Latest video statistics: video rules OK

Most people understand/agree that video is a powerful communications medium.  Over the last few years, various studies have highlighted the power of video, including the incredible fact that video is the most popular form of communication online with more people spending time watching videos than updating their social media profiles, blogging or anything else for that matter (source: Universal McCann Wave5 Report).

In this post, we share a summary of some of the more powerful stats and facts about video to have hit our screens in the last 12 months or so.  The first three are from Forrester and ComScore …

  • Video is 98% more likely to put you on the first page of search engines
  • Video on a web page increases response rates by an average of 45%
  • When watched by visitors, video makes them 95% more likely to buy from you

As if that weren’t enough, the following facts are also mighty impressive (note: be sure to think through the subtleties of each fact/stat) …

  • Senior executives love video …
    • Forbes Insight found that 59% of senior executives prefer to watch video instead of reading text, if both are available on the same page. (Forbes Insight, December 2010)
    • 80% of executives are watching more online video today than they were a year ago. (Forbes Insight, December 2010)
  • Video and other multi-media product viewing options were rated more effective than any other site initiatives in an Adobe survey of almost 2,000 interactive marketers. (Adobe, May 2011)
  • 77% of mobile video viewers report watching more mobile video than they did one year ago. (eMarketer, 2010)
  • From the Google Blog, April 2011:
    • 93% of smartphone users use their devices in the home
    • Almost 50% of users watch videos on their smartphones.
    • 90% of smartphone searches result in an action such as a purchase or a visit to a business.
  • Video is powerful in email marketing …
    • Video in email marketing has been shown to increase click-through rates by over 96%. In response, the number of marketers planning to use video in email campaigns has increased 5x since the beginning of 2009. (Implix 2010 Email Marketing Trends Survey)
    • A recent study by Forrester showed that video increased email click-through rates 2x-3x.(Forrester, 2010)
    • In tests, marketing automation provider Eloqua found that video in an introductory email campaign led to a 75% reduction in subscriber opt-outs. (Eloqua, 2010)
  • Affluent consumers prefer video and search to other digital advertising formats, as 41% of affluent online shoppers reported to eMarketer that they took an action after seeing one of these two ad formats. (eMarketer, August 2011)
  • Video is great for online shopping …
    • Frequent online shoppers value video more heavily than other shoppers. 46% of frequent online shoppers prefer shopping on sites with video, compared with 30% of infrequent online shoppers. (Internet Retailer, November 2010)
    • Visitors who view product videos are 85% more likely to buy than visitors who do not. (Internet Retailer, April 2010)
    • Retail site visitors who view video stay two minutes longer on average and are 64% more likely to purchase than other site visitors. (Comscore, August 2010)

Is it any wonder then, that Cisco make this prediction … video will increase from 30% of Internet traffic to 90% of Internet traffic by 2013. (Cisco, 2010)