Marketers will spend $102.8 billion dollars a year on video ads by 2023, making 2020 an important year to ramp up video marketing efforts. At a time when consumers are inundated with video content across all touchpoints, creating engaging videos is a must for captivating the attention of a fragmented audience while also yielding important conversions. Ahead we’re sharing five of those trends to consider in your next video strategy meeting.

1. Video Ads on Streaming Platforms

A host of over-the-top (OTT) streaming services like Netflix and YouTube TV have become favorites of cord-cutters over the last few years with the number of cord-cutting households jumping another 19.2 percent in 2019. By 2022, nearly 25 percent of households will ditch traditional television. These platforms mirror the ad loads of traditional television, which means video marketing opportunities will only continue to grow in 2020. With the ongoing rise of YouTube influencers, too, brands will have the ability to attract younger demographics on the platform. The benefit of ads on these platforms is that they offer more targeting features and the content itself is easier and less expensive to produce.

However, while OTT accounts for about 30 percent of television viewing, ad spend is at a mere three percent, mostly due to the strong competition among brands for consumer share of time. OTT providers must deliver granular insights into where ads are being shown in order for marketers to increase their OTT budgets.

2. Mobile-First Video Content

Over half of video content is viewed on mobile, with 92 percent of mobile video viewers sharing videos with others. To reach these mobile users, marketers should consider taking a mobile-first approach to content in the new year. Instagram, for example, is exclusively on mobile which encourages marketers to create content for this type of viewing experience only. 

The challenge will be holding consumers’ attention and driving impact. Google explored ways to do this when the giant partnered with Ipsos to conduct a study involving 1,519 smartphone users aged 18-34. Ninety-eight percent of the group reported using smartphones to watch video content.

3. 360-Degree, AR/VR Videos

Virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and 360-degree videos will go far in making your video marketing efforts stand out in 2020. A study from Magna found that the majority of consumers who found 360-degree videos entertaining intend to interact with brand videos in the future. The study also found that these interactive videos, favored most by early tech adopters, saw a seven percent purchase intent increase on smartphones. To achieve optimal brand metrics with 360-degree video marketing, marketers should balance the content’s entertainment value with branding.

A number of brands have already integrated VR and AR, most notably within Snapchat. As part of its holiday campaign, Gucci sponsored an AR-enabled Snapchat portal lens that transported users to a Gucci-filled virtual beach where they could interact with the brand’s products.

Adidas hosted a gamified AR experience at its flagship store in Paris. Using their Adidas app, in-store shoppers were able to point their cameras at digital displays. What appeared was a virtual ocean in which a whale swam around and collected ocean debris. Then the experience showed viewers how the brand converts plastic into shoes.

4. Shoppable Videos

It’s been shown that consumers retain 95 percent of a message relayed in video compared to 10 percent when reading it via text, making shoppable videos a necessity for brands to support the consumer journey and reach their ecommerce goals. Engaging with creative to create ads in shoppable videos, then, will be another sweet spot for marketers in 2020.

Examples of effective shoppable content includes YouTube’s “TrueView,” campaign which allows marketers to connect viewers directly to their products and provide information that brings them closer to making a purchase. Similarly, Instagram launched shoppable video posts in 2018 for business profiles, giving users the option of shopping directly from the post or viewing shoppable items in the designated “Shop” button.

TikTok confirmed this year that it’s testing shoppable video posts, making it possible for influencers on the platform to link social commerce URLs within their posts. With the rapid growth of TikTok, this could be a strategic and lucrative way to reach Gen Z.

5. Data-Driven Videos

Nearly half of consumers say they want videos to reflect the products and services relevant to their specific interests or needs when it comes to informing their purchases. Personalization is by no means new to marketing, but data-driven personalized videos will be a hot topic in 2020, mostly because personalization makes brands more memorable to consumers. One way to start is to target a specific audience via Facebook custom audiences or YouTube’s custom match feature which uses Google account data for ad targeting and measurement across search and YouTube.

In addition, last year YouTube launched a skippable option for short-form branding ads called “TrueView for Reach” giving marketers the ability to use its custom intent audiences and leverage users’ search history. On the other hand, using data about which viewers skip YouTube ads could be beneficial for evaluating the success of video ads.