Viral Video In Oakville

We receive lots of questions from our Oakville based clients about branded viral video (online videos that are heavily shared and talked about… mostly via social media). We all love watching and sharing viral videos and we all seem to understand the social impact of them. But few seem to really understand the potential business impact of viral video. Other than a purchase, there is no more intimate and influential metric than a social share, and brands who run successful viral video campaigns often earn back five times more from their investment than with any other form of content. Not only that but in some cases, viral video can launch the growth of a new product or service at an exponential rate. That said, creating a successful viral video takes one of the most sophisticated approaches in video production and marketing. The efforts and costs are well worth it if your video …well…goes viral.

The term “viral video” is so mis-understood that many brands have been derailed trying to achieve success with it. The reason is that the “viral” part of the phrase “Viral Video” cannot be created and can only be earned. Without the right knowledge, budget, campaign tactics, and a qualified production company, creating a successful viral video is a serious long shot. Before planning out a viral video production for your Oakville based company it’s important to know a few key components about this niche. Branded viral videos generally come in two categories depending on company objectives:

1. Modern infomercial
2. Branded entertainment

Modern Informercial

The modern infomercial is used mainly to drive direct response sales. If this is your objective, an infomercial or promotional approach is best. Brands such as Dollar Shave Club, Squatty Potty and FreshPet have attained a lot of success with this approach. Their sales-oriented videos have a very strong call to action and are usually presented in a comedic way. Dollar Shave Club’s viral video almost single-handedly launched the company now valued at $615 million, driving 12,000 sign-ups, and earning $100k in the first 48 hours. Squatty Potty’s video success actually out shined their Shark Tank appearance, earning them $15 million in sales with a 600% jump in online sales, 400% jump in retail sales, and quadrupling the size of the company. And as for FreshPet’s video, it is said that the the overwhelming traffic it received almost crashed their website. Needless to say, they’ve created more viral videos since.

Branded Entertainment

Branded entertainment is used primarily for brand awareness, social shares, and growing your audience. If this is your objective, branded entertainment is your best bet. This form of viral video gives you the opportunity to more narrowly define your brand while tapping into the younger demographic. If tens of thousands of people share your video, your message can become part of culture… which is really one of the ultimate goals for any brand. The Coca Cola Happiness Machine video is a powerful example of Branded Entertainment. In this hidden-camera style video a Coca Cola machine dispenses free Coca Cola bottles… and then balloon animals, then a pizza, and then even a long sandwich to a delighted student dining hall. The Red Bull Kluge video is another great example of branded entertainment. The Red Bull brand is now synonymous with extreme sports in the minds of the public, and extreme sports videos were some of the first to go viral on the Internet. This one has it all and is brilliantly executed.

One important thing to keep in mind is that the fewer resources you are able to put towards your viral video, the less your chances are of breaking through the clutter. Viral video is a highly competitive form of content and opportunities for easy breakthroughs are much less common today than they were five years ago. The rule to follow is to always plan the campaign budget to be three times that of the production. You should always develop a plan for paid advertising, influencers, video SEO and PR once you’ve created your concept.

Also, remember to test your viral video before you launch. This is the only way to know if your video is going to work. Create multiple versions of your viral video as a YouTube Ad and use different titles, thumbnails, and edits that change the shots around. Try using different calls to action as well. This should provide all the data you need for figuring out which version of your video is most engaging. If engagement is low on the most optimized version, then you may need to re-shoot some shots or segments to fix what is lacking. The producers behind some of the top viral videos of all time literally wrote and tested more than 100 title variations of their videos. This pre-launch testing is also a great way to solve any creative arguments within your team as data doesn’t lie!

Viral video production is certainly not the easiest form of content to undertake and it’s results can be mixed at best. Oakville companies should tread carefully when considering this kind of video production. Viral video can be compared to music production. There are lots of musicians putting a lot of hard work into producing their music but very few songs become smash hits. Unfortunately, that is the reality of viral video. That said, if your video does go viral, your Oakville company or brand could be on the fast track to global success and exponential growth.

