Online Video Facts You Should Know!

If our last blog with video production facts didn’t convince you, this one absolutely will. I just stumbled upon a great site with a ton of facts about online video, and thought I’d share a few with you today!

Here are the online video facts:

According to a comScore study, released in February 2011, 82.5% of the U.S. Internet audience viewed a video online – This is a huge! I’d be willing to say that a large portion of the other 17.5% of people have caught on by now.

In a 2010 report from Cisco, 30% of Internet traffic is currently video. By 2013, 90% of Internet traffic will be video. – 90%! That’s 90% of the entire traffic of the Internet. That’s quite the impact.

By 2014, online video ad spending will swell from $1.97 billion to $5.71 billion. – This is businesses catching onto the trend. If by 2013 90% of the Internet traffic is video, I’m sure a portion of this will be advertising.

By 30 seconds into an online video up to 33% of viewers have moved on; at 1 minute 44% have left (regardless of the clip’s length) and almost 60% have abandoned by the 2 minute mark. – This is why it’s important to have an engaging video. Something that really affects people and makes them want to continue watching.

Video E-mail messages generate 2-3 X higher click-thru rates compared to static E-mails. – Can you imagine gaining double the exposure to your website just through an amazing video e-mail? It’s worth the extra time and money!

Roughly 66% of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video by 2014. – People are still watching videos, even on their cell phones. With the advances in high speed technology come more opportunities for businesses to reach consumers in different ways!

According to Internet Retailer, an April 2010 report stated that consumers who watch product videos are 85% more likely to buy products compared to those who do not watch. – Video increases sales! Again, with the extra time and money spent, your business could be so much more successful!

So what should you do with these video facts?

Improving your online presence is absolutely something any business should start implementing now as part of their marketing strategies. If you haven’t, its not too late. It’s not 2014, yet! Hop on the online video bandwagon now and make sure you stay ahead of the game, or at least play on the same courts. It take a bit more time and cost a bit more money, but making videos will be one of the best things you’ve done for your business.

Online Video Facts That Will Surprise You by Seven Pictures

I was having an interesting conversation with an audio/visual specialist the other day about Video Production. The person saw one of our corporate video productions and thought it was great! While we were discussing the images, I showed him a b-roll shot that had been out of focus. My friend said, “Yeah, focus can be very, very difficult”. I said, “Sure, but that’s why you have a professional cameraman!” These people are trained for four years, and that’s just part of the job. Trained cameramen know that they MUST have the right things in focus, or the shot won’t be acceptable.

The person then said that he “hoped Canon would come out with a feature that makes cameras stay in focus all of the time”. Today, most cameras have an autofocus feature already, but my friend was talking about a camera that always stayed in focus, and that you can’t manually focus yourself. I truly dislike this idea, and I personally feel sorry for those who might want to use one. If a person can’t figure out how to make a camera in focus, then they shouldn’t call themselves a camera operator. That’s part of the job!

As a society, we keep drifting towards what I call “template situations”. These situations are opening different gates to people who have no formal training to call themselves professionals.

Killing Creativity In Corporate Video Production

Template Is Killing Creativity

You can easily compare this to a children’s coloring book. When I was growing up, we were given books and had to manually color inside of the lines. We were trained and taught to do this. Now, children have computers and programs that they can simply click a few times and an entire picture could be colored in. Does this train them in anything? Does this teach them the “inside the lines” formula? No, and if you think so, you’d be fooling yourself. Yes, the kids may have used an application, but there’s a difference between using these and actually doing the work themselves.

I don’t care for this automatic everything trend. I feel that this completely disregards actual creativity, and all of the shortcuts seem to cover up real skills. People should be trained. They should KNOW what they are doing, and not just use simple shortcuts to briefly coverup an issue. Educated and trained artists create the best art. It’s their skills that add value, and its this value that makes Corporate Video last a lifetime.

Killing Creativity In Corporate Video Production by Seven Pictures

As you might imagine, quality definitely plays a role in retaining the potential customer’s attention.  You are more likely to reach your customers with a product demonstration (there was a reason Billie Maes did all of those infomercials), but poor lighting and bad camera work can prove ineffective at simplifying your product.  53% of those surveyed agreed that professionally generated videos are more polished, and 47% agreed that professional video inspired more confidence in the product.

Remember that you’re not trying to shoot the next Batman movie, only create a clean and professional looking video that tells your story.  Before you set up the company web cam and have a chat with your CEO (we’ve see this video a zillion times before), consider the following stats:

What Customers Look for in Video

Professionally produced videos, those that tell a story with proper lighting and sound, are twice more likely to influence a consumer than videos generated by their own peers.  Consumers would rather get to know a spokesperson (if you had one) than take the word of one of their peers off the street.  Just be careful not to make the video too short or long.

