The Top 42 Video Marketing Statistics for 2023

As we review the video marketing statistics below, you will see that video is a marketing tool that you cannot ignore if you want to market online.

You’ll soon be wondering why you aren’t using videos to give your video marketing strategy a boost.

Most people agree that video is hot. No matter the subject matter or the forum, videos are literally cropping up all over the Internet. While just a few years ago you had to turn on the TV to get news videos, now they can be found on a news company’s smartphone app or websites. People even make video blogs about the news to accompany their blog posts.

Consider this: Cisco estimates that video traffic will drive 82% of IP traffic (Internet traffic) this year.

On both social video platforms like YouTube and visual social networks like Instagram, there are videos about all kinds of products . Many of these are made by influencers, while others include tutorials about everything from makeup application to car repair. These videos can even depict the use of something in everyday life. Some are sponsored, while others aren’t.

What exactly does video marketing offer?

Video marketing provides businesses seeking to find more customers with the following advantages:

• It blends visual imagery, sound, special effects and text headings that offer potential customers a richer picture of the ideas you are attempting to communicate in your sales videos.
• It is a combination of attention-grabbing media that simply describes your business concept.
• Videos help a viewer to get a peek at your product or service and demonstrate real-life uses for social media users. They also provide prospective customers with the advantage of getting any questions they may have answered before buying, thus driving purchases.

For us marketing professionals, this explosion of video content presents a golden content marketing opportunity. But do you know where to use it to get video views? How do you make videos that go beyond just the old-fashioned TV commercial? Is it a simple matter of video production quality, or is the power of video marketing driven by something else entirely? 

So … if you are not using this extraordinarily effective form of marketing, maybe the following statistics will give you the kick in the pants you need to take the plunge into crafting marketing video posts.

Ready to take the plunge?

If all this has convinced you that it’s time to get started, here are a few statistics demonstrating the benefits video content marketing can offer your company.

1. 85% of marketers credit video as an effective way to get attention online.

According to the Miles website, one minute of video is worth 1.8 million written words. That’s a lot of oomph! In fact, the same website advises that video marketers NOT load videos down with a ton of text. Any text you use in your video should be short and pithy so your audience can read your social media posts instantly.

An “explainer video” is a good example of this kind of attention getter. It does what it says – it explains your product or service, generally in 90 seconds or less. If you do them well, they are a terrific way to attract prospective customers and show them what your business does.

One video produced by the Benjamin Rush Institute embedded below explains the benefits of a new way of providing health care through the free market. It’s a little longer than the standard explainer video, but it presents a problem and a solution in only a little more than three minutes. The only wording on the screen identifies the speakers who tell the story the video is working to communicate.

According to Forbes,

2. Customers retain 95% of the information contained in videos.

Why is this important? Simply put, videos have the potential to make your product or service memorable. The overwhelming majority of people are better able to remember information delivered via video. Even if they aren’t ready to buy something immediately, they’re likely to think of you later. Customers can also gather information about different options and have a better idea what they need or want when talking to sales teams from their favorite brands.

3. 37% of the average video keeps viewers all the way to the end.

While capturing your audience’s attention and making sure they remember the content in your video, you want to hold them all the way to the end. So, if your goal is to draw in your audience and motivate them to visit your website or brick and mortar store, your marketing videos must be high-quality and engaging, so adjust your video marketing budget accordingly.

4. 16% of people stopped watching a video because they felt it was too boring. 

Just making videos is not enough; you must set out to create compelling videos that will capture and keep your audience’s interest.

An underlying trend in all of this is that

5. 80% of people prefer videos over written text

Online video marketing is essential for most businesses.

Arguably, this has been the case to some extent for half a century. After all, the original marketing with video was TV commercials and product placements. However, TV is a very expensive way to advertise, and it isn’t as effective as it once was:

6. 60% of the population prefers online content to TV.

Perhaps one of the most surprising video marketing stats is this: TV is losing its dominance in marketing. While plenty of people still watch TV, many more are turning to YouTube and other sources of entertainment. Anyone heard of the “cutting the cord” trend? People are fed up with paying so much money for cable or satellite when there is so much to watch online. Heck, you can even find those popular types of reality shows on YouTube.

