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2023 Video in Business Benchmark Report

Businesses are creating more video than ever. Learn how many videos businesses made last year, which types of video they preferred, and which ones performed best.

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Several stacked pages from benchmark report

Top Takeaways

29%
more videos were created this year.
72%
of videos are user-generated.
53%
more videos clock in at 2 to 4 minutes long.

Business Video is Bigger Than Ever

Video for businesses isn’t going away. In 2020, there was a huge upsurge in video creation, and it’s stayed high ever since. And it’s working: 93% of people say that video converts the same or better than other forms of content.

Video is everywhere…and you need a plan for how you’re going to use it.

Welcome to our sixth annual Video in Business Benchmark Report! This study analyzes the videos that users created and uploaded to Vidyard’s video platform in 2022.

The findings you’re about to read are based on first-hand data collected from a sample of Vidyard customers. We looked at behaviors and trends for over 1,778,000 videos.

Chapter One

Video Creation and Publishing

Total Videos Created

Fast Facts

  • Video creation is up 29%.
  • 72% of videos are user-generated.
  • 80% of user-generated videos are screen recordings or “hybrid” videos.

Businesses are making more videos than ever. Video creation increased by 29% compared to last year. Over 1.77 million videos were created or uploaded using Vidyard in 2022. (In 2021, that number was 1.38 million.)

So what are the most popular ways to create videos? We categorize videos into two types: “User-generated” and “produced.” (See Definitions below for more information.)

In 2022, 72% of videos created were user-generated. The remaining 28% were produced.

This means that user-generated video continues to be hugely popular. That’s a trend we’ve seen over the past few years, and we don’t see it slowing down anytime soon.

Definitions

User-Generated Videos: Made by individuals using Vidyard’s creation tools. They use their device’s webcam or screen (or both!) to record.

Produced Videos: Created outside of the Vidyard environment, then uploaded to the platform for hosting and distribution.

Total User-Generated vs. Produced Video

72% of videos are user-generated. The remaining 28% are produced.

Videos Created, by Industry

Fast Facts

  • Financial services companies are creating the most videos.
  • For the first time ever, the high tech industry isn’t leading video creation.
  • Other big video creators are real estate, professional services, healthcare, and manufacturing.

These three industries are creating the most videos:

  1. Financial services (avg. 934 videos per company)
  2. High tech (avg. 917 videos per company)
  3. Education and public services (avg. 634 videos per company)

Certain industries saw big gains in how many videos they’re creating:

  • Real estate companies are creating 132% more videos.
  • Financial services companies are creating 83% more videos.
  • Professional services companies are creating 41% more videos.
  • Healthcare companies are creating 23% more videos.
  • Manufacturing companies are creating 21% more videos.

Why Financial Services is Making More Videos

In financial services, success is all about building trust with clients. Video’s a great way to make that critical face-to-face connection, even at a distance.

Average Number of All Videos per Company, by Industry

Financial services companies have the highest rates of video creation at 934 videos per company, followed by the high tech and education industries.

Videos Created, by Industry: User-Generated Video

These three industries are creating the most user-generated videos:

  1. High tech (avg. 684 user-generated videos per company)
  2. Financial services (avg. 681 user-generated videos per company)
  3. Professional services (avg. 429 user-generated videos per company)

User-generated video is on the rise. Here’s a look at which industries are investing in this type of video:

  • Real estate companies are creating 155% more user-generated videos.
  • Financial services companies are creating 87% more user-generated videos.
  • Professional services companies are creating 45% more user-generated videos.
  • Food and leisure companies are creating 19% more user-generated videos.
  • Healthcare companies are creating 19% more user-generated videos.

Average Number of User-Generated Videos Created per Company, by Industry

High tech companies create the most user-generated videos, at 684 videos per company, followed by the financial services and professional services industries.

Videos Created, by Industry: Produced Video

Fast Facts

  • Financial services companies are creating the most produced videos.
  • Most industries are creating more produced videos this year.
  • The education and public services, manufacturing, and real estate industries saw big jumps in how many produced videos they’re creating.

These three industries are creating the most produced videos:

  1. Financial services (avg. 252 produced videos per company)
  2. High tech (avg. 233 produced videos per company)
  3. Retail (avg. 227 produced videos per company)

In last year’s edition of this report, all industries (except two) created fewer produced videos than they did the year before. However, this year, all industries (except two) are creating more produced videos.

Here’s a rundown of the industries with the biggest gains this year:

  • Education and public services companies are creating 143% more produced videos.
  • Manufacturing companies are creating 131% more produced videos.
  • Real estate companies are creating 90% more produced videos.
  • Financial services companies are creating 73% more produced videos.

Average Number of Produced Videos Created per Company, by Industry

Financial services companies create the most produced videos, at 252 per company, followed by the high tech and retail industries.

Average Number of Videos Created, by Company Size

Fast Facts

  • Companies with 5000+ employees created the most videos, 55% more than last year.
  • Companies of every size are creating a larger number of user-generated videos.
  • Companies with 31-200 employees are creating the highest proportion of user-generated videos.

