Australian businesses are devoting more of their marketing budget to online video than ever before, as viewing trends skyrocket with latest statistics from YouTube revealing a staggering three billion views every day. Once seen as “new technology”, video has fast become a favourite for marketers with its capacity to engage viewer attention, drive brand awareness and boost SEO.
Research from the US shows people spend 75% more time on websites with video, and 85% of consumers go online before making a purchase. This could be why 57% of marketers plan to increase video advertising in 2012, according to recent statistics from Digiday.
Video production company Visual Domain is riding this wave of popularity, having grown to a staff of over fifty to cope with demand.
‘We’ve seen enquiries triple in the last six months,’ says Daniel Goldstein, Director of Visual Domain. ‘Many businesses are posting weekly videos instead of newsletters, and there’s strong interest in company profile videos from business owners needing a more effective way to connect with their market.’
In Australia, real estate has been one of the first industries to embrace video, and agents are experiencing dramatic results: listings with video receive 403% more enquiries on domain.com.au than listings without. Melbourne real estate group Jellis Craig was one of the first companies to adopt video technology as an integral part of its property e-marketing strategy. CEO Nick Dowling says:
‘In addition to visiting traditional information channels, purchasers are increasingly going online and looking to digital content to research the market. For us, video marketing is a powerful way to drive sales for our clients. Not only are purchasers more engaged with our property listings, they are also reaching a larger audience because viewers tend to share videos via social networking sites.’
Demand for online videos has also skyrocketed from small and medium enterprises in retail, health, finance, leisure, hospitality and tourism. Many businesses are making use of video for internal purposes, such as training staff, presenting products and answering frequently asked questions.
Several key benefits of video are driving this surge in popularity. Video is more engaging than photos or text; using the emotive power of sound, vision and graphics to deliver key messages in a personable and attention-grabbing way. From a branding perspective, video is also useful in boosting recognition, improving SEO and communicating brand values using tone and style.
With online media consumption habits gaining momentum, video is anything but a passing trend. YouTube stats confirm that 400 million videos are watched daily on mobile devices, and this has tripled in the last year. Social video campaigns delivered 8 billion views in 2011, which is predicted to double again this year according to digital marketing experts at econsultant. Within 2 years, global online video ad spending is predicted to explode from $1.97 billion to $5.71 billion.
Guest Author: Daniel Goldstein, Director @ Visual Domain