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What Kind of Online Videos are People Really Watching?

Recently, Newswhip put out their 33-page 2019 Social Guide to Video (May 2019). It's full of data and stats on all things video on social media. I pulled out just a few of my favorite tidbits to share and talk about. I think its important that they break it down by platform - because things vary drastically from one to the next.

Facebook - Key Takeaways

  1. The most watched videos average out at 132 seconds. Thats over 2 minutes. This might be higher than what you might have heard as a best practice for social, but good content will keep people interested and watching. That won't change.
  2. Non-live native videos were 97 percent of the top videos on Facebook! While YouTube or your website are never a bad place to host - if you are looking for higher engagement - it's worth the extra effort to post videos directly to Facebook, too.

  3. Live video was only 213 out of the top 10,000 videos. While this type of video has the highest number of comments - overall likes and shares are still far below that of non-live videos. As a society, we are pretty used to watching things when we want, this appears to also apply to our online and social video viewing habits.

  4. Turns out people want video that makes them happy. This chart from the Newswhip doc shows average reactions to top video posts. The overall trend? Likes, loves, laughs, shares - all reign supreme.

YouTube - Key Takeaways

  1. In the world of YouTube - Influencers still rule. A majority of the top videos for likes, comments (and dislikes) were YouTubers.
  2. Other top watched videos include things like movie trailers, music videos and clips from late night shows.

Twitter - Key Takeaways

  1. The average video length on Twitter is only 35 seconds. This platform has always been the hub of all things brief. Video is not exception.
  2. The most shared/retweeted video content on Twitter tends to skew more towards memes and jokes. Again, people like things that make them laugh. Who doesn't?

Check out more video stats and get the Newswhip 2019 Social Guide to Video here.  

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