It’s 2020 and we have a new decade of video to look forward to! The best way to get started is to get acquainted with some of the most important video statistics in 2020, and we have them here for you.
The last ten years have seen phenomenal growth in online video consumption. In 2010, YouTube was five years old and full of great and random Internet video memes and entertainment (does double-rainbow jog your memory?).
Since then, Internet video has gotten much more sophisticated with a diverse set of uses and no signs of slowing down. It’s predicted that by 2022, videos will make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic, 15 times higher than it was just three years ago. Part of that growth is because Internet users are using videos for purposes beyond entertainment.
By 2022, videos will make up more
than 82% of all consumer internet traffic.
Nowadays, we also turn to videos to learn more about products, services, and concepts; as well as for overall learning through video tutorials, demos, how-tos, expert interviews, product reviews, and presentations. For organizations, videos are not only an opportunity to help your viewers, but also a chance to tell your story, build brand loyalty, and develop customer relationships.
Of course, not just any video will garner the results you may be looking for. If your organizational goals this year include expanding your audience, increasing conversion, and growing exposure, you’ll want to ensure that you are creating effective, engaging videos.
This article will provide you with clear, actionable knowledge that you need to take the best steps for your next video. We’ve reviewed more than a hundred video stats out there and identified seven of the most important video statistics for 2020 to help you understand how to navigate the latest video trends with your video marketing and outreach strategy this year.
Check out the infographic for a summary and then read on as we unpack each video statistic. We’ve also provided some useful tips and takeaways you’ll want to know to effectively deliver video in 2020.
By the way, do you know what’s the difference between subtitles and closed captions? Check out our article: Subtitles vs. Captions: What’s the Difference?
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I be filming vertically vs horizontally base on statistics?
If the majority of your audience accesses your video through their phone, vertical video is best. If your videos are mostly viewed on desktop or TV, horizontal video is the right choice.
If you are planning to publish your video only on social media like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or Snapchat vertical video will fit in with those platforms best. If you are publishing to YouTube or other platforms more regularly accessed by desktop computers and televisions, horizontal video will fit those devices better.
How often people watch entire video online?
80% of U.S. consumers are more likely to watch an entire video when captions are available.
What are some statistics about closed captioning?
Internet publishers like Facebook have shared that as much as 85% of video views are viewed without sound on their websites.
What are some most important video consumption statistics 2022?
84% of people say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video.
Putting a face to a brand can really help make a human connection. By making video, you are letting people into your world a little bit more. With sights, sounds, and setting you can create a new experience for your customers to engage with!
What are some statistics about mobile video consumption?
Worldwide, more than 75% of videos are viewed on mobile devices.
Those viewers will mostly see vertical or square videos on apps, so factor that into your production workflow! Check out how your audience is accessing your videos so that you can cater to their preferences!
1. People spend an average of 2.6x more time on pages with video than without
(Source: Wistia)
Internet usage has evolved. People have become accustomed to video streaming and they want to see concepts in action rather than read descriptions and explanations, and this explains why pages with videos perform better in terms of how long people stay on the page compared to pages without videos.
According to Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing 2020, 66% of all web users prefer to watch a video over reading webpages, infographics and e-books. They also prefer video over sales demos and webinars to learn about a product or service. Because video tends to be more costly and time-consuming to execute, this is a great datapoint for anyone who needs an idea of the ROI beforehand of what they can get from creating videos to enhance blog and website content.
A bonus to having videos on your webpages to increase dwell time (the amount of time a visitor stays on a page) is that it also helps with SEO, so not only do you engage with visitors longer, but you can attract more visitors to a webpage overall.
Another way to leverage video is to have multiple videos on your page. Just remember: using video is all about context and providing value to your visitors. If you don’t need three videos on a landing page to explain one product, it might not make sense to produce three videos. But if you’re offering a step-by-step tutorial, then multiple videos will provide visual context at each step in the process and increase engagement and dwell time.
You might wonder if the effort to create multiple videos is worthwhile. Well-executed videos take a significant time to produce and create, but when it comes to the length of your videos, choose quality over quantity. You’d be surprised at how much value you can offer in a 30-second video. And think of it this way: You could shoot one long video and chop it up into two or more separate, shorter videos in post-production. Voila, you have multiple videos for one page! Check out the next video statistic to know for 2020 to learn more about video length.
Takeaway: If you want to increase the time people spend on your website, using video will help you get there.
2. 73% of business videos are less than 2 minutes long
(Source: Vidyard)
The majority of video marketers are already responding to behavioral studies which show that attention spans aren’t what they used to be. With 24/7 news cycles and immense amounts of new content being presented every hour of every day, there is only so much time anyone is willing or able to devote to a single piece of content before they need to move on to something new and different. This is one of the main reasons why many videos are short.