Video Title Optimization

Oakville is a highly competitive city and market regardless of the company or sector. Oakville based companies really need to think outside the box in order to make themselves stand out and grab attention. Although producing high quality videos and ads can give companies the edge they need to engage with their target-customers, little attention is given to the importance of video titles. The reality is, regardless of the quality of your videos, they need to have compelling titles in order to grab significant viewer attention and bring in the engagement you want.

Flashy keywords that cleverly explain the subject matter are important and can impact search results, engagement, and views. However that’s not all. One thing many Oakville marketers tend to miss is that the length of a video’s title can also impact these areas.

YouTube titles are limited to 100 characters. That said, Youtube recommends that titles be shorter than 70 characters as any more than that will usually be cut off in the search window. In fact, according to BuzzFeed’s analytics, videos over 70 characters performed almost 40% worse in views compared to BuzzFeed’s YouTube average.

On Facebook, BuzzFeed actually got below average engagement with every video title over 40 characters. In contrast, video titles that were under 40 characters received around 44% higher engagement than their average posts. This may be due to the fast paced nature of the Facebook news feed and the necessity to attract attention as fast as possible. Oddly enough, this didn’t seem to be the case on YouTube, as Buzzfeed’s videos seem to perform roughly the same regardless of whether a video title is under 70 or under 40 characters.

This proves that just because a title may work on one platform, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will work on another. So if you are posting videos to both Facebook and YouTube, we’d suggest creating a 70 character or less title for YouTube and then creating an alternate title under 40 characters for Facebook posts.

On a side note, there is a common misconception in the Oakville video marketing world that making your video title into the form of a question builds intrigue and mystery. But this is not really the case. Titles have to compliment the content of the video. On average, Buzzfeed’s Facebook video posts performed 22% worse when they began with a question. In the case of Youtube posts, results were 24% worse. When you’re talking about a global network like BuzzFeed, that’s more than 500,000 views lost due to titles.

Whether your company is aiming to get views or simply make engaging content to boost your brand awareness, the trend remains the same for the length of titles. Shorter is better. There is definitely a sweet spot on YouTube for keeping titles at around 41-70 characters and a significant benefit on Facebook keeping them under 40. In a competitive market like Toronto where properly produced and marketed videos can give you an edge, it’s very important to be mindful of the seemingly “small details” of video marketing.

Live Video Streaming in Oakville

Building a community around your Oakville based company and connecting with your audience is paramount. Research has shown time and time again that video production is the key to attaining this. In fact, live video streaming is now becoming more and more of a wide spread tool for Toronto companies of all sizes. Live video streaming has been utilized for many years but due to costs for this kind of production, it has only really been viable for large (and sometimes medium size) corporations. From insider video announcements to live Q&A sessions, product launches, press conferences and more, live streaming has the power to take your brand awareness to the next level and build on your existing audience. Although live video streaming has been out of reach for most micro size to small companies throughout Oakville, today there are apps that can allow anyone to tap into this effective form of video production.

One such app that is taking the live video streaming world by storm is Periscope. Another very popular platform is Facebook LIVE video and Instagram has also recently added live streaming videos to their offerings.

The Periscope app was acquired by Twitter in February of 2015. Since that time, it’s become one of the leading live video streaming apps available. Periscope enables you to go live using your mobile device. The app basically enables anyone to become their own on-the-fly broadcasting station, streaming live video to any viewers who join their broadcast. Periscope truly takes advantage of its mobile platform, incorporating notifications as well as social sharing (on Twitter), live discussions and feedback. Although Periscope has been used mostly by vloggers and bloggers, there are many ways Periscope can be utilized for business and it can really allow you to showcase public speaking abilities.

