Here in the New Zealand local local internet metrics company Nielsen indicate 70% of kiwis online are viewing video.  At Silverlinemedia.tv, we are at the coal-face having made over 2,000 full motion and virtual videos for our clients since our launch in late 2008.  In Janaury our videos were played 30,647 times on our customer’s sites and the numerous video sites we distribute to from the mighty YouTube to Dailymotion.  This accounted for 39,000 minutes of video informing customers about businesses products and services.

Video is clearly on an incremental projectary as costs of production reduce, return and benefit demonstrate the value and the sheer range of opportunities to use video to persuade and inform customers and partners. Add the smarts and effectiveness of online video advertising and the argument for video as a key part of a businesses business / media strategy are frankly pretty simple.

Review the slide show here:

View cinema trends presentation at slideshare

This dramatic spend shift, has certainly been a major component of the closure of 1 in 2 newspapers in the USA over the last 12 months, as advertisers realise they can deliver results (enquiries, sales and branding) at a fraction of the cost online, vs. the tradtional media channels they have been using.

For local business these kind of statistics should be re-enforcing marketing planning into online media. Viewing the detail shows the key areas of growth are search (effectively Google in New Zealand), directories – increasingly new local offers (see NZS.com and Hotfrog.co.nz here) and vertical directories (good local examples menumania.co.nz for restaurants and equinetrader.co.nz for the horse market).

Online Video is clearly identified as a growth driver through businesses advertising with video online and ensuring their listings in directories and in search engines are re-enforced with video to both stand out and increase conversions.

Unsuprising that search, directories and video are fundamentally changing local advertising behaviour. The old channels did work, they were just expensive and media companies ran obsene proft margins for these, well done to them. They have not adapted fast enough and now small businesses can reach their market more effectively, efficiently and affordably.

If you are small business that is not or is considering changing your marketing mix, drop us a line, we’ll add some distinct value to ensure you get more bang for your hard-earner buck.