Consider this: According to Google,

7. 50% of Internet users view videos before making a purchase.

It would be interesting to note that this is in addition to consumers who see a commercial on TV and decide to buy something, since the survey in question only asked internet users about their habits. Consider: you can use some of the same video footage for TV and online distribution. That’s a win-win, because you only pay for production once but reach double the amount of your target audience.

Video is also essential because:

8. Most customers (69%) prefer watching a video over reading text to learn about products and services.

What this means, generally, is that customers are becoming highly video-oriented. Video allows customers to see how a product is used, or listen to information about your service, instead of reading about it. If your potential customer has trouble reading for whatever reason, video is a type of content that remains accessible to most members of your target audience.

Customers love videos

Let’s be honest: everyone loves to watch a good video. Even back in the days before internet video was a thing, people looked forward to making popcorn and gathering around the family TV. Now, of course, video has become ubiquitous. Log on to any online forum, and you are bombarded with everything from cute puppy videos to documentaries. Why? Because people love them.

Consider thisl:

9. One study found that 87% of consumers want more videos from brands.

One reason for this, as we mentioned before, is that video information is easy to retain. But videos also give the customer an opportunity to conceptualize their use of a product. They can come up with creative ideas, find the solution to a problem, or even have a good laugh. Clever “commercials” aren’t dead, they’re just evolving, and lend a great deal of “oomph” to a company’s social media platform.

10. 39% of customers want more explainer videos from brands.

No more flipping through owner’s manuals for everything. Instead, customers like to be able to see how something is used, or why it is important. Best of all, for customers who have difficulty reading, videos provide an alternative method of information delivery, making video an essential component of digital marketing.

11. It is estimated that 1 million videos are watched every second.

That’s a staggering amount of content. You’ll want to consider that, while a large amount of this content will be streaming TV shows or movies, there’s a lot of marketing in that figure as well. Services like Hulu include a lot of advertisements in their streaming. In addition, there’s the increasing amount of sponsored content and advertisements.

And, on average, today it is estimated that

12. 49% of people watch a minimum of five videos every day.

13. 58% of individuals surveyed indicated that videos were vital to their learning process and growth. 

In a Google survey, the use of videos and streaming was evaluated. 58% of respondents indicated that videos had become a mainstay in their own educational efforts, in whatever form that came.

It’s no wonder, then, that:

Video marketing generates a lot of sales

Since consumers love video so much, it’s no surprise that video marketing is highly successful, from product demos to basic advertisements. After all, quality videos grab the attention, and people retain the information they watch. Nobody wants to be forgotten, right? So, what if you combined written material on your website with quality video?

14. 87% of businesses are already using video as a marketing tool.

Are you in the 87% or 13%?

15. 81% of marketers intend to use video marketing as part of their overall marketing strategy in upcoming years.

Marketers are taking note: video marketing is an invaluable addition to marketing campaigns.

16. Having a video on your landing page increases conversions by at least 80%.

That’s a pretty incredible success rate! Just by putting a video on your landing page, you’re almost doubling your conversion rate. Given that producing video is cheap these days, you’re looking at a pretty incredible return on your investment (ROI) of video marketing.

17. Almost 2/3 of consumers get purchase ideas from watching videos.

Just think about that for a minute. A consumer sits down and watches a video about your product or service that they find online. Maybe they’re looking for a solution to their problem, or perhaps they’re thinking about what to give a favorite nephew for his birthday. Suddenly, they realize that the product is the best solution to the problem, or that their nephew would love to play with the item in question. They browse your website, and the price is right. Now you’ve just made a sale that might not have happened if the customer hadn’t watched your video! According to this statistic, I’ve described a common scenario for online video content.

18. 84% of people declare that they have been convinced to make a purchase as a result of video marketing efforts

That is a significant number of people! Video marketing can be a powerful tool in your brand’s arsenal to change views to actual purchases. 

19. 79% of people claim to have downloaded an app or software after viewing a marketing video. 

This is an important statistic for anyone operating a brand or business in the fields of technology and entertainment. If you are offering apps or software, you may be missing out on a significant portion of sales if you are not utilizing video marketing!

Maybe that’s why:

20. 81% of marketers credit video with helping them to generate leads.

