As part of our annual digital trends, we have collected thoughts on 2015 digital marketing trends from expert leaders and practitioners in their field.
Below are 5 Online Video Trends for 2015.
| Rami Brusilovsky, Director of Video Advertising, dmg | |
 | The year 2015 will see a huge surge in marketers using online video to engage with consumers. Reaching audiences is one of the toughest challenges marketers face and with consumers spending less time watching TV and more time surfing the internet and scrolling through social updates, this problem has been compounded in recent times. Online video is an effective medium for marketers because it is more engaging and measurable than TV and it gives access to very granular user targeting which maximises its cost effectiveness. Therefore, the next 12 months will see even more brands racing to develop cross channel video content across mobile and display. In order to truly be successful this content will have to a carry coherent message, while also being suited to other variables, such as the user, screen and time of day. |
| François Pétavy, CEO, eYeka | |
 | In 2015, digital marketing professionals are set to continue increasing their spend and energy in producing content that drives impact. With over a third of people’s time on the Internet spent watching videos, according to DigitalSherpa, it’s important that they drive strong emotions and engagement in order to really connect with consumers. Crowdsourced content is essentially rooted in the codes and in the stories that people are sharing online. Through the sheer volume of submitted ideas, but also the quality of available online talent, the resulting output always displays authenticity as well as true gems that trigger superior performance when amplified, and sometimes can further travel into organizations. We have been tracking the crowdsourcing initiatives of the world’s biggest global brands for years, and it is no surprise we are seeing a clear shift of production towards crowdsourcing – and we are expecting that trend to increase in 2015. |
| David Brint, MD of SpinMe | |
 | A new wave of camera sophistication has transformed the product photography and video industry in the last 12 months, and 2015 will see the consumer benefiting from various brands using this technology. Ultra High definition 4K cameras will become widely used by brands in the coming year, as producing product images will be reduced to just one video shoot. The quality of the video will mean that it can produce all product images needed. Video as a whole will still be used to excite and inspire the consumer, but brands will also be able to use it to create both still and 360 spin images for online merchandising purposes. New video technology will allow brands to cut production time and maximise workflow to achieve consistent, high quality brand representation, while producing all necessary rich media to give consumers the most accurate online shopping experience. |
| John Bird is General Manager, Peer-to-Peer at Blackbaud Europe | |
 | Online video has been used by brands for years now, but its use by charities has been much slower. But recent Blackbaud research revealed that YouTube emerged as a highly used social channel this year, with almost half of UK charities now using it. Campaigns such as the ALS ice bucket challenge saw more engagement and sharing than previously and emerged as a great tactic to fundraise and increase awareness. This will continue into 2015, and I predict a significant rise in charities using their own supporters to record short videos around a theme, and then sharing the results with their own networks. It’s easy to do, impactful and generates supporter data that charities can use in future fundraising, an area where online video can add real value to charities. |
| Stephen Upstone, who is the CEO and Founder of LoopMe | |
 | There’s a lot of talk of video booming in 2015. Facebook and Google’s YouTube have already proved this format to brands and, as Facebook is rolling out more video ads on the back of favourable advertiser response, this will be the major driver behind Facebook’s mobile advertising revenues in 2015, especially if you also consider Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram and the initial success it’s seen with sponsored posts, it’s only a matter of time before those utilise the video capability in Instagram. Larger and more engaging ad formats have always been the gateway to more spend on mobile advertising, and advertisers like video especially because they’ve spent the past 50 years building their brands through the rich storytelling that TV enables. Now, the larger screen sizes and HD quality, driven by the iPhone 6 and high-end Android devices, mean that the same stories can be told in the same way across mobile channels too. The tipping point for video will be massive scale: being able to deliver video to TV-sized audiences, as large publishers and ad exchanges adopt full-screen HTML5 video and the IAB’s Video Ad Serving Template (VAST) standard. |
