Interactive video is a new form of media that many top brands are using to engage consumers and achieve their digital marketing goals. Although new, this medium has already proven to be very effective; 70% of marketers say interactive video engages audiences “well” or “very well” and 68% of marketers believe it will continue to become a more important component of modern marketing mixes.
But what is interactive video? If you’ve heard of this new form of video media but aren’t sure what it is or how you can use it, we’ve put together this simple guide to understanding it.
Content of articles
Interactive video vs linear video
Why use interactive video?
It’s fashionable
It’s traceable
It’s more engaging
He converts
It’s more memorable
It delights the user
What makes a great interactive video?
They use interaction thoughtfully
They use gamification
They are engaging and entertaining
They allow the user to be part of the story
Final Thoughts on Interactive Video
Interactive video vs linear video
Traditional video, or linear video, is the type of video you’re probably most used to. When viewing a linear video, you click “play” to launch the content, with options to pause, rewind, fast forward, and restart the interaction video during the experience. Other than these limited functions, there’s not much you can do to interact with linear video.
An interactive video gives the viewer the ability to interact with the video content itself through a variety of tools. Users can click, drag, scroll, hover, gesture, and perform other digital actions to interact with video content the same way they would interact with web content.
There are several different features you can incorporate into an interactive video, but the most commonly used options include:
Hotspots : clickable areas within a video; these buttons can take a viewer to a separate web page or reveal content directly in the video, such as the price of goods
360 views: the ability for a user to swipe the screen in a video frame to see in all directions
Branches: different paths a user can take to control and personalize the content they see
Data entries: form fields through which a user can enter information such as name, age, etc.
Quiz: combination of buttons and branching to deliver a report and reveal a personalized result at the end of the video
These tools create a more fun and engaging experience for the viewer and turn a potentially static video into something more memorable, enjoyable and interactive.
Why use interactive video?
Interactive video has quickly become a well-established and widely used marketing tool. 20% of marketers say they have used it, and of those marketers, 78% found it to be an effective strategy. On top of that, 28% of marketers plan to use interactive video in 2018. These numbers will continue to rise as brands explore different tactics and learn which ones resonate the most with their target audience.
When considering whether interactive video is right for your brand, consider the top reasons why many companies are adding it to their digital media toolkit.
It’s fashionable
The best marketing strategies incorporate media that consumers want to interface with – and right now, that’s interactive video. Its popularity is demonstrated by both the brand and consumer behavior. Brands are producing interactive videos at an astonishing rate; in fact, it already accounts for 36% of all video content produced. On the other hand, consumers respond to interactive video with increased engagement rates; viewers watch them 44% longer than linear video.
It’s traceable
For a long time, the only way marketers could track video success was through view rates. This was a problem for many people who found it difficult to prove the value of their video efforts; without data to show a correlation between video activity and conversions, it can be difficult to prove a video’s impact.
Interactive video allowed for much more powerful video metrics tracking. Now you can track clicks in a video, analyze different paths taken with branching, collect data with video form fields, and much more. There are several tools you can use to track these metrics.
