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Online Video Marketplace Continues to Grow

Dec 12, 2008
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Nowadays, almost everyone is aware of how popular online video is and that growth is accelerating. In fact, eMarketer.com reports that by 2012, the online video audience is expected to encompass 88% of the American online user population – or 190 million people. Whew!

Popular Online Video Hubs

Of course, as we also know, the most popular video sharing website online today is YouTube. With an astounding 92 million users, YouTube is unquestionably the most popular online video hub on the Internet today.

That said, another popular site for online video is at MySpace. Although this site attracts 55 million users, and it does not even come close to emulating YouTube’s current success, these numbers are not too shabby.

However, since online video is growing in popularity, other businesses do want a piece of this Internet pie. Hulu.com, for instance, is now growing in popularity and as of July 2008, a comScore study determined that the site had a 1% market share. Independent sites such as Breaker.com are also a part of this unique mix as well.

Top Tier Companies Use Online Videos to Market

With this type of ever-increasing popularity, it is not surprising that companies that include Apple, Kodak, and Nintendo are advertising through online videos. After all, online videos are an extremely effective way to market a brand and enhance a company’s overall online marketing presence. Also, market research shows that, in general, videos with humor – as well as user-generated videos – tend to be the most popular.

Want to Market Via Online Video Channels Too?

Well, you are in luck as online video marketing is a very affordable way to market a product or service when compared with more traditional marketing methods.

Some tips to help you:

  • Remember not to make the video a blatant advertisement. If you do go this route, it will only turn off consumers and you can be assured that they will not share this video with their friends.
  • Remember to make the video humorous or memorable in some other manner i.e. shock value
  • Make the video a “short and sweet” one. As consumers have short attention spans when it comes to online video, videos should be approximately between fifteen and thirty seconds long.
  • Market your online video on relevant blogs, forums, email lists, and social networking sites in order to obtain maximum exposure

All in all, bad economy or not, the online video marketplace will only continue to expand in the future. Thus, it makes complete sense to take advantage of this affordable and effective form of advertising.

Filed under: Online Advertising + Online Marketing + Online Video
  • http://associatemoney.com Associate Money

    "Remember not to make the video a blatant advertisement."

    I have not done any video marketing before and will like to seek your advice. Will putting a website url in the background be considered blatant?

  • http://www.rhinofish.com Pat Grady

    regarding "blatant"… if you're interrupting other behavior, and by other I mean they aren't interested in viewing an ad, i agree that being overly commercialized can be a detractor. however, there are times (the best times, in my opinion) where the consumer has asked for advertising to be shown, then it's time to not be shy.

    if you hand out flyers at the mall, dress inconspicuouly and be sly. if the consumer has walked into your shop, wear the shop owner hat loudly. if the consumer says to you "i'd like to see what you've got", prepare to strip with a smile and leave incognito to the wind.

  • Larisa

    Hi there! I know I personally do not want to watch an informercial – but instead I would prefer something entertaining (preferably funny) that I then would pass on to friends. Any other comments on this?

    Associate Money – perhaps you can take a look at some popular online videos to get some ideas …

  • http://www.offeritem.com/ Offeritem Marketplace

    Video advertising is very effective especially on sites like Youtube. I do agree with your comments about the video not being a blatant advertisement. The person that watches your video should have something to gain from video. This is probably why instructional videos do well.