New research from SaaS video platform SundaySky examines emerging trends in how businesses create and use video today. The firm’s new The Pulse On Professional Video survey and research report shows that businesses lag behind in adopting technology for video creation, with the majority (59 percent) relying solely on people-based resources such as in-house specialists as well as external agencies, consultants and freelancers.
While businesses use videos in myriad ways, including reaching prospects, onboarding and educating customers and/or engaging employees, their emphasis on traditional video production methods instead of technology creates challenges for scaling video creation, delivering personalized videos, and updating content over time. As a result, 95 percent of businesses face barriers to expanding their use of video.
“Our research reveals technology is severely underutilized by businesses creating and personalizing videos,” said Mark Tack, CMO of SundaySky, in a news release. “As businesses face challenging market conditions that demand greater scrutiny on how every dollar is spent, legacy production models and tools no longer cut it. The need to embrace modernized technology that makes video creation more efficient and scalable has never been more urgent.”
Key findings include:
Videos comprise a significant portion of budgets, and yet, it’s still too costly to do more with video
While companies tend to spend less during times of uncertainty, video has remained a top priority during the pandemic and continues to command a sizable share of spend. For businesses already doing professional video, nearly one-third (31 percent) of a group’s annual budget is dedicated to video, on average. Despite high spending on video production, the survey also found that companies identify cost as the number one barrier to personalizing, updating and doing more with video overall.
Personalization is not yet the norm, but will be soon, spurred by creatives
Over half (55 percent) of businesses do not personalize videos, but the tipping point is fast approaching. Creatives are 47 percent more likely than marketers to be doing one-to-one personalization.
Video is vital to both customer and employee experiences
Sixty-five percent (65 percent) of businesses use videos for customer service, closely followed by employee communications (61 percent). While use of Zoom and other video conferencing platforms skyrocketed in the pandemic-driven era of remote work, professionally produced videos—including motion graphics, animation, live action and computer screen recordings—also gained significant traction to engage employees and maintain connections in the absence of in-office interactions.
Opportunity to modernize video production remains sizable
Nearly 3 in 5 (59 percent) of businesses rely exclusively on internal and external people resources to create videos, whereas the remaining 41 percent use technology such as templates and support in video creation software. Medium-sized businesses are 30 percent more likely than large enterprises to modernize their video production processes by using templates and software.
Download the full report here.
SundaySky commissioned CITE Research, a leading market research firm, to survey 570 professionals (at the manager to executive level) across a range of industries in the U.S. All respondents have responsibility to incorporate professional video content into their marketing, customer care or communications strategies.
