Evolution of Video Consumption

First released in 1979, the famous tune went on to top 16 International music charts. Ironically, when MTV was launched two years later, “Video killed the Radio star” became the first song to grace television screens in a new format that would change the industry forever: music video.

Forward thinking brands and marketers can take advantage of unprecedented access to consumers where it matters most. We are rapidly entering a new golden age of video, with more consumers on more devices watching more video content than ever before. The number of Internet users continues to grow, as does time spent online and content consumption is shifting toward mobile, which now accounts for nearly 70 percent of digital media time.

Think with Google research reveals that 56 percent of “Gen C” users took action after viewing ads on YouTube. While marketers worry that mobile internet content consumption will reduce their impact, the truth is that mobile digital video is quickly becoming the best way to reach an audience. Mobile video is not only rapidly becoming the preferred type of content, it’s also better at holding an audience attention than television.

It is very important for a brand to build a winning video strategy. This begins with a big idea that cuts to the heart of a problem that the product solves, or a vision of the brand and its role in daily life. Once this ‘story kernel’ has been developed, brands can build on it by articulating how they solve the problem or overcome the challenge. Where you tell a story can be just as important as how you tell it. Situating an ad in a context where the product value is clear increases the ad’s conceptual fluency. Contextually relevant ads are less intrusive, and they lower the mental strain on the viewer. They can also benefit from the halo effect.

One of the most obvious constraints of the new form is length. Instead of compressing content into even smaller parcels, brands should synthesize a story system that links discrete content vehicles into a broader narrative. Each piece works independently, encoding specific brand values, while also speaking to an overarching vision of the brand. Consumers can then interact with the content that is most relevant to them without losing sight of the brand’s overarching vision.

Brands need to choose the metrics that best evaluate the components of their strategy they want to improve and how they want to improve them. Once selected, these metrics need to be continuously re-evaluated as part of a perpetual learning system, where new knowledge informs the path of future research and experimentation. Measuring views will help a brand increase viewership, but leaves consumer attention entirely out of the picture.

Viewability, impact and context are good places to start, as they are fundamental to successful campaigns, but it’s also important to understand whether the message is clear, whether viewers are attentive, and if this attention is translating into action: sales or brand equity increased. Brands must become increasingly responsive to consumers, and the way they interact with media, by building a strong experimental framework that allows for an increasingly focused evolution of their video strategy.