What are the Most Important Video Stats to Focus On?

Utilizing video in your marketing strategy doesn't stop the second your uploads complete. To truly see results with video, you've got to follow up; analyze how well a given video is performing—and where it's hosted—and make informed iterations or pursue new projects based on that data.

This includes things like play rate, actions taken and video completion. While the most important video KPIs can change depending on the context and purpose of each video, there are several metrics you should always keep an eye on.

In this blog, I'll be outlining those metrics as they relate to certain goals.

View Count and Completion Rate

Whatever your hosting platform of choice, overall view count and video completion rate are going to be standout indicators of your performance. These two metrics go hand-in hand, depending on what you consider to be a "view:"

• View Count: this one's pretty straightforward. It's the total number of times a video has been viewed to date, which makes it an important metric for determining how well a widely-targeted upload (such as a company overview or general service video) is performing. If your goal is pure scope and reach, you'll almost always refer to View Count for the overall picture.
• Completion Rate: where View Count applies to general audience size, Completion Rate concerns how many of those viewers actually made it through your entire video. This allows you to see how compelling or valuable your content is; if 2,000 people view your video, but only 200 complete it, then you could almost consider there to be only 200 true views.

Regardless of what you consider to be a view, these are two important things you should always refer to from videos that target broad or untapped audiences.

Play Rate

Play Rate goes a step beyond View Count; it's the total number of people that clicked your video's play button compared to how many total impressions the video has made (how many overall times the video player was seen).

This metric is a big deal, because it tells you fairly accurately how people perceive the value of your video content, as well as if your thumbnail is compelling enough to win people over. Low Play Rate indicates that page visitors may not see the point in watching your video.

While that doesn't necessarily mean you have to go back to the drawing board with your whole project, it may mean you need to showcase or lead up to the video more carefully.

Click-Through Rate and Conversion Rate

Click-through Rate and Conversion Rate are essential KPIs for video content equipped with next steps, such as video CTAs, or those featured prominently on landing pages. They indicate how strongly your video content drives viewers to take—or pass up on—an intended action.

• Click-through Rate: this metric applies to in-video CTAs, CTAs that share a page with a video and CTAs/clickable thumbnails in emails. Broadly, it's the number of times a button or CTA was clicked in comparison to it's total views. This speaks volumes for in-video CTAs, such as those on Wistia or other marketing platforms; if a CTA or annotation was viewed 1,000 times, but clicked twice, then it might be time to rethink phrasing or the button's relevance.
• Conversion Rate: going a step further, Conversion Rate is the total number of times viewers that did click-through ultimately converted into a lead; how many users took that next step and ended up submitting information for a demo, offer, general contact or trial. This is an important KPI for videos featured on landing pages or otherwise as part of a larger marketing campaign.

By understanding these key metrics, you'll be able to take steps in the right direction with your video marketing projects and use your most powerful video content where it counts.

Whether that means creating new projects with these KPIs in mind or making adjustments to current projects, the end goal is the same: more engagement with leads and happier customers.