By now the world has well and truly filled its gaze with the Black Mirror mega-episode that got the ball moving in a big way for interactive video. Forecast after forecast for marketing technology and trends has called on the savviest marketers in the game to be paying close attention to the unbound potential the episode truly portrays, outside of deciding that Collin should be the one to jump off the balcony (spoilers).

In their Q4 budget roundup, Netflix’s Chief Content Officer, Ted Sarandos, said this new medium of engagement has storytellers ‘salivating’ at the potential.

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For marketers, however, there is a completely new level of information that they are looking at when it comes to the medium of interactive video content. In a recent study, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) found interactive ads can command over 30 seconds of lead-in engagement, shifting the use from pure awareness to awareness and consideration.

Consideration for the data this first level of engagement and interaction behavior starts to shine a light on the value it holds within any given content strategy.

Taking into account the staggering statistic from the latest Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Complete Forecast stating video consumption is expected to constitute more than 80% of the world’s internet traffic by 2021, interactive is poised to break through the clutter of the world of video.

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In the example of Bandersnatch, giving an audience split pathways with decision points leads to a clearer understanding of the triggers that can cause specified reactions among a brand’s key audiences. For Netflix, you can only imagine the dollar signs lighting up their eyes when this is used in the context of product placement within digital entertainment, bringing with it an unfathomable research pool on which behavioral patterns can be clearly defined and leveraged in future programming.

However, interactive doesn’t stop with the Bandersnatch-style branching videos. Shoppable video is another point where we are seeing the race for better and more valuable consumer engagement break out with a clear winner. Streamlining the pathway to conversion by layering both the view and post-click activity into one seamless experience is driving retailers forward like never before.

Interactive video is an umbrella under which innovative viewing experiences such as 360-degree and multi-stream video sits, with more styles constantly being developed.

Expect to see the smart-witted marketers of 2019 avoiding a one-size fits all approach to their interactive video strategy, referencing the intention of the content against the purpose it serves their audience to construct a map for the ideal intersection at which their own style of engagement lays.

With so much promise in the world of interactive video, it becomes obvious that this is a vehicle that is here to stay.

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