Video continuously evolves as an impactful form of marketing – and now is considered more important to consumers now than ever.

If consumer connection and engagement are your goals, you must stay on top of video consumption trends.

Our annual State of Video Marketing survey with Wistia shows that video plays have increased for businesses of all sizes. Small- to medium-sized businesses increased plays by 13%, and large businesses increased plays by 5%.

Here, I’ll highlight seven research-backed ways video consumption habits are changing and how marketers can respond strategically.

In this article:

In the latest Consumer Trends Report, HubSpot surveyed more than 700 consumers, and 37% prefer to discover products through short-form videos (such as TikTik’s or Instagram reels), 8% prefer long-form video, and 17% favor the video livestream.

The trend is clear: In 2024, consumers increasingly expect to see brand video content. Why?

Videos allow consumers to know how a product or service works, discover any flaws before purchasing the item and identify perks they might not have learned in the text-based description.

2. Conversions are made directly within the video.

Considering consumers are watching and relying on brand videos, failing to optimize your video for conversion is a missed opportunity. Conversions can be encouraged within videos using annotations, CTAs, or forms.

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A Wistia survey, which includes HubSpot insights, found that conversions are best placed at the end of videos for shorter form videos (less than one minute to five minutes long), but longer form videos, those over five minutes, benefit from a CTA placement early in the video.

Interestingly, videos at sixty minutes or more have the highest conversion rate at 24% when the CTA is placed at the end.

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Jack Brodie, managing director and video producer at Colada Creative, is finding conversion success through an innovative and interactive video format.

Brodie says, “This innovative video format is already used by brands like Nike, IKEA, Porsche, and more. We‘re using it with our clients, and we’re positive that businesses large and small shouldn’t sleep on interactive video.”

Brodie expects interactive video to have as much as five times more engagement and 30% higher conversions.

“Ecommerce brands can make their products literally purchasable within the video, and this leads to a 41% increase in products added to cart. The immersive nature of interactive video means consumers spend as much as 47% more time watching and engaging with the video,” Brodie recommends.

3. Brands must create relatable and authentic content.

Authentic and relatable content is a must. Our most recent survey found that 38% of consumers found that relatable content was more memorable.

Additionally, when it comes to social media content, consumers prefer to see relatable and authentic videos (63%) over polished and high-production-value videos (37%).

Even if you‘re creating informative marketing videos, bring in your brand’s authenticity and relate to your consumer.

Tristan Harris, demand generation senior marketing manager at Thrive Digital Marketing Agency, experimented with relatable and authentic video in social media content.

Harris notes there is a significant following for reels and live videos, with the value it puts on authenticity and even immediacy. Then, there are personalized videos, which cater to the preferences of specifically identified market segments.

“Short-form videos also have their share of popularity. We tried to integrate this format for thought leadership here. The insights and feedback indicated that this is how our audience wants to learn now,” Harris says.

Harris emphasizes that the audience will remain engaged in high-quality content that is both informative and entertaining: “The storytelling and production should be given good thought as well to ensure that this meets the expectations of your target viewers.”

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4. Consumers prefer shorter videos.

Thanks to the rise of TikTok — and the wave of short-form content that followed — consumers are seeking quick, snappy videos. Specifically, videos under three minutes fall into a sweet spot.

If you’re new to video, starting with short-form videos can help you get your feet wet — and tell you what resonates with your audience.

You also need to set the right pace for your video content. Before you put a marketing video online, re-watch it from the point-of-view of a somewhat busy consumer. Then, ask yourself, “Does this video quickly pull viewers into the action and keep their attention?”

If you‘re worried that parts of your video seem dull, shorten it. But, if your team thinks it’s entertaining or informative the entire time, you can experiment with publishing your longer-form video and learning from its results.

Daniel Anderson, founder and editor at The Money Maniac, discovered that “Short-form videos can help improve your content’s accessibility and reach. Once I started publishing videos that section a blog post into engaging parts, it also improved our website traffic and monthly visits by up to 70% and has been consistent ever since.”

It’s worth noting that Anderson is repurposing content by adding engaging media to blog sections. This type of repurposing can save marketers a lot of time.

The key to repurposing is a) understanding your content architecture and b) organization.

HubSpot’s Content Hub will improve your ability to repurpose using AI to help you turn existing content into various video formats.

With Content Hub, you can record and embed video content on your website and across marketing channels such as emails. Plus, Content Hub’s AI will do some of the thinking and organizing for you.

The AI can generate titles and find repurposing opportunities.

Connor Gillivan, entrepreneur, owner, and CMO at TrioSEO, values video as a shareable asset on LinkedIn and X.

He says, “Video content has been one of my best-performing in the past year on LinkedIn and X, where I‘m most active. I’ve run tests where I post content with just an image versus a short video tutorial included, and the video content gets greater impressions and engagement each time.”

For social media specifically, Gillivan hypothesized and read that channels push video content more than others because there’s a high chance of keeping users on the channel for longer, as they watch the video content.

Some of Gillivan’s best videos have earned as many as 143,000, 95,000, and 82,000 impressions.

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2. Discovering New Products

As mentioned above, video is leading consumers to discover new products, and different demographics use video in different ways.

The table below shows the percentage of those who use video to discover new products and their favorable video type.

Kevin Watts, president and founder at Raincross, has seen the conversion benefits that product video has on consumers.

He says, “Our strategy involves creating targeted, optimized content that speaks directly to viewers’ needs. For example, in the e-commerce sector, product demo videos have been crucial. Videos that clearly demonstrate the use of a product, emphasizing its benefits and ease of use, have led to an average increase of 30% in conversion rates.”

3. Production Quality and Demographics

As before, production quality is generally not as important as a brand creating content that is relatable and authentic, but it is true that demographics value production quality differently.

Gen Z is the only demographic to value video production quality (52%) over relatability and authenticity (48%).

Boomers significantly value relatability and authenticity (75%) over video production quality (25%).

For Gen X and Millennials, the differences are comparatively marginal. Gen X and Millennials both value relatability and authenticity (56%) over video production quality (46%).

Paul Chow, CTO and co-founder of 3DGearZone, credits editing with engagement. He says, “We’ve seen tremendous engagement with video content, particularly through our 3D printer review video podcast on YouTube). We found that viewers highly value high-quality editing.”

Crisp visuals, clear audio, and engaging cuts keep them hooked and wanting more. This translates to increased views, Chow says. In fact, his team is only seven episodes into a series and has reached thousands of views on YouTube, as seen from YouTube Studio.

“We can see a higher number of visits to the website (we see it in our GA4 data), and ultimately, a deeper understanding of the 3D printing process for our audience,” Chow says.

Video software like Vidyard, Bonjoro, and TwentyThree makes it easy to record and send short video messages — like pitches, welcome videos, and more — to customers without needing a Hollywood budget.