It's well established that video has been one of the breakout trends in the marketing world for the past decade.But how is that assertion standing up to the twists and turns of a global pandemic?The challenges — and changes — brought about by this most surreal year have affected us all.

Our research suggests:

Video remains a key priority for marketers with usage and spend both, overall, increasing slightly throughout 2020, and plans to increase again in the next 12 months.The pandemic has impacted the video marketing landscape in contrasting ways - while video is generally seen as a more necessary tool by both marketers and consumers, many have seen budgets restricted and plans shelved.The pandemic has overwhelmingly increased the amount of online video people watch.Marketers feel more positive about the return on investment offered by video than ever, as it continues to strongly influence traffic, leads, sales, and audience understanding.Consumers continue to use video as an integral part of their journey with brands, and are excited to see even more video content in the year ahead.

The key findings

86% of businesses use video as a marketing tool, up slightly from 85% in 2019.What's more, 93% of marketers who use video say that it's an important part of their marketing strategy — an increase from 92% in 2020, making this the highest percentage of any year since 2015.

Pandemic Impact

Let's begin with the fact that 91% of marketers feel the pandemic has made video more important for brands.A fairly considerable 40% of video marketers said their plans to create video were affected by the events of the last year — with around 74% of these saying they were more likely to use video, and 26% saying it was less likely.Around 60% of video marketers say they expect their budget to be affected for 2021, with around 70% of those people expecting a higher video marketing budget, and the other 30% expecting it to be lower.68% of consumers say the pandemic has impacted the amount of video content they've watched online, with the overwhelming majority (96%) saying this has increased.

Looking forward

All the signs suggest that usage and spend are on course to continue their growth in 2021.More than 99% of current video marketers told us they'll continue using video in 2021, and 96% plan to increase or maintain their spend (again, up slightly from 95% last year.)What's more, from the people who told us they don't currently use video, 69% told us they expect to start in 2020. (This is 10% higher than last year's figure of 59%.)The net result of this is that we can all expect to see more noise and competition for audience attention in the coming 12 months.Of course, while this is a challenge, it isn't an insurmountable one. It simply raises the bar in terms of content quality. Video needs to be well-planned, and very well-executed.

The big opportunities

You'd be forgiven for looking at these numbers and feeling that video might be on the verge of reaching saturation point. Most of the data around usage, spend, and consumer opinion are in the 80s and 90s — where they've held, consistently, for a number of years.But the good news is that there still seems to be underutilized opportunities for marketers to explore around video.Unsurprisingly, YouTube and Facebook are the most widely used platforms among video marketers — used by 87% and 70%, respectively.But some of the lesser-used video tactics also seem to be reaping real results for video marketers.Most notably, perhaps given global events and an increased desire for remote connection, 2020 seems to have been the year of the webinar. In 2019, just 46% used webinars — but in 2020, this rose significantly to 62%.What's more, an overwhelming 91% of webinar marketers say they've been a success, making it the most effective video marketing channel of all those listed.

To Sum Up

The events of 2020 did, and are doing, little to slow the rise of video.In many ways, with people being isolated in their homes, and some teams working with less budgeting and resources than pre-pandemic, the demand (and consumption) of video has been accelerated.Video looks set to continue its ten-year overnight success story into the coming decade. These stats paint a picture of a media type that's almost universally popular among both marketers and their audiences, helping achieve a number of incredibly important goals.