Marketers are quickly learning that online videos are a good way to capture consumers’ interests, with comScore reporting that more than 186 million U.S. internet users watched 34 billion videos online in May. In light of the apparent drawing power of online clips, businesses looking to add video link bait or promotional clips to their websites may benefit from YouTube’s new embedding codes.
The new code uses <iframe> to offer enhanced playback for users, reports the YouTube API blog. Software engineer Toliver Jue reports that this feature lets users watch the clips in YouTube’s Flash or HTML5 players; the new code will automatically use the type of player supported or preferred on a user’s individual network for prime viewing.
Not only are these formats potentially better for online video watchers, but they may also improve marketers’ abilities to reach on-the-go viewers. Jue explains that this new embed code will ultimately enable webmasters to place video content on mobile sites, which generally use built-in players. This news should be of particular interest as the Pew Internet and American Life Project shows that 20 percent of U.S. adults watch video on their phones.
Between mobile and traditional online audiences, eMarketer predicts that video viewership will continue to rise over the next several years, suggesting video will be an almost essential component of any marketing campaign. The source expects U.S. online video viewers to represent 77 percent of internet users by 2014.
