By now you know, at least you should, that Internet video has become a monster all its own...
- YouTube is the #2 search engine in the world
- Videos used by online retails increase conversion exponentially
- Internet Retailer reports that visitors who view product videos are 85% more likely to buy than visitors who do not
- Zappos reports a 6% to 30% increases in sales for products with video
- With proper optimization, video increases the chance of a front-page Google result by 53x. (Forrester, January 2010)
I could go on of course but I won't. You get the point.
But did you realize just how much video advertising played a role in the social media world in 2010? According to a web analytics study done by internet data company Visible Measures, compared to 2009, the 2010 social video advertising numbers* are staggering...
- 2009 - 450 brands participated in social video
- 2010 - Nearly 1000 brands participated in social video
- 2009 - Social video advertising campaigns drew 820+ million views
- 2010 - Social video campaigns generated over 2.7 billion views
- 2009 - Less than 700 social video campaigns
- 2010 - More than 1,800 social video campaigns
What was the most watched category of 2010 with over 390 million views you ask? Health & Beauty thanks in no small part to the Old Spice "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like" campaign.
All of the aforementioned highly impressive numbers all go back to one simple fact:
Why read when you can watch?
Yes, social media has a lot to do with reading and writing and engaging and all that... I get it.
But if you're an advertiser and you want to engage a consumer, why have them read when you KNOW they'd rather watch?
However, plummeting attention spans and a never-ending stream of competition competing for the same set of eyes you are means you better create something people will want to watch.
Remember, all those views mentioned above? Well keep in mind those same people chose to view them. They chose to view an ad.
Will they choose to view yours?
*Figures based on campaigns that have attracted at least 50,000 views
Sources: VisibleMeasures.com & Invodo.com