By Darren Gilbert
While the statistics can tell you one part of the story, it’s worth talking to those on the ground to get the other side.
It has indeed been a year for video
For all the predictions and expectations around video, many of them have come true. In fact, for some, video has exceeded expectations.
“Try opening any social media platform without at least one video popping up on your news feed,” says Christine Delport, multimedia designer at
Newsclip Media Monitoring. “Although videos were already popular in 2015, the volume of videos published on a daily basis have increased significantly in 2016.”
Lana Hindmarch, MD of the
HolyCow Group agrees, adding that video is continuing to grow. “Cisco predicts that video will represent 79% of all internet traffic by 2018. Considering that video views grew by 42% between 2014 and 2015 alone, Cisco’s prediction might even be on the conservative side.”
One only needs to take a look at the statistics from Limelight Media’s
State of the Online Video survey, which was released in June 2016. Or note that according to a recent
study by
Wyzowl.com, 61% of business are using video as a marketing tool.
Spot on predictions
In an article for
Forbes, Jayson DeMers
predicted that videos would permeate more than just content, meaning businesses would start using video for, among other things, intracompany communication.
Adrian Burger, creative director at
Blink Tower agrees: “We’ve seen a big increase in brands relying on video for their B2B marketing and internal messaging – whether at conferences, in business pitches and training sessions, or simply sent via email.”
This has already begun to take place at Newsclip, says Delport, who has witnessed it first-hand. “Video has become increasingly popular, especially for companies such as ours, where communication between different branches is essential. We now use videos not only for training, but also for internal communication, induction procedures, and marketing.”
As for Hindmarch, the prediction that mobile would take the lead in
video marketing has been spot on.
“While video is growing fast, it’s growing six times faster on mobile. We’ve been bandying this trend about for the last four years, but stats (from Invodo’s 2016 Video Statistics eBook) have now come out that Q4 of 2015 was the first time that mobile video views exceeded desktop video views,” she says.
A few surprises and predictions still to come
While a glance at the above statistics provided should sway anyone interesting in video marketing to go ahead, that doesn’t mean that everyone has.
It’s been somewhat surprising for Delport as she views it as one of the biggest marketing tools available. “Of course, there will be people who prefer traditional marketing channels but in a digital era this can limit their audience and possibilities,” she says.
Burger agrees. “Very occasionally, we still meet people who need to be convinced of the efficacy of online video – particularly in the South African corporate space – when the evidence is there for all to see.”
Having said that, there have been a few predictions that haven’t happened yet. This includes a prediction around interactive video, which Hindmarch is interested in.
“This is a hot new space for marketers, as it includes the gold standard of audience engagement action,” she says. “The brands that get it right are going to be the ones setting the benchmarks. But whether it becomes a mainstream strategy for marketers is yet to be seen.”
Burger himself admits that, for him, interactive video hasn’t quite taken off as initially expected. “It’s hard to know whether this is down to the technical limitations of the format itself or some other reason,” he says.
What are your thoughts? Has video lived up to expectations? Has it exceeded them? Or maybe even disappointed you? Tell us in the comments below.