Video Trends 2011: How the Video Market is Changing

What will happen this year with online video? Which developments can we count on and what will be the effects for e-commerce businesses? We venture a look into the future and highlight which trends we need to keep an eye on:

• Trend 1: Product videos and slideshows continue to take a lead role.

This is less a like trend but rather a more like a given. Just to be noticed via Google by new customers (read: video SEO), merchants will be increasing investment in videos and then using the internet for distribution.

Thanks to slideshow services such as Animoto, ClipDesigner & Treepodia, the cost of video marketing will remain manageable in the future.

• Trend 2: (Professional) Video content floods the web like never before.

Using only an iPhone 4 last July, MyMuesli created and edited a video commercial. Beyond that there are several economically prices pocket camcorders on the market such as the Flip Ultra HD which can be used on the road to take simple and spontaneous videos.

mymuesli2go, a tv commercial - filmed and edited on an iPhone 4 from Max Wittrock on Vimeo.

Via the portable all-in-one devices, video clips will become a commodity. And the increased availability of smartphones which can take videos means that an increasing amount of video content will be publicized on YouTube and similar video sharing sites. No wonder – cameras will be everywhere and content will be directly uploadable.

• Trend 3: The online video market will become more fragmented and fast paced.

Screenplay? Camera? Editing program? If you use a micro-blogging service such as TwitVid, no additional hardware or software is necessary to produce your videos:

Videos are captured with webcam on PC and stored in a micro-video format. Spontaneous ideas and image content can be converted quickly to product advertisements.

• Trend 4: YouTube indeed becomes an e-commerce marketplace

The idea of direct product links in YouTube videos is certainly not new, but until now the implementation has been used by mainly by large firms such as Amazon.

An example from French Connection visualizes in a great way how products can be interactively advertised over YouTube and then sold. Further merchants will certainly be taking lead from this example.

• Trend 5: Video mail-outs will gain increasing relevance

This year will see more companies embedding videos directly into their newsletters. The workaround with a fake-player will become obsolete (an embedded image showing video controls which is actually just a link to an external video site).

In the long run, more email programs will support the embedding and playing of videos. Google is already on the way. And if you are still sceptical about these developments (read: security concerns), remember there used to be a time where even watching any videos on the web was a rarity.

• Trend 6: The hybrid TV market is coming slowly but surely.

Despite the grumblings about Google TV, the convergence of television and the PC is not to be stopped. In the future, consumers will be using all-in-one devices in the home to surf and to watch TV.

But which type of device is leading the pack? All-in-one PCs with touchscreens and TV tuners? Or “classic” HD TVs with a browser and internet connectivity? And which company will develop the first usage model which will really be fun for the living room couch? When is gesture based control coming?

Other interesting predictions regarding the online video market can be found on Justin Foster’s blog (“Top Ten Predictions”).

Originally posted in German by Stephan Meixner, adapted for excitingcommerce.com by Jason Soo.

Comments

[TV Commercial Production]

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