When people go in search of online videos to watch, what qualities are they looking for?
Research published recently by Marketing Sherpa shows that overall, people just want online video to work. You know, they want it to play and keep on playing without interruption.
That doesn’t seem to be asking too much.
Online video viewing is often disappointing for people because it does NOT always work as it should. Video streaming can be slow, and the video will sometimes stop playing to allow more time to download. No doubt this is frustrating but it also the nature of the beast at this point.
Stop-and-start viewing is largely a function of connection speeds and having adequate infrastructure to handle the load. As more people get hooked up to broadband and companies continue to expand, these problems should clear up.
Just like early movie films were silent black and white, online video technology is still in its infancy and not all the kinks are worked out. Give it more time.
Until then, you can help viewers enjoy your videos by keeping the file size as small as possible. A small file will load more quickly and have less trouble.
The Marketing Sherpa survey showed the top three demands online video watchers have are:
- Quality of picture
- Speed of download/streaming
- Lack of interruptions
People want a TV quality picture to download quickly. That might not seem like asking too much, but high quality pictures make big, fat files. Big, fat files are slow to download.
The survey also showed that younger people are more demanding than older people. 71% of folks under 26 complained about slow downloads but only 60% of the over 55 group did. Calm down youngsters!
About half of people said they were longing for the day when they could watch online video on their TV set instead of the computer. Someday the two will be completely integrated, but that will take years. Only about a third to half of people said they wanted HD online. HD files are really huge, but new ways are being developed to compress the files more efficiently.
Online video is booming, but it is still just a baby needing to grow. What a cute and fun baby it is!
Thanks for reading Video Production Tips.
Lorraine Grula
Well if thats all people want then thats simple.
Slow buffering video can be very frustrating.
I also think that peoples expectations nowadays is broadcast quality though. People just watch a well produced video – but they really notice a badly produced one. I think expectations are higher.
Louise
Hi Louise.
I think people’s expectations are extremely high and they have little tolerance for slow buffering! Many people probably expect it to work just as quickly as the TV. Online video is not to that point yet. But it will be in the not to distant future.
Thanks for the article – Very Interesting Stats.
James
This is great information for a Video Production Company!
James
Thanks for reading video production tips. Online video is growing rapidly and it provides a great deal of fun and functionality for people and business.
Lorraine