out of five millennials consider video content when researching a purchase decision. (Medium)
- According to Hubspot, 80 percent of customers prefer to watch an explainer video above all other content types to learn about a brand, product, or service. (Inc.)
- In another study, 79 percent of consumers said they would rather watch a video about a product than read about it. 91 percent have viewed an explainer video about a product or service. (V3+Broadsuite Blog)
- More than half (53 percent) of web users agree that “360-degree video can help create engaging experiences” and 45 percent view brands currently using 360-degree video as “innovative.” (Contently)
- And if you’re marketing to executives, video is even more powerful. The Economist says 85 percent of executives prefer watching a video above all other content types when learning about a product or service. (Inc.) Note this is a complete turnaround from mid-2015, when MarketingSherpa reported that 85 percent of executives said they preferred text over video.
- 75 percent of business executives watch work-related videos at least weekly. 54 percent of senior executives share work-related videos colleagues that frequently. (Social Media Today)
- Using videos on landing pages can increase conversions by 86 percent. (WordStream)
- 53 percent of businesses that use video for marketing say video marketing helped reduce the number of calls requesting support. 76 percent report it increased website traffic, and 81 percent believe it increased sales. (V3+Broadsuite Blog)
What’s happening with live video?
- 80 percent of brand audiences would rather tune into a live video than read a blog post (really?!), and 87 percent crave behind-the-scenes content. But only 14 percent of marketers are using live video today. (Tomorrow People)
- Cisco projects that Live Internet video will account for 13 percent of the total video traffic by 2021. (Forbes)
- Breaking news makes up 56 percent of most-watched live content, with “conferences and speakers” tied with “concerts and festivals” in second place at 43 percent. (Livestream)
These questions and answers lead to three clear conclusions. First, video should definitely be part of your content marketing strategy this year. It’s popular, effective, and reaches nearly every demographic group and professional level.
Second, while costs have come down, it’s worthwhile investing in the best quality your budget permits. If you can afford it and your subject matter fits, try 360-degree video. As the 4th Earl of Chesterfield once said, “anything worth doing is worth doing well.”
Finally, live video may or may not be right for you. Experimenting with live video makes sense if you’re a consumer brand or band with a reasonably large following, trying to reach a younger demographic, and have the right kind of content.
B2B marketers may want to test livestreaming a product launch or corporate event, but only with solid plans in place for both upfront promotion and back-end measurement of results. Give your live video experiment the best chance of success, then monitor what happens.
Tom Pick is a digital marketing consultant, working with Kinetic Data, a provider of enterprise service request management, workflow automation, and collaboration software. He writes about content and social media marketing topics on the Webbiquity blog.