Here’s how video creation rates stack up in each company size bracket.

Companies with 0-30 employees are creating 5% more videos. (77% of those videos are user-generated.)

Companies with 31-200 employees are creating 28% more videos. (80% of those videos are user-generated.)

Companies with 201-600 employees are creating 27% more videos. (79% of those videos are user-generated.)

Companies with 601-5000 employees are creating 22% fewer videos. (73% of those videos are user-generated.)

Companies with 5000+ employees are creating 55% more videos. (61% of those videos are user-generated.)

Why Are Large Companies Creating More User-Generated Video?

Smaller companies love user-generated videos. It’s low-cost, low-lift, and high-impact—a perfect fit for limited resources.

And now big enterprises are getting in on the party, too. Word is out about how user-generated video helps establish relationships and trust. Those are things that every company needs to do, regardless of its headcount.

Average Number of Videos Created per Company, by Company Size

Companies with over 5,000 employees create the most videos, on average.
Chapter Two

Video Content

How Marketers are Using Video

Fast Facts

Marketing teams are primarily investing in these three types of video:

  • 47% of companies have invested in product demo videos.
  • 35% of companies have invested in explainer videos.
  • 33% of companies have invested in recorded webinar videos.

Prospective customers want to do their own research and draw their own conclusions, all at their own pace. These three types of video are the perfect fit for the form that the buyer’s journey takes these days.

Why Marketing and Sales Should Work Together on Produced Video

In order for companies to make these types of videos, their marketing and sales teams need to be in close alignment. What buyer questions do sales reps get most? What are the proof points that sales teams use to win over prospects? Marketing can build this info straight into new video content, answering questions and squashing objections before buyers ever talk to a sales rep.

Types of Produced Videos Buyers Have Already Invested In

47% of marketers have invested in product demo videos. Other popular types include explainer videos and recorded webinar videos.

How Sellers are Using Video

Fast Facts

  • The most popular ways that sellers use user-generated videos are outbound prospecting, outreach follow-up, and product demos.
  • BDRs and SDRs primarily use video for outbound prospecting.
  • Account Executives primarily use video for outbound prospecting.
  • Customer Success reps primarily use video for product demos.

These are the three most popular ways that sales reps utilize user-generated video:

  1. Outbound prospecting
  2. Follow-up to initial outreach
  3. Product or solution demos

Here’s how video is most commonly used, broken down by role:

  1. BDRs and SDRs: Outbound prospecting (used by 74%)
  2. Account Executives: Outbound prospecting (used by 67%)
  3. Customer Success: Product or solution demos (used by 65%)

Who Gets the Most Responses from Buyers?

When it comes to outbound prospecting, Account Executives and Customer Success reps get more responses to their videos than BDRs or SDRs do. The stronger the relationship between the rep and the customer, the more likely the customer is to respond to the video.

How Sellers Are Using User-Generated Video, by Role

A majority of sellers are using video for outbound prospecting. Other popular uses include follow-up to initial outreach and pre/post-meeting follow-ups.

Video Length

Fast Facts

  • The average video length is 15:31.
  • 60% of videos are under 2 minutes long.
  • Videos that are 2 to 4 minutes long are seeing the biggest growth (up 53%).

Across all videos analyzed, the average video length is 15 minutes and 31 seconds. (Last year, it was 9:58.)

Here’s how video length breaks down across all length brackets:

  • 35% of videos are under 1 minute long (up 2% vs. last year).
  • 25% of videos are 1 to 2 minutes long (up 14% vs. last year).
  • 20% of videos are 2 to 4 minutes long (up 53% vs. last year).
  • 10% of videos are 4 to 10 minutes long (up 25% vs. last year).
  • 3% of videos are 10 to 20 minutes long (down 33% vs. last year).
  • 8% of videos are over 20 minutes long (down 56% vs. last year).

Video Length Distribution

The largest proportion of videos are 0-1 minute long, at 34%. Other common video lengths are 1-2 minutes and 2-4 minutes.
Chapter Three

Video Engagement

Viewer Engagement and Attention Span

Fast Facts

  • 53% of viewers will watch a video all the way through.
  • 66% of viewers will finish a video if it’s under 1 minute long.
  • The majority of videos over 1 minute long retained fewer viewers than they did last year.
  • The average click-through rate for video CTAs is 3.21%.

53% of viewers will watch a video all the way through to the end.

Here’s how retention scales across multiple video lengths:

  • 66% of viewers will finish a video that’s under 1 minute long.
  • 56% of viewers will finish a video that’s 1 to 2 minutes long.
  • 50% of viewers will finish a video that’s 2 to 10 minutes long.
  • 39% of viewers will finish a video that’s 10 to 20 minutes long.
  • 22% of viewers will finish a video that’s over 20 minutes long.

Average Viewer Retention, by Video Length

Videos under 1 minute long retain the most viewers. Rates of viewer retention fall off as video lengths grow.

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Get in-depth analysis into these findings, as well as expert recommendations on how your specific role and industry can put video to work.

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