Once a live broadcast is over, your audience can watch a replay, and even send feedback through the Periscope app for up to 24 hours. After that, the broadcast is taken down from the app. That said however, each of your broadcasts can be saved to your mobile device and then published and shared online just like any other video. Best practice here is to post these Periscope videos to the platform that is home to your primary video audience (i.e. Youtube, Vimeo, Daily Motion, etc). Posting your Periscope video gives it a place to live that lasts longer than 24 hours and it also gives you an opportunity to promote future Periscope video broadcasts.

There are however technical issues that can come with using live streaming apps like Periscope and Oakville executives shouldn’t dive into tackling a live video stream without professional support. Just as with any other professional video you’re planning to produce, it’s always best to hire an experienced corporate video production company like Groovy Concepts to handle your live stream. Spending the money is well worth it to avoid embarrassment. You certainly wouldn’t want your video to cut out in the middle of the broadcast which is a typical occurrence for vloggers.

Common amateur mistakes can be disastrous! For instance, if someone happens to call you during your Periscope Broadcast, you’ll be knocked offline, your broadcast will be over, and your audience will be annoyed to say the least. Always remember to block your calls temporarily prior to a live broadcast on Periscope. Also, not knowing the range of your Wi-Fi network can also knock you offline very quickly. Don’t go walking around in the middle of your Periscope Broadcast unless you know the range of your Wi-Fi network and that you are well within it. Also, some rooms have better signal than others… stick to filming your broadcasts from these rooms wherever possible.

Disastrous technical issues can be avoided completely when an experienced professional video production company is involved. Ideally, it is always more reliable to simply hire a reliable company with access to professional live video streaming production equipment. At the very least it is advisable to get a full consultation and in depth how-to from an experienced professional. That said, using an app such as Periscope correctly can allow your Oakville based company to tap into the power of live streaming video and can even extend your audience reach throughout the globe.

Social Video in Oakville

Video is quickly becoming the norm on Facebook and brands and corporations throughout the world are working extremely hard to capitalize on this platform to drive interest and sales to their products and services. What this means for Oakville companies is that if your video production marketing campaign doesn’t include Facebook & Instagram, you’re missing out on huge marketing potential. In January 2017, Facebook reported its financials for 2016 and provided a ton of important facts about the importance of video for Facebook and the huge amount of engagement it generates.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO, said that “2016 was a great year for Facebook. Our community continued to grow and our business is thriving.” The results confirmed a steady revenue increase of 44%, as well as a 21% growth in monthly active mobile users.

But what about with Facebook’s video feature? Has this been paying off for the social networking site? It appears so as Facebook viewers now watch an incredible 100 million hours of video every day.

Zuckerberg confirmed that “Video is an important part of the Facebook experience”, and the company is continuing to invest in video. According to Tubular, typically 1.8 million videos are uploaded every week, generating 31.6 billion views.

Zuckerberg also confirmed that the Instagram (owned by Facebook) “community continues to grow,” but he didn’t update the 400 million monthly active users that was announced back in September 2015. He did state that the new looping Boomerang app for the platform reached #1 in the App Store in more than 70 countries. Instagram also launched a new video channel so viewers can catch up on big tent-pole events like New Year’s Eve, and College Football.

During the announcement, Zuckerberg was followed by Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s COO, who shared a recent case study. Microsoft Xbox optimized video content for Facebook and Instagram for the launch of Halo 5. The video marketing team behind the campaign understood that viewers watch video differently on mobile than on television, so Microsoft created content that would rapidly capture viewer attention (in 3 seconds or less) even if a viewer watched without sound. This tactic drove over 380 million impressions and 49 million video views, and apparently “increased purchase intent by 10 points in the US.”

Facebook and Instagram’s video features have grown leaps and bounds already but are heading towards exponential growth in the future. These platforms can no longer be ignored by marketers. But I know what you’re thinking: “Ah, great…so now, on top of creating clever online video campaigns, we now also need to plan out and create clever video campaigns customized for Facebook and Instagram too? How can we find the time for all this?”. This is where Oakville video production companies like Groovy Concepts come in. What makes Groovy Concepts different from other video production companies in Oakville is that we have a keen understanding of media trends and provide full concept, script and campaign development so that across all platforms your videos will capture viewer attention in under 3 seconds; essential for social video. Our unique concept development process insures high video engagement without having to overextend your marketing team in the production stages.

