The Value of Video Part One: The Growth of Video & Increased User Engagement

The Recent Growth of Video Content

We see it everywhere in our daily lives. It’s engaging, interesting, and constantly moving- it’s video. From watching your favorite YouTuber to watching a live event on Instagram, video is constantly growing and making our lives more interesting. In the recent year, there have been major changes in the way that video is delivered to an audience and used to engage people. Keep reading to learn more about how video features, live video, vertical video, and VR have helped improve video content and user engagement.

3. The Vertical Video Buzz

Vertical is the new horizontal. Watching video vertically has become increasingly popular because of how much more people are using their mobile phones compared to desktops. Vertical video gained more attention in 2017 with social media apps like Instagram and Snapchat using vertical video for stories. Instagram is now changing the vertical video game, to compete with platforms like YouTube, with their new IGTV feature that gives users the opportunity to upload videos that are up to 10 minutes long or 60 minutes long for verified accounts. This duration is so much more significant than the 1-minute users have for videos they want to post to their profile or 15 seconds for an Instagram story. Recently, YouTube has also made changes to now allow vertical video to show on desktops without the annoying black bars on the sides of the video. Improving the user experience is what vertical video is all about. By improving the experience of video, increased user attention can be a result.

4. Taking a Step into Virtual Reality

VR has been on the rise throughout the years with the goal of helping people connect and communicate with each other. It is currently used for things like video gaming and shopping to put the user in an artificial location to interact with a game’s storyline or to look at things you would potentially like to purchase. One brand that has used VR to enhance the shopper experience is IKEA. The popular furniture giant used Steam, the gaming platform, to give users an interactive VR Kitchen experience which gave them the opportunity to look at different counter finishes, cabinets, and navigate the kitchen as a whole. As IKEA has done, most brands will end up using VR to give customers the opportunity to interact with different products before committing to a purchase. Even though VR is still in development, its potential has been proven in the ways that people use the popular VR headsets created by Sony and Oculus that are now owned by Facebook. The relationship between VR and video proves that video will be taken to a whole other level by having an audience become the participant rather than the viewer.   The changes in video content have been so significant in such a short amount of time. From social media’s video features to the use of VR, video content will not stop changing in the future. The growth of video will continue to draw people into a brand’s messaging, purchasing products, a storyline, and so much more. We will just have to await what new things will come next.