New Study: Video Moves Executives to Action
Posted by Catie Foertsch on Tue, May 17, 2011 @ 09:14 AM
Forbes and Google recently published a follow-up to their 2009 study on how many executives watch video online, and the key findings are eye-opening. According to the study, the video tipping point is here. Video is now a critical information source - and cause for action - for business executives, who watch work-related videos weekly, visit vendors’ websites and make purchases after watching video, and share videos with colleagues.
The study polled more than 300 senior-level executives at large US companies in 2009 and again 18 months later, and notes that executives now embrace video “as a highly reliable and trusted source for gathering and filtering business information.” According to the study, “video appears to have evolved from a novelty into a mainstream method for executives to receive business information.”
Here are some of the survey’s results:
- 75% of senior executives watch work-related videos
- 65% have visited a vendor’s website after watching a video
- 53% have contacted a vendor for more information after watching a video
- 42% made a business-related purchase after watching an online video
- 54% share videos with colleagues at least weekly.
- 59% agree that if both text and video are available on the same topic on the same page, they prefer to watch the video.
The data clearly show that senior-level business executives – the decision-makers – now rely on video as a primary tool to help them absorb information about products and services they wish to buy.
The data also show that the number of executives who regularly watch business-related video is increasing. In 2009, 64% said they watched business-related videos at least weekly. Eighteen months later, that number jumped to 75%.
In addition, executives - the people who make the decision to buy your products - are coming to prefer video as an information conduit.
What this means for your business
It’s easy for us to get excited about this study, because it’s confirmation of what we already know: the video tipping point, the point at which video becomes an indispensable tool for sales and marketing, is here.
But you should get excited too, because it gives you solid data to back up your decision to invest in video marketing. And the data clearly shows that your target audience is looking for video, makes buying decisions after viewing video, and more and more, would rather watch a video about your product than read text.
The only conclusion to draw is this: companies that choose to stay on the sidelines, ignoring video and relying on the same-old same-old (print advertisements, text-only websites) are making a choice to ignore the preferences of the people who are buying their products.
That’s a dangerous choice to make.