More than ever, social media channels are putting video content at the center of their feeds as audiences increasingly turn to TikTok, Reels and live videos to entertain themselves, discover products and even learn more about exciting new brands.
And for marketers, the use of video not only offers the highest ROI of any media format, but also plays a key role in helping marketers exceed their goals.
So what should you focus on in the world of video marketing? your Video marketing efforts? To help you determine your next steps, I surveyed more than 500 video marketers to get their opinions on all sorts of topics and tactics, including:
Let’s dive in.
Video Marketing Survey Results
Video Marketing Benchmarks
The effectiveness of video marketing is clear from the survey results: 73% of respondents say video marketing helps them achieve their company’s overall business goals.
Video marketers also overwhelmingly say that video marketing is very effective at achieving more specific goals, such as helping customers understand their products/services, targeting audiences, and generating leads.
I also asked marketers how many videos they publish per month, and the majority (30%) produce between 8 and 10. 23% say they publish between five and seven.
I wanted to know how many views these videos get, so I asked about that too:
- Most videos get between 5,000 and 10,000 views.
- 45% of marketing videos average less than 10,000 views
- 16% average under 1,000 views
- 17% average over 100,000 views
However, views aren’t the only metrics marketers track. There is a long list of data points to keep an eye on. So let’s take a look at which ones best measure your video’s performance.
The most prioritized video marketing metrics
Video marketers told me that engagement (likes, comments, etc.) is the most important video marketing metric to track. This is followed by the playback time and the number of views.
I’ll go a little deeper into the meaning of each key metric.
1. Engagement rate
43% of video marketers say engagement is the most important video marketing metric to keep an eye on, and that makes sense to me because engagement clearly shows how your videos are performing with your audience.
High engagement means that people not only want to watch the video, but also want to take action (like, comment, share, etc.).
Here’s something Jigar ThakkerChief Business Officer at INSIDEA, told me why he believes engagement rate is the most important metric for video marketing:
“This metric (engagement rate) shows how well your audience is connecting with your content. High engagement indicates that your video is resonating with viewers, encouraging interaction, and fostering deeper connections with your brand. Engagement reflects the true effectiveness of your video in driving meaningful actions and interactions.”
2. Playback time
Watch time is the second most important metric video marketers track. This is key to understanding how long people spend watching your videos.
And loud too Michelle TaborSolutions Engineer at Lynton, on the quality of your video: “I want as many people to watch as possible, and watch time is an important indicator of whether my content is boring or not.”
For example, if the average watch time of your five-minute video is four minutes, most viewers will sit for almost the entire time because you have successfully captivated them. If you see a break in the middle, the video may have been too long or not interesting enough to attract viewers.
The average total watch time of your videos can be helpful when comparing videos of similar length. If possible, I recommend checking the percentage of viewers watching your videos at key moments.
Speaking of video length, I also asked marketers how long marketing videos should be.
How long should a marketing video be?
A whopping 91% of marketers agree that the optimal length of a marketing video is under 10 minutes.
Additionally, opinions vary, with the majority (36%) believing videos should be between 1 and 3 minutes long, while 16% believe the sweet spot is between 4 and 6 minutes. Another 30% say the optimal video length is under 60 seconds. 9% support videos between 7 and 9 minutes long.
Ultimately, the length of your video largely depends on what type of video best suits your goals (I’ll talk more about this later).
3. Show number
View count is the third most important video marketing metric to track and the third most popular video marketing metric overall.
The meaning of views lies in the word: how many people watch your marketing videos. The more views you have, the more people have watched your video.
However, a high number of views does not always mean high quality videos. That’s why it’s important to monitor multiple metrics (including those mentioned above) to get a comprehensive picture of the success of your videos.
Some other notable video marketing metrics I would like to highlight are follower/subscriber growth and click-through rate (CTR).
When you gain followers/subscribers through a video, it resonates with viewers and they want to see more of you. If your growth rate is higher than normal, you can repeat your strategy with this video to optimize the rest of your content.
CTR speaks for your thumbnail and title/caption. It shows you how effective they are at getting people to watch your video in the first place.
Let’s move on to the next section: Video marketers’ top goals for 2025.
Video marketing goals
The top three goals of video marketers are increasing brand awareness and reaching new audiences (52%), increasing online engagement (38%), and increasing sales and revenue (36%).
More than a quarter of video marketers are also focused on using video to grow their online community/following, while 23% use video to nurture relationships with customers and increase brand loyalty.
As I mentioned at the beginning, our survey shows that video marketing is extremely effective at achieving all of these goals. So let’s look at some of the strategies that make video marketing successful.
Advantages and challenges of video marketing
Benefits of Video Marketing
Marketers say that the biggest benefit of video marketing is that it helps customers better understand a product/service.
They also say that videos are already popular with their audiences and generate more leads than other types of content.
While this seems entirely in line with video marketers’ goals, these benefits can come with some challenges.
Challenges in video marketing
Creating an effective video strategy is the biggest challenge for video marketers, followed by lack of time to create video content and a lack of content ideas.
