Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
Short-form video has the highest ROI of any social media marketing strategy
90% of marketers say video marketing has given them a good return on investment (ROI)
Short-form video generates 30% of global ecommerce sales
YouTube Shorts receives over 50 billion daily views
TikTok has over 1 billion monthly active users globally
Instagram Reels account for more than 20% of the time people spend on Instagram
Listeners retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text
75% of users watch short-form video content on their mobile devices with the sound off
People are 1.5x more likely to watch a video on a smartphone than on a computer
Videos up to 2 minutes long get the most engagement
User-Generated Content (UGC) videos are viewed 10x more than official brand content on TikTok
Including the word "video" in an email subject line boosts open rates by 19%
Short-form video will see the most growth of any marketing trend in 2024
Mobile video ad spending is expected to reach $75 billion in 2024
By 2024, video traffic will make up 82% of all consumer internet traffic
Consumption Behavior
- 1Listeners retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text
- 275% of users watch short-form video content on their mobile devices with the sound off
- 3People are 1.5x more likely to watch a video on a smartphone than on a computer
- 480% of consumers prefer live video from a brand over reading a blog
- 559% of executives say they would rather watch a video than read text
- 6Viewers spend 2.6x more time on pages with video than without
- 792% of consumers watch videos with the sound off on mobile, heavily relying on captions
- 8Gen Z consumers search for brands on TikTok more often than on Google
- 968% of consumers prefer to watch a video to explain a product problem rather than contact support
- 10The average person watches 17 hours of online video per week
- 11Users share video content 1200% more times than text and images combined
- 1233% of viewers will stop watching a video after 30 seconds
- 1340% of millennials trust video content more than any other form of brand communication
- 1485% of Facebook videos are watched in silence
- 15Vertical video consumption has increased by 150% in the last 3 years
- 1660% of people prefer online video platforms to live television
- 1748% of consumers want videos to reflect the specific products and services they own or are interested in
- 1862% of people say they are more interested in a product after seeing it in a Facebook Story
- 1983% of US adults use YouTube, making it the most used platform for video consumption
- 2069% of people say they’d prefer to watch a short video to learn about a product or service
Interpretation
Put simply, while consumers and executives alike are watching, sharing and trusting short, captioned vertical videos on silent mobile screens more than anything else, brands that fail to hook viewers in the first 30 seconds and tailor content to platform and product will be talking to an empty room.
Platform Metrics
- 1YouTube Shorts receives over 50 billion daily views
- 2TikTok has over 1 billion monthly active users globally
- 3Instagram Reels account for more than 20% of the time people spend on Instagram
- 458.2% of US internet users utilize TikTok
- 5YouTube users watch over 1 billion hours of video every day
- 691% of active Instagram users watch videos on the platform weekly
- 7TikTok was the most downloaded app of 2022 and 2023
- 8LinkedIn users are 20x more likely to share a video post than a static post
- 9Pinterest reports a 250% year-over-year increase in video views on their platform
- 1070% of YouTube watch time comes from mobile devices
- 11Reels receive 22% more interaction than standard video clips on Instagram
- 12The average user session on TikTok is 10.85 minutes
- 13Snapchat Spotlight reached 100 million monthly active users within months of launch
- 1450% of Facebook’s time spent is on video content
- 15Twitter tweets with video get 10x more engagement than those without
- 165.6% of all time spent online is spent watching TikToks
- 17YouTube reaches more 18-49 year-olds in the U.S. than any cable network
- 18Instagram Stories are used by 500 million users every day
- 1990% of Twitter video views happen on a mobile device
- 20Facebook Watch attracts 1.25 billion monthly visitors
Interpretation
Short-form video has quietly hijacked the internet's attention economy, with TikTok's bingeable sessions and billion-user footprint, YouTube's unmatched daily watch hours and reach among 18 to 49 year olds, Instagram's Reels and Stories driving outsized interaction, and surges on LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat and Facebook, so brands that do not invest in mobile-first, snackable video risk becoming background noise while those who embrace it unlock massive reach, engagement and shareability.