Final Thoughts on Corporate Video

Professional video production has significant power to influence your customer’s decision to buy your product.  Quality definitely plays a role and you are far more likely to convert potential customers with professional video.

Trust your video production to trained camera operators, and use professional editing software to create your presentations.  Spending resources like time and money on a video presentation today can sell products for years to come.

What Makes a Product Video Demo – Effective? – by Seven Pictures

Creating a video can be a great way to tell the story of your company, but if you’re not producing a quality video that teaches consumers, a new study suggests you might have wasted your resources.  A Whitepaper released by Invodo suggests that product demos with a high production value greatly influence a consumer’s decision to buy.

Product Video Production | Quality and Access by the Numbers

60% of consumers surveyed admitted to watching video at least some of the time, with 36% admitting to viewing 5 or more videos.  Back in 2001, producing a video was largely a waste of time.  Streaming quality was awful and only 8% of households had the bandwidth to actually stream a video without interruption.  Today, we’ve seen an explosion in video with sites like YouTube and Vimeo.

How often do consumers watch your videos?

Source

YouTube is full of dumb cat videos, but past that is something more.  We’re seeing the rise of the tutorial video.  All across Google, marketers are realizing the power of two words: “how to”.  Simple and amazing product demos heavily influence a person’s purchase decision.  It’s true that anyone can produce and upload video to YouTube, but what kind of customer retention will an amateur video with poor lighting and sound produce?

Quality Product Video Production

Today the question is not whether to produce a product video, rather how much can your video production achieve?

I believe that large corporations sometimes think they can save money by creating their own video production department. I believe this is a bad idea. Many large corporations hire a person who is rather inexperienced in video production, and that might be someone who is the cheapest to hire on. These people don’t have the unique “recipe” that more professional video production companies do. You can’t just throw a few ingredients together and expect to make bread. Video production is about experience. It’s about doing things in different ways. If it’s a simple product shot with a description, they may be able to do it themselves. But the more complicated things like testimonials, interviews, and messages from the CEO should hold value. They should be created with the “recipe”.

Many large corporations also won’t hire the full staff needed to create a quality video.  Video production companies come with a staff of other creators that help in the creative process to make these quality videos. Between cinematographers, editors, professional lighting crews, and hair and makeup artists, an independent production company employes these creatives, thus getting you the best rates and best professionals tailored specifically to your project.

Creative people like to do different things. We’re fueled by it. The difference in creative projects is something that keeps us going. Even if you find the most professional producer, I’d be afraid that they’d dry up. They’d get bored, and the quality of work would suffer from a lack of inspiration. Not to mention, in-house production employees are only employees. There’s a huge difference between independent companies and employees. Employees already know they have a steady paycheck coming, so their deliveries of projects end up being slow or low in quality. An independent company, however, will bend over backwards to earn your business and give the best quality of services at a faster rate.

I believe independent production companies are the way to go when producing video. The benefits surpass the monetary benefits of having your own, and in the end companies have stronger videos.

A three minute commercial film is a novel idea for American television. And a welcomed idea as well.

For one, the singular three and half minute ad cuts down on the four to six, successive, frantic thirty second ads believed to be responsible for much of the country’s undiagnosed attention deficit disorder in adults and children.

Instead of many unrelated commercials in a row, audiences get one with the new Cartier ad. The Cartier ad has a name: “L’Odyssee de Cartier.” Cartier’s Odyssey is 165 years old. In other words, Cartier’s been around since 1847. The three minute video speaks to a rich history of entrepreneurialism and adventure.

Hopefully the Cartier ad is the start of something new. It would be so much better for American television, its younger viewers and consumer parents, if one product had one long and interesting commercial that returned viewers back to their show immediately after its three and half minute commercial run.

A still from the Cartier advertisement “The Cartier Odyssey.” Photo By Courtesy Photo

A new wave of three and half minute commercials for one product would drastically reduce the number of consumer advertisements that Americans are exposed to in such short periods of time.

For another, the ad embodies what television really should be: pure, driven and inspired creativity. It’s immediately clear the Cartier Odyssey ad is produced somewhere outside of the U.S. And it’s clear because U.S. luxury ads tend to drown viewers in excess.

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By Anissa Ford

The poster of Cartier's new short film, "L'Odyssee de Cartier"

Cartier’s short film, L’Odyssee de Cartier

Earlier this month, Cartier released it’s latest video advertisement. Titled “L’Odyssee de Cartier”, this advertisement reads more like a short film. Running at 3:31, the piece takes the viewer on a majestic and jewel-encrusted journey that was meant to be a rendering of the French brands 165 year history. We didn’t notice that, though. We were just wowed by the visuals! Watch the video below:

Cartier didn’t stop at the visuals, though. They held a grand premier party at the MET, where just down the hall lavish and historical pieces of art held their own. It’s also been reported that Cartier spent 5.2 million dollars on the piece, and spent a period of over 2 years to create it where a team of over 50 people were employed to make this advertisement happen.

