What to expect from Video Marketing in 2020
By the end of 2021, the average person will spend 100 minutes every day watching online videos, up by 19% in 2019 - video marketing is a force to be reckoned with.
- Thanks to the continuous advancements in mobile tech, that has improved video’s delivery and consumption, it comes as no surprise that its popularity continues to soar.
- Consumers continue to value video as a crucial part of their journey and relationship building with brands.
- After years of this trend coming into full force, marketers now feel more certain and positive about the return on investment offered by video as it is seen to noticeably influence traffic, leads, sales and audience understanding.
In 2020, 92% of marketers believe that video will be an important part of their marketing strategy.
Over the years, marketers have noticed consumers’ preference for video production over other forms of content and as this increases in prominence, marketers are reacting accordingly.
By the end of 2020, there will be approximately a million minutes of video-per-second crossing the internet and 82% of all consumer web traffic will be video.
Short video ads are so last decade…
This trend was ignited back in 2016 with YouTube’s launch of the 6-second ‘bumper’ ads. Surprisingly, this format was not created because of consumer’s apparent 8-second attention span, it was in response to the growing trend of mobile video and shorter video content increasing in popularity.
It quickly became a reality that consumers would eagerly watch the countdown on the video ad till it gave the option to ‘skip ad’, and since then, the shorter-form video ads on mobile simply became the norm.
2020 sees a developed content landscape that centres on a continuous scrolling and swiping on social networks, where it is crucial to capture users’ attention within seconds and ensure memorability.
“While short messaging will stick in the short term, it’s often less likely to resonate. Long-form can be a sensible antidote to the craze for the ultra-concise. When done well it can shine, providing a deeper level of engagement.” Greg Saunders, founder and creative director at White Label.
More long-form video content…
While this might sound contradictory to the trend described above, there is a difference between video advertising and video content marketing that explains this.
First and foremost, an advertisement is designed to catch a consumer’s attention and quickly deliver a message. However, content marketing aims to provide value to a specific audience, usually through being informative, entertaining or both, while authentically tying into a brand’s message and product. This simply cannot be achieved in a 6-second ad. This value-added is the reason why consumers would commit to watching a video that is possibly 3 minutes or longer.
By the end of 2019, 66% of video ads were 30 seconds long.
MailChimp’s documentary series, Wi-Finders, consists of four, 5-minute episodes that are each set in a different international city. The collections document the life of micro-entrepreneurs who work remotely from their laptops to reshape their communities, all with the help of MailChimp’s products. By highlighting the human side of the business and focusing on people’s life stories, MailChimp was able to inspire and add value to their audience instead of trying to explicitly sell their product through interruptive advertising.
The Vertical Video...
Despite the split opinion regarding vertical video, recent stats found by Instagram indicate that this trend is going nowhere. The sheer growth of Instagram stories supports its popularity, with this feature growing from 250 million users in June 2017 to 400 million in June 2018.
After initially being popularised by Snapchat, Instagram soon took over vertical video with Facebook and YouTube following in its footsteps. To supplement this with consumers’ growing desire for long-form video marketing, Instagram launched IGTV in the summer of 2019. This marked the first place for long-form, vertical-only video content to thrive. Although it is still in its infancy with untapped potential for creators and brands, there is no doubt that within a few years, it will become the new standard for content consumption.
Add a Data-first approach into the mix…
A one-size-fits-all approach is no longer delivering, and this can be recognised across the marketing landscape. Whereas, the latest trend of a data-first approach ensures that marketers can target the right audience, with the right message, at the right time to ensure increased engagement and conversion. The success of this approach is, therefore, going to be applied to video marketing in 2020.
This approach provides brands with a deeper understanding of what does and does not work with their videos, including the best platform to promote it on, the audience to target and the content to include. The collection of this information can provide many benefits to improve video marketing ROI.
In a nutshell, the availability of data means that marketers can gather insights to inform their media production and improve the effectiveness of the creative. What must be made clear is that adopting a data-driven approach does not mean reduced creativity, it simply provides a clear focus for example, audience segmentation.
With endless options of where, how and when people view videos, both brands and marketers must ensure they gain the most value from their production. For example, shooting a long-form video that works in both horizontal and vertical format will be essential in content creation. Furthermore, to boost the reach, then produce this video into bite-size social cuts for short bumper ads of Instagram stories will not only increase visibility but also lead viewers to the full video on alternative platforms.
The use of videos means consumers can digest information quickly and with ease across multiple channels. However, it is not sufficient to create a short video just for social media, to remain competitive, brands must use video as their marketing funnel by exploring the latest formats and techniques otherwise risk falling behind their competitors.
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