Hey everybody and welcome to #trending in video. This is the newest blog post by Best Made Videos® keeping you up to date on all the latest tips and trends in the world of video production and videography. We are a Seattle videography company focusing on live events and corporate events throughout the Seattle area and beyond. We are looking at three videography trending articles today. The first is by directimages.com, the second is from smallbiztrends.com and the third is from St Louis Best Bridal. While we look at these three articles, we want to focus on the different videography trends that they are talking about both in video marketing and videography techniques and see how we can relate them not only to our own video production business but also to other production businesses in the Seattle area and beyond.
The first article from directimages.com is six trends in corporate video production. This is mostly focused on the fact that internet traffic is driven by video and that's something that we've talked about on this blog before that you really need to be up to date on all the various video marketing techniques that we have at our disposal today if you hope to not be left behind. The article begins that we live in some amazing modern times and with the proliferation of online video and with the bandwidth to make online video a reality for most people. This is according to the author of this video post to one of the biggest changes affecting mass communication today.
A statistic that we've quoted before on the #trending in video blog is that over 80% of all internet traffic is going to be video related by 2020. On each and every platform across the internet, video is on the rise and in the huge way. Some recent top video trends to keep in mind are according to a 2018 survey, the future of live video is going to be astronomically huge. 94.8% of the respondents to the survey identify that live video is going to be an important part of their 2018 marketing mix and beyond 25% of those who responded to the survey even stated that live video content will be the top priority edging out that of pre-recorded videos. The use of video homepages across the internet has also been on the rise, especially I've noticed with companies in the Seattle market. This article notes that parallax design has made full-page images wildly popular in the home page web design trend. Video is also increasingly becoming a star of the show with full page videos loading or scrollers that are present, especially on design forward websites.
Even though these videos might have a larger file size, this isn't a concern for most broadband users and this is a fact that most cutting edge web designers are counting on while mobile video surfers are notoriously impatient even on handheld platforms, this trend with full page web videos is on the rise. Branded video content is also one of the biggest video trends to rocket through the social media world and beyond. There is an idea for companies with viral marketing content expertise to partner alongside with advertisers to create intelligent campaigns in lieu of traditional ads. This could be a mix of viral videos or pre-recorded videos or even live videos that would kind of go against the grain of the traditional ads that we're used to seeing. The article notes that Buzzfeed has jumped into the branded content game by producing co-branded videos with lots of companies like Geico and Proctor and Gamble. A recent video campaign they did with Friskies got more than 16 million views on YouTube alone.
Vice, which is a pioneer in the video world, spun their content into a standalone show on HBO and worked with a huge number of brands including Samsung, Heineken and Intel. The article notes that the challenge is to create a corporate video production that still has audience appeal without it seeming like a blatant video advertisement. Vice for one example insists that while the content is sponsored, their internal team calls all the shots. A another big player in the branded video content game is Upworthy who's branded videos are doing three times better than the rest of their content as a result of their savvy viral campaigns and using paid media to help boost those video views.
Another recent video trend to look at is video news remixing. Video news summaries are, according to this article, another new trend becoming wildly popular online. Newsy, which was founded in 2008 has grown exponentially in the last few years with a model based on compiling other news outlets' news coverage. Their videos incorporate video footage from a variety of sources and they are recapped by their own anchors. They repackage the video and place it on their site and syndicate it to other news outlets online. Newsy has won numerous awards for its services and imitators are surely likely to follow as this becomes a new huge trend in the news industry online. Experimental marketing is another important trend that this video article talks about. According to them experimental marketing is one of the most exciting video trends to emerge in advertising in the past few years. Brands are interested in merging the power of actual product interaction with the viral pace of social media. They are willing to spend big bucks to create certain live brand focused events that they are hoping are going to gather the attention of brand followers and audience members alike.
Chevy recently got into this experimental video marketing game and launched a series of videos for the Chevy Sonic, including one where users could click to drive up a counter and launch one of the cars on video from a bungee jumping platform. This was all streamed live via video on various social media sites and helped gain huge traction for the car manufacturer. Another influential player in the experimental marketing game is WestJet and their "Christmas miracle" campaign. This video was an emotional tear-jerker and garnered millions of views on YouTube. The company in your view, passengers on video of a cross Canada flight about what they wanted for Christmas and then they deliver gifts when those people deplaned at their destination. The final brand to look out for experimental video marketing is Heineken who challenged passengers and new York's JFK airport to exchange their tickets for a chance at an exotic mystery destination. This campaign gave them free lodging and 2000 spending dollars awaiting for them at the end of their flight.
The final trending video topic that this article talks about is video valets and they note that this is one of the trends to watch in the consumer service industry. Many users are frustrated with inadequate email or phone support and this service is going to allow face to face interactions with company representatives on video via webcam. Amazon has already started implementing services similar to this with the Mayday button on it's Kindle fire, and 75% of the tablets, customer service interactions now happen on video via this channel. Amazon's fire phone is also incorporating this type of service.
The article concludes that many corporations both big and small are turning to video production as a marketing tool as a way to build brand awareness. If your site host its own videos or uses YouTube to host those videos, having a video on the homepage to explain your business has proven to be incredibly helpful. Videos are much, much easier to absorb them books and they bring a human touch to your marketing. I definitely think there are some valuable resources here for local production companies in the Seattle area. I think especially in the idea of the front page videos on your website is something that's gained lots and lots of in recent months as well as incorporating video content into any advertising message you are trying to get across.