Video marketing budgets
28% of our survey respondents struggle with inadequate budgets for video content creation.
81% say they have a dedicated video marketing budget, which accounts for 41-60% of their total marketing budget. This is what these budgets look like:
- 8% of businesses spend over $100,000 per quarter on video marketing.
- 47% spend less than $20,000
- 45% spend between $20,000 and $100,000
How much does it cost to create a marketing video?
91% of marketing companies spend less than $50,000 to create a marketing video, and over half spend less than $10,000.
Our survey results show that marketers spend the most money during the production phase of video creation (filming, setting up lighting and sound, etc.).
Video marketing strategies
The best tactics for creating effective videos
The most important factors for creating effective video content are grabbing the viewer’s attention in the first few seconds, engaging video editing, and engaging storytelling/scripting.
Why it’s important to capture the viewer’s attention immediately
It’s important to capture the viewer’s attention in the first few sections (and even seconds) of your video because it’s the only way to keep viewers engaged.
When they are curious, they are more likely to watch more, and the more they watch, the more likely they are to benefit from the content (e.g. by informing them about a product or just making them laugh bring).
The longer they watch, the more likely they are to form an impression of your company, and a positive impression can lead to followers/subscriptions.
If you get their attention and they stay, there is also a higher chance that they will take an action, such as: B. if a viewer shares the video with friends.
How can you get that attention right away?
Adriane GrünenbergHubSpot Automation and Digital Analytics Expert at Pinetco, says: “The opening moments of your video are crucial to grabbing attention. You could use an interesting question, a surprising fact, or a visually appealing scene to immediately grab the viewer’s attention.”
I must mention that while storytelling/scripting is important, consumers today also crave authentic, behind-the-scenes and “real” content.
Gabrielle HerreraCommunity Growth Senior Marketing Manager at HubSpot, noticed firsthand how much people enjoy this type of content after the community team sent people to INBOUND 2024.
Much of the content they created was videos, and she said, “The videos that got the most engagement and impressions weren’t the ones that were polished or scripted; They were the ones who introduced the average visitor, usually spontaneously on the exhibition floor, and highlighted the unique experiences and insights of the people featured in the video.”
She adds, “There is certainly a time and a place for formal, scripted, and beautifully edited video marketing, but don’t neglect the value that UGC and peer-based perspectives can bring to your video marketing strategy!”
AI and video marketing
As with all areas of marketing (and I think life in general), AI is also impacting video marketing. In fact, most of them Commonly used generative AI tools among marketers are visual AI tools (image/video/design generators).
I wanted to delve deeper into video marketing and AI, so I asked our survey respondents if they were using AI in their processes and how they were doing it – only 9% said they weren’t using AI in their video strategy.
The most popular use cases for those using AI in their video strategy are generating descriptions/titles/tags to improve discoverability, enhancing or generating visual effects in videos, and generating other visual features, bios, titles, transitions, etc.
Here are some more interesting statistics about AI and video marketing that I dug up from other HubSpot research:
- Visual AI tools (image/video/design generators) are the most popular generative AI tools social media marketers use to create content, used by 49% of social media marketers. (Social Media Trends Report)
- The most popular type of content social media marketers create with generative AI is short-form videos (46%), and 55% say generative AI is most helpful in creating short-form video content. (Social Media Trends Report)
- Marketers are more likely to say that using generative AI to create content for audiovisual channels results in positive ROI. (“AI Trends for Marketers 2024 Report”)
Pro tip: If you are looking for a simple and easy-to-use tool to use AI in your video marketing, I recommend you Clip Creator by HubSpot.
You simply answer a few basic questions about the video you want to create, choose a template, and sit back to let the AI generate the personalized content you’re looking for.
Video advertising strategies
It can be tempting to devote all your time to creating the “perfect” video with slick cuts, high production values, and an irresistible thumbnail. While these things are important, they lose their impact without effective video advertising.
In fact, in the last three times we conducted our consumer trends survey, consumers have overwhelmingly said that it is more important for brands to post authentic and relatable content on social media than polished and high-quality content.
On the other hand, ineffective promotion of your video can cause your video to flop. So let’s look at some strategies video marketers use to ensure that doesn’t happen.
How to promote a marketing video
The most effective video advertising strategies are to share on social media platforms, add videos to your website or blog, and run paid ads on your videos.
For optimal results, I recommend a comprehensive video advertising strategy that includes the top strategies marketers have told us about, starting before your video goes live and continuing after it’s published.
For example, if your video goes live on YouTube in the next 24 hours, go to Instagram and start a countdown on your story. Share the thumbnail and title 3-5 hours before publishing the video to generate more interest. Prepare a teaser to captivate viewers and share it on social media as soon as your video is released.
Once the video is published, you can conduct an interactive poll about your video on social media to engage your core audience and pique the interest of those who haven’t seen it yet. You can also set up an email campaign to announce your video a few hours later, or add a banner on your website that links to the video.