In this ever evolving world of online and social video, Oakville companies should definitely be looking at adding Facebook and Instagram to their video marketing campaigns. Corporate media specialists like Groovy Concepts are just a call or click away to help you in the process.

With both its long term discoverability and potential to educate your clients, the YouTube platform offers powerful benefits for B2B companies. And yet, in Oakville, YouTube is one of the most frequently overlooked social media platforms when it comes to B2B marketing.

Yes, YouTube is no longer the only social media platform for posting video (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter all offer video), however on these other platforms, organic views are all based on “feeds” which means that for a short period of time after the video is posted, it will be shown in the feed of some percentage of your followers, depending on factors such as the Facebook algorithm or whether a user accessed their account during the window of time a video might have appeared. This feed-based video distribution strategy can be successful for gaining lots of “Day One” views (organic or free viewership) and well-targeted paid campaigns can also be quite effective in the feeds.

But social video is not only about feeds, and for B2B video marketing success in Oakville, this distinction is key. B2B companies in usually have higher-ticket items and longer sales cycles than with B2C. During this longer cycle, potential clients in Oakville will research their future suppliers as much as they can and in multiple ways. Usually, they will turn to Google and YouTube for their research and end up watching many videos about the products these suppliers offer. And while on Facebook almost all views from a given week will be of your latest video, on YouTube almost all of your views from a given week will be of your best videos from the past.

Instead of being a feed-based social network, traffic on YouTube essentially comes from what is called, the four S’s: Sharing, Suggesting, Searching, and Subscribing. Potential B2B clients in Oakville usually find YouTube videos about your products because of one or more of the following factors:

Sharing: They were directed to your videos via a direct link from the an associate, the media, a salesperson directly, or a friend.

Suggesting: They saw one of your videos in the “suggested videos” column on the right-hand side of the page (while watching a different video).

Searching: They came across your videos by searching on YouTube or Google.

Subscribing: They subscribe to channels based on their interests and those channels talked about your products.
With the four S’s in mind, here are some simple ways to optimize Youtube marketing for your B2B business… Encourage Video Sharing

Get B2B bloggers and influencers to post links to your YouTube videos. Bloggers and influencers particularly like to post announcement videos and interviews (under four minutes) that feature Oakville industry success stories. A video is a great complement to press releases, and short how-to videos on your products can encourage bloggers and influencers to share your videos with their audiences.

Remember to also embed your youtube videos into your own website, blogs, eblasts, and newsletters. Encourage your existing audience and subscribers to like and share your videos and watch your audience and profits grow

Boost Views of Your Videos With Optimized Thumbnails

After sharing, most YouTube views tend to come as a result of your video being related to other videos. And one of the most important ways to get your videos in the “suggested videos” section of Youtube is to have proper custom thumbnails. the best thumbnails include very tight close-ups of faces, usually looking directly at the camera. Using photos of people who are speaking, eyes and teeth visible, expressive face, speaking mid-sentence, are very effective. Viewers wonder what he/she is saying, so they click to find out.

Your thumbnails can also benefit from a “branding stripe” running the full height of the left-hand side of the image. This is key because it makes them stand out in the suggested videos column. Remember, most people see these images very small (at just 120×68 pixels, to be exact), so the image has to stand out to attract attention.

Additionally, playlists are essential to driving suggested videos. This is because YouTube looks to playlists to understand which videos are related. There’s practically no limit to how many playlists you can create, and a single video can be in many different playlists. Playlists take almost no time to create, and encourage continuous viewing as well. A good playlist strategy is essential in any YouTube marketing campaign.

