Last week we reported on the latest news in online video for real estate agents. This week we can tell you it’s not a news story that’s going to go away anytime soon. In fact, it’s one you probably need to pay close attention to.
Online video is growing in popularity, numbers and types of users using it, the length and number of videos Internet users watch, and any other category it’s possible to measure. And it’s happening very quickly.
Data from the January 2009 comScore Video Metrix service, which was released last week, shows that US Internet users viewed 14.8 billion online videos during that month. This represents an increase of 4 percent on December 2008. YouTube led the growth, accounting for 91 percent of the incremental gain as it surpassed 100 million viewers for the first time.
Perhaps surprisingly, YouTube isn’t number one in terms of videos viewed. Google Sites lead this cateogory, with YouTube second, followed by Yahoo! Sites, Viacom Digital, Microsoft Sites, hulu.com, Turner Network, AOL, Disney, then Megavideo.com.
The data also reveals that over 147 million US Internet users watched an average of 101 videos per viewer in January. In terms of unique users, Google Sites still lead the charge holding the attention of 102 million online video viewers during the month, or more than two out of every three Internet users who watched video.
Other notable findings from January 2009 include:
- 76.8 percent of the total US Internet audience viewed online video.
- The average online video viewer watched 356 minutes of video (approximately 6 hours), up 15 percent versus December.
- 100.9 million viewers watched 6.3 billion videos on YouTube.com (62.6 videos per viewer).
- The duration of the average online video was 3.5 minutes, up from 3.2 minutes per video in December.
While these figures deal with all kinds of videos, not just real estate, it’s clear that users are consuming more and more online videos, and will be looking for them in areas like real estate as they become increasingly familiar with the format.
So what types of videos can you look at including on your own website? Virtual tours are becoming popular, as are neighbourhood introductions, welcome videos and sales pitches for agencies, and profiles of agents and salespeople.
Many agents have also started vlogging.
Our reports on vlogging in the real estate industry have focussed on the sterling efforts of some entrepreneurial Canadian real estate agents. But it seems to be catching on elsewhere with Peter Rollings, MD of Marsh & Parsons in the UK, vlogging for the first time last week with a summary of the UK market:
Marsh & Parsons have also uploaded property tours to YouTube.
While video isn’t for everyone, and certainly doesn’t fit all purposes, it’s definitely worth keeping abreast of what is happening so you know what your customers are looking for (and at), and what is at your disposal.
If you are keen to get started with video it’s not too late but it is moving very quickly…
Read propertyadguru.com’s Top 10 Tips for Making a Successful Video.
Related posts:
- Five Reasons to Try Out Video
- Using Video Increases Leads
- Online Video Continues to Grow
- A Closer Look: Using Online Video
- realestate.com Listings on youtube.com
- Video Promotion Streamlined with AdWords
- Aussie Video Listing Grabs the Spotlight
- Agent Strategies: Video Blogging for Visitors
- 2 Million Views for Coldwell Banker Videos
- realeflix.com Promotes Video Tours
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