29% of adults in the US own a tablet or e-reader, and half of them watch a video at least once a month. Those were the eye-opening statistics from a couple of solid sources – Kleiner Perkins analyst Mary Peeker, and comscore respectively – as reported by the ReadWriteWeb blog this week. Given that the majority of tablet users are in the higher income brackets according to comscore, the need to use video in the marketing mix becomes more and more compelling.
Another study by Ooyala, shows that the length of video that viewers are willing to watch on a tablet is also increasing, with more than 50% of the time spent on clips longer than 10 minutes.
In my mind, the trend is helped by a couple of factors
– The quality of video available is improving and
– Folks are getting more comfortable with using tablets as a primary viewing screen.
Personally, I think the TED series of videos, and their great iPad app, has contributed to people’s willingness to watch longer form video. A year ago, TED was still a fringe interest, but now I frequently hear it come up in mainstream conversations.
(While we’re on the subject, check out this 7 minute TED talk from Kevin Allocca of YouTube on how videos go viral).
For all of us B2B marketers, it’s a trend we can’t ignore. Our customers are using their tablets to watch educational videos at any time of day or night.And it’s not just tablets of course – laptops, smartphones and even TVs are being used more often to watch web-based video content.
They can watch a video from your competitor, or one from you. So grab a camera and start taping – before someone beats you to it!
I know it’s not easy; it’s a daunting prospect. So next time, I’ll give some ideas on how to get started quickly and easily.
But for now, start thinking “if I had 5 minutes in front of a customer, what would I show them?”
Steve Cummins - B2B Tech Marketer 