Online video presents an incredible opportunity for brands to reach consumers, and in the past year, that opportunity has increased by 37%.
According to a report from comScore, U.K. online video viewing grew by 37% between February 2009 and February 2010 among the U.K. audience age 15 and older accessing the Internet at home or at work. Mirroring online video viewing statistics in the United States, the U.K. audience watches the vast majority of online video content on YouTube (99.6% in the U.K.). You can see the specific results in the chart below.
Clearly, online video is attracting more attention from audiences who are spending more time watching online video than ever before with no signs of that growth slowing down. Many viewers are even shifting time away from broadcast television to watch traditional programs online instead, making the case for two opportunities: online video creation and publishing as well as online video advertising.
The question for brands is not whether or not you should consider leveraging online video to build your brand but how fast you can capitalize on the opportunity. The problem, however, is identifying the best way to successfully capitalize on that opportunity, which is something no one knows how to do yet.
So what do you do? First, you have to set your goals for online video and commit to the fact that it’s a long term marketing strategy that will take time to test, tweak and try again in order to figure out what works for your brand, business and audience. The challenge is getting buy-in from senior management to invest time and resources into experimenting with and learning about online video in lieu of sure-fire, short-term tactic implementation that is practically guaranteed to bring results. There is no doubt that shifting money and time into untested and unfamiliar territory is a risk. The rewards are out there to reap, but it will take time to figure out how to reach them.
Has your business committed time and resources into testing online video marketing opportunities? Leave a comment and share your story.
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
