Chicago Video Production

Video marketing is one of the best ways to boost online conversion rates for a website. Whether it is meant to demonstrate a product or teach a subject, using video is an effective way to attract potential customers.

A few months ago, ReviewBooth posted an article on the topic. The piece pointed out a video’s ability to direct users’ attention to specific websites, build trust, and drive sales.

EyeView, a Boston-based video production company even has a list of case studies that demonstrate how video improved conversion rates for a variety of websites, including eToro and PokerProfessor.

eToro hired EyeView to create a homepage video that would increase download numbers for their forex trading platform. Once a video was added to their homepage, downloads increased by   31.97 percent (Though we’ll give them that extra .02 to make it a 40% boost).

PokerProfessor (now PokerRoomSchool), an online poker school for novice players, wanted to use video to boost sbuscribers to their site. EyeView then laucnehd a video for the site’s landing page. The video featured an introduction and five education chapters that give site visitors a crash course in poker strategy. Upon adding the video, subscription rates increased by 18 percent.

But perhaps the best known example of video’s influence on conversion comes from Zappos. The online shoe store uses actual Zappos employees to briefly talk about different shoes that are on sale. According to Rico Nasol, Content Team Manager, videos boost sales by up to 30 percent.

So give us one good reason not to use video on your website? Seriously, bring it on. We won’t tolerate any Netscape Navigator excuses.

YouTube has secretly introduced a brand new streaming video store to their website recently joining iTunes and Netflix in distributing online streaming video at a cost.

YouTube’s rental service, which you can find at Youtube.com/store, still looks to be under construction (perhaps that’s why they didn’t make a big fuss about its initial launch). The pickings are slim right now as the majority of rental offerings include independent films including Precious, The Blair Witch Project and Kids among others. As for TV shows available for rent, unless you’re a big Japanese Anime fan, the isn’t much there either.

The films range in price from $.99 to $3.99 for a newer film. According to Reelseo.com, the viewer has two days to watch the film before it expires.

I find it a bit strange that YouTube has suddenly, and stealthily, decided to offer streaming content at a price since they’ve become the free online video destination. I guess only time will tell if this takes off, but for now color me skeptical.

An article posted yesterday at Mediaweek.com discusses a recent Advertising survey from online video network BrightRoll in which advertisers plan to spend on web video in 2010.

Of ad agencies who responded to the survey, 94% indicated they plan on increasing their online video marketing budgets.

Mike Shields, author the the Mediaweek article, writes:

That’s despite the fact that nearly half of those surveyed have either had a video campaign executed in a way other than how they expected (17 percent) or are are unsure about whether their campaigns have run as planned (31 percent).

You can read the full article where Shields writes about what some businesses see as credibility concerns for online video at Mediaweek.com right now.

Reelseo.com has some excellent figures from comScore on online video viewership from February 2010.

The biggest news is that Hulu viewers watched 2.4 hours of online video and the site grabbed 3.2% of all videos watched (up .4% from January 2010). Still, the leader in online video viewership is Google who leads the pack with 42.5% of all videos watched, which is up three percent from January 2010.

The Reelseo article also reported more interesting facts, which you can read below:

The top video ad networks in terms of their actual reach delivered were: Joost Video Network (by Adconion Media Group) with 38.3 percent penetration of online video viewers, BBE with 18.3 percent, and BrightRoll Video Network with 18.1 percent.

83.1 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.

132.4 million viewers watched 11.9 billion videos on YouTube.com (89.5 videos per viewer).

The average Hulu viewer watched 23.3 videos, totaling 2.4 hours of video per viewer.

The duration of the average online video was 4.3 minutes.

You can read the full article, which also includes some great numbers on online advertising networks and their potential reach from comScore, at ReelSeo.com right now.