Video marketing is evolving at a hectic pace, and will certainly continue to do so in the coming year. We already shared our predictions for the most impactful trends for online video. Now, let’s take a closer look at what, specifically, is going to matter for video marketing.

1. Stellar Branded Content

If the holiday season was any indication, branded content is finally taking off. If this trend continues, you can look forward to more entertaining and high quality videos from your favorite brands.

But who on earth would watch a long-form ad, you might ask? Turns out, plenty of people, so long as it’s enjoyable. The key is that this branded content won’t even feel like an ad.

For example, H&M’s “Come Together” holiday video by Wes Anderson was only subtly showing off their stylish clothes. Burberry took things even further with some serious brand-building in their “Tale of Thomas Burberry,” that many wished was a feature length film.

Besides, haven’t you endured enough blatant product placement in TV shows and Hollywood movies? It’s high time brands were as much a part of telling a great story, as they are creating great products.

2. Personalization

Time-consuming? Potentially. Rewarding? Absolutely.

HubSpot found that personalization drives engagement with all sorts of content, but especially video. Importantly, they also found that consumers increasingly expect content to be personalized.

Personalization of video content can mean many different things. For instance, you could track which videos your viewers are watching. Then, send them suggestions for other content they might like based on prior viewing sessions. If you enable one of the marketing platform integrations that SproutVideo supports, you could even automate this process. Alternatively, you could use demographic data to target specific segments of your audience with a video.

Taking things a step further, you could create personalized video messages for individuals. A great example of this is a campaign by charity: water, who personally thanked each person who donated to their organization.

Make it a goal to personalize your video content and campaigns to keep your viewers engaged, and deliver the right messages to the right people.

3. More Dual Screen Experiences

This still feels a bit like a missed opportunity to date. Most people use more than one device at a time when watching video. In fact, Accenture reports that 87% of consumers use multiple devices simultaneously.

So, if you just sent out an email blast to your audience, coordinate your social media posts too. You could even run a special offer simultaneously to encourage engagement on more than one device.

The Walking Dead did an excellent job with an enhanced second screen experience. By providing interactive content to accompany each episode, The Walking Dead drove viewer engagement and gave viewers more to share than just the show.

What else do you see as a trend for video marketing in 2017? Please share in the comments below!