The Science Behind Video
Agitator readers probably know that YouTube is now the second most-used search engine on the planet.
So, what does your organization look like in video-land? Or haven’t you arrived on those shores yet?
Here on Video Insider is a very brief explanation of why video is so compelling, drawn from Susan Weinschenk, a psychologist who calls herself ‘the brain lady’. OK, this isn’t exactly brain surgery …
- Video makes us pay attention to faces. There’s actually an area of the brain — called the Fusiform Facial area — that’s sensitive to human faces. We’re hard-wired to ‘read’ the information in faces. It’s not by chance that the most successful child sponsor ads focus on faces … and especially the eyes.
- Voice conveys rich information. Of course, with the video comes voice. Tone of voice, inflection and volume all help to enrich information with emotion.
- Emotions are contagious. Certainly we’ve all been moved by the written word. No question about that. But the combination of visual and audio — with multiple modes of impact — is tough to beat.
- Movement grabs attention. In the old days, something that moved could very well eat you. Hence humans have been hard-wired to pay attention to movement.
Naturally, Dr Weinschenk is delighted to tell you all this in a (to be honest) not terribly compelling video!
I’m being a little cheeky here. There’s far more rigorous neuroscience regarding the points made above.
But you shouldn’t really need more convincing to use online video to tell your stories. If you do, check out some of these points about the reach and impact of online videos, which enjoy the highest click-through rates of any digital ad format.
Tom
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