This data also bears out in other research. In Wistia’s comprehensive study spanning 564,710 videos and more than 1.3 billion video plays, the firm found that significant loss of engagement and drop-off began happening at the two-minute mark. (Tip: This doesn’t mean the video needs to be 2 minutes exactly—you can go 1 minute if that’s all you need to convey your message).
Takeaway: Videos don’t have to be long to be effective. When it comes to inspiring viewers to action, videos less than 2 minutes long have the best engagement.
3. YouTube is the second largest search engine on the Internet
(Source: Search Engine Journal)
Of all the video statistics readily available on the Internet, this stat may be the most underrated of them all. With over 2 billion monthly users, YouTube is also the second most visited website worldwide, beating out Facebook and ranked just behind Google. The amount of traffic happening on YouTube is phenomenal, but its content (not including user-generated comments) is invariably limited to video.
All this adds up to one thing: if you don’t have a YouTube account to reach its diverse range of users, this could be a big missed opportunity. Knowing that people conduct more than 3 billion searches per month on YouTube means that having a well-executed YouTube presence can really assist in connecting with a greater variety of users and prospects. It can also help with SEO since video results are also served up on standard search engine queries.
Takeaway: Be strategic with your video titles and keywords to build your brand presence on the second most popular website in the world — and benefit your SEO, too.
4. Worldwide, more than 75% of videos are viewed on mobile
The classic marketing adage “meet your customers where they are” is still true in the digital world. So where is that audience? Chances are, on a smartphone, on a social platform, and watching a video. More than 70% of YouTube views take place on mobile devices, while 95% of Facebook users access the network on their smartphones. And a lot of that time is spent on video. According to Facebook’s internal stats, 100 million hours of video are watched every day.
So while the classic web browser is not going away any time soon, people are much more accustomed to watching videos on mobile than they were ten years ago, and they are watching them on social networks.
In terms of video distribution, it’ll be much easier to connect with people directly by uploading to social channels like Instagram and YouTube when planning your communications and marketing strategies.
Takeaway: To reach a wider audience, serve up videos on social platforms as well as your own website.
5. 90% of videos watched vertically have a higher completion rate versus videos watched horizontally
It’s 2020! Chances are, you’re no longer clicking the expand icon and rotating your smartphone horizontally every time you want to watch a video streamed onto your device. Back in 2016, Google found that most people were watching 16:9 landscape videos horizontally on their mobile devices, but research findings from Impact/Mediabrix show that vertical viewing is becoming a much more common way to watch video.
There are a few explanations for this. The amount of video consumption and time spent on smartphones have both gone up over time, and dominant social media apps like Facebook and Instagram are oriented vertically, and the screen sizes of mobile devices has gone up significantly, from about 4.5 inches to more than 6 inches. At that size, it becomes considerably easier to see detail in a vertical view.
Moreover, with multiple videos consistently appearing in newsfeeds and social media streams, it’s also more convenient to keep a phone in one position. And, let’s face it, holding smartphones vertically has always been the natural default. According to Impact/Mediabrix, smartphone users hold their mobile devices vertically 94% of the time. That might explain why Google began offering vertical video ads in late 2018.
As further evidence that vertical video is becoming more popular, YouTube’s latest navigation features for its mobile app is based on holding a phone vertically.
In addition, creators have even taken to including the search phrase “vertical video” in their searchable video titles to help users who only want to watch or share vertical videos with other mobile phone users.
If you are new to creating vertical videos, below is a 3-minute tutorial you can watch to see the additional process involved (This video is specifically for Instagram IGTV and Instagram Stories, but shows the general idea. And if you don’t have fancy software like Final Cut Pro, there’s also suggestions for mobile phone apps that you can use instead!)
Not a fan of creating vertical videos? The best approach might be a blended one. Make standard horizontal videos and also a few vertical videos, and see if there’s a difference in engagement and viewing to completion. Here’s another tip: according to one study, square videos also outperform horizontal videos, so if you don’t want to record a video in a vertical portrait mode, square videos should be okay too. Just make sure the video is published right side up!
Takeaway: Vertical videos help create an immersive experience for mobile viewers and makes it easier for them to watch your video all the way through.
6. 84% of people say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video
(Wyzowl)
Video marketing ROI is real. Other findings from the same research support the above stat further. According to Wyzowl, 80% of video marketers say video has directly helped increase sales and 83% of video marketers say video has helped them generate leads. That’s really great validation of how effective video can be.
One thing to be aware of is that video marketing does not have to mean video ads. While those are great for generating brand awareness and curiosity, there are other types of videos that will help drive sales. A very popular option is the explainer video, which is a short video that (you guessed it) explains how a product works; often by illustrating with a specific, relatable use case and fictional character.