YouTube and Google Search Explained

Youtube Search: Contrary to popular belief, videos are not ranked in YouTube search by how many views they get. Rather, the algorithm looks for how long the videos encourage people to stay on the YouTube.com platform. So to succeed, B2B marketers must pay close attention to key metrics, such as how long people are watching individual videos and which videos are referring additional views back to the same channel. you’ll benefit by using YouTube analytics to take stock of what’s working and what isn’t, and use those learnings to structure the video content more appropriately for the YouTube audience.

Google Search: Often a YouTube video will come up in your Google search results. Optimized titles, tags, and description all help make this possible. Google can only index video by text and code. So for SEO purposes, the metadata around the Youtube video is actually more important than what is shown within the video itself. Doing an optional closed-caption transcript will also help Google better identify the content. These transcripts help both Google and YouTube search engines to index the video content better.

Subscriber Growth

In Youtube, subscribers are very important to gaining targeted views. An organic video can expect, on average, about 15% views per subscriber (without other influences). So a channel with 1,000 subscribers can generally expect about 150 views per video.

Thus it’s important to encourage your potential client base to subscribe to your YouTube channel in every way you encourage them to follow you on other social media platforms – via your website, email, etc. And, importantly, get them to subscribe via clickable links in your videos and descriptions. Then, each time they find themselves on YouTube.com, they will be more likely to have your videos automatically promoted to them. They may also receive email updates from YouTube as well. each subscriber you get will give you an advantage over your competitors.

YouTube is really a hybrid platform. With its high sharability, it’s more like Facebook or Twitter. But with its long-term discoverability, its ability for driving B2B leads in Toronto can be more like a content-marketing blog. This is because once a video is indexed in a search engine, it will stay there. The video can then become a primary traffic driver to other content pieces or as a top lead conversion source. The possibilities with the Youtube platform for B2B companies in Oakville are really endless. All the more reason for Toronto companies to invest in video production content on a regular basis and in properly utilizing the Youtube platform.

Talking-head videos are a useful tool in building a brand. An onscreen spokesperson discussing the benefits of your products and services or showing demonstrations on how to properly use them has proven results. Many small or micro sized companies in Oakville are also getting in on the mix of creating regular talking-head video blogs to boost sales. Often times, to save on the cost of hiring onscreen talent, most companies choose a member of their team to be the spokesperson. However, going this route will require you to put in the work of finding the right person for this job.

In addition to developing quality content for your series and choosing a reputed video production company to produce them, it’s equally important that your onscreen spokesperson be good on camera and be a good representative of your brand. If your spokesperson comes off boring or monotoned, your videos probably won’t attract too much attention… no matter how good the content or production value. When choosing an onscreen spokesperson from your office staff, consider more than just one candidate.

Some important traits to look for in choosing your talking-head:

• Comfortable on camera.
• Projects passion and confidence.
• Speaks with varied intonation and natural body language.
• Should be able to improvise (a tasteful sense of humour always helps).
• Sounds intelligent.
• Has noticeable onscreen charisma.

Remember to choose someone genuine that your target customers will relate to. A video spokesperson directly reflects on your brand – whether positively or negatively. When produced properly, a talking-head video series can attract a lot of attention to your brand. Following these little tips in choosing the right video spokesperson can make a noticeable difference in viewer engagement and can possibly even help launch your brand into new levels of success.

We get a lot of questions from our clients and associates in Oakville about video production procedure and how we go about writing our scripts. Script writing for a video is of course one of the first steps in the production process and requires a substantial amount of skill and experience to be done right. There are many variables involved in creating a great video script. Here are a few rules of thumb that we always follow in writing our scripts.

The term “elevator pitch” has become a popular catchphrase in business. The idea is to find a short summary that quickly and simply defines what you do and/or what your company does should you find yourself sharing a short elevator ride with a person of importance to your business. In a situation like this, you would be prepared to pitch your products or services to that person in that short period of time in the hopes of procuring new business.

