In 2020 the world changed forever with the global pandemic, with that change online video exploded as a primary means of communication and brand engagement. Now in 2021, we’re seeing continued growth from video viewers and video marketers alike — video marketing is the focus of the year.
50Wheel recently ran a consumer study looking to better understand the market’s plans for video this year. The purpose of the study was to see what changes organizations made to their video communication strategies in 2021. This report shares the results of that study.
You can also see some of our previous research here.
The purpose of the study was to see what changes organizations made to their business strategies in 2021, including information about the size of their video libraries, what works and what doesn’t, we have even gathered information on video marketing budget size.
Study details: This study was conducted exclusively by 50Wheel.com, using an interactive website survey during the months of March and April 2021. Data presented in this report was obtained by a survey that received 2,273 responses.
Video Content Library Size
Only 9% of all global businesses have more than 250+ videos in their video content libraries.
55% of businesses have less than 10 videos. 20% of businesses have between 10 and 50 videos. 7% of businesses have between 50 and 100 videos, and 9% of businesses have between 100 and 200 videos in their video content libraries.
Source: The State of Video Marketing in 2021 Survey, 50Wheel.com 2021.
The breakdown
Most companies seem to operate with small video content library sizes, which means most of their investment in video production is done up front or in bulk. Businesses that have between 0 and 10 videos are typically smaller businesses with more limited budgets.
Top Viewing Destinations
A majority of global businesses say their most engaged audiences are on YouTube.
Video marketers report that 60% of video views across all viewing platforms in 2021 are on YouTube. For some perspective, LinkedIn barely sees any traffic with only 2% of video views happening on LinkedIn.
Source: The State of Video Marketing in 2021 Survey, 50Wheel.com 2021.
The breakdown
In 2021, global businesses adopted YouTube as their primary destination for uploading and hosting video. This makes sense given the growth of the platform and the free tools YouTube provides for video marketers.
Measuring Video Marketing Success
The success of video marketing will always be about the good ole fashion video view!
Nearly half of businesses (50%) measure the success of an online video by the number of video views (plays) that it gets. 21% of businesses measure video marketing success by the number of comments, retweets, subscribers, shares generated. 20% of enterprise businesses and B2B marketers measure the success of a video by the number of leads the video converts.
Our Opinion
Video marketing can span a number of use cases, including generating awareness, driving a sale or converting a video viewer into a lead. One common metric rings true across all video marketing campaigns… video views.
It’s 2021 and video marketers are measuring the success of their videos based on video views/plays, and with good reason!
Source: The State of Video Marketing in 2021 Survey, 50Wheel.com 2021.
Popular Video Software Types
Most businesses use YouTube. Markerts spend no money at all and rely on free tool for video management and distribution.
What exactly are businesses using to manage video in 2021? Turns out most businesses spend no money at all on video marketing software and rely on free tools like YouTube and Vimeo for video management and distribution.
Over 50% of businesses rely solely on YouTube as their only video software tool for managing and distributing video on the web. The second most popular video software category is Video & Screen Capture software, with 20% of businesses spending money on this type.
In equal tie is Video Content Creation software software with 20% of video marketers spending budget on this category.
Our Opinion
While video marketing is expanding, digital marketers still tend to go to the basics: YouTube, Zoom and Screen Recorders to capture and manage their video strategies. With all that said, video marketing software as a category has grown in 2021 and it’s great to see sub categories like Live Streaming take a giant leap this year!
Source: The State of Video Marketing in 2021 Survey, 50Wheel.com 2021.
Video Marketing Budgets
Source: The State of Video Marketing in 2021 Survey, 50Wheel.com 2021.
Most businesses will spend less than $50,000 on video marketing in 2021.
80% of businesses will spend less than $50,000 USD in 2021. Most of that budget will be spent on video production which includes gear, hardware, labor, etc.
Marketers claim that they spend most of their video marketing budget on software. Look at what they are spending their budget on.
Marketers will spend more on video marketing in 2021 than ever before!
48% of businesses say that they spend a majority of their video marketing budget on related software license fees. 18% of businesses say that their biggest video marketing expense is the purchase of video production gear. 16% of businesses say they spend most of their budget on hired production help.
Source: The State of Video Marketing in 2021 Survey, 50Wheel.com 2021.
Plans For 2021 & Beyond!
Marketers will spend more of their digital marketing budgets on video in 2021 than ever before.
48% of businesses say they will spend MORE on video in 2021 than they did in 2020, especially as more consumers move online.
Shockingly, 25% of businesses say they are CUTTING BACK on video marketing in 2021 because they didn’t find the content type affective or they were impacted negatively by the COVID-19 global pandemic.
What’s really cool is that 18% of companies are implementing video software in 2021 and 14% of of companies are hiring employees specifically to work on video marketing initiatives. This makes sense because 18% of marketers plan to expand their use of online video in 2021.
Source: The State of Video Marketing in 2021 Survey, 50Wheel.com 2021.