All in all, you should continue to promote your videos whenever you get the opportunity. For example, if you notice a conversation on
Now that you’re informed about video marketing goals and strategies, let’s take a look at which video formats are most effective.
Top video formats
Survey results showed that the majority of video marketers use short videos (83%), 39% use long videos, and only 14% use live videos.
In this section, I’ll go a little deeper into each of these formats.
1. Short video
Of all video formats, short format has the highest ROI and is also #1 in lead generation and engagement.
The use of short-form videos has also increased significantly this year, and marketers overwhelmingly plan to invest in them more than any other media format.
Additionally, 30% of marketers who haven’t used short-form videos have started doing so this year. Our blog team even tried it out Short videos as advertising media.
How short are these short videos that marketers create? Survey respondents agree that 21-30 seconds (42%) is the optimal length. 32% say 31-60 seconds.
2. Long video
Long-form videos, defined in this survey as videos lasting three minutes, rank second to short-form videos in terms of ROI, lead generation, and engagement.
The majority of marketers (36%) say the ideal length for a long video is 3-6 minutes.
Long-form videos are outperforming short-form videos primarily because they are at the top of the formats that marketers are planning to use for the first time this year.
3. Live videos/live streams metrics and benchmarks
Live video has become less popular among video marketers – usage has actually declined by -56% since the last time this survey was conducted. It ranks third in terms of leads, engagement and ROI.
The best video marketing channels
Social media is the most used video marketing channel overall – 81% of our survey respondents use it. YouTube/Vimeo is the second most popular.
Social media is also the channel that brings in the highest ROI and generates the most leads, significantly overshadowing the runner-up (blog/website) – 83% of survey participants chose social media as the channel with the highest ROI and 10% chose blog /Website.
While all of these channels can be effective for sharing marketing videos, social media is the clear winner. Let’s look at which platforms are the most effective for video sharing.
The best social media channels for sharing videos
1. Instagram
Instagram is the most popular social media channel for sharing videos. 76% of marketers use it and it is the best social platform for ROI, engagement and lead generation when sharing marketing videos.
2. YouTube
YouTube ranks second behind Instagram in terms of usage and ROI, but third in terms of engagement and lead generation.
3. Facebook
60% of video marketers use Facebook to share marketing videos, and Facebook ranks fourth in ROI, engagement, and lead generation.
4. TikTok
TikTok offers the second best engagement and leads when sharing marketing videos and 54% of video marketers use it.
Which social media channels have poor video performance?
Tumblr, Twitch, Pinterest, and Reddit are the least popular channels for sharing marketing videos, and all four offer little competition to Instagram and YouTube when it comes to generating high ROI, driving leads, and gaining engagement.
Now we know where marketers share their videos, but what type of videos do they share on these platforms?
What are the best content types for marketing videos?
1. Content that showcases your products and services
Content showcasing products/services is the most widely used type of video content, and video marketers say it is most effective in helping them achieve their video marketing goals.
Consumers told us that content showcasing a brand’s products/services is the second most memorable type of content they see on social media. So it’s worth investing in as part of your own video marketing strategy.
2. Relatable content
Relatable content is the second most popular type of video content and also the second best when it comes to helping marketers achieve their goals.
3. Educational and informational content
They should be a helpful resource for your audience. It’s no surprise that educational and informational videos are the third most popular type of video among our survey respondents.
Learning new things is one of the main reasons consumers use YouTube. So if you use this platform, you should think about posting helpful and educational videos on your channel.
4. Funny content
Overall, funny content is the most memorable type of content for consumers when they encounter it on social media. 32% of our survey respondents use it and it ranks fourth when it comes to helping video marketers achieve their goals.
Viral videos
Creating a viral video is a goal that many video marketers have, but it’s not necessarily a goal that you have control over. You may hope to go viral by, for example, tapping into trending topics or using a popular influencer/celebrity, but the potential really depends on how consumers receive it.
How to make a video viral
With that in mind, however, I asked our survey respondents whether they were involved in the creation of a viral video and, if so, what they thought contributed to its virality. The main themes I gleaned from the responses are:
- Videos are relatable, authentic and humorous
- Viral videos take advantage of trends, pop culture and current events
- Viral videos are informative and teach viewers something new or provide valuable information
- Viral videos evoke strong emotions by presenting real stories
- Viral videos encourage viewer interaction through comments, likes, shares or challenges
- Viral videos are easy to share if you want to pass them on to friends and family.
How long does it take to create a marketing video?
93% of marketing videos are created in three weeks or less and 32% are created in less than a week.
This doesn’t surprise me at all: short videos are the most popular video format and consumers appreciate more authentic videos.
This means marketers can spend less time producing (shorter videos typically require less filming) and editing.
More insights from the HubSpot blog
Whether you’re just starting out with video marketing or you’re an experienced video professional, it’s important to stay up to date on the latest trends and marketing strategies.
While video marketing is one of the top marketing strategies right now, there are several others that have an even better ROI – fortunately, you can incorporate most of them into your video marketing strategy for even better results.
Are you just starting the video? You can also download our free video marketing starter pack below.
