Email Collection Forms Improve Performance Of Online Videos

Consumers are more willing to give their email address to businesses when engaging with video content, according to data released Wednesday.

Wistia, a hosting platform focused on video and podcasting, published a report Wednesday analyzing video marketing trends. It also examines how the pandemic increased video consumption, engagement, and creation, providing predictions for what is to come.

The company created its 2021 State of Video Report by analyzing more than 44 million videos uploaded between 2016 and 2020 across more than 500,000 accounts in its platform. 

Marketers used interactive elements in videos to increase conversion rates.

The number of videos using conversion events -- such as prompting people to enter their email address -- rose 30% in 2020, compared with the prior year.

Email collection forms provide the most successful performance rate when converting viewers, with a 15% conversion rate in 2020.

Calls to action drove a 7% conversion rate, followed by annotation links with a 2% conversion rate.

In 2020, for videos that contained an interactive element, 55% placed the interactive element at the beginning of the video, followed by 30% who placed it in the middle, and 15% who placed it at the end.

Interactive elements placed at the end of videos had the highest conversion rate during the past five years, averaging 8.7%. The average conversion rate has also increased over time, from 8.6% in 2016 to 12.7% in 2020.

Video volume grew in 2020, but long-form videos took the spotlight. The number of videos between 30 minutes and 60 minutes grew 140% compared with the prior year.

Not surprisingly, the data identifies a steady increase in content consumption. Since 2016, the time spent watching videos rose 249% from 3.5 billion minutes to 12.2 billion minutes in 2020.

Last year there was an 85% increase in minutes watched, year-over-year.

The number of minutes of video watched per month in 2020 grew to the highest point in April and May -- averaging 1.2 billion and 1.4 billion, respectively -- during the first surge of the COVID-19 pandemic, then declined in the summer months. As the country saw another pandemic surge in fall, minutes of video watched spiked again to 1.3 billion. 

Brands now look to build engagement and loyalty through long-form video content. In fact, the number of videos between 30 minutes and 60 minutes last year grew 140% year-over-year and 446% since 2016, showcasing an increased investment in long-form content as more companies embrace video series.

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