As more people look to their Smartphones and Tablets for interaction, online video is becoming increasingly important platform to consume media. This has led to an explosion of individuals and companies alike utilising online video to broadcast their content, often with great success. But why is online video so effective?
Convenience
Online video is convenient. In simple terms, it allows audiences to choose what they want to watch, when they want to watch it. With the internet, consumers no longer have their content dictated to them via a television schedule, having the ability to choose what websites they visit for different media. In addition to this, the ability to search online for content that is relevant to your interests makes for a much more efficient way of consuming media.
Second Screens
Leading on from the convenience factor of online video, it’s heavy use on tablets and other ‘second screens’ has also been key to its success in recent years. With consumers’ attention becoming increasingly divided, second screen devices are being utilised to view content alongside traditional medians such as radio or television. Online video is the perfect form to stop and start alongside other medians, to provide additional supporting content.
Up to Date
As consumers look for regular, up to date content, the internet provides a fast outlet for distribution. This is a particularly attractive prospect for news programmers, who have jumped at the chance to provide online content that can be updated and shared online. Traditional print newspapers such as The Daily Mail, The Guardian, and The Telegraph have all expanded their services to include online news videos and to again, cater for ‘second screen’ generation.
Well established
Of course, online video is not a new concept, but an established part of our online experience. Youtube has been around for almost a decade now, and its video features have come on leaps and bounds since its inception, including detailed analytic reports for each video, and other innovations such as interactive video linking. As I see it, this can only be a positive thing for both media producer and consumer, providing an effective and reliable platform accessible to millions of people.
Interactive
One of the biggest reasons why online video has been so successful is its ability to be interactive. Consumers can now share video with their friends and family on social networks, and put forward their own comments and feedback. This not only provides a much more tangible link between video producer and consumer, but it also gives the opportunity to achieve a far greater audience reach than you could previously achieve via traditional methods.