There’s no secret that videos can help you generate sales and leads that lead to sales (pun intended). It should not come as a surprise, then, that:

21. At least 88% of marketers are satisfied with their return on investment from video.

Granted, the ROI of video can be evaluated a variety of different ways, as video stats can attest. You might be trying to get a new customer, increase brand awareness, or keep existing customers. But no matter the goal of a particular campaign, marketing experts have overwhelmingly found that videos are worth the money they require, no matter the types of video content being used

And on a related note:

22. 41% of respondents to a survey said videos reduce support calls.

This is significant, because in effect it means that product videos help reduce the cost of product support. Make a few good quality explainer videos, and customers who have purchased your product will often watch them when there’s a problem of some sort. Let’s face it: nobody really enjoys calling technical support, and will avoid doing so whenever possible. Assembly instructions and owner’s manuals aren’t always as helpful as we want them to be, either. Give customers a video, and they can “see how it’s done right.” Fewer tech support calls as a result of engaging video means lower costs, and happier customers. Win-win.

When we look at channels to marketing your videos in, it’s no surprise that there are a plethora of statistics that support the popularity of social video.

YouTube is the most popular place to post videos

Did you know that YouTube is considered a search engine? Most of us think of the site as a social media website, but it’s really a lot more than that. After all, even individuals who only watch videos technically have their own “channel,” potentially with numerous video projects and potentially even a different type of video per week. Anyone with an account can rate, comment, and subscribe to videos or other channels, and for this reason, YouTube functions like a social network. At the same time, you can type anything into the search box and find all sorts of videos on whatever subject you’d like. So, how big is YouTube, exactly?

According to Statista,

23. YouTube has more than 2.5 Billion active users.

The same survey tells us that only Facebook has more active users, which indicates that YouTube is a massive market. To give you an idea of how many people this is, consider that:

24. 81% of Americans use YouTube, more than any other social network.

That’s just the US! Imagine how many people in other countries are included in the 2 billion users. When we think about social media we often forget to include YouTube, but this number should remind us of its importance!

25. 81% of parents utilize YouTube for their children. 

YouTube is an excellent platform for creating content geared toward children and families. If you have a product that sits within this niche, you should be uploading to YouTube! Reviews, product information and demonstration videos, and more can successfully help your brand or company reach the eyes of parents eager to find helpful items and information for their children–a demographic that is often difficult to reach and impact.

26. Almost 5 Billion hours of videos are watched every day on YouTube.

That’s 2.5 hours per user, every day! Taken together, we can see that YouTube is a major source of video entertainment for potential customers. At the same time, this is a major opportunity for us marketers to tout our products and services and drive organic traffic from our new and existing customer base.

27. YouTube replaced Facebook as the #1 platform for driving consumer behavior–but it may be pushed aside by TikTok.

The power of video and popularity of YouTube combined with a demographic shift in how online video consumption is conducted is changing consumer behavior. Nevertheless, TikTok may be dethroning YouTube, making it an important platform for brands and businesses looking to maximize video marketing efforts.

Not sure about YouTube marketing? There are other options.

Instagram is another great place for video.

As everyone knows, Instagram was originally designed to post pictures of our lives. As a result, there are a lot of flashy special effects available to add to any picture taken with a cell phone camera. But did you know that Instagram is a great place for video, as well? Consider this:

28. Instagram has more than one Billion active monthly users

While not the biggest of social networks, depending on your target user demographics, this is a great place to implement video marketing. Why are demographics important in your efforts to implement a video strategy?

29. 43% of US women use Instagram, compared to only 31% of men

I wasn’t able to figure out why Instagram has more women than men. Maybe the ladies like to show off their stuff more. However, the lesson here is that if your brand is more female-friendly, you might have a bigger potential audience. Instagram video ads are expensive, so you’ll want to take this factor into account.  On the other hand, it’s a good place to post videos that “refer” users to your website.

What is interesting about Instagram is that it is almost two different (and if you count IGTV three different) social networks rolled into one. Specifically I am talking about Instagram Stories, because:

30. Instagram Stories have 500 million active monthly users

As a social network, there are more active monthly users on Instagram Stories alone than probably Snapchat, Twitter, and LinkedIn on most months. This makes it another attractive reason to target Instagram for your video marketing.

