Video content bringing major changes to the internet

29.6 million people watched online video in the UK in January 2009 (comScore) and one scout around the internet makes it obvious why so many people accessed it: it’s impossible to escape video! Whether it’s for news, reviews, to enhance an opinion or to prove a point, video helps bring almost any article to life. This article looks into how this new trend toward video alongside written and image content is growing and what it means to online content producers.

Video changing page layout

If you look at the below diagram, you will probably be quite familiar with this page layout and the way a video is placed at the top of an article. 

What is interesting about this is that placing a video at the top of the page is encouraging major content publishers to put an image of the same size in its place if a video isn’t available. This may not seem like a huge revelation, but in some ways it is. It indicates how important visuals have become when illustrating a point on the internet. 

Major change to content

Below are examples from four of the UK’s most popular websites, The Sun, the BBC, the Telegraph and Sky. All of them include an image or a video that span the full width of the text content beneath it and all are custom to the news story.

You can say goodbye to small images stuck on the right handside of the article and you can certainly say goodbye to using the same image on more than one page. These days it’s all about original visuals as well as written content.

Visitor expectations are higher

This imagery makes the page look better and, in the case of video, adds an entirely new dimension when someone watches it instead of reading the written content. It is significant because it improves people’s experience and raises their expectations.

If articles are being accompanied by excellent photography or a video on major publishers, people in the UK will begin to accept this as the norm. Content producers that aren’t already investing in photography and filming content will start to be left behind in the coming years.

A change for the best

At the end of the day this change makes content and the user experience better, which is ace and something content producers should strive for. There will always be a place for written content on its own, but unoriginal content will continue to be pushed aside and you can’t afford to totally ignore video and photography. 

Actions

Advice for online content producers is to:

1. Begin using the above content layout on your website with an image spanning the entire width of the written content. It looks good and people will be familiar with the layout, giving you plus points for user experience.
2. Investigate websites that offer low-cost or free image and video content like iStockPhoto (low-cost, high quality photos), MorgueFile (free, low quality photos) and of course YouTube for video.
3. Start using your camera and video camera. If you don’t have them and you’re serious about online content, invest in cheap equipment to practice with. Photo and video content is going to become increasingly important in years to come. You don’t have to be the world’s best, you just need to be able to operate the things to generate original content.
    

Related articles

• For more best practice see our page layout and structure guide.
• For information on advertising around different content see this blog post on where best to advertise.