Nonetheless, the Covid-19 pandemic overwhelmingly increased the demand and consumption of video usage. Users are spending more than half their time watching videos of some kind. Based on a survey by WyZowl, 68% of consumers said the pandemic has impacted the amount of video content they’ve watched online, with the overwhelming majority (96%) saying this has increased.
Zoom and TikTok have become the most popular pandemic video apps with Instagram following the trend to bring new video features. A joint study conducted by Snap, the parent company of social media messaging app Snapchat, and Omnicom Media Group, found the pandemic and the stay-at-home orders in many places fueled the demand and consumption of videos on social media and other applications on mobile.
In August 2020, a Nielsen report found subscriptions for streaming services and mobile video consumption increased in U.S. households during the pandemic. A few months later, The Walt Disney Co. said it would make a more significant investment into its streaming services.
Gen Zers and millennials, main consumers of video content
Video consumption, however, became more popular when feature phones turned into smartphones with high resolution screens and high-speed internet available for the average citizen. Psy’s Gangnam Style video, forced YouTube to change its maximum view limit in 2014. YouTube said the video – its most watched ever – has been viewed more than 2,147,483,647 times. It then changed the maximum view limit to 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 (Nine quintillion, two hundred and twenty-three quadrillion, three hundred and seventy-two trillion, thirty-six billion, eight hundred and fifty-four million, seven hundred and seventy-five thousand, eight hundred and eight), or more than nine quintillion. Apart from, Psy’s PR strategy, one of their winning factors was the wide accessibility to high-speed internet in South Korea at a time when other middle-class citizens in the US and Europe did not have access to.
In today’s digitalized world, Gen Zers and millennials are growing up with smartphones and are more connected to the internet than older age groups. More than nine-in-ten millennials (93% of those who turn ages 23 to 38) own smartphones, compared with 90% of Gen Xers, 68% of Baby Boomers and 40% of the Silent Generation, according to a new analysis of a Pew Research Center survey of U.S. adults conducted in early 2019. Similarly, the vast majority of millennials (86%) say they use social media, compared with smaller shares among older generations. They are just not interested in sifting through different kinds of content to get to what they know they like.
Based on a survey by YouTube, 50% of people in both generations said they “couldn’t live” without video in their daily lives. Michael Litt, co-founder and CEO of the online video platform Vidyard, said in a statement, “Gen Z and millennials prefer video over text. As these demographics take over the corporate world, this generation may finally be the ones to dramatically reduce our dependence on text-based email and engagement systems”. Another survey from the business website, The Manifest reported that 89% of Gen Zers use YouTube, 74% use Instagram, and 68% use Snapchat on a weekly basis.
Video is relaxing and entertaining
Gen Zers and millennials use different social media apps like TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube to watch videos seeking entertainment, discovering new hobbies or skills and even changing their mood. 84% of the young people Google interviewed said they feel overwhelmed by their schoolwork and activities – YouTube allows them to decompress. In another research by Snap, which studied reasons the young generation watch video, the results ranged from learning something new, unplug, lift mood, see what others are doing, sharing news to discovering new content, and reacting to a particular video post.
Video content for education
Based on another study by Vidyard, lengthy texts make people lose focus and attention, cause anxiety and brain activity associated with negative emotions such as being upset or annoyed, “since long lines are strenuous for the brain to process”. This is while video content promotes a more positive experience, feeling more motivated and less fatigued.
YouTube ranks the highest, especially among the Gen Z group, as a preferred learning tool. YouTube viewers are motivated to watch content that teaches them new things, especially when related to their passions, interests, hobbies, or social causes. “When younger learners are looking for answers, they’re going to the most straightforward, familiar force, and for them that’s YouTube,” said Peter Broad, the director of global research and insights for Pearson education company.
Video content, strongest marketing tool
Knowing that video content is here to stay and how it has changed our consumption of content; marketers, influencers, media sources, and anyone else who wants to deliver a message to the next consumer generation – which also happens to be the most diverse in history – must invest in video content to survive the competition. These age groups prefer video explainers, product demos, video reviews, or other marketing videos than to simply reading about a company, product or service online. In 2018, 87% of consumers said they wanted to see more video from brands in the next year. According to Smart Insight, 48% of consumers want to see videos about products/services they are interested in, and 43% would prefer for this process to be interactive.
Video content also has one of the highest engagement rates. People tend to be curious while watching videos and are more likely to watch until the end if the content appeals to them. HubSpot’s 2020 State of Marketing reported, video beat out heavyweight contenders like email, blogging, and infographics as the most used type of marketing content. Video has come to rule social media landscape. It’s a richer form of content than just text or photos and it’s more versatile. Cisco estimates that video will account for 82% of internet traffic globally by 2022, up from 75% in 2017, and that live video will grow 15-fold over that time to account for 17% of Internet video traffic by 2022.
On the other hand, marketers also point out to the importance of video content for attracting consumers. They say that it increases their return on investment (ROI) and conversion rates, particularly when used on landing pages. According to Smart Insights, 92% of marketers said that video content was an important part of their marketing strategy in 2020. This is a significant increase from 2015, when only 78% of marketers were incorporating video into their strategy. In 2020, an overwhelming 88% of marketers said they had a positive ROI, compared to 33% in 2015.
Thus, are the days of written content numbered?
Of course not! Both types of content are viable and complement each other. After all, every video needs a script and a caption to secure a space in the search engine ranking. To rank on YouTube, you need to have a clear title with keywords and at least a 200 word, unique and well written description.
The use of written content, however, does not stop here. According to Michael Brenner, a top CMO, Content Marketing and Digital Marketing Influencer, a good written article can give you the information you need more quickly as it tends to be easier to skim through the paragraphs and find the parts that are relevant to you.
While video is also great for generating the initial interest in our busy world, people need the features and benefits of products, services or contracts in a format that they can spend time digesting and saving for future reference.
Cost is also a major factor in any company’s marketing budget. Video production can be very costly. A professionally-produced video of one to two minutes long, without motion graphics, will cost on average $5,000 – $20,000. Whereas, for a written content, the only costs are essentially the content writer’s salary.
And finally, our audience may not always end up being Gen Zers or the millennials. The older generation often prefer to read than watch a video. Therefore, if you are targeting an older demographic, you might want to invest in writing a blog post or descriptive website content.
After all, you’ve read this far of my article, haven’t you?
While written content remains the cornerstone of communication, videos have become the most popular choice for content consumption today. In this digital age, people tend to consume content on their portable devices such as mobile phones and tablets. Therefore, it is more convenient to watch rather than read most of the time. People will scroll through their phones during their daily commute, while drinking a coffee, at any waiting area, during their work breaks, before bed and even at breakfast. Video is the new-age marketing strategy, and it is here to stay. It is expanding, changing, and evolving to fit new consumer needs and new platforms.