When the COVID-19 pandemic sent us indoors (and onto our devices, tbh), our collective appetite for video content soared. And companies listened: From webinars to product explainers to social media snippets, more businesses donned director caps in 2020 than ever before.
But where did we stand on stats for video uploads, plays, and time watched once we reached 2022? Wistia, an industry-leading video marketing platform for creating, hosting, and measuring video impact, analyzed a whopping 80 million videos on their platform to find out. They also spoke with 1,500 companies that use Wistia to see how video content affected their businesses then and now—and what’s in the works for 2023.
The majority of respondents were marketers at small businesses with 0–50 (44%) and 51–200 (22%) employees. Most of the businesses represented are in the software industry, followed by marketing/media/entertainment and education, with healthcare, finance, and retail also in the mix.
Let’s dive into some reel stats.
Oh, and PS: If you wanna dig deeper into any given section, be sure to download Wistia’s pivotal 2023 State of Video Report to start leveraging current industry trends with help from the video marketing aficionados.
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Rewinding 2022’s video marketing insights
Zooming in on
video strategy
Although about 43% of surveyed companies reported that they didn’t have a video-specific strategy in 2022, companies still ended up using their video capabilities strategically. Call it serendipity.
When positioning videos, 52% of companies cited “product education” as a top priority. Video is a comprehensive and organized storytelling medium, so it’s the ideal resource for explainers. Brand awareness ranked second in priorities.
These stats indicate an expectation that video content gets customers over the finish line, and the data points in that direction. Of all videos made in 2022, 36.1% of respondents said product videos saw the highest engagement.
Many businesses share their Wistia-hosted videos to multiple social channels, a process that’s simplified thanks to Wistia’s marketing channel integrations. They then use the resulting data with their CRM for lead gen, impact measurement across channels, and viewer retargeting.
For 2023, only 3% of companies plan to reduce their video budget—even with the current state of the market. Looking ahead, 1 in 3 businesses plan to increase their investment in social videos, and 69% want to crank out more videos this year than in ’22.
After the dramatic increase in video creation and consumption brought on by the pandemic, 2022’s video data shows that numbers are still racking up well above expectations.
The appetite for video content remains hearty, and 34% of companies said the pandemic highlighted the importance of video, leading them to produce more—with 12% even investing into new content.
“We did not host virtual events before COVID-19,” said one marketing manager at a professional consulting agency. “Virtual events are now an arm of the business.”
What kind of video content are Wistia’s customers dreaming up next? Without budget or resource constraints, ideas might include an animated series, AI-generated support videos, and lots more.
As video marketing’s enduring power grows, so does the next level of content. Consider us pumped—and ready with popcorn. And don’t forget! Wistia’s 2023 State of Video Report has all of video marketing’s latest best practices, projections, and pro advice all in one place.
The future of video
What’s
up(loading)?
Creation and
distribution in frame
Lights, camera,
traction!
About 60% of companies surveyed said they produced videos at least once a month in 2022. Think that’s a lot of production? Get this: About one-third of companies created videos every week.
Video creation sure was booming, and demand for the content continues to call for it. Last year, in what appears to be a growing trend, more companies moved to in-house video production vs. hiring contract help. But what about production costs? Are they stopping businesses from making even more videos?
Nope! Most companies cite time and team size as bigger barriers than funding.
The most popular (and successful) distribution platforms for all these videos? Take a bow, YouTube and LinkedIn. Seen as the most effective distribution channels for businesses heading into 2023, 59% of businesses cited YouTube as a secondary off-site channel for video, with 21% highlighting the platform as a top-performing channel.
For LinkedIn, 62% of businesses use the platform as a primary social video channel, and 43% felt it was the best-performing channel for their business videos. TikTok is starting to catch some eyes, too, while numbers are down for Meta.
Of course, businesses are embedding their videos on their own sites, too, and 73% of marketers give their content an elevated brand touch using Wistia’s customizable player (e.g., watermarks, thumbnail selection, color capabilities, etc.).
Now for the juicy stuff: audience engagement + conversion. When did viewers tune in, where did they engage most to spur some coveted leads, and how long did they stick around?
Video plays are holding strong even post-pandemic, with audience play rate up 59% since 2019. Video continues to be a significant draw for businesses inviting their audiences to spend time with their brands. Customers are watching mostly in Q2 and Q4, and minutes watched are up 87% (!!!) since 2019.
For videos that stretch up to 5 minutes, audiences will watch just about 50% of the content. Not too shabby! Once you’re in the 30-minute territory, engagement is still solid at 38%. But after 60 minutes, average engagement drops to 15%.
If your videos are clocking in below these benchmarks, Wistia suggests editing out drop-off moments or experimenting with A/B testing. And when in doubt, just cut it down.
Now for actually turning these numbers into leads: Tools like calls to action (CTAs) and lead capture forms gated with skippable email fills built right into the video perform well. Audiences are more than willing to share their emails in return for top-notch content.