The second article we are looking at on our video blog today is from small business trends and this is somewhat of an unfortunate statistic to talk about due to the recent Coronavirus outbreak and they're talking about how video and creative freelancers have lost 76% of their projects scheduled for the next three months. More than three quarters of those that they have surveyed say that because of the recent outbreak of Coronavirus and stay-at-home orders across the country, more than three quarters of people have lost all or most of their scheduled project for the next three months.
This insight was uncovered by a recent report from SoundStripe. They are creators of royalty free music that you can use in lots of your video productions. Their report "Entitled Creative Response, How Freelancers and Agencies are Adapting During COVID-19" surveyed over 300 freelance videographers. The survey asked those taking it how they are dealing and adapting to current challenging conditions across the world. Those that responded specialized in different aspects of videography. 38% were dedicated solely to wedding videos. 63% were advertising videographers and 11% of those specialized in live video streaming. Further, 15% of their recipients focused on music videos and 32% on live event videos. Their report found that of those surveyed, 50% of the freelancers have stumbled into setbacks, but have yet to lay people off. 24% of the video producers interviewed. Unfortunately said the pandemic has caused them to shut down their business.
This report is super interesting for video producers of any kind, especially those in the Seattle area as it provides insights into how businesses are coping and stay afloat. With everything going on in the world. It provides inspiration for changes that freelancers and small video production companies can make to help navigate and get through the crisis.
They interviewed a local San Francisco based video and photography studio who said, quote, "We created a live stream version of a client's biggest event of the year by partnering with another video agency that specializes in live streaming. In between each presentation, we had a graphic with a countdown timer that told the audience who is up next with companies having to cancel their live events. Live stream events are high in demand right now. It's a small pivot in a new direction that has allowed us to have consistent work despite a huge slow down in the economy."
The survey also provides some very important details about the current work situation for freelancer videographers. Only 9% of those surveyed have not been impacted in a noticeable way through their video production. 25% have had to close their business down and look for new work and over 50% admitted that they have had some setbacks in their video production company.
The main highlight of this study is that businesses need to adapt to these unprecedented times. They need to create new and novel ways to maintain and attract customers. The main takeaways from the survey is the importance for freelancers alike. Do you stay close and be in communication with their clients? Even if you are not a videographer, freelancers need to think outside the box and develop new products, services and packages that they can sell online. This is incredibly important not only to us in the Seattle area who have been impacted recently by the current virus outbreak, but by video production companies and video marketing companies across the country and beyond.
The third article we are looking at today is from St Louis Best Bridal and this is a little more focused on wedding videography but I think it will still have lots of insights for those of us in corporate video production as well and this is talking about through the lens of a videographer capturing moments beyond six feet and obviously the six feet is referring to recent social distancing standards set forth by the government.
The article focuses on Megan Fairless who has been capturing moments on video since was 14 years old after learning for over two years in the business. She started her own videography company at the age of 16 ever since then she has been filming weddings, business promotional videos, tourism videos and music videos across her city of St Louis and beyond. Although she has been successful in video production for many years. In 2020 her business was turned upside down like so many others in the past few months.
According to her, the first six weeks were incredibly tough with new guidelines and shelter and place orders and wedding postponements. She wasn't sure what her video production business would look like in 2020, especially for weddings and live video events. She went through the motions of wondering even if I did film a wedding during this time, would she want to risk potentially spreading anything? She wanted to make sure her team understood all precautionary measures before deciding if they wanted to continue filming live events and weddings.
Recently she agreed to film her first elopement video just this past week, whether you want to call it an elopement or just a celebration of love with your fiance, couples are not shying away from saying I do even during the Corona virus outbreak. Many couples have chosen a smaller route in addition to their original plans and they are learning to adapt.
Megan filmed the elopement for two longtime friends in their front yard and describe the event as laid back with no stress outside of obviously that related to the pandemic. It was one of the easiest video shoots that she has ever done because of the minimal nature of the ceremony. The video production company was able to provide a same day video edit so they could send it to their loves ones and family members that were unable to attend. It's exciting for them, the couple that is because they get to have two weddings and they were able to send their wedding video to their grandmother within 24 hours of the ceremony. According to Fairless the videographer, she provides a same day video edit regardless of a worldwide pandemic.
As a local business owner herself, Fairless describes and stresses the importance of supporting local artists. Her mantra is "community over competition" and that's a driving force that has helped her video production business grow and flourish. Now more than ever, she believes that supporting local is paramount. Fairless is hopeful for her future as a wedding videographer. According to her, having the video shows so much more emotion and has an ability to move you in a certain way that photography cannot simply do. Right now. It is super important because no matter who can or cannot attend your wedding or live event, everybody can share in the day if they view the video. This is certainly something important to keep in mind as we continue to promote live events in the Seattle area and beyond. Whether you are a live streaming your event or creating a post event highlight video, having a videography team at your disposal is going to be incredibly important to make sure that you can share your message to everybody that you need to, if they are able to attend or not.
Thank you for reading our latest #trending in video blog brought to you by Best Made Videos®. I hope you found some helpful tips and trends to help with your video content creation, whether you are in the Seattle market or beyond. Thanks for reading and stay safe.