Video is not all that when it comes to online content consumption

A recent study from nRelate, a platform that specialises in content discovery, revealed that 76% of Americans are more interested in related article links than video content within the story. The study was conducted online within the United States with a sample of 2 512 adults (aged 18 and over) and showed that more than 90% spent at least seven hours a week consuming content online.

It seems that most readers go online for traditional news content versus images and video content and readers grow between three to four articles per reading session while watch two to three videos at a time.

Interestingly, the study found that search engines are not the primary sources for content discovery but rather email newsletters or articles pushed from brand pages — though only seven percent said they were likely to click on links from Facebook.

“No single search engine or website is the sole gateway to content discovery,” said Neil Mody, CEO of nRelate. “Today it’s a fragmented, highly contextual, often serendipitous process. Yet there’s no arguing good content is in high demand: consumers spend more than seven hours a week actively looking for it, viewing up to four articles and three videos per session on average. Content creators and marketers should pay special attention to this evolving behaviour to maximize their visibility and reach.”

The study found the following:

Make discovery easy and contextual
It appears Americans are gravitating toward an exploratory, contextual information discovery process.

• Ninety-two percent of U.S. adults read content online, spending more than seven hours per week looking for content (this is higher among the younger age groups (18-44)).
• Americans read three to four articles per session and watch two to three videos per session, on average (this number is higher among males for both articles and videos).
• Thirty-one percent of online consumers indicate search engines are not the primary sources for finding content (articles and videos).
• Nearly half of online consumers (48%) say that after reading an article, they are more likely to click on related content (e.g., article, video).
• More than half (51%) of online consumers say they read and click on content pushed to them via email newsletters from brands whose products and services they use.

Deciding to click
According to the study, a number of factors influence an online consumer’s decision to click.

• Most (62%) first look for traditional news stories versus images, videos, blog posts, or any other type of related content.
• After finishing an article, more online consumers say they are more likely to click on a link to another article (34%) than to a video (15%) – but 39% indicate they are more likely to click on an article if there is an image associated with it.

The likelihood of a reader clicking through to related or suggested content differs based on the subject matter:

• Local news. 84% are likely to click on a related link.
• National news. 78% are likely to click on a related link.
• Entertainment. 62% are likely to click on a related link.
• Sports. 47% are likely to click on a related link.

Quality is key, and online consumers indicate quality content has the following attributes:

• From a source already known in the offline world (60%).
• Includes images (24%).
• Includes author image and byline (23%).
• Includes embedded video (11%).

The friend factor – not so much?

• Seventy-six percent of online consumers indicate they do not get most of their content recommendations from friends on social networks.
• While researching, users are most likely to click on search results (48%), followed by links at the bottom of the article they’ve just read (28%) as opposed to links found on Facebook (eight percent).
• When it comes to purchase decisions, consumers say they trust content from a brand or manufacturer’s website (44%), an article discovered through a search engine (31%) an expert on a topic related to the product (28%), or a mainstream news site (20%) more than they do content posted by a friend on a social network (10%).

Full report here:

N relate findings