Nearly 3 out of 4 Online Adults in the U.S. Use Video Sharing Sites

August 2, 2012

If your brand is late to the online video marketing party, then you really need to hurry up and get on board. A recent study by Pew Research found that 71% of online adults in the United States use video-sharing sites such as YouTube and Vimeo.

In other words, consumers like online video, and your brand is missing a significant opportunity to connect with them if you’re not creating branded online video content that they can view on sites where they’re already spending time.

The argument that “my customers don’t watch online video” is antiquated and no longer applies for the vast majority of brands. The Pew Research report found that Americans are using online video sharing sites more than ever (28% on any given day, up from 23% in 2010), and online video viewership is just as likely in rural areas in 2012 as it is in urban and suburban areas. While the Hispanic and African American populations are a bit more likely to use online video sharing sites than the Caucasian population, use crosses all demographic groups in 2012.

Brands that claim their products or services aren’t a match for the online video viewing audience are also being proven wrong through the Pew Research study where results found that the reasons Americans use these sites are numerous. For example, they use online video sharing sites to:

Learn
Laugh
Catch up on the news
See what’s happening in popular culture
And much more

Since video sharing sites encourage engagement through sharing, commenting, liking, and so on, brands can leverage video content to introduce brand experiences and the brand promise in a visual way. Every day, the web becomes more visual — filled with images and videos. Maintaining a presence and building an audience on video sharing sites is an obvious fit for brands today.

What do you think? Does your brand enable consumers to experience it through online video?

Image: Thomas Van de Weerd

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Susan Gunelius

President & CEO at KeySplash Creative, Inc.

Susan Gunelius is the author of multiple marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and blogging books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, a leading blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com, a featured writer for Forbes.com, and the Guide to Blogging for About.com. Additionally, her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, FoxBusiness.com, WashingtonPost.com, TheStreet.com, SmartMoney.com, TodayShow.com, BusinessWeek.com, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Small Business, and more. She has nearly 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Susan also appears at in-person and virtual events where she speaks about marketing, branding, social media, and more (visit www.SusanGunelius.com for more information). You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.