Other options are demo videos and testimonial videos, so that people can get a preview of what they can expect and hear from others with positive experiences and can vouch for your organization. A combination of videos would be most effective in helping you achieve the same kinds of results as the ones mentioned here.
Takeaway: Create videos that show why your product or service is the right choice for the viewer; explainer videos, testimonials, demos and animated videos are some of the most common options available.
7. 80% of U.S. consumers are more likely to watch an entire video when captions are available
(Verizon Media / Publicis Media)
Captions. They’re more important than ever. It’s widely accepted nowadays that most people are watching video with sound off (Internet publishers like Facebook have shared that as much as 85% of video views are viewed without sound on their websites), but now we have even more insight into video usage and behavior. The latest research by Verizon Media and Publicis Media provides us with even greater insight into how effective captions are.
Not only do you need them if a video is watched without sound, but people are much more likely to actually watch the video in its entirety.
In fact, 80% of people in the U.S. who use captions do not have a hearing impairment. This shouldn’t really come as too much of a surprise. The always-connected lifestyle isn’t exactly compatible with sound; video is watched pretty much everywhere now, including when we’re standing in line in a public place or waiting in a quiet area. And sometimes we just might not have headphones on hand — or couldn’t even be bothered to take them out. Even when we are seated at a desk, sound isn’t always a priority when we’re busy multitasking at home or at work.
Stats on video watching behavior like the ones we’ve presented here today one of the most effective ways to ensure you get your message across in videos is to add captions. Knowing that sound is a much less reliable method of imparting information than it used to be, the best videos will prioritize visual communication over vocal speech. Captions are a natural way to do this.
For those using video ads, captions can do even more. The same 2019 study found that when captions were available, there was an 8% lift in ad recall, a 10% lift in ad memory quality, and a 13% lift in brand linkage.
Sidebar: How do you make sure captions are on for viewers who are watching without sound? Use open captions so that they’re always in the video. Just be sure not to crowd the screen with too many visuals so viewers know what to focus on!
Takeaway: Always include captions in your videos. They have a significant effect on viewer engagement and will take little to nothing out of your video production costs.
Tip #1: When filming or post-editing a video, avoid tight frames so that you don’t cover anyone’s face when captions are turned on.
Tip #2: You can create DIY captions with the help of Amara’s subtitle editor and platform, or you can have them professionally done with Amara On Demand, our affordable captioning and subtitling service.
And if these video stats haven’t been convincing enough already as to why you should be creating captions early and often, here is an infographic of why the best time to create captions is before you publish your video!
Video stats for 2020 and how to make great videos
As we look at the latest video trends for the next twelve months, a clear picture emerges on exactly what it takes to make great videos. Adding up all of the insights we’ve just learned, here’s a list of best practices on how to make the perfect video in 2020 and increase engagement.
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Amara’s guide to making great videos for 2020
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Video is a powerful and direct medium that taps into our human survival instincts. Our eyes are hardwired to look at moving objects, and that makes video an ideal tool for us to connect on the web.
With this article, we hope you’ve learned a lot about creating videos in 2020 and how to use them. At Amara, we are on a mission to enable everyone to benefit from online video content. Use our free Amara subtitle editor anytime to create great captions.
If you don’t have the time or ability to create captions, our captioning service Amara On Demand can help. We can also help you translate captions into subtitles if video localization is part of your organization’s strategy.
Captioning on your own, or have your own team? Check out the Amara subtitling platform. It has helped many teams of all sizes to create workflows and manage their captioning work. Whatever your captioning and subtitling needs, Amara is here to help you connect with your audience.
Frequently Ask Questions to Video Statistics
Should I be filming vertically vs horizontally base on statistics?
“If the majority of your audience accesses your video through their phone, vertical video is best. If your videos are mostly viewed on a desktop or TV, horizontal video is the right choice.
If you are planning to publish your video only on social media like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or Snapchat vertical video will fit in with those platforms best. If you are publishing to YouTube or other platforms more regularly accessed by desktop computers and televisions, horizontal video will fit those devices better.”
How often people watch an entire video online?
80% of U.S. consumers are more likely to watch an entire video when captions are available.
What are some statistics about closed captioning?
Internet publishers like Facebook have shared that as much as 85% of video views are viewed without sound on their websites.
What are some most important video consumption statistics 2022?
“84% of people say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video.
Putting a face to a brand can really help make a human connection. By making video, you are letting people into your world a little bit more. With sights, sounds, and setting you can create a new experience for your customers to engage with!”
What are some statistics about mobile video consumption?
Worldwide, more than 75% of videos are viewed on mobile devices.
Those viewers will mostly see vertical or square videos on apps, so factor that into your production workflow! Check out how your audience is accessing your videos so that you can cater to their preferences!
Awesome post, thanks for sharing.
Whoa! 400 hours of content EVERY minute?? That’s crazy!