Alex Bornyakov says, “With video expected to feature in 80 percent of consumer internet traffic by 2019, it’s no wonder traditional advertising budgets are being re-prioritized to reflect this. And as the digital video advertising market continues to expand — with double-digit growth expected annually until 2020 — programmatic video has immense potential. The benefit of programmatic video over traditional video ad buying is how it leverages real-time data to get the right video ad in front of the right consumer, at the right time and in the right place. But despite the bright prognosis,... [...]

Tamar Weinberg says, “Instagram has announced two features that show they’ve got their finger directly on the pulse. Today’s launch embodies the best features of Periscope, Snapchat and Facebook’s native experience with live video on Instagram stories and disappearing photos and videos. Instagram Live will do exactly what a user would suspect: give watchers the ability to access live broadcasts. The Live feature only gives watchers insight while you’re broadcasting, removing access from the app when you’ve finished broadcasting. To go Live, tap on the camera, then “Start Live... [...]

Tim Peterson says, “A few months after introducing click-to-play video ads, Pinterest is catching up with the times — and competitors like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat — and testing video ads that play automatically. American Express, The Home Depot, Macy’s and Sony Pictures are among the first brands to test Pinterest’s autoplay video ads, which Pinterest announced on Tuesday. During the test, brands will pay a fixed price for every thousand times their video ads appear on people’s screens, even if those people don’t actually watch the video. If people do watch... [...]

Bruce McKenzie says, “Explainer videos trying to sell a product, service or idea typically rely on voiceover narration to deliver a big share of the message. The better the narration in your marketing video, the better the viewer experience. Here are some questions you should ask early in the video production process. 1. Deciding on a male or female narrator  A recent study at ConversionXL found that female voices were considered a little more “trustworthy” by viewers of a promotional explainer video. The video itself was pretty matter-of-fact. A 2006 UNC study of “speaker persuasiveness”... [...]

Nikki Gilliland says, “Last week, Twitter announced the impending closure of Vine. Despite being bad news for creators and fans alike, it doesn’t mean the demand for social video is dead. Far from it in fact – demonstrated by the rise in popularity of the music video platform, Musical.ly. With over 10m daily active users and a reported 70m registered, it’s recently been touted as a contender to the aforementioned Vine. Even suggested as the next MTV. So what is exactly is Musical.ly? Here’s everything you need to know. What is it? Starting life as an education app, Musical.ly... [...]

Michael Litt says, “Personalized video is the happy, and very effective, marriage of two of today’s hottest marketing trends: personalization and video. We’re personalizing everything these days. From shoes to cars, businesses have discovered that the more something feels uniquely yours, the more likely you are to buy it. The personalization trend in B2B marketing and sales is different from the consumer side; buying software isn’t the same as customizing your Chuck Taylors. But the same principles of connecting with the customer apply, and when done right, they are just as effective. Same... [...]

Nick Barber says, “Video conveys emotion unlike text and can show features and functionality unlike any picture. That’s why retailers see nearly triple the conversion rate on product pages that have video versus those that don’t. Entering what Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls “this new golden age of videos online,” companies and brands need an enterprise-class online video platform to deliver the video experiences that drive customer engagement. In The Forrester Wave™: Online Video Platforms For Sales And Marketing, Q4 2016 we looked at nine vendors in the space–Adobe,... [...]

Nikki Gilliland says, “Fat Face has recently relaunched its website with a brand new design. Having previously suffered from slow load times and clunky filters – it now looks and feels far more streamlined. On an initial browse, apart from being an improvement on the old site, nothing majorly impressive stands out. However, there are a few features that are worth a mention, which certainly contribute to a winning user experience overall. Here’s a roundup of the new site’s best bits. Seamlessly integrated video The decision to include such a large video on the homepage is a bold move. However,... [...]

Kristin Twiford says, “Video is the rising star of content marketing. In our survey with the CMO Council, 79% of senior marketers say video’s role will increase in overall visual content strategies. And since we all carry powerful cameras in our pockets every day, content marketers have no excuse not to experiment with video. Not every video can be shot on your phone, but authentic, timely video can have a high impact even if its production quality is lower. It requires little financial investment, has a short learning curve, and offers high potential return. The key here is speed: Quality... [...]

AJ Agrawal says, “Video marketing has never been more effective at converting prospects into leads. Studies say it’s 50 times easier to reach Google’s first page with a video. Video marketing also offers the most engaging form of content you can come up with, and it’s perfectly suited to any and all devices. But some people wrongly believe that video marketing is a silver bullet. Video marketing won’t automatically get attention for your business, and you’re never going to succeed just because you happen to have a video online. So, if you’re not getting the results you want,... [...]