It’s too late. We’ve been overrun. Video is taking over the world.
In the spirit of my favorite broadcaster, Kent Brockman (real name Kenny Brockelstein) — who hastily welcomed our ‘new insect overlords’ — I’m here to recognize the new master of our content domain.
Hail, video!
Don’t believe me? Consider what’s been brewing at Facebook lately.
First, they updated their News Feed algorithm to give ‘preference’ to live video. Then they dropped $50 million to pay for celebrities and media companies to create videos using Facebook Live.
They justified their pivot to video thusly: “… we are considering Live Videos as a new content type – different from normal videos – and learning how to rank them for people in News Feed. As a first step, we are making a small update to News Feed so that Facebook Live videos are more likely to appear higher in News Feed when those videos are actually live, compared to after they are no longer live. People spend more than 3x more time watching a Facebook Live video on average compared to a video that’s no longer live. This is because Facebook Live videos are more interesting in the moment than after the fact.”
Fair enough.
Facebook’s most recent video-centric addition is Instant Video, which pledges to ‘bring your messenger conversations to life.’
Of course Facebook is not the only media giant going all-in on video. Most of the social networks seem to be heading in that direction.
If you still don’t believe me that video is taking over the world, consider the following statistical onslaught, which was compiled by our very own exceptional Randall-Reilly SEO department.
May these amazing stats inspire and motivate you to incorporate video into your marketing strategy. Facebook and others are being quite forthright about the fact that video will be prioritized over plain text or photos, so you might as well take advantage.
Enjoy!
- Social video generates 1,200% more shares than text and images combined. (Brightcove)
- Video will account for 80% of all global internet traffic by 2019. It will account for 85% of all US traffic. (Cisco)
- Every second, nearly a million minutes of video content will cross I.P. networks by 2019. (Cisco)
- Video on a landing page can increase conversions by 80% or more. (Visually)
- Video posts have 135% greater reach than photo posts. (Insivia)
- Video marketers are 28% more effective at benchmarking and improving marketing performance year-over-year. (Aberdeen)
- Video marketers average three times the growth in company revenue year over year, compared to all others, 11.58% vs. 3.88%. (Aberdeen)
- Combining video with full page ads boosts engagement by 22%. (Insivia)
- Enjoyment of video ads increases purchase intent by 97% and brand association by 139%. (Insivia)
- One-third of all online activity is spent watching video. (Insivia)
- Dr. James McQuivey (VP, Principal Analyst Forrester Research) estimates that 1 minute of video is equal to 1.8 million words. (Insivia)
- Video ads have an average click-thru rate of 1.84% – higher than any other digital format. (comScore)
- Video marketers enjoy 27% higher click-through rates and 34% higher web conversion rates, compared to non-users. (Aberdeen)
- Video creators enjoy 41% more web traffic from search than non-users. (Aberdeen)
- 69% of smartphone users say videos are a perfect solution for smartphone viewing as it offers a quick way for consumers to grasp an overview of a product. (Syndacast)
- Using the word “video” in an email subject line boosts open rates by 19%, click-through rates by 65% and reduces unsubscribes by 26%. (Syndacast)
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YouTube
- Mobile video consumption rises 100% every year. (YouTube)
- Video watch time is up 50% year-over-year. (YouTube)
- YouTube reaches more 18-49-year-olds than any broadcast or cable TV network, and YouTube does it on mobile alone. (YouTube)
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- End of 2014 – Facebook hosted 1 billion video views per day.
- End of 2015 – Facebook hosted over 8 billion video views per day. (TechCrunch)
- 85% of Facebook video is watched without sound. (Facebook)
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Twitter/Periscope
- Video tweets on Twitter have increased by 50% since the beginning of 2016. (Twitter)
- Periscope users watched 40 years’ (21 million minutes) worth of video in August 2015. (Periscope)
- Users watched 110 years’ (58 million minutes) worth of video in March 2016. (Periscope)
- Video views have grown 220X from December 2014-December 2015. (Twitter)
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