Wistia boiled down the very best practices for connecting with customers to 3 key tips:
You might wanna jot those down. 👀
Place CTAs and email gates mid-roll, as opposed to a video’s beginning or end.
Use the term “email” in your email collection form copy.
Experiment more with lead capture forms in your videos.
Created by
This post is sponsored by Wistia
Illustrations by Victoria Sieczka
Copyright © 2023 Morning Brew. All rights reserved.
Wistia 2023 State of Video Report
1.4%
3.3%
4.3%
5.9%
7.6%
15.2%
16.2%
21.3%
22.3%
28.4%
33.6%
36%
Other
Original series
Live videos
Support videos
Company culture videos
It’s difficult to measure video ROI
Customer testimonials
Social media videos
Sales videos
Educational videos
Webinars and live events
Product videos
Types of videos
prioritized in 2022
Wistia 2023 State of Video Report
Year
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
Duration in minutes
0: below 1
1: 1–3
2: 3–5
3: 5–30
4: 30–60
5: 60+
Video Length
38.2%
27.1%
21.8%
12.9%
Wistia 2023 State of Video Report
Engagement rate (average watch time)
What is the most important success metric for a video?
Conversion rate (forms, CTAs, annotations)
Total plays
Play rate (plays/page views)
Although about 43% of surveyed companies reported that they didn’t have a video-specific strategy in 2022, companies still ended up using their video capabilities strategically. Call it serendipity.
When positioning videos, 52% of companies cited “product education” as a top priority. Video is a comprehensive and organized storytelling medium, so it’s the ideal resource for explainers. Brand awareness ranked second in priorities.
These stats indicate an expectation that video content gets customers over the finish line, and the data points in that direction. Of all videos made in 2022, 36.1% of respondents said product videos saw the highest engagement.
Many businesses automatically share their Wistia-hosted videos to multiple social channels, a process that’s simplified thanks to Wistia’s marketing channel integrations. They then use the resulting data with their CRM for lead gen, impact measurement across channels, and viewer retargeting.
For 2023, only 3% of companies plan to reduce their video budget—even with the current state of the market. Looking ahead, 1 in 3 businesses plan to increase their investment in social videos, and 69% want to crank out more videos this year than in ’22.
About 66% of companies surveyed said they produced videos at least once a month in 2022. Think that’s a lot of production? Get this: One third of companies created videos every week.
Video creation sure was booming, and demand for the content continues to call for it. Last year, in what appears to be a growing trend, more companies moved to in-house video production vs. hiring contract help. But what about production costs? Are they stopping businesses from making even more videos?
Nope! Most companies cite time and team size as bigger barriers than funding.
The most popular (and successful) distribution platforms for all these videos? Take a bow, YouTube and LinkedIn. Seen as the most effective distribution channels for businesses heading into 2023, 59% of businesses saw YouTube as a secondary off-site channel for video, with 21% highlighting the platform as a top-performing channel.
For LinkedIn, 62% of businesses use the platform as a primary social video channel, and 44% felt it was the best-performing channel for their business videos. TikTok is starting to catch some eyes, too, while numbers are down for Meta.
Of course, businesses are embedding their videos on their own sites, too, and 75% of marketers give their content an elevated brand touch using Wistia’s customizable player (e.g., watermarks, thumbnail selection, color capabilities).
Now for the juicy stuff: audience engagement + conversion. When did viewers tune in, where did they engage most to spur some coveted leads, and how long did they stick around?
Video plays are holding strong even post-pandemic, with audience play rate up 53% since 2019. Video continues to be a significant draw for businesses inviting their audiences to spend time with their brands. Customers tend to hit play most frequently at the starts of Q2 and Q4, watching 71% (!!) more video content than Wistia expected.
For videos that stretch up to 5 minutes, audiences will watch just about 50% of the content. Not too shabby! Once you’re in the 30-minute territory, engagement is still solid at 38%. But after 60 minutes, average engagement drops to 15%.
If your videos are clocking in below these benchmarks, Wistia suggests editing out drop-off moments or experimenting with A/B testing. And when in doubt, just cut it down.
Now for actually turning these numbers into leads: Tools like calls to action (CTAs) and lead capture forms gated with skippable email fills built right into the video perform well. Audiences are more than willing to share their emails in return for top-notch content.
Wistia boiled down the very best practices for connecting with customers to 3 key tips:
You might wanna jot those down. 👀
Place CTAs and email gates mid-roll
Use the term “email” in your
form copy
Experiment more with lead capture forms in your videos
Use the term “email” in your
form copy
Experiment more with lead capture forms in your videos
Lights, camera,
traction!
Wistia is a complete video marketing platform helping businesses create, host, and measure the impact of their videos. Boost your video content and help it thrive with Wistia’s customization, seamless integrations, and industry-leading analytics.
The reel deal.
Read their report
