Video revenue specialist Ooyala has released the first quarter's video trends in its Global Video Index.
While the research is focused on the internet on the aggregate, there are some interesting tidbits related to leveraging digital video advertising in a cohesive travel marketing campaign. Video is especially suited to travel, as it gives a vivid portrayal of a particular destination or travel topic, while providing a continued return on investment by being placed throughout a multi-platform content ecosystem.
This not only refers to digital video advertising, but also to owned video investments that brands distribute outwards for brand positioning, lead generation and story telling.
The report considered anonymized behaviors across 239 countries and territories, across billions of views.
Tablets on the rise
The promise of the tablet revolution has pretty much been fulfilled: content is being consumed at record levels as more tablets end up in the hands of more people.
When including the ever-growing army of smartphones, the stats are compelling - within three years, the overall share has moved from under 5% of plays to nearly 25% of plays. At that same rate of growth, video plays will hit the majority by 2017. This not only highlights the growing imperative to participate in digital video, but also the changing size requirements for this new video content.
The assumption can no longer be that an individual is watching video on a computer screen. This variation in screen size must inform the actual shooting of the content, as images must be able to fit into the smaller screen size while maintaing visual interest.
Of course, the trend is also that consumers are starting to stream video from mobile and tablets to larger TV screens via items like Google's Chromecast. So larger screens are still in play, and provides another layer of complication to video production and delivery for brands. Connected TVs are increasingly popular in the mainstream, and this changes the landscape yet again.
Regional differences in platform
Travel is a global business, so brands must carefully consider platform trends to determine how the content is consumed regionally. The data shows that Android is for sure catching up, especially outside of North America. This is also important for brands seeking to create custom apps to deliver interactive video content to consumers.
Overall, the global average is that iOS sees 64% of video plays, showing a global dominance. However, these regional differences are vital indications of how consumers prefer to access video on mobile/tablets.
The global smartphone count is heading up to 2.5 billion phones by 2017, so the market share of phone platforms is bound to change.
The rumored larger screen of the next iPhone might help stem the shift in some regions from iOS to Android, given that many Android phones have larger screens conducive to video consumption. In addition, emerging platforms such as Huawei's MIUI that improve upon Android are also impacting the industry.
Types of content being consumed
Brands must also be able to identify the types and length of content that works best for a specific targeted audience.
The research shows the following engagement levels for video globally via Ooyala:
The key point here is that consumers are watching a lot of video online, and much of the longer form videos are being watching on connected TVs and tablets. Connected TVs are clearly the portal to the robust online video future - and will create a time when "online video" is no longer the term, as all video will basically be cloud-based and streamed to various screens according to the consumer's specific location (home, work, in transit).
For brands seeking new ways to reach consumers with travel content, connected TVs are a great way to deliver long-form content while other platforms have a much more even spread across length of time. This might be because consumers watch video on whichever screen is closest - an interesting challenge to face while screen proliferation occurs worldwide
The full report is available for download here.
NB: iPad YouTube image courtesy of Shutterstock.