It’s Video Time
This month's issue intends to shed light on the rapidly growing dynamic video industry. Five years ago, video was mostly high-end video productions or user-generated content (UGC). Now, video has quickly evolved into the mainstream in native content and has become brands’ most effective communication tool. One-third of online activity is spent watching just video. ONE-THIRD! That’s staggering.
It has gotten to the point today that if it is not a video, it is not “thumb-stop” worthy… and most likely won’t be seen.
We currently have a new generation that is growing with the notion that video is the main, if not the only, way to consume information. Older generations are rapidly adapting to consume mostly videos as well. The demand from the consumer side continues to grow-- with the decrease in its attention span, rising internet penetration, connection speed, and device ownership-- enabling more varied viewing. Whilst delivering convenience for consumers, this is adding complexity and technological challenges for marketers as the media landscape is being disrupted.
The importance of video is not reliant on just itself, but its delivery as well. The different types of formats and number of deliverables have also exploded exponentially. Digital technologies have made new forms of storytelling possible. It has enabled more people to become film directors and create new styles of storytelling without the confines of any filmmaking traditions. This has been a greatly influential evolution, which is ongoing.
Although right now there is a lot of overlap and blurring of traditional disciplines. Media agencies offering content ideas, advertising agencies creating their own content with their own in-house productions; production companies and their directors creating advertising ideas and scripts for online content. All trying to redefine themselves. And it's been evolving out of the "traditional model" for some time now, in the same way advertising agencies and clients have.
What does this all mean? This all means that the production business is more complicated than ever, yet more exciting than ever it seems too.
'You can learn more about a company in a ten-second video than you can read in ten seconds of print,' we are being told. In today’s world of social media, everyone is looking for that instant gratification and the NEXT! If the viewer is not intrigued within five seconds, they will likely just skip your story and zap you with it.
People NEED to hear your story. And today, video has become the most captivating of all creative outlets for that matter. This is your time. The world is waiting. This is video time. But the rules of the game have changed.
We hope you find this cover story an informative read and enjoy the rest of the issue.