Crayon releases State of Video report for website marketing design

Consumer video consumption continues to grow, dominating social network feed and reaching to every corner of the Web on both mobile and desktop.

But how are brands using video as a part of their website strategy? Crayon (full disclosure, I work for Crayon) recently analyzed 50,000 industry-leading brands to understand how they are incorporating video into their marketing strategy, and published its findings in a new 50-page free report.

A few highlights of the report:

• 16 percent of websites feature video on their home page.  For most brands, the website is prime real estate for both branding and direct response, so why aren’t more brands taking advantage of the fastest-growing and most popular content vehicle on the Web?

• 79 percent of websites that do feature video use a third-party host. For brands and startups arguing over whether to outsource, the message is pretty clear. What’s interesting, though, is how this changes over time. As shown in the report, enterprise companies are more likely to host their videos in-house as opposed to using a third-party hosting platform.

• 70 percent of websites using a third-party hosting solution choose YouTube. YouTube is free, so it’s understandable that it’s going to have a substantial advantage over paid platforms. Over the next few years, it looks like paid vendors will not be competing against each other as much as they’ll be collectively battling YouTube.

• Vimeo, Wistia, and Brightcove are the leaders in paid vendor video hosting. While all three operate within the same space, their target markets differ considerably. Brightcove has a firm hold on the enterprise, Vimeo has a broader target market, and Wistia is making strides with software and marketing companies. As the market continues to get more competitive, there’s bound to be consolidation, especially if video analytics continue to increase in value.

• The top 5 leading industries for video adoption are software, marketing, healthcare and medical, nonprofit, and education. It may not be surprising that software and marketing are leading the way, but it is fascinating to see three industries that are rarely at the top of any tech list: healthcare and medical, nonprofit, and education. Also of note for sales teams planning their 2016 strategy: At the bottom of the adoption list are restaurants and retail.

• 49.8 percent of hosted videos on home pages are on autoplay. While this statistic may not jump out at first, think about it for a second. Marketers are split right down the middle over whether to use autoplay. According to the data, the industry doesn’t yet have a clear answer. In 12 months this number is bound to shift — but which way will it go, and how will that affect future paid video ad strategies?

Crayon’s report features in-depth analysis of the state of video marketing and addresses key questions as to the direction the industry is heading. Access the full report here!