Video made “business as usual” possible, Brightcove report says
Enterprise video use is supporting business continuity and has skyrocketed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a 91% year-over-year increase in views of enterprise videos and a 35% increase in minutes watched, according to a new report.
“Business continuity is heavily dependent on having access to video technology as it allows for more seamless communication across the enterprise, as well as helps organizations stay better aligned on important corporate messaging,” according to the Global Video Index for the first quarter of 2020, from video technology platform company Brightcove. “Enterprises have been migrating toward more video communication for years, yet, the pandemic forced many to accelerate their digital transformation initiatives in order to effectively stay connected with employees and customers. The data from Q1 supports the notion that adopting video as a core communications strategy is an essential component to maintaining business continuity.”
“The pandemic has been video’s evolutionary event. Whether it’s holding a company meeting or hosting an industry conference, enterprises will continue growing their need for secure, reliable video technologies to stay connected both internally and with the market and customers,” said Jim O’Neill, principal analyst and uuthor of Brightcove’s Global Video Index. “As we move through Q2, we can expect to see more use of video as well as more unique and innovative use cases as organizations across the globe continue to stay connected with their employees and customers.”
That report found that enterprise videos across marketing, sales, and corporate communications overall saw a 91% increase in the first quarter of this year, with activity particularly high in March as businesses shifted to having as many employees as possible work remotely. More than half of all time spent watching video from enterprises happened between March 16 and March 31, the company found.
In a deeper dive on March’s numbers, Brightcove found that views of enterprise content on computers were up 137%, and views on smartphones were up 70%. The biggest shift was on connected televisions, however, with views of enterprise content up 288% from March of last year. Views on tablets were up 47% after declines in recent months, Brightcove noted.
Notably, while computers had the largest share of views in March (70%), smartphones were the second-most popular device for viewing, with 25% share of video views. O’Niell said in the report’s introduction that
“globally, consumption of streaming video on almost all devices saw dramatic gains.”
“Video has always played an important role in communication among enterprises, but the COVID-19 pandemic elevated it to a far more important one. Instead of simply being an easy way for teams to communicate or for companies to reach large groups of employees, during the pandemic it became a vital conduit of truth that employees, executives, customers, and vendors turned to for up-to-the-minute information about how the crisis was being handled,” Brightcove concluded. Video, the company said, “took on – and continues to take on — more importance. … Video made “business as usual” possible.”
