What Types of Videos Are B2B Buyers Watching?

May 11, 2022

Video has a strong influence on the B2B buyer’s purchase journey, per results from a Brightcove study [download page] conducted by Ascend2. In fact, virtually all (95%) of the buyers surveyed for the report said that video has an important role in deciding to move forward with a purchase.

Video’s use in making purchase decisions manifests in various ways, according to the study, though buyers are most likely to find it helpful when learning about a product/service (58%). This aligns with research from MarketingCharts and Activate Marketing Services, in which demand gen marketers said that video is most effective at the top of the funnel.

Beyond learning about products and services, video also proves helpful to buyers in understanding a problem they have (36%) and learning how to solve a problem they have (40%). Indeed, buyers separately said that videos were more helpful than any other content type for creating awareness of business-related problems. Moreover, when comparing solutions to such problems, about 6 in 10 respondents said that video is the most impactful content type.

Types of Videos

Almost 9 in 10 B2B buyers have watched video in the last 3 months for the purpose of learning about a product or service, and almost half (46%) have watched video at least 5 times in pursuit of product and service research.

Among recent viewers of video, two types stand out as the most widely watched: product reviews and product demos, each by 39% of this group of respondents.

Other popular types of videos watched by recent viewers include tutorials/training (33%), live videos such as webinars (31%), educational videos (30%) and brand story videos (24%).

Among recent video viewers, almost 3 in 4 (73%) report a preference for video over written communication when being introduced to a sales/customer service representative. And watching a video certainly seems to open buyers up to such communication: virtually all of the buyers surveyed said they were extremely or somewhat likely to be more receptive to sales communication from a specific organization after consuming its video content.

This is good news for B2B content marketers, who placed videos at the top of their list of investment areas this year.

Other Findings:

  • 93% of buyers report that video is important in building trust in a brand.
  • Almost all (97% of) buyers find video content and communication to be useful post-purchase.
  • Video is most helpful in the post-purchase stage for learning about other products/services offered and for training/onboarding.
  • About 8 in 10 (81%) prefer video over written content when learning how to use a product or service.

About the Data: The results are based on a February survey of “305 professionals responsible for purchase decision-making within their organization, operating in the business-to-business (B2B) space for businesses generating more than $50M in revenue or more annually in North America and the United Kingdom.”

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