With the end of a year and the start of a new one, it’s that time to look forward to what 2016 holds for video. It couldn’t be a more exciting time for video. With over 300 hours of video uploaded to Youtube every minute[1], and the continued rise of the likes of Periscope, it isn’t any wonder that 94% of marketers who are currently creating videos say they will either increase or maintain their video creation budget during the next 12 months.[2]
From mobile video to virtual reality, there are lots of predictions for the future of video. So, I thought I’d look back at the enquiries and briefs we received towards the end of last year to see what changes we were seeing. Based on this, here’s where I think more video focus will be over the next 12 months:
Live video streaming for in-the-moment action
Multiple office locations. A global workforce. More flexible working patterns. More wide spread Wifi. Live video streaming is increasingly a reality and it offers businesses new ways to communicate with their employees and stakeholders.
Businesses can put employees at the heart of their annual conference; award nominees at the centre of an award ceremony – all without the need of travel and at a fraction of the cost. We saw a rise in enquires for our team to handle live video production (single and multiple cameras) and on-site event encoding, as well as working with existing clients to change how they video events and prepare and stream events to social media for real time action. This will only be on the up.
Interactive video for customer insights
Enquiries into how interactive video could form part of businesses video content strategy definitely saw an increase towards the end of last year.
While interactive video can be used as a sales tool, i.e. click on a pair of trousers to buy, the enquiries we received were more around how video could help improve service, generate leads and help qualify customers. From integrated questionnaires and surveys to data collection forms and polls. Getting a consumer to “do” something not only means it’s more memorable for them, it also means the video’s performance can be better measured. Always a key driver for our clients.
Personalised video to grab attention
Imagine your first name or company name woven seamlessly into a video inviting you to try out a new product? Or attend an event? Or download a new app?
Using the same concept that has been used in email marketing for years, personalised video helps businesses grab the attention of its customers and prospects by using individual’s or company names to create a customised video.
Personalised video is seeing good results, with Vidyard reporting that compared to generic video, personalised video is improving total click through rates by an average of 4.5 times! That’s quite impressive and no doubt the reason why we saw an increase in enquiries on how our team could help add personalised video to content marketing strategies.
So, that’s my top 3 predictions for 2016. It’s arguably skewed towards the clients and sectors we work in, however I’ll report back on how right I was at the end of the year! One thing is for sure, video is going from strength to strength.
[1] According to Youtube
[2] According to a survey conducted by CMI
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