On their Engage the Blog blog, TMG Custom Media just posted a great list of “101 Online Video Stats to Make Your Eyes Glaze Over.” (Link is here) Some of them are actually quite startling. Here are some of my favorites (and the ones I think have the most implications on clients considering the use of Web video as a marketing and/or promotional outlet):
• “In a 2010 report from Cisco, 30% of Internet traffic is currently video. By 2013, 90% of Internet traffic will be video.”
• “Video ads accounted for 12.4% of all videos viewed and 1.2% of all minutes spent watching video online.”
• “Video E-mail messages generate 2-3 X higher click-thru rates compared to static E-mails.”
• “46% of consumers who shop online regularly prefer shopping on retail sites providing product video compared to 30% of consumers who occasionally shop online.”
• “According to Internet Retailer, an April 2010 report stated that consumers who watch product videos are 85% more likely to buy products compared to those who do not watch.”
• “Internet Retailer released a study that found shoppers were 144% more likely to add a product to their cart after viewing a product video on StacksandStacks.com compared to shoppers who avoided video.”
There are many other great statistics on this list, and mostly all of them point to the rapid rate at which video content is becoming the dominant content vehicle on the Web. The most important takeaway for me, though, were these:
• “The average online video ad was 24 seconds.”
• “By 30 seconds into an online video up to 33% of viewers have moved on; at 1 minute 44% have left (regardless of the clip’s length) and almost 60% have abandoned by the 2 minute mark.”
I like to remind all my clients, if it’s going on the Web, keep it short to keep your viewer engaged. The audience there is much less “captive” than, say, someone sitting in an office, watching a training video for work. Glad to finally have some stats to back it up! But it’s also important to consider your intended viewing device:
• “According to MeFeedia, iPad users commit to watching a web video for 5 minutes on average.”
• “Android users watch for 3 minutes on average.”
• “iPhone users watch for 2.4 minutes on average.”
• “Desktop users watch web video for less than 2 minutes on average.”
Why do viewers hang around longer on the iPad than they do on a desktop computer? Or longer on an Android phone than an iPhone? I’m not sure anyone really knows yet, but the more we learn about these relatively new devices and all the ways in which people use them during the average day, the better we’ll start to understand how to most effectively target our Web video content not only to each different medium (TV, Web, etc) but to each device or viewing platform within that medium. Exciting things are coming!
Kevin
Owner, Red Oak Digital
NJ Video Marketing Production Company