Skip to content

Top 5 Digital Video Advertising Trends to Follow in 2021

Digital video is the current undisputed champion of the digital marketing world. Any content strategy and email marketing campaigns should focus on video. Among digital trends, marketing budgets for 2021 reflect video’s supremacy and will continue throughout the foreseeable future.

The statistics do not lie, and they are too numerous to list in full. Here are just twenty reasons why digital video advertising is the present and futures:

  1. 86% of businesses use video marketing. (Wyzowl)
  2. Over 75% of digital video marketers report an increase in sales tied to video campaigns.
  3. Advertisers will spend up to $37 billion on digital video advertising in 2021 and $45 billion by 2025. (Statista)
  4. In 2021, individuals will spend 100 minutes a day watching online video content. (Marketingcharts.com)
  5. 80% of U.S. consumers pay for streaming services.
  6. In 2020, 78% of people watched online videos every week, and 55% said they watch them daily. (Social Media Week)
  7. By 2024, U.S. video ad spending may increase to $12.66 billion. (Statista)
  8. 95% of viewers retain more of a content’s message when watched in a video. (Wordstream)
  9. By 2027, digital video advertising is forecast to reach $34.6, a growth rate of 12% from 2021 to 2027.
  10. Video click-through rates in email marketing content increase 200%-300%. (Forbes)
  11. 98% of people like watching new product or service videos more than other methods of communication. (Wyzowl)
  12. 97% of people say Explainer Videos lead to a better understanding of a business, product, or process. (Dubb)
  13. 90% of people prefer to watch video content on their mobile devices. (Wyzowl)
  14. 90% of consumers buy products that include promotional videos. (Dubb)
  15. 84% of people buy a product or service after seeing relevant content in a brand’s video (Wyzowl)
  16. Conversion rates increase 80% with a marketing campaign or website homepage that includes video. (Dubb)
  17. 64% of business owners believe explainer videos help increase sales. (The Draw Shop)
  18. Video content increases brand awareness by 52%. (Thomson Reuters)
  19. Engagement per post is higher with video content.
  20. In 2021, YouTube, the largest video streaming platform, has 2.3 billion active users worldwide.

The message is clear. Digital video, and its innovative companion features, are the definitive medium for a brand’s digital marketing strategy. Its supremacy will continue to grow as high-speed internet reaches more communities and mobile networks upgrade to faster standards like 5G. A company should instruct its marketing team to focus its marketing efforts on video content.

2021’s Top Five Digital Video Advertising Trends

A brand should not base its advertising strategy on a content marketing trend,  a video trend, or any trend that does not demonstrably increase the percent of people who engage with its product or service. Digital marketing trends become standards, and these are the top innovations that should keep you busy in 2021.

  1. Mobile
  2. Vertical Video Ads
  3. User-Generated Content
  4. Instructional Videos
  5. Interactive Videos

Mobile

Smartphones continue to have a profound impact on human behavior worldwide. The devices themselves continue to improve the smartphone user experience.

The cellular networks that allow content to flow to the furthest corners of the Earth continue to get faster and more reliable, all Goldilocks conditions for mobile digital advertising, and mobile video advertising in particular.

On average, U.S. adults spend almost four hours a day on their smartphones and nearly half of that time watching videos.

The number of mobile users may swell as high as 295 million by 2023, so it’s no wonder that by 2024 global mobile ad spending is projected to reach $8.92 billion. Mobile searches that include video results have also increased, and users click on the video before anything else.

But it’s not just the eyes on the screens. People interact with their mobile devices in a different way than their desktop computers or tablets. Advertising is most effective when the brand reaches its target audience.

Still, a brand’s message and values can be even more memorable when delivered seamlessly with the platform on which it runs. Digital marketers should customize advertising campaigns to target mobile users.

Vertical Video Ads

Vertical video advertising is a trend that leverages the rise in mobile use and social media networks. “Vertical video” refers to the ad’s format. In mobile parlance, vertical videos are in Portrait view.

Standard video formats are seen best in Landscape view. Most people prefer the Landscape view, but they use their phones in Portrait view when navigating the web, or their social media feeds on their phones.

Social media marketing should adapt to accommodate mobile user viewer habits. Social media trends toward increased connectivity, and a higher percent of consumers on social channels engage with content when seen most conveniently.

Instructional/Explainer Videos

America is a DIY nation. Over 85% of Americans use YouTube to learn how to do something, and YouTube is just one indicator of the collective drive to acquire new skills. People seek out many types of instructional (or explainer) videos on different websites and streaming platforms.

A great example is a recipe. Take the consumer journey. Someone searches for a fish taco recipe. The results include many sites with mouthwatering recipes, but some sites have a recipe and a video that show the viewer how to prep and cook the recipe.

More often than not, users choose the option with the instructional video. In this example, a business can use targeted branded content advertising on these instructional videos or produce the instructional video itself.

Brands have the opportunity to move into the instructional video digital space and establish authority in their field. Beyond purchasing ad space to run a digital video ad or advertising in someone else’s instructional video that targets your brand’s demographic, instructional videos produced “in-house” allow the brand to show its customers how to use its product and live the lifestyle associate with it.

User-Generated Content

Online content generated by the end-users (UGC) already has a significant impact on businesses – ask anyone with a review on Yelp, CitySearch, social media channels, blog posts, or any other industry-specific review site. What people say matters to a business’s reputation and its bottom line.

A hundred positive user-generated reviews of a company or product may not be enough to offset one negative review. Since many people believe UGC over even the best-branded content, positive UGC leads to sales, and negative UGC leads to potential customers taking their business elsewhere

However, UGC must be authentic. You can’t package UGC. Brands must create the digital space for users to create positive social media posts for their product and have a strategy to push that marketing message across digital (and traditional) media channels.

A great example of UGC is Instagram Stories (or Facebook Stories),  Instagram Reels, and Instagram Live. The user generates video content, and ad content is a companion to the internet user’s personal experience. Through video, users can create a virtual event about a product in a much more effective way than the brand itself. Think of your average testimonial.

In traditional print or digital channels, testimonials come across as scripted false praise with a random name attached. Put a natural person in an actual video talking about their genuine experience with a brand’s product, and the potential reach and ROI are limitless.

Interactive Videos

The biggest video marketing tool is interactive and should be a part of any content marketing strategy. Marketers work overtime to figure out new ways to engage their target audience with its product or service. A video ad can send the viewer through layers of companion ads that ultimately prompt action that increases the likelihood of a sale.

Interactive video can be the ultimate customer journey. For example, a brand reaches a potential customer through video content created or promoted through influencer marketing. Establish the customer relationship on a personal level that increases the likelihood of further engagement.

Conclusion

Digital video marketing trends are just that – trends – but a brand with an online presence and intelligent video marketing strategy can turn active users into loyal customers with customer engagement, high-quality content, personalized content, and other forms of content.

Ad networks like Facebook Ads, Google Business, Google Ads, Google My Business, and other B2B marketers report that video content has the highest engagement rates.

Whether your business is focused on conversion rate optimization, SEO strategy, or promoting valuable content across channels, your brand can enhance its customer base’s digital experiences (and mobile experiences!) by incorporating video ads.

Search
Hide picture