Rank Your Business: Vidyard Creates 1st Business Video Benchmarks

Did you know the average video-using company has published 293 online videos? And that it's is publishing 18 new videos every month? That a lot of content, so much so that that video libraries will double in 16 months.

Businesses are investing more time and money into online video production, but how do your own efforts compare to the competition? To answer that, video marketing solutions company Vidyard has done a true service by creating the first ever Video in Business Benchmark Report.

The report is made up of first-party data taken from Vidyard's video platform representing over 500 businesses and 600 million video streams from the past year, two-thirds of which took place in the U.S. and the rest scattered across the globe. It's supplemented with data from a study Vidyard and Demand Metric created in October 2016. The benchmark is a helpful document for any executives wondering how their company's efforts stack up.

For example, the report looks at what content companies are creating, and finds that explainers, product demos, how-to videos, and testimonials are the types most often produced. The types least produced are live streams and cultural videos.

How are companies sharing those videos? Vidyard finds that 78 percent put them on their own website, 72 percent use social media platforms, and 49 percent create special landing pages. Less common methods include emails (36 percent) and sales conversions (25 percent).

We're often told that briefer is better with online videos, but how long is the average business video? Surprisingly, it's 8 minutes. Vidyard says that's long, but suggests the average is pulled up by long-form videos such as webinars and product demos, video types especially popular in the B2B market. Over half of business videos are 2 minutes or less, which is a good length when trying to engage consumers. Videos tend to be either quite short or quite long, the report shows.

"Industry research conducted in late 2016 showed that 92 percent of respondents believe video is becoming more important to their marketing efforts and more than two-thirds are increasing their budgets for video," notes Vidyard co-founder and CEO Michael Litt. "Brands are no longer asking if video is a worthwhile investment, but how to leverage it in a more scalable and strategic manner."

For video benchmarks on browser use, viewing times, and industry, download the full 2017 Video in Business Benchmark Report for free (registration required).

Troy Dreier's article first appeared on OnlineVideo.net