New Data: Video is Becoming an Essential Communications Tool

In the last few weeks, the good folks at eMarketer and the Pew Internet & American Life Project have shared a few new research findings related to video, and the numbers are striking.

As more and more of us have video recorders in our pockets, and as tools for sharing video become ever easier, video is poised to jump from entertainment medium to communications tool.

It’s a trend that only becomes more clear every year, as new college graduates enter the workforce and innovative executives continue to adapt consumer technology for enterprise use. Only a few years ago social media was a playground for the undergraduate set—from the looks of the data, video is about to make the same leap from entertaining to essential as well.

First, take a look at how comfortable people have become in sharing video online:

This comes from the Pew Internet & American Life Project’s recent study, “Photo and Video Sharing Grow Online”.

More and more of us are happy to share videos—even post our own. Student video is a trend that universities already know well, and one that smart businesses are already incorporating into their everyday routines via social learning videos, recorded and flipped meetings, and informal corporate training. And based on the numbers, self-directed video is a trend that will only get stronger with time.

Now look at how much variety there is in the video that people watch online:

This comes from eMarketer, citing a YuMe and IPG Media Lab study on how millennials watch video online.

Of course by now everyone’s heard what Netflix and Hulu have done to make streaming movies and television mainstream. But we’re struck by the first 3 categories. More and more people are getting comfortable consuming more casual, less formal video. User-generated content, personal and web video—these are all ways that people use video to share their own ideas, reactions, and responses. And here again, based on demographics, the increase is a trend set to continue.

Video as a communications tool has the power to do for an average email or blog post what television did for the news—bring static text to life, make it memorable, and give it importance. And based on the data, more and more people have already started to see the value of clicking “record.”

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