Newsfeed
Day newsfeed

Why do we love watching videos so much?

July 07,2020 13:30

Have you recently caught yourself watching random videos on your phone or computer for an hour or more? If yes, then you most probably experienced the feeling afterwards also. When you finally pause, emerge yourself from the screen and think “how on earth did this happen?”

The undeniable reality is that videos took over our lives. 2-6 episodes from our favorite movie series, tv-shows have expanded to binge-watching You-Tube, vlogs, behind-the-scenes, interviews/Q&As, webinars, tutorials, how-tos, contests, 360 videos… and ads, a lot of ads. But why? Video became the currency of social media tugging at our heartstrings and captivating our attention better than any other medium. It has the highest engagement and interaction rates. Here you will find some answers to what is there about videos that makes us so addicted to them.

Videos combine 2 in 1: Auditory and visual sense

Let’s start from basic human psychology. In essence, video brings together two things that catch our attention like nothing else: movement and noise. Our brain loves video because it is programmed to retain visual content better than a page loaded with words. According to studies, the average viewer remembers 95% of a message when it is watched, whereas only 10% when read.

Watching something has always been the best way to learn. When we were babies, we relied on vision to associate objects with behaviors, like a ball meaning playtime. Vision was the only way to learn about the world. That’s why you can understand visual information in 250 milliseconds (almost two times faster than a blink of an eye) and why your visual system activates over 50% of your brain.

Videos help to create concrete associations

Video is creating a strong association between the viewer and movie, program and brands. The secret lies in including characters in videos which represent the target audience. Seeing characters who look like themselves helps viewers picture themselves using the product or service, or being in the same life situation.

Whether it’s a physical association, an emotional association, or an association between the viewer’s pain points and the solution a company offers, video will help to trigger a feeling of belonging within the viewer, one that could turn into a sale. When you’re stuck in a cubicle or at home and somehow a video pops up of soft sand, rolling waves and someone chilling at the beach. You want to tear open your screen and jump into that exact spot and the first thought will probably be “It could be me. Don’t I deserve that?”. It is very emphasized in travel agencies, for example. Travel agents from Arara company experienced many cases when tourists asked to visit the exact spots they’ve seen in videos.

Videos are intentionally designed to attract

Seems simple, right? Of course, the person who creates the video content intends to gain views and attract an audience. But nowadays the picture is different. Specialists from ProDigi Digital Agency ensure that there are billions of mechanisms and strategies on how to specifically target people that you won’t even imagine. Most of the time the video content we watch has two primary goals: generating particular emotion and tying high-density feelings to a desirable action.

It is a fact that emotions matter more than reason and logic for 80% of customers when they make purchase decisions. Emotions sell better as these reflect at the baseline instinctive level. People may not always be aware of why they are buying the stuff, but they always feel good about it based on their perceptions. So, people behind the screen try to touch our perceptions softly and positively to have tangible results on the way. Prodigi specialists explain that most of the time marketers manage to achieve it within the first 5 seconds of the video, as it is the right moment to hook the viewers’ attention.

Compelling videos are certainly the easiest ways to reach immediate emotional actions such as desire for gaining control, “I will be the first” feeling, the excitement of finding a solution to a problem, discovering something new, desire to belong, getting smarter and many more depending on the product, the business mission, etc.

Media can quote materials of Aravot.am with hyperlink to the certain material quoted. The hyperlink should be placed on the first passage of the text.

Comments (0)

Leave a Reply

Calendar
July 2020
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
« Jun   Aug »
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031