In many ways, a video can be seen somewhat like an elevator pitch in that you must capture someone’s attention quickly to deliver your message (or pitch). Although there are exceptions, for the most part we approach our scripts from that perspective. We know that a video has upwards of five seconds to grab attention and compel a viewer to continue watching. Within these crucial first seconds, the viewer must get a clear idea that your company and brand are awesome and that your products or services are something they need…. NOW. A balanced combination of voiceover narration, compelling video shots and/or animated titles and text, are some of the many elements that can be written in to achieve this.

With video, one size does NOT fit all so we always keep the target audience (client’s target customers) in mind when developing our scripts. This comes down to having efficient dialogues with our clients and developing a thorough understanding of their target customers. Additional market research is often necessary on our part. The goal here is for the target audience to be able to easily identify with what is being expressed in the video. We ask ourselves the question: “What is the problem that this product or service solves?”. Often, creating a simple scenario or case example can help viewers get the point quickly. From there we present the solution. We explain what makes this product or service ideal and why the viewer should choose our solution over the competition. The solution needs to create a desire for the viewer to act fast.

In terms of duration, today the most effective marketing videos are between 30 and 60 seconds. 90 seconds and beyond is where you start losing viewers unless your content is really exceptional. Keeping a video to within 30-60 seconds means really keeping your information and content to-the-point. Narrations, actors’ lines, shots, call-to-action text, etc. must all be properly planned out to fit within this time rage. It helps to keep sentences and on-screen text short and to use simple language…. no insider-industry jargon…. always use layman’s’ terms. Once the working draft is complete, we read through the script and time it with a normal speaking cadence to confirm that the duration falls between the preferred 30 – 60 seconds. Revisions are then done as needed and the process is repeated until we’ve achieved the right duration for the script. This works very well if the video has narrations throughout and also helps us imagine how the visuals will play out on screen. It’s also important to allow for the right amount of time for the call-to-action shot at the end (the next step the viewer can take to get started). When the working draft is complete, we submit it to the client for feedback and apply any necessary revisions. As soon as the client approves the script … it’s lights, camera, and action time!

Script and concept development is the first step and a decisive factor in whether a video will be great or if it will be a flop. If you are interested in joining the millions of companies world wide that are enjoying the benefits of having video in their marketing plan, contact a reputed corporate video production company today. Remember, video is no longer just some luxury marketing tool in it’s infancy, utilized by early adopters. Video marketing is essential NOW. And it all starts with a great script!

When it comes to your business – hire a professional

In 1985, a year after the Apple Macintosh computer was launched, the first desktop publishing program, Pagemaker, was released for the Mac. It launched a world of professional page layouts and home-made garage sale flyers, all on a home computer.

Suddenly everyone was a graphic designer! The number of brochures being produced soared, but the number of bad brochures soared as well.

Today we see the same phenomenon in the world of video. Small, HD video cameras and inexpensive desktop video editing software have legions of people producing and editing videos.

It’s certainly suitable for hobbyists to edit short videos and post them on YouTube for fun, but in the business world that can lead to disaster. A poor quality video can lead to an unsatisfactory impression of your company and brand. You can’t go back and make a new first impression.

With video becoming an increasingly vital component of  commercial websites, your business requires the production values that a video professional brings to the job.

VR & 360 Video (Part Two)

In part one, we aimed to explain and highlight the distinctions between Virtual Reality video (VR), 360 video, and of course… the ever failing 3D video. In this week’s article we’ll be touching on the important similarities between these platforms. These particular similarities could be the deciding factors as to whether VR video and 360 video will take off in the consumer market and change the way the world views video or whether these new technologies will crash on take off… just like with their 3D video counterpart.

Similarities between VR, 360, and 3D video:

First of all, in Oakville, the cost is significantly higher to produce and consume virtual reality video, 360 video, and 3D video compared to regular video productions. Whether it’s the camera rig required to film it, the software needed to stitch the footage together, or the headsets you have to wear, it all adds up to more money for everyone involved in producing and watching these types of video.

