The easing of pandemic-related constraints on in-person meetings and events did not slow rapid growth in the use of video for sales, marketing and other business communications, according to the fifth annual Video in Business Benchmark Report from Vidyard. The report, which analyzed primary data from more than 1,350,000 videos published by more than 2,000 businesses during 2021, showed an extraordinary 178% increase in video creation compared to the same period in 2020. In addition, the report found that 80% of all videos created were user-generated versus 60% in 2020.
“We have found in other studies that hybrid videos generate the highest response rates and produce the best results and therefore expect to see more and more use of the hybrid format”
The 2022 Video in Business Benchmark Report, compiled by Vidyard and featuring data from Demand Metric, analyzes the way businesses use video to support sales, marketing and communications initiatives. The findings are based on analysis of anonymized video creation and hosting data from Vidyard’s user base, representing a broad range of industries and organization sizes. The 2021 report also evaluates, for the first time, the growing use of live video.
“Pandemic-related constraints on in-person interactions have no doubt been a catalyst for growth in business use of video over the past two years,” said Tyler Lessard, Chief Video Strategist and VP of Marketing at Vidyard. “But yet another triple-digit increase in the use of video for sales, marketing and business communications purposes – even as those constraints began to ease – signals that video is now firmly established as an essential tool for sellers, marketers and corporate communications teams.”
Rapid Growth Attests to Video’s Value Across Communications Disciplines
“Clearly, the rapid growth of video for business communications is being driven not just by pandemic-related necessity, but by video’s proven effectiveness at delivering key messages and the ease with which it can now be created, shared, and tracked by any business professional,” said Lessard.
To illustrate that point, Lessard noted that in Vidyard’s recently published 2022 State of Video Report, 82% of study participants said that video, as a form of content, is becoming more important to their organizations. In addition, 70% of study participants said that video converts better than any other form of content they use.
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User-Generated Video Continues to Grow in Popularity
User-generated video—defined for purposes of the 2022 Benchmark Report as video created using Vidyard’s webcam and screen recording tool, versus produced outside the Vidyard environment and uploaded to the platform—accounted for 80% of all videos shared or published in 2021 by users of its platform, up from 60% in the prior year. Lessard said the growth in user-generated video is not surprising given the circumstances under which most businesses were operating in 2021. “User-generated video is quicker, easier and less expensive to create and is proving no less effective at delivering the desired results,” said Lessard.
Two-thirds of the user-generated videos were either screen recordings (capturing just what’s on-screen) or hybrid videos (which use a webcam feed of the presenter in a corner of the screen in addition to the on-screen browser tab or presentation). “We have found in other studies that hybrid videos generate the highest response rates and produce the best results and therefore expect to see more and more use of the hybrid format,” said Lessard.