The Changing Face of Online Video

Updated March 4, 2025

Lights, Camera, Action!

As consumers are becoming lazier video is becoming more popular as a quick content method. With attention spans on a downward spiral, the need to grab someone’s attention is becoming more and more urgent. Because of this many companies are turning towards video. A well placed auto-playing video can pull a user in more easily than a well-written paragraph can. So we looked at some interesting research done by the video marketing company Promo to see what’s going on in the world of moving pictures.

Blockbuster Videos

The first interesting statistic to pop out at us was that more videos are watched on Facebook per day than YouTube. At first glance, this is pretty impressive, with Facebook racking up 8 billion views per day, but when you take into account the differences in the platform it can be pretty misleading. Firstly Facebook auto-plays videos whether the user likes it or not. Secondly is the fact that Facebook has a news feed, while YouTube doesn’t. And thirdly; the nature of the videos. Most Facebook videos viewed are super short, 15 second to 1-minute videos. However, YouTube videos are typically longer.

Quantity Over Quality

Another interesting statistic was that 44% of people watched more than 5 videos per day. Unfortunately it doesn’t specify how long they watch these 5 videos, but it does show that video content is being consumed. So if you were thinking “nobody watches these things” you’re wrong. They do. And most people watch more than 5 per day.

The next interesting statistic is related to a hot topic in the world of online video production. Audio. Promo found that 56% of people prefer to have videos with audio or audio and subtitles. Coupling this statistic with the knowledge that more men (70%) will watch videos with the sound turned on than women gives a much more “audio friendly” picture than was previously thought.

What’s In A Title

One final interesting data point was that 81% of under 34s now regularly watch “stories” on either Facebook or Instagram, while only 52% of users post them. All of these statistics show that video is being consumed more and more. Especially by under 30s. So, if you’re not already making videos, maybe you should think about starting!