Video Marketing becomes popular with consumers

The comScore Video Metrix has been released, and it shows significant increases in the number of people that watch video online, but an even greater increase in the number of video ads that are played and consumed on a monthly basis.

Companies that have previously ignored mobile should consider their own marketing efforts, especially considering video content is especially popular with mobile users. The proliferation of mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, means that these increases may only be the beginning of the story. 

Video Content And Ads

The figures provided by comScore are for US users, but the increases are noteworthy nevertheless, and not only for organisations that have a US online presence.

Nearly 200 million Americans watched just under 50 billion content videos and 27 billion video ads in the month of November 2013. During the same month in 2012, the number of viewers was similar, albeit slightly less, but they only viewed 40 billion content videos and 10.5 billion ads.

The slight increase in viewer numbers and the massive increase in ad views would suggest that the increase arose because more advertisers are now publishing video ads. However, the fact that they were consumed so readily by consumers also indicates that people have a veracious appetite for video in all formats, even in advertising format.

Video Loving Consumers

Video is a popular form of online media because it is easy to digest and it delivers information quicker than text based content, and even images. The video itself can take many forms and may be related to any topic, but it is especially popular with mobile users. The small screens of smartphones and even tablets make it more of an effort to read through hundreds of words, whereas most mobile devices will provide an optimised view of the video content so that consumers can enjoy high quality content viewing.

YouTube And Other Channels

YouTube is the best known video sharing website. The Google owned property has expanded in recent years to offer video advertisements, as well as video channels and other opportunities for advertisers to take advantage of. Facebook is also popular as a video sharing website, and there are millions of websites and other online properties that display either their own video content, or clips belonging to others.

Video As Content Marketing

Content marketing enables business owners to publish content on their own site and to share it on sites like YouTube. As the video becomes increasingly popular, viewers click through to the page of the main site where the video is hosted, and may also provide a link to this page.

The popularity of video means that it is a powerful addition to a content marketing strategy, especially one that is targeting mobile users. The key for modern businesses is to ensure that they provide high quality, because this will attract viewers back and it will encourage them to consumer more information that has been produced by that company. What’s more, video makes a site look more appealing, as long as the site has been designed well.

Video As Paid Advertising

There are more direct methods that a business can benefit from video content. Content marketing may be considered organic video advertising, but it is also possible to pay to have video ads displayed on other websites. Alternatively, a user can pay to have their video clip given greater prominence on one of the many video sharing sites.

Analysts from eMarketer predict that mobile ad spend will break the £1bn mark next year, and much of this budget will be spent on video advertising because of the intrinsic link between mobile devices and video content.

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