From the advent of television advertisements in 1941, video has continually climbed up the ladder becoming a key tool in marketing products, brands, businesses and services. Video capitalises on its ability to captivate consumers, draw them in, tap into their emotions and stimulate their psyche in a much more impactful and lasting way.
The very nature of video content means creators can quickly establish a level of brand trust via the perfect medium in which a story can be told in an engaging way while offering relatability and authentic messaging. In fact a report states that that viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to a mere 10% when reading it in text. It’s no wonder then that the last few decades, alongside rapid technological advancement, has laid out the perfect foreground for video to thrive and change the way people consume information. In fact, according to data collected by Statista there were an estimated 3.37 billion internet users consuming video content in 2022.
In this article, we’ll dive into the history of video, its growth and where we see it going in the future changing the way businesses work for good. We’ll cover major platforms like YouTube, as well as the evolution of video on social media platforms, the rise of live video and corporate end-to-end video platforms for businesses. We’ll also discuss how new technologies have influenced how brands are capturing videos, highlight best-in-class brands, and speculate on how we can expect video in business to evolve in the future.
The Growth of Video Marketing
First, some history
It’s impossible to discuss videos exponential rise to fame without first mentioning YouTube. Prior to its launch in 2005, videos weren’t all that prevalent on the internet as a whole, much less in the digital marketing strategy of brands.
Aside from the occasional webpage video, businesses had no priority for incorporating it into their strategies. Not only were videos expensive to create, the technology just wasn’t there in terms of internet speeds, smartphones and audiences not having the means to consume the content that was being put out there. With the introduction of YouTube all this changed. Not only did people have a platform where they could consume video content, but the ability to create and upload your own content was brought into the mix. With technology beginning to increase by way of webcams, better internet facilities, a mobile phone camera upgrades, YouTube became the place to be for all things video.
Once Google clued on to the huge popularity in what was essentially a searchable library for video content, they purchased YouTube in 2006. Soon after this brands began syndicating their existing brand content and creating video content with YouTube in mind, with YouTube eventually playing a pivotal role in their SEO in campaigns.
The growth of video
The growth of video can be attributed to a number of factors, including the increasing availability of high-quality video production tools, the rise of social media, and the growing usage and ownership of mobile devices. In addition, many consumers prefer video content over other forms of advertising because it is more engaging and easier to digest. According to a statistical report in 2023, 86% of businesses use video as part of their marketing strategy and 80% of people say they use online search and video search when researching something to buy.
We must also mention here the rise of social media platforms and the importance these channels have had to the exponential rise in in video creation, distribution and sharing. With the value of digital video becoming abundantly clear social media platforms like Facebook not only begun to allow users to upload video, but they also slowly optimised their feed algorithms to weight video posts more heavily, thereby increasing the visibility of video content in their services. In conjunction with the rise of video content, came live streaming.
Brand Example
A company who has had huge success from utilising social platforms for their visual content is GoPro. With a solid YouTube strategy resulting in an impressive 3 million subscribers, they have achieved dominance of social video with extreme sports content provided by fans, for fans. Their ability to marry engaging, shareable content to their product is the key to their success.
GoPro show us that through visual narrative you have the ability to trigger emotions, drive huge engagement and influence consumers on whether to invest in your product or service. When you create visual marketing, you’re not just making a lasting impact, you’re able to humanise your brand and reinforce your legitimacy as a business. Online social sharing platforms can do more than bring your business exposure; they can amplify your content marketing.
The Transition
This insurge of platforms would, and will continue to, underpin video content being spread worldwide and has proved highly effective for the ease in which businesses could suddenly incorporate it into their strategies. It now forms an undeniable aspect of the majority of businesses marketing strategies and due to the pandemic has also given way for a huge increase in the use of video as a communication tool for the general population and businesses internal and external communications. Video for business has gone beyond just marketing. It’s uses now cover:
- Internal communication and meetings
- Town hall meetings
- Webinars
- Hybrid events
- Training employees and onboarding new recruits
- Marketing & advertising
- Corporate events
- Knowledge management, transfer & sharing
- Product information
- Shareable, edited video content
It is this vast array of video use cases that has brought the need for, and rising popularity for end-to-end video platforms for business.
The rising popularity in business video platforms
We now face a complete oversaturation of video content in the market meaning brands now need to think outside the box to make their content stand out. The pandemic saw a huge rise in the demand and supply of video platforms for businesses primarily as a way for employees to communicate via video. These platforms facilitated hybrid and remote working triggering a trend for hybrid events and eventually paving the way for these ways of working to become the new norm. Video also became a hugely important aspect of business marketing and now becoming one of the most popular forms of advertising that yields successful results for companies in terms of lead generation and boosting brand awareness and conversions.
As technology continues to improve, we can expect video to become an even more important part of the marketing and overall business landscape in the future. This is a tool that isn’t going anywhere, period. We’re now at a point where businesses who fail to get on board with video risk behind left behind altogether. One trend that is likely to continue is the rise of short-form video content, which is becoming increasingly popular on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. In addition, we can expect to see more businesses incorporating video into their customer service efforts, as well as using video to showcase their products and services in more immersive ways.
Benefits of Video
The benefits of businesses incorporating video are insurmountable particularly for video marketing. These stem from increased engagement, improved SEO, and higher conversion rates. Here are a few statistics that highlight the benefits of video marketing:
- A recent study shows that as many as 91% of consumers want to see more online video content from brands Adding videos to landing pages increases conversion rates by 80%-86%.
- The latest video marketing statistics show that 86% of marketing professionals use video as a marketing tool
- 96% of consumers have watched explainer videos to learn about a product or service
To put it simply, it’s time for businesses to get on board, or get left at the station.
Into the future
Over the years, brands in general have had to continue to find ways to raise the bar with regard to video usage – whether through production quality, content formats and more means brands have had to find unique ways to surprise and delight consumers to retain and increase viewership.
Video content will continue to be ubiquitous in business, marketing and day-to-day life. The growth of video marketing is undeniable, and businesses that want to stay competitive in the digital age need to incorporate video into their marketing strategies. By doing so, they can improve engagement, increase conversions, and ultimately, drive more sales and more than that, keep moving with the times. As video continues to evolve, we can expect it to become an even more important part of the marketing landscape, and businesses that are able to stay ahead of the curve will reap the rewards. Your brand’s authenticity is what makes you stand out and draws in consumers. Go where they are and share what you know through video — they will connect.