In the ever-increasing world of online advertising, businesses must keep up with trends in order to stay competitive. This means using the popular medium to attract their targeted audience. While banner advertising should be an important part of your marketing strategy, business owners would be well-advised to incorporate video into their plans as well. Many advertising and media analysts expect online videos to become an even more important source of where consumers receive information, as evidenced by their current watching trends. 

According to data released from the comScore Video Metrix, more than 189 million Americans watched 47 billion online videos in November 2013. The number of ad views during that time totaled 26.8 billion. By comparison, a similar number of Americans viewed only 40 billion videos and 10.5 billion ads at the same time in 2012. 

Other important findings from the November 2013 analysis include: 

  • 87 percent of U.S. internet users watched at least one online video
  • Ads accounted for 36 percent of all videos viewed, but 4.4 percent of all minutes spent watching online video
  • The average online video lasted 4.7 minutes, while the average ad was 0.4 minutes

Compared to 2012, the length of online videos have decreased by 42 seconds, while the the average ad time has remained the same. In addition, ads account for a larger proportion of all videos viewed. 

To effectively reach their targeted audience, small business owners should consider partnering with an internet marketing agency such as Key Media Solutions.