Video Fundraising: Meet Chuna
Online video viewing steadily grows, with consumers increasing grouchy and disinterested when marketers don’t provide video support for their marketing messages. Do you think those expectations are any different with fundraising messages?
I sure don’t. And I’ll provide some evidence in a moment.
First, here’s a report on video viewing that measures mobile video viewing as up 400% over the last two years, up 127% in the last year. These guys project that viewing via mobile devices will account for more than half of all online video views by 2016. Not surprisingly, 1-3 minute videos, like the one you’ll see below, account for most plays, across all devices.
That said, there’s no magic formula for length. As Jonathon Grapsas at Flat Earth Direct argues in this post, the Kony video at 30 minutes got 100 million views. Says Jonathon:
“A video should be as long as it needs to be. Yes, that says video, not letