Video is a very powerful marketing tool. It is engaging, interactive and informative. When it comes to advertising, video has a better customer conversion rate than any other format – including images. I guess this is the main reason why more companies are starting to use it as a must, as part of their marketing activities. With a significant raise in usage over the last few years, it’s only logical to say that online video will continue to dominate the Internet in 2016 as well. In this article, we’re going to take a closer look at some video trends for this year, and see how they will affect the marketing world. But first, let’s recap about what was happening last year.

Video Marketing in 2015

2015 was an important and exciting year for video marketing. We’ve seen increased video traffic on social networks and rise of video ad platforms. In July last year, YouTube announced that 400 hours of video is being uploaded every single minute! In November, Facebook said there were around 8 billion videos displayed each day. And Snapchat – the messaging app reported 6 billion daily views on videos. Many experts predict that these numbers will only increase in the future.

Did you know that as of 2015, nearly 70% of the Internet traffic in North America is video and audio streaming through platforms like YouTube, Netflix and Amazon Video? Yeah, and most of it is just video. With this insanely big and promising figures, video marketing will probably become the most effective way for companies to target new customers and promote their products.

Video Marketing Trends for 2016

Even though 2016 is still in the early stages, many of the stats about online video that I’ve mentioned above are already changing for the better. Let’s find out more about the top video marketing trends we can expect in 2016.

Video Advertising

Companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter have been offering video ads to their customers for a while now. One of things that should happen in 2016, is Google’s initiative to incorporate video ads into search results – which would be a game changer for online marketing! Also, Facebook’s COO Sharyl Sandberg announced that 1.5 million small and medium-sized businesses shared their video ads in September 2015. We can only assume that this number is going to get increasingly bigger in 2016.

Video Usage

I’ve already mentioned that Facebook displays 8 billion videos each day. Well, guess what? When this year ends, this number is predicted to exceed 20 billion! By 2019 however, Cisco’s white paper points out that 80% of the Internet traffic will be video – this is how you know that the time of online videos is yet to come.

A survey, conducted few months back showed that 96% of B2B businesses are already using videos as part of their marketing campaigns. 73% of the participants in the survey said that videos provided positive marketing results. This makes sense, because by using videos, companies can communicate with their customers in a better, more interactive way. 2016 will surely be a great year for the online video. As platforms evolve and allow better ways to deliver videos, businesses will have more marketing opportunities and challenges.

Mobile Videos

It’s not all about desktops and laptops anymore. Mobile devices are playing a key role in the video’s increased usage. Mobile video views increased their impact for 400% in a 2 year period, from 2012 to 2014. In 2016, mobile videos will account for 50% of the total video views. This ultimately will open new possibilities for companies to invest their resources into mobile video advertising and explore new markets. Also, eMarketer found out that by the end of this year, more than $100 billion will be spent on mobile ads served to tablets and smartphones worldwide.

DIY Video Marketing

DIY videos are something that will become more common in the future – especially when it comes to startup businesses. There are already many companies creating DIY videos because of advantages like lower production cost, transferable skills and a better control over the video. Generally speaking, this type of video is perceived as more appealing and tends to have more value in the consumer’s eye.

Video Watching Behavior

As video becomes more mainstream one thing is sure: people are changing their watching behavior. One example is vertical video, which works better with mobile devices and smaller screens. Research shows that we spend 30% of our time with vertically-held devices. That’s why the increased usage of mobile devices has resulted in greater need and presence of vertical videos.

In 2016, companies should start creating story-based video ads. These types of videos add more value, and tend to be more interesting for the viewers. Also, interactive videos are something we will surely see more in the near future. Not only they are more engaging, but also companies are able to gather insights on how customers think and behave in a given satiation.

Interesting Stats about Video Marketing

For the end, here are some very interesting stats about video marketing:

• In 2016, Business Insider found out that revenue from online video ads will reach $5 billion;
• Marketers are starting to allocate funds from TV commercial to online video advertising;
• A study conducted by WITSIA showed that customers who watch product video instead of reading text are 15-20% more likely to make a purchase;
• Judging by HubSpot, 85% of people in the United States watch online videos.

Author’s Bio

Stefan is a technology writer and WordPress developer. He is a graduate, with degree in Business Informatics (BI). Stefan enjoys writing about technology, online marketing and SEO. Big supporter of open-source, and GNU Linux enthusiast.

You can find him at Valoso, a freelance video service.