31. 1/3 of the most viewed Instagram Stories are from businesses

We all know how popular Instagram Stories has become, and while you can place videos in the feed, many marketers will tell you that Stories is where the real engagement is, despite not requiring extremely high quality content. This statistic not only shows you that brands are actively engaging in Stories, but also that users accept content from brands in that format today.

We can’t forget about Facebook

According to Animoto,

32. Facebook is the #1 platform for posting ad videos,

and the majority of video marketers plan to use this platform within the next year. YouTube and Instagram come in closely after Facebook. Facebook video ads are currently the most effective way to quickly and cheaply build up a custom audience that you can retarget to.

Of course that makes sense because

33. Facebook has 2.38 billion active monthly users.

Not only that,

34. Facebook users are viewing approximately 4 billion hours of video daily.

All this means that your video marketing efforts should certainly NOT ignore the power of Facebook.

While Facebook also has Stories, it also has Facebook Live, a powerful and popular live streaming platform. How popular?

35. 33% of marketers have utilized Facebook Live as a channel.

In fact,

36. 1 in 5 videos is a live broadcast on Facebook.

Now that we’ve covered potential video channels in social media, let’s check out some social media video statistics, together with some tips that can help us become better video marketers.

37. As much as 85% of the videos posted on Facebook are watched in silence. 

While Facebook video ads are important to promote your brand and products, knowing that 85% of Facebook ads are watched silently can inform your marketing efforts. Whether you create ads that do not require sound to deliver coherent information or you utilize closed captioning, make sure you are carefully constructing your Facebook ads to accommodate the most common usage patterns.

Watch your delivery

Just because videos are popular doesn’t mean that you should just post anything you want on the internet. Customers need something memorable if they’re going to watch it. In addition, it should be relevant, and easy to watch on whatever type of device your customer is using. Here are some statistics to guide your choices:

38. 2 minutes is a good length.

Why 2 minutes?  Two minutes is how long customer attention spans typically last, according to the most recent video stats available. However, videos of 6-12 minutes are effective, as well. Although the study doesn’t explain the reasons, a lot of it may have to do with the type of video. Something that explains a more complicated product or service HAS to be longer than a short “commercial.” And customers will often be willing to sit through a video like that in order to gain needed information.

39. 82% of users don’t like it when a video isn’t optimized for their device.

What this means is that you need to consider whether your video is more likely to be viewed horizontally or vertically. This can vary based on your intended audience and where you distribute the content. For example, YouTube is great for horizontal videos, because it has a full screen feature. Meanwhile, Instagram assumes that everything will be played vertically.

Knowing this, it is important to note that

40. 62% of people prefer to watch videos on smartphones and tablets. 

If such a large portion of your potential audience is watching content on a smartphone or tablet, it is absolutely essential to make sure that your videos are properly formatted and able to adhere to a variety of delivery formats. 

While we are on the subject of formatting and structure, keep in mind that

41. Making customers laugh results in a 92% increase in purchase intent.

How many of us have bought from a store because the salesman or customer service agent was funny or charming? I suspect most of us have. Laughter gives your brand the opportunity to build rapport with potential customers. Anyone who has worked in sales knows that building rapport is one of the best ways to sell products and services. Video is no exception.

42. Personalized videos have a 35% higher retention rate

Not only does brain science affect retention of video content, but personalized video appeals to individuals. Vidyard describes this type of video as being customized for individual viewers by inserting personal information such as a viewer’s name, job title, profile image, etc.  It is not necessary to create a separate original video for each recipient, which can be very labor and cash intensive. A personalized video takes advantage of technology to use the same video repeatedly. Such a video contains points designated as fields where personalized information can be placed.

Those were some compelling statistics – will you take action now?

Video is an old tradition that has become new again. A generation ago, video was the purview of movie theaters and television studios. It was an expensive marketing technique available to only a few. But now, with the advent of the Internet and smartphones, it’s easier than ever to reach customers through video. Increasingly, this technique is essential.

Which of these statistics is your favorite? And if you’re looking for some tools to help, check out my post on video marketing tools.

Hero photo by Souvik Banerjee on Unsplash

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