Why Videos Are More Effective Than Text

by VideoTranslator Support| Oct 10, 2021

As the world gets more and more digitalised, people are now opting for video content compared to text. They no longer want to read a big chunk of text but rather watch a short 2 to 3-minute video.

When did the shift from text to video happen? Why are videos more effective than text?

Let’s find out in this article!

Brief History Of Video Marketing

You’re maybe wondering, “When did the shift from text to video happen? Surely, it did not happen overnight.”

You are right. It did not happen overnight. In fact, according to Conductor, it began about 80 years ago.

1941 - The first commercial on a New York TV station was run by Bulova during a Yankee game.

1981 - MTV launched the ‘Video Killed the Radio Start’ anthem which disrupted national media.

1984 - Apple smashed advertising records with their iconic Macintosh ad during the Super Bowl.

1995 - ‘The Spirit of Christmas (Jesus vs Santa)’ became the first viral video via bootleg VHS tapes.

2005 - Nike’s video of Ronaldinho is the first-ever video to reach 1 million views on YouTube.

2006 - Google realized the value of video in search and marketing so they bought YouTube.

Well, since then, everything went so quickly and videos rapidly grew in the digital marketing area.

Why Videos Are More Effective Than Text

Still not sure why you should shift to video marketing? Let’s find out the 5 reasons!

1 - Videos Grab People’s Attention

Did you know that your eyes are attracted to movement? The movement that videos produce naturally attracts people’s attention.

In addition, our brain is unique when it comes to processing images. Visual images are processed 60 thousand times quicker in the brain than text. Most people recall 80% of what they see and only 20% of what they read.

Users are 27 times more likely to click through online video ads than standard banners.

2 - Videos Drive More Traffic

If you want more traffic to your website, you should start creating video content.

The most popular search engine, Google, loves videos and will give preference to a site with videos. Roughly, it is 50 times easier to get a video to rank on the first page of Google than other content types.

Not only from search engines but 86% of people would also like to see more videos from brands.

According to Facebook’s Client Solutions Manager, Iffath Mansoor, a carefully scripted short video can be 80% more powerful and communicate as much information as a pile of written material.

In today’s age, customers prefer to watch a short video for a couple of minutes than to read an article that will take 15-20 minutes. This argument is backed up by WordStream’s research that says ‘68% of consumers prefer watching videos to learn about new products or services, as compared to articles, infographics, ebooks, and presentations.’

It is predicted by Cisco that online video will make up more than 82% of all consumer traffic by 2022.

3 - Improve Brand Recall

Generally speaking, there are 4 learning types:

Visual learners
Auditory learners
Kinesthetic learners
Reading/writing learners

According to Busan (2014):

In the general population, the distribution of the three learning styles is: 65% visual, 30% auditory and 5% kinesthetic.

Videos support this learning style and assist people to retain information better than they would a large wall of text.

However, visual alone is not enough to improve brand recall. The combination of visual, word, and audio will work best to improve your brand recall in consumers’ minds.

4 - Help Increase Buying Intent

According to WordStream, 64% of consumers make a purchase after watching branded social videos. Consumers who end up on an e-commerce site through a user-generated video are 184% more likely to purchase and spend 45% more.

For example, when Hershey was placed in the movie ET, their profits rose 65%.

The sunglasses brand Ray-Ban increased its sales from 18,000 to 360,000 after Tom Cruise wore a pair of their glasses in the movie Risky Business.

5 - Social Media Friendly

Video content is easy to share and very engaging for social media.

By producing video content, you can determine the tone of voice of how you want to interact and engage with your customers. When chosen correctly, you can make them feel like you’re directly talking to them.

Aside from that, videos also have a long shelf life.

Statistics for the average YouTube video show that the first three weeks result in 40% of the total video views. The next 30% of video views come after four to 12 weeks of posting. An additional 30% of views come after 12 to 52 weeks.