The growth of Corporate Promotional Videos on the Internet

by Claire Jarrett

Video’s presence on the Internet is growing meteorically, and unless the economic or technical ability to handle video can’t keep up with demand, this growth will continue for the foreseeable future. Video is clearly the new Internet paradigm, with streaming Netflix videos alone making up 20% of America’s night-time Internet traffic according to Bloomberg’s Businessweek. It’s essential that corporations provide Internet content for the simple reason that consumers have come to expect it, and increasingly prefer video over text-based content.

The primary benefit of video is its ability to efficiently convey information. They say a picture conveys a thousand words. Well, with 24 frames per second, a 30-second video conveys 720,000 words! Of course, this isn’t strictly accurate, and video is generally best suited for replacing concrete text-based descriptions, as opposed to abstract ideas, since video allows a direct vision of reality to be easily transmitted. The point is clear though, video allows businesses to get more across in less space, time, and with less effort on the part of consumer, while better holding viewers’ interest.

For these reasons, television advertising is viewed as so effective. Whereas television advertising is relatively expensive, Internet video doesn’t suffer from the same scarcity and thus can be acquired relatively cheaply, bringing video to the business masses.
One caveat of Internet video advertising is avoiding alienating users. Most of us have been jolted by an annoying advertisement that blares unsolicited noise, or which we can’t easily locate, or that blocks content. The latter is particularly true for videos that block content which we expect to only show passive advertising or which can be easily closed, giving users the sense that the video is merely an annoyance. Sites like hulu.com can show mandatory advertisements that block content since users view watching the videos as a transaction for the expensive content the site hosts; a video that merely blocks content but can be closed cheapens the content below.

The primary choice facing companies and corporations that choose to use online video advertising is one of technology. High-definition advertisements are certainly prettier, but they can slow old connections to a crawl, which is sure to annoy consumers, so their use must be held to a strict standard of necessity, especially since production is significantly more expensive. The same holds for 3D video which is being rolled out. The use of this format is even more specialized since users typically must be wearing glasses to experience 3D vision. If they’re not, then their bandwidth is being wasted for absolutely no reason, and the company’s dollar is being wasted in producing this content. A good recommendation is to only use 3D advertising on content that is already 3D, or when consumers express interest in a product and would likely appreciate being able to get a better picture of it.

Despite the caveats mentioned, Internet video and Corporate Video Production has become almost mandatory for corporations seeking a presence on the web – tell us about your experiences here!

About the author:

Claire Jarrett runs Marketing By Web, a PPC Management Company