To Reach Millennials, Video Ads Are Crucial, Says Animoto Study

 

• by P.J. Bednarski @pjbtweet, June 23, 2015, 12:59 PM

Though I’d like to hope this isn’t startling news to everybody, Animoto today released results of its own survey that confirms the importance that millennials put on online video advertising.

In a nutshell, it’s their constant shopping companion, usually in the form of a smartphone that is always with them.

 

About 40% follow brands on Instagram and half follow brands on Twitter; 76% follow brands on YouTube; and 84% follow on Facebook.  

 

The study says seven in 10 millennials are likely to watch a video while shopping online and that eight out of find video helpful for online shopping. What’s more, Animoto says millennials are 150% more likely than baby boomers to comparison shop with video while in-store.

 

I found that amazing, but Brad Jefferson, the CEO and co-founder, says it’s true: “61 of millennials are likely to comparison shop using video while in-store compared to only 24% of baby boomers," he said. “You’re right that it’s surprising, since it’s not behavior with which older generations are familiar. As part of their in-store shopping experience, millennials are literally watching video of products online on their smartphone as part of their comparison shopping.”

 

By about 2014, it seems the general trendoid advertising industry concluded millennials were totally different. According to Animoto, here’s what they know about millennials:

--85% of them find video product demos helpful

 

--74% of them find video helpful when shopping online

--69% of them find post-purchase videos helpful from the same company

--millennials are 264% more likely to share product videos than baby boomers.

This study of 1,050 consumers left the shopping aisles to study other kinds of communications. It says, for example, that six in 10 prefer a company video over reading a company newsletter (Apparently, “neither” was not an option.)  And 53 are more likely to read a newsletter from a company if includes video.

 

Animoto is one of a handful of companies that helps very small businesses create a video presence for themselves; Jefferson say smaller retailers need to know they can create a “beautiful marketing video” and to prod them, the company offers a free trial so those businesses can see it’s not an unattainable goal. The survey just reinforces the need.  

 

It would seem to me the stats wouldn’t be that much different if applied to some definable group of people who are reasonably competent with a Internet-receiving advice. Who among them (us?) doesn’t watch product demo videos before making a purchase?

 

Jefferson concedes that point. “There’s probably some truth to the fact that some of our findings might mimic early adopters of technology from any generation,” he said in an email  “ For that reason, I find it particularly interesting to watch the online video consumption behaviors of millennials as they are the trend-setter of sorts for early adopters in older generations, and help forecast where technology adoption is going. Marketers are wise to pay attention to millennials.”