There is a lack of quality content for these mediums. Although some Oakville brands have made big strides in recent months with 360 video production, there is a substantial lack of quality content available for each of these formats. Until there is a large, unique, and compelling library available, consumers probably won’t make the switch from standard video; as was the case with 3D TV.

Between the quality of the videos, the viewing mechanism, VR video, 360 video, and 3D video have all been known to cause motion sickness. Until you can be assured of a nausea-free experience, it might be hard to consider adopting any of these technologies as your regular viewing style.

With each of these formats, special accessories or a certain amount of space to move around in are required for optimal experiences. So, if you’re walking down the streets of Oakville, you can’t just participate in a virtual reality experience, and if you forgot your glasses, you won’t be seeing that video in 3D. It’s true that 360 video does a slightly better job with accessibility, especially when viewed on a desktop computer. However, if you’re viewing on a phone, you have to change the orientation of the phone by physically rotating it around you, while the headset experience is lacking in terms of quality. The accessibility of these technologies to potential viewers is a problem that needs to be solved before any of them can become mainstream.

Finally, due to design, the virtual reality and 360 video viewing experience is completely individual. You can’t sit down and watch a virtual reality video with someone; you need your headset and then you experience it completely by yourself. The same is true for 360 video. Even if someone is watching the same video, you might not choose to explore it from the same angles, so you won’t walk away with the same experience as anyone else. This takes away the social aspect of watching a video or a movie, and puts these technologies squarely in the realm of things you might do by yourself when you’re bored rather than a fun activity to experience with friends. By shifting where the viewing experience fits into our lives, the technology moves even more into niche territory.

Given that there are major obstacles to widespread adoption for virtual reality and 360 video production in Oakville and the rest of the world, what are the chances that these technologies will succeed commercially? At least for limited use-cases, there is definitely some hope. Virtual reality is a natural fit for video games, many of which look increasingly cinematic in terms of quality, and it could definitely become the new 3D cinema experience for movie-goers. That might help revive cinema in Oakville, and would allow people who aren’t willing to invest in their own headsets to still experience virtual reality in a controlled environment. 360 video has fewer challenges because it hands control over the perspective to the viewer, but isn’t truly interactive. Given that the barriers to entry are substantially lower than for virtual reality, it’s more likely to become more accessible in the future than virtual reality.

Being corporate video producers here in Oakville, we’re excited to see how these technologies evolve in the next few years!

Online video is the business card of the 21st century

As Canadian businesses shift more of their attention online, it’s more important than ever to understand the key trends being seen across the internet.

10 Online Video Trends Every Marketer Needs to Know

1. According to ComScore, Canada continues to lead the world in online engagement,  with visitors spending an average 45 hours per month online, representing a fertile ground for digital marketers and advertisers.
2. 181 million US internet users watched nearly 40 billion online videos in January 2012
3. Smartphone penetration has reached 45% in Canada. Mobile content and online videos are finding new followers from the corporate world.According to Forbes Insights: “59% of executives prefer to watch video over reading text. Younger executives in particular appear more inclined not only to view video, but also to share it over the business-oriented “social” web. Their growing influence is likely to make business-related video even more prevalent in the coming years.”
4. Nearly 85% of the internet audience viewed online video.
5. 90% of shoppers find video useful when purchasing.
6. People who view an engaging online video are 64% more likely to buy or explore the brand.
7. Video traffic on mobile devices is now 50% of wireless network traffic.
8. People using mobile devices – such as iPhone, Android, Blackberry and iPad – view online videos two and a half times longer than desktop users.
9. In a keynote address at CES in January, YouTube’s VP of Global Content, Robert Kyncl, predicted that video would soon be 90% of internet traffic.
10. More videos are uploaded in 60 days than the three major US networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) produced in 60 years

If 90% of all internet traffic will be for video – will people really bother with a website without video? Companies that don’t embrace video are at risk of being left behind.

Online video is no longer “the future”. Online video is here and it’s the newly accepted norm.