Data shows video is set to be the dominant format on social networks in the next five years and that brands must seriously consider it as part of their marketing strategies
YouTube has more than one billion users worldwide. Instagram has 400 million active users and when it launched its video-sharing service more than five million videos were shared in just 24 hours. Snapchap has more than 100 million users who share more than two billion videos daily.
The numbers speak for themselves and are increasing day after day. Facebook has said that within the next five years, it will be mostly video. Its VP for Europe and the MENA, Nicola Mendelsohn, stated that posts on the world’s largest social network “will probably all be video” in the next ten years and that in five years they would primarily be based on video for mobile.
Daily views have jumped from one billion to eight billion in just one year. Facebook users watch an average of 100 million hours of video on mobile every day and live videos receive ten times more comments than those pre-recorded.
YouTube is also breaking its own records. On mobile, the average viewing session is now 40 minutes, and in the United States, it reaches more 18 to 34 year-olds than any cable network.
Several months ago, Robert Kyncl, the Chief Business Officer at YouTube, stated, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that online video will overtake television before the end of this decade. Kyncl based his reasoning on a Nielsen study which showed that TV viewing peaked in 2009-2010 and since then has been on the decline.
From a business perspective, almost 50% of brands are now on Instagram, one of the latest social networks to jump on the bandwagon with video. Among the top 100 brands worldwide, 90% have an account, and more than a third of their users have bought a product online with their mobiles.
With all these figures, it’s no surprise that video is becoming the favourite format for digital marketing. The data confirms that conversion rates increase with video, search engine ranking improves, and users participate more.
Brands are now starting to take video more seriously. Potential customers usually trust videos more that text and image content. Videos promote greater proximity by showing a more realistic and closer image of the brands and thereby accomplish one of their primary goals, which is to project greater credibility and achieve customer loyalty.
