Recently I needed to figure out how to use the chimney starter for the weber grill at our company BBQ. With no directions in the box, I resorted to my favorite solution – You Tube videos. Within 5 minutes I watched a video that showed me in a clear and entertaining manner how to use the starter and not torch myself and burn down the house in the process. Nice.
Its funny how fast things change in today’s world and how quick we as humans make adjustments. I remember not too long ago using a cell phone that resembled the size of a brick. That same year I thought I was “all that and a bag of chips” when I pulled my 12 pound video camera out of a bag the size of a suitcase to tape my son’s soccer game. That was then and this is now. Technology went into fast forward and most consumers hitched a ride along.
In marketing we try to see what the consumer’s needs are and what they are using and where the trends are. Clearly, one answer is video based on a new milestone in consumer behavior and technology that happened recently. Data from comScore shows that 183 million U.S. Internet users watched online video during the month of May. To reveal how powerful the format is, YouTube.com achieved record levels of viewing activity with an all-time high of 14.6 billion videos viewed and surpassing the threshold of 100 videos per viewer for the first time. Looks like I’m not the only one that can’t stand reading directions.
