The Advantages of Interactive Video Over Standard Video
Blog
May 22 2024
Interactive videos are becoming a popular choice for advertisers looking to capture audience interest. They offer viewers the ability to interact with the content through various tools. This trend is increasing viewer demand for discovering brands, services, and products in more captivating manners.
Standard vs. Interactive Video 2024
While video has long proven an attractive media format for drawing in viewers, there’s a sizable gap between simply getting noticed and encouraging new audiences to take part in the conversation.
Interactive components like quizzes, polls, and clickable hotspots or overlays allow viewers to quickly become active participants in branded marketing content; that means more welcome content on users’ social feeds, and more data available for marketers to sharpen their understanding of how audiences engage with their brand.
Interactive video’s ability to cater to messaging based on a viewer’s engagement makes it more likely than standard video to extend view time, generate leads, and improve ROI — in fact, 88% of marketers say interactive content allows brands to stand out. Additionally, 79% agree that integrating interactive content with other types enhances the retention of their messages.
Advantages of Interactive Over Standard Video
While standard or linear video maintains a role in many ad campaigns, interactive video advertising supports many of marketing’s core goals when it comes to approaching new audiences:
-We know content should be relevant and personalized to avoid joining the haze of irrelevant and generic ads to which users are consistently subjected.
-We know interactive video’s branching narratives facilitate better storytelling and increase the odds of piquing genuine user interest.
-We know studies have repeatedly found the majority of TV watchers scroll apps on a second screen to distract from irrelevant or otherwise forgettable ads.
Additionally, with first-party data taking center stage, brands focused on interactive video boast a significant advantage in gaining user insights and building accurate customer profiles. Interactive videos can include data forms, downloads, clickable links, and even direct purchase options — based on user activity, marketers can quickly identify the optimal content style, length, and messaging required to maximize campaign success.
Keys to a Successful Interactive Video Campaign
Interactive video can prove an effective tool in every phase of the customer journey, from initial interaction to conversion and retention. Here are a few tips for getting started:
Identify Your Desired Audience
Understanding your target audience is crucial to ensuring a more meaningful and relevant experience — even when a campaign’s goal is to gain greater insight into user preferences.
Whether your campaign adopts a broader brand awareness approach or a more direct low-funnel retargeting strategy, proving you understand something about your audience from the outset is essential for a video’s interactive element to take hold. Only after content sparks interest will individual users feel compelled to further refine the content’s messaging.
Experiment With Multiple Interactive Components
Interactive video’s ability to educate, entertain, and drive customer action is as expansive as your marketing team’s creativity allows. Experimenting with embedded quizzes and polls, developing choose-your-own-adventure type narratives, and providing a 360-degree product view or customizable options within the video itself rapidly engages potential buyers and helps narrow their path to purchase.
Avoid Complicated or Hard-to-Navigate Elements
The same rules guiding your site’s user interface (UI) apply to interactive video: The more complicated the path to purchase (or other objective to which the video is oriented), the more likely viewers will lose interest along the way.
Ensure that the interactive elements do not disrupt the video’s flow. A seamless and intuitive navigation system is one free of obstacles, sign-ins, technical issues, and any other hassles that may prevent users from taking an active role in engaging with your products (remember, this includes optimizing for mobile, too).
Make the Most of Interactive Storytelling
Users don’t necessarily open a social app intending to hear a product’s story, but with captivating imagery, targeted messaging, and a narrative directed by users themselves, marketers can quickly earn enough of a user’s limited attention to gain valuable insights and a promising lead.
Interactive videos are gaining popularity among advertisers aiming to grab the attention of their audience. The benefits of using interactive video include letting viewers engage directly with the content using different tools. This approach is meeting the growing desire of viewers to learn about brands, services, and products in more engaging ways. Interactive videos provide limitless opportunities for brands to showcase their value and expertise through engaging storytelling.
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