It’s New Year, which automatically means new ideas, trends and thoughts are set to surface as the months begin to roll by. Nevertheless, some great concepts never disappear (or at least take ages to do so), and, although we’ve harped on about it until the cows have almost come home, it seems bovines are still finding their way to our proverbial house when it comes to video marketing. As such here we go again.
But rather than simply run through a series of facts and stats on why video content proves so popular with internet users, who are increasingly shying away from the written word, in keeping with that idea it struck us that referencing two stories which have both broken today would serve our purpose far better. The first of which comes from the almighty Facebook, the daddy of social networks, and the world’s most widely used socmedia platform. Needless to say, then, its insights and analysis should never be ignored.
Put simply, during 2014 video posts on Facebook increased more than threefold compered with the year before. This figure accounts for both user-generated and branded clips, with the number of posts per person rising by 75% globally (and a staggering 94% in the U.S., where more than half of daily users report watching at least one video each time they log in). Further to this, the 65% of those watching the videos are doing so via mobile devices, bolstering our argument that without thinking mobile you might as well not think at all.
Elsewhere, and YouTube’s biggest and most aesthetically-pleasing rival, Vimeo, a firm favourite with bands, musicians, artists and creatives, has spent an undisclosed sum of money securing exclusive deals with several ‘Stars of YouTube’. If you remember our blog post on Media Guardian’s Top 100, then chances are the fact YouTuber PewDiePie ranked higher in the list than the BBC’s head of current affairs won’t have gone unnoticed. Indicative of just how influential some of these self-made celebs are, nevertheless you might question what on Earth a bunch of independent video producers signing deals with a video network has to do with branding. As such let’s explain.
In short, the fact that real cash is being splashed in an ongoing war for the best exclusive, in-house content, with YouTube, Netflix and Vimeo all vying for pole position on that front, is indicative of just how lucrative such platforms have become. And you can’t be lucrative without a huge audience, the likes of which advertisers are willing to pay money to get in front of (in effect footing the bill for the aforementioned contracts). The fundamental point being, video networks are incredibly popular, meaning any campaigns using such platforms are likely to be seen far and wide, whether that’s an ad or branded content.