ROI & Conversion
- 1Short-form video has the highest ROI of any social media marketing strategy
- 290% of marketers say video marketing has given them a good return on investment (ROI)
- 3Short-form video generates 30% of global ecommerce sales
- 4Shoppable video ads are expected to generate over $50 billion in sales by 2025
- 584% of consumers have been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brands video
- 6Videos under 60 seconds achieve the highest engagement rates for direct conversion campaigns
- 770% of marketers plan to invest more in short-form video than any other format in the coming year
- 8Video ads on TikTok generate a 25% higher view-through rate significantly impacting conversion
- 9Including a video on a landing page can increase conversion rates by up to 80%
- 1096% of marketers agree that videos have helped increase user understanding of their product or service
- 11Product videos can increase purchases by 144%
- 12Marketers who use video grow revenue 49% faster than non-video users
- 1387% of marketers report that video gives them a positive ROI
- 14More than half of shoppers say online video has helped them decide which specific brand or product to buy
- 1593% of brands got a new customer because of a video on social media
- 16Short-form video ads have a cost-per-engagement that is often 30-40% lower than static image ads
- 172 out of 3 buyers say they prefer watching a short video to learn about a product rather than reading text
- 1892% of video marketers report that video gives them a good return on their investment—an all-time high
- 1989% of people say watching a video has convinced them to buy a software or app
- 20Lead generation from video content has increased by 18% year-over-year
Interpretation
Short-form video is marketing's highest-return closer, routinely turning viewers into buyers in under 60 seconds while cutting ad costs, driving a huge share of ecommerce and billions in shoppable sales, and accelerating revenue growth, so brands that ignore it are choosing lower conversions and slower growth.
Strategy & Content
- 1Videos up to 2 minutes long get the most engagement
- 2User-Generated Content (UGC) videos are viewed 10x more than official brand content on TikTok
- 3Including the word "video" in an email subject line boosts open rates by 19%
- 485% of marketers say that shifting to vertical video formatting was crucial for success
- 5Captions on videos increase watch time by an average of 12%
- 6Authentic, lo-fi content performs 40% better on TikTok than high-production polish
- 7Using a hook in the first 3 seconds of a short-form video results in 60% higher retention
- 880% of marketers create videos that are 3 minutes or less
- 9Explainer videos are the most popular type of video content created by marketers (74%)
- 1050% of marketers use influencer marketing in their short-form video strategy
- 11Interactive elements in video increase viewer engagement by 3-4 times
- 1293% of marketers say video is a core part of their content strategy
- 1363% of video marketers plan to use AI tools for video script writing
- 14Posting frequency of 3-5 times a week on TikTok yields the highest growth for median-sized accounts
- 15Native video uploads to Facebook have 10x higher reach than YouTube links shared on Facebook
- 1682% of marketers repurpose long-form content into short-form videos for social media
- 17Using humor in short-form video is cited by 54% of consumers as the reason they share content
- 1866% of marketers create live action video while only 34% create animated video
- 19Thumbnail optimization can increase click-through rate by 15%
Interpretation
Short-form video is the attention economy's rulebook: native, vertical clips under two minutes that feel authentic and user-generated, hook viewers in the first three seconds, include captions and optimized thumbnails, and are smartly repurposed while using influencers, interactive elements and AI for scripts—posting three to five times a week and even putting the word video in subject lines are the practical levers that drive reach, retention and shares.
Trends & Future Outlook
- 1Short-form video will see the most growth of any marketing trend in 2024
- 2Mobile video ad spending is expected to reach $75 billion in 2024
- 3By 2024, video traffic will make up 82% of all consumer internet traffic
- 468% of marketers who don't currently use video describe themselves as "poised" to start in 2024
- 5Investment in micro-influencer video content is projected to grow by 25% next year
- 6AI-generated video content creation is predicted to grow by 100% in the next two years
- 790% of marketers plan to maintain or increase their investment in YouTube Shorts
- 8Connected TV (CTV) video ad spend is projected to grow by 14.4% in 2024
- 929% of marketers plan to experiment with VR or AR video in 2024
- 1056% of marketers are planning to increase their spend on TikTok in the next 12 months
- 11Search engines are now indexing TikTok and Instagram videos in SERPs more frequently
- 12The global digital video advertising market is expected to reach $176 billion by 2027
- 13Live commerce video sales are projected to triple by 2025
- 141 in 5 marketers plan to leverage AI to edit video content in 2024
- 15B2B organizations using video are doubling their budget for short-form content in 2024
- 16Social video advertising is projected to account for one-third of all social media ad revenue by 2025
- 1796% of consumers intend to increase or maintain their online video consumption in 2024
- 18Marketers predict that silent video formats will decline in favor of sound-on immersive experiences by 20% in 2025
- 19The market for educational short-form video is expected to grow 2x faster than entertainment video in 2024
- 2045% of marketers plan to try interactive video for the first time in 2024
Interpretation
Short-form video is becoming the internet's oxygen, with mobile ad spend set to hit $75 billion as video grabs 82% of consumer traffic and a $176 billion market rallies around AI-generated clips, micro-influencers, TikTok, YouTube Shorts and CTV, while live commerce, VR/AR, interactive and educational formats surge and consumers demand more immersive, sound-on experiences—so marketers who hesitate on AI editing, short-form budgets and new formats risk being drowned out.
