Video is a Driver of Online Growth

According to Marketing Charts ZenithOptimedia continues to predict robust spending growth for Internet advertising in the face of a flat growth rate for newspapers and a decline in growth of spending for television ads.

There is pretty universal agreement that video is one of the main drivers in the time users are spending on the web and consequently the dollars marketer are shifting to it. eMarketer, in their August 24 2007 newsletter, estimates current video ad spending at a mere $775 million in 2007 with an increase to $2.9 billion by 2010. In the same publication they quote an American Advertising Foundation survey of marketing executives that rates video advertising third in marketing effectiveness behind search and social networking. The Center for Media Research (free subscription required) quotes a study of streaming video by Advertising.com. Sixty-two percent of their respondents are viewing streaming video online, most at home in the evening. Segmenting by age, 31% of 18 to 34 year olds watch streaming video; 69% of consumers 35 and over watch streaming video. That surprises me; does it surprise you? Maybe it’s because of the content they stream; the most streamed content in the second half of 2007 was news clips and the only content that had declining viewership from the first to the second half of 2007 was music videos.

You can see interesting examples of corporate videos all around you—at least if you look on YouTube. This one is a family favorite.



Techniques to make it viral are there—share (email) and embed, as I’ve done. The chart in the post from InfluxBranding shows that it did, indeed, go viral but as the author points out, didn’t maintain it for long. So it’s necessary to keep the video creativity coming!

Let your customers help you. I’ve had wonderful experiences with all my grandchildren at museums and galleries. About a year ago I was privileged to be with my youngest grandson when he had his first museum experience. His mother never leaves home without her digital camera; that may be a generational thing. On this day she took some wonderful pictures, still, not video in this case. The little guy’s face was full of awe and wonder and pure enjoyment. Sadly, the museum offered us no place to share a few pictures of an enthralled two year old. (I just checked and it still doesn’t.) How sad. Letting customers upload photos and videos can be advertising beyond price. Especially since you don’t have to pay for it; just give them opportunity to share their experiences!