Video Content Set To Grow In 2016

The story of the rise of content marketing has also been the story of the rise of video content. As screens have shrunk and attentions spans have narrowed, audiences have increasingly found themselves watching clips instead of reading articles. A study last year found that 35% of viewers watched more video on their smartphones compared to 2014 and more than a third of people surveyed were watching mobile video content lasting more than five minutes at least once every day.

That rate has been predicted to rise. Analysts had expected people to increase the time they spent watching online video by 23.3% in 2015. They think it will grow by another 19.8% in 2016.

Part of that growth has come from the spread of social media. Between April and November 2015, Facebook’s daily video views doubled from 4 billion to 8 billion. The site counts a view as three seconds of play so those figures are likely to be inflated but  the growth is stupendous and it’s not just social media that’s pulling videos onto the Web. Content marketers have also come to understand that video marketing across the Web gets results.

So fashion firms like ASOS have embedded catwalk videos into their online catalogs, and we’ve seen online video branding generate the kind of reach and engagement that traditional channels could only dream of. Powered by social sharing, Volkswagen managed to amass a total of 155 million views for one series of three videos, and its corporate website has its own video section with a broad selection of video content. It was no surprise that when the company needed to apologize for falsifying its emissions figures, it made that apology as a video:

Video Goes Live

As brands will continue to push out more video content, they’ll also create a new form of video content. Or rather, they’ll be turning back to an old form: live video. Periscope, Twitter’s live streaming platform, rocketed to ten million accounts within just four months of its launch. Coach, GE and Taco Bell have all used it, and Nissan streamed the unveiling of its 2016 Maxima model at the New York auto show.

Now that brands have recognized the value of video, audiences are using it and the infrastructure for live streaming has been established, expect to see launches becoming glitzier and shared in real time, and more companies taking people behind their scenes.

Video Becomes More Interactive

The next big thing in content marketing will be virtual reality, but we’re not there yet. In the meantime, 2016 is likely to bring more interactive video. We’ve already seen some experimentation in music videos. Coldplay used Interlude to turn their music video into an interactive story and Bjork allowed viewers to check out the scenery while watching her video.

​

In 2016, we can expect to see more of those techniques spread outside music and into branding — at least until virtual reality brings video makers a new set of engagement tools.

Click here and get your FREE copy of ASTELO's practical guide:
"101 Content Marketing - The New Face of Digital Marketing".