So is all of this worth it? YES! Cartier may have spent quite a bit of time and money on this project, but what they’ve gained is something monumental. They’ve placed this film in front of millions of viewers worldwide who might not have known about Cartier before. They brought a massive amount of attention to their brand, and created a timeless piece of history that people will remember, and will be able to see, forever. People can’t stop talking about it, still. I mean, we’re writing about it. Don’t you want that for your brand? Sometimes, it takes money and time to create something memorable. Some pieces might not be the cheapest, but the damn sure make you look good.

What do you think of Cartier’s advertisement? Are there any other advertisements you think have hit the nail on the head this month? Let us know in a comment!

According to CMSWire.com, banner advertising is down and video advertising is up in the first quarter of 2012. In fact, according to eMarketer, video will be the fastest growing digital marketing format in years to come.

What does this mean for businesses? Video is just… it. With more blogs and publications turning from the old text/photo method to a more video based platform, businesses need to keep up with the times and make sure they’re creating original videos and content to engage users online. This original content could not only come from advertisements, but also from “introduction” or “who we are” videos. Any sort of original content will drive viewers to your business.

Check out this infographic to learn more about the video site YouTube and see some numbers that might shock you.

YouTube – Just The Facts

• YouTube has 490 million users worldwide (unique visitors per month)
• Average YouTube user visits the site 14 times per month
• Users spend an average of 25 minutes on the site each time
• 92 billion page views each month ( 13x World Population)
• We spend 2.9 billion hours on YouTube in a month. That’s 326,294 years
• There are more than 400 tweets per minute containing a YouTube link
• On Facebook over 150 years worth of YouTube videos are watched every single day

If you have any questions regarding original content, don’t hesitate to contact our office. Seven Pictures creates cinematic advertisements and videos that effect viewers in the most positive ways. We’d love to help create for you!

Video Advertising Up in the First Quarter of 2012 by Seven Pictures.

Corporate video production with a Cinematic look is our passion.

A corporate video is about you, your company, and the product your company produces.

Do not compromise on the quality of the video – the video represents your message and the company’s image.

Have you ever watched a video that lost your attention half way through?

That video did not do the job correctly.

A video needs to be able to hold your attention throughout. It needs to captivate its audience with a clear and interesting story, high production values, and a creative presentation.

What does video cost per minute?

You cannot price video by the minute.

We can shoot and edit you talking for an hour which would not be as expensive compared to shooting and editing a 60-second montage of footage from Paris, New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo.

If anybody talks about video pricing based on length run away.

What does a video need to do?

A video needs to tell a story.

Our background in film and our highly trained film production crew ensure that the story is communicated to the highest possible standard.

We will invest your budget into the highest possible production value for your money.

We make sure that your video production will match your company images, branding and quality.

With today’s saturation of videos through social networking and communication websites its difficult to reach your audience.

You are in competition with an endless stream of communication from YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and iPhone videos. All of these videos are competing for your attention of your viewer.

How can you stand out from the crowd?

By presenting a high quality and cinematic video you can directly engage your viewers.

Real craft, attention, and creativity will grab the attention of your market.

Templates and boring traditional video and film production will kill the creativity, message, and branding of your company.

Factory made videos without a soul do not get the message across.

We make video like we make film: our crew is trained in film production and we apply the same technology and techniques to our video production.

The high quality of our videos, with their cinematic look and feel, will elevate your message above those of other lower production videos.

Producing the highest quality product for your budget is the best investment of your money.

Seven Pictures has been in business for more than 25 years.

We would love to have you as a client.

We are not the cheapest – But we make you look good!

Get a Video Production Quote here!

Our new TV Commercial is working!

How do we know this? We know this because the same day we started to be attacked for the content, the quality of the responses went up!

Blank Dollar Note from American Bullion TV Commercial

The truth can be difficult to confront and that is exactly what this TV Commercial is doing. Of course we are not trying to make people upset, but on the other hand the present time situation is not good and is difficult to look at.

Gold Bullion's from American Bullion TV Ad

The problem is that you will not get a warning about this situation, but instead suddenly it will be an reality and then it too late for action. So actually we think that we are doing the viewer a favor by creating a TV Commercial like this.

Bank Associate from American Bullion TV Commercial

Some FOX viewers are complaining and saying “That they know many people there have lost money because of the value of the Dollar is going down and this TV Commercial is reminding them about that”.

That is the purpose of the TV Commercial. To tell people about that, so we take those “complaints” as positive feedback!

Take a look for yourself and write a comment if you like.

For more information about American Bullion click here