Wistia’s annual report examines video marketing trends and best practices shaping SMB businesses’ video content strategies

Wistia, a leading video marketing platform for B2B businesses, released its annual State of Video report, which found that more than 14.6 billion minutes worth of videos were watched in 2021. The 2022 State of Video Report was created by analyzing user data from the Wistia platform, including more than 42 million videos uploaded to the platform between 2019 and 2021 across more than 330,000 accounts, as well as nearly 700 responses to an in-depth customer survey. This year’s report also shows minutes of video watched increased 121% since 2019 and provides actionable insights for small and medium-sized marketing teams to make best use of their video production spend.

People are consuming even more video content than in years past

At the onset of the pandemic in 2020, consumers were watching more videos than ever before as they spent extended periods of time at home. In 2021, as the world opened up and employment rates rose, consumers managed to watch even more video content, with the amount of time spent watching videos rising 20% from 2020. Further, the annual amount of video plays continues to go up every year and increased 77% from 2019 to 2021.

While the number of total videos uploaded to Wistia in 2021 fell slightly from 2020, total uploads to Wistia rose by 73% when compared to 2019. Time spent watching videos in 2021 peaked in February and March at 1.3 billion and 1.4 billion minutes, respectively, comparable to minutes watched in April and May 2020 during the first surge of the COVID-19 pandemic. As travel opened up during the 2021 summer months, video consumption leveled off at 21% from March’s rate, bottoming in July with 1.1 billion minutes viewed.

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Brands are spending their 2022 dollars creating even more video content

According to a new Wistia survey of nearly 700 customers, included in the State of Video Report for the first time this year, respondents overwhelmingly shared their plans to double down on video in 2022. Fifty-five percent of brands are planning to increase their video budget by 5% or more this year, and the majority of brands (72%) are hoping to explore new types of videos altogether. In fact, 32% of Wistia customers are planning to create their own original branded series in 2022.

“With 74% of brands saying their biggest obstacle to creating more video content was simply lack of time, we anticipate marketing and video teams will continue to expand in 2022 so brands can keep experimenting with videos to reach their target audiences with engaging content,” said Dan Mills, VP of Marketing at Wistia. “Consumer appetite for video continues to increase. In fact, creation of videos lasting 30 minutes or more increased 27% from 2020 to 2021. Brands are looking for different types of video to produce, from original, branded content, to product videos, and customer case studies. With data showing viewers consume and interact with different types of video in distinct ways, marketers have more tools than ever before to create video content that fits their brand’s specific needs.”

Videos meeting accessibility standards increase, while video quality and resolution improve

Following the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), Wistia measures accessibility of its customers’ videos using a seven-point checklist. Videos that were deemed more accessible than the Wistia player’s default settings increased by 13.5%, meeting three or more of the criteria on the checklist. One popular way to improve accessibility is by adding captions, and the amount of videos featuring captions increased by 11% in 2021. Wistia users also increased accessibility by integrating high-contrast video player colors and showing video player controls on screen. Further, 4K video uploads increased by 55% from 2020 to 2021, which shows that the quality of content is not decreasing, while scaling video creation continues to increase. As more people have the ability to shoot in 4K—and more systems to support 4K workflows—video quality and resolution will continue to improve.

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