The Death of Written Content: 74% of Online Traffic Will be Video by 2017

The Death of Written Content: 74% of Online Traffic Will be Video by 2017

I’m currently gathering supplies to start a vlog. I won’t go into detail about it here, but let’s just say that I and others in my circle feel it’s pretty innovative.

Why, you ask?

Because you don’t need to go to journalism school to become a famous journalist anymore. Or film school to be a director or run a camera. You don’t need to study acting to become an actor.

It’s a dream job really, as long as you can be comfortable in front of a camera. Not afraid to immortalize yourself in digital media.

It’s never been easier to let the whole world see your personality, to hear your ideas, and otherwise be entertained by the content you can offer them. Not to mention that it’s a cash cow if you’re promoting the right products or drawing in the adsense and private display network bucks.

And so, I’ve been doing my fair share of research on where video media is going in the coming months and years.

Here’s some interesting facts to ponder if you haven’t yet shifted most of your marketing efforts into online video:

Video Marketing Value

I personally found the stats related to putting the word “video” in email subject lines quite interesting:

  • Boosts open rates by nearly 20% (wow!)
  • Increases clickthrough rates by 65% (shabang!)
  • Reduces unsubs by 26% (you gotta provide value, right?)

I’ve never been much of a “victim” to email marketing methods. Love videos, don’t get me wrong, but I just tend to subscribe to YT channels I like and their interface informs me of new vids the minute I log in. If you’re a video marketer who’s reading this, please share whether you feel the numbers in the graphic are true…

Of course, the big shocker in the graphic is about the projected Internet video traffic in the next couple of years. That one really got the wheels turning.

Check out the video traffic projections from Cisco for 2018:

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/ip-ngn-ip-next-generation-network/white_paper_c11-481360.html

If you checked out the link, can you even comprehend what a “Zettabyte” is? A billion terabytes!

So, back to the video.

Using several sources, including what’s shown in the graphic, here’s where video is going (or growing):

  • Was over 50% in 2012
  • Made up 66% of all Internet traffic in 2013.
  • Grew to 69% in 2014.
  • Projected to hit 74% by 2017.
  • Cisco projects it will top somewhere around 79 – 84% of total traffic in 2018.

These are the best projections I could find. There isn’t much out there for the current year, or for 2016, but at this rate there’s a good chance that written content may soon be a thing of the past!

Share your thoughts.

 

Main image by woodleywonderworks

 

 

 

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