Real Reasons Why We Are Attracted To Video Content

Let’s state the obvious. Today, if you’re a business, you have an online presence.  A website, social media and most likely using video.  If for some reason, you’re not utilizing video yet, you probably have recognized you need to – mainly because every marketing statistic under the sun overwhelmingly confirms you should be.  But why… why are the statistics so favorable?  Why has “video” taken our digital online marketing by storm and single handedly changed the culture of how we market ourselves?

Well, seeing that I make my living creating advertising campaigns… figured it probably made sense for me to do a little digging.  Here’s what I learned:

Our society has been labeled instant gratification and fast-paced for decades now, but it seems that our desire to get things done right now and save time continues to increase exponentially, as technology and apps place products and services literally at our door and onto our fingertips. But when it comes to video, often times we don’t get the answers, the service, or the solution right away. There is a waiting period as we sit back and watch, but somehow, we’re ok with this. We are not only willing to wait, but we also enjoy and even prefer the process over still images, audio, and other versions of media and information gathering.   What is it about video that makes us stop, look, and listen?

Maybe we actually are saving time by watching videos.

Our brain processes visual images at a much faster rate than text, so in essence, although watching a video online might take longer, we are actually absorbing more information within that time frame compared to taking in the same information via text or other means. For example, let’s say you want to learn how to change your car battery. Watching a 10 minute YouTube video may take longer than reading the steps on wikiHow, but when it comes to opening the hood of your car and getting to work, the video will likely serve as a much better guide.

Videos = Brain Food. We like what we see.

Our brain recalls things more efficiently when we see the information (i.e., visual recall) versus when we hear it (i.e., auditory recall) and as more time passes, the less we are able to remember auditory information.

As a result, we are much more likely to gravitate towards learning and absorbing information visually, or by integrating visual and auditory, so when given a choice, we prefer (and enjoy) videos.

It is an evolutionary fact that the human brain’s ability to process auditory memory isn’t that great. In fact, our ancestors (thousands of years ago) relied more on visual processing in order to scan their environment, protect themselves from impending danger, and thus survive. Scientifically speaking, our brain’s ability to utilize visual information is a more advanced system.