5 Video Trends You Need to Know for 2019

5 Video Trends You Need to Know for 2019

Below are some trends that will affect how consumers view and interact with online video in 2019.

The past few years have brought some of the biggest changes in how we consume online content. The rise in online video has seen some of the biggest growth. Everything from viral videos to searchable videos, video content continues to be devoured! In turn, causing every social platform to become a video platform.

I’ll unpack each of these topics below but to get started here the 5 video trends you need to know for 2019, according to my own observations and other video marketing research.

• Long Form Video vs. Short Form Video

• Interactive Video

• Shopping Enhancement

• Customer Communication

• Search Friendly Video

5 Video Trends You Need to Know

Long Form vs. Short Form Video

First, let’s define what long form and short form videos are. Personally, I would classify a long form video anything that is three minutes or longer. Experts find the sweet spot for long form video is the 10-15 minute range. Then obviously short form is anything under three minutes with the sweet spot ranging from 30-90 seconds.

Next, is the main takeaway… Long form video is NOT going to live on social media platforms, unless you consider YouTube a social media platform. Long form video is going to live on YouTube.

Companies have started pulling their longer videos off of Facebook and exclusively having them on YouTube. From there they are creating micro video content based off the long form video to post to places like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. This micro video content is in a square format, with captions and is 15, 30 or 60 seconds long.

Instagram recently introduced Instagram TV in hopes of competing with YouTube. While all social platforms are moving to a video base, Instagram TV still falls behind in the long form video viewing. I think that trend will continue through 2019. People are still used to the images and quick scrolling of the Instagram feed. Plus, people are still getting used to vertical video! At least, my eyeballs are!

Interactive Video

In 2017 and 2018, Facebook Live, Instagram Live and YouTube Live really started to make its presence known. People started consuming the live element of video and that trend is only going to get stronger.

With live video, viewers have the opportunity to interact with who is in the video. So in real time, viewers can ask questions, make comments, throw shade, buy products and the list could go on and on. In fact, the people broadcasting actually encourage those things to create interaction and dialogue so that their broadcast can keep flowing!

Another aspect of interactive video is Virtual Reality or 360 Degree Video. This type of content puts the viewer in control. YOU KNOW WE ALL LIKE TO BE IN CONTROL! The viewer can control where to look within the video. Watch for this to grow in 2019 in the real estate and tourism industries.

You could be on your living room couch in Mitchell, South Dakota touring the streets of Paris or swimming the Great Barrier Reef!

Shopping Enhancement

Watch for video to have a bigger role in your shopping experience in 2019. We obviously know that TV commercials and social media ads have been pushing us to buy things for years, but this year, watch for how video is used during your buying experience.

Through social media we’ll be given a quick glimpse of a certain product or service. Then when we click, we’ll be taken to a landing page with a video of how this product will change our lives with a buy now button ready for our clicks.

We’ll continue to see more and more influencers pushing products or being sponsored by products. As long as viewers are consuming video content by the millions of hours per day, companies are going to continue to use influencers to help sell. Product demonstration and review videos are going are going to enhance your shopping experience. You’ll see the products on display and be ready to buy.

This is a staggering percentage, but according to marketing research, 81% of people have purchased a product or service after watching a video related to it. 81% is a high number, but watch it grow to 85% or 87% in 2019.

Customer Communication

The fourth video trend you need to know for 2019 is customer communication via video. I believe we’ll see more video messages coming through email from companies. These will be a link sending the viewer to YouTube or a landing page, but it will be consistent video messages.

You’ll see things like ‘thank you’ videos or ‘how can I help you’ videos coming through email. These videos will answer commonly asked questions so that the customer has those answered before they even talk with anyone from the company.

Companies will use video for lead nurturing and building sales funnels. Video provides a quick and easy way to communicate with a potential customer directly without the need for them to read through a ton of content.

From a personal experience, I recently signed up for a subscription service and within a day or two I received a personalized video message from one of their customer service team members. In the greeting, my name was used and actually made me feel valued and happy to be their customer. If it was an email of just text, I probably would have felt it was automated and just tossed it in the inbox trash.

Search Friendly Video

In 2019, video is going to become more and more searchable. Search engines are more enhanced and can use artificial intelligence to pick out content related to your search. They are able to transcribe the audio tracks of videos as well as use closed caption data to give you that search option.

Google Chrome has video previews that appear in search results. The user is able to view a six second preview of the video that popped up to see if that video is what they’re looking for.

The opposite side of this is that creators are going to continue to try to make their videos more search friendly. Keywords will be increased in scripts. Closed captions usage will be increased. Businesses will be fighting over those ideal search locations on your page!

Wyzowl’s State of Marketing Survey determined that 81% of companies used video for marketing purposes in 2018, up from 63% in 2017. Watch that number grow in 2019. 76% of marketers say video has helped their company increase sales. With the average person watching 1.5 hours of online video each day, companies have a captive audience.

So in 2019, follow the trends of long form vs. short form video, interactive video, shopping enhancement, customer communication and search friendly video and see how those progress.

If you jump on these trends and enhance your web presence with video. I can help you out. Just use the ‘Start Here’ button below!