The economy might be as unpredictable as ever, but businesses still value the power of video as part of their marketing technology stack.
In 2023, people watched more videos than ever before, with plays jumping by 15% and total watch time soaring by 44%. Videos are more than a popular medium. They’re an effective and proven content marketing channel for businesses to cultivate leads.
The bottom line: video is a crucial tactic in your marketing strategy. And though the starting line varies for every organization, findings from our 2024 State of Video Report can help point you in the right direction. The report compiled Wistia user data from over 90 million videos on our platform as well as a customer survey of 2,000 professionals. It looks at key video marketing insights from performance, to creation, and the evolving use of generative artificial intelligence (AI).
Let’s dive into the findings.
Video is a top marketing medium
In 2020, most of us were stuck inside, sitting on our couch and consuming a great deal of content. The boom in video consumption was inevitable… and predictable. But what marketers didn’t anticipate was that the spike in video usage during the pandemic would never level out to pre-pandemic numbers (our data left no room for doubt). Organizations and audiences continue to crave video content, and this year, businesses are responding by investing more in it.
Our report found that nearly 78% of businesses are eager to make more videos in 2024 and 57% are planning to pour more resources into their video efforts this year. And what types of videos are companies investing in? Just under half (38%) of organizations are focused on leveraging video to generate leads and boost sales. Other creators use video to educate viewers on their products and encourage product adoption (31%), as well as increase brand awareness and PR (17%). A small 8% want to engage folks and get more followers on social media.