The Rising Purchasing Power of Social Video: Consumers Link Views to Buying Decisions

Eight billion daily views for Facebook, ten billion for Snapchat, millions of hours watched each day on YouTube…the numbers announced by social networks about social video over the past few years are strong evidence of social video’s ongoing rise to prominence, if not dominance

For organizations of all types, this rise represents a massive opportunity to reach a large and engaged audience – but only if approached correctly. With consumer behavior constantly evolving, a vast array of social networks to keep track of, and endless streams of innovative video to compete with, mastering social video is far easier said than done.

The looming question is how should brands develop and execute on a social video strategy? What can they learn about the where, what, and why of current social video viewing habits in order to capitalize on them? And just how open are consumers to engaging with social video in the first place?

Brightcove recently commissioned a research report to examine just this: charting consumers’ changing social video engagement habits and preferences, and looking particularly at the response to branded social video.

Incorporating the responses of 5,500 viewers across the UK, France, Germany, US, and Australia, the resulting report – The Science of Social Video: Turning Views into Value – offers not only a fascinating snapshot into the ever-changing world of social video, but some key learnings for brands looking to turn it to their advantage.

Here’s a glance of some of the findings:

• Soaring social video consumption – Nearly seven in ten (67%) respondents in our survey admitted to watching more video on social networks than they did a year ago, with the average viewing time per week growing to a staggering six hours.

• Rules of engagement – Over eight in ten (81%) consumers confirmed that they engage with brands on social media – with half (50%) reading branded posts on news feeds, and a little over two fifths watching brand videos (43%) or becoming a fan of branded social pages (42%). Almost eight in ten (79%) agreed that video is the easiest way to get to know a brand online.

• Connecting to sales – Nearly three quarters (74%) of consumers say there is a connection between watching a video on social media and their purchasing decision making process. In fact, nearly half (46%) said they have made a purchase as a result of watching a brand video on a social network.

Our results show that consumers are willing to  watch and act on branded video content on social networks-- so brands must ensure their videos stand out from the crowd. They can deliver what consumers want through careful targeting, a tailored approach to each social network, and by paying attention to their audience’s ongoing preferences so they can monitor and adapt the video content they serve.

To learn more about the opportunity for brands in social video, download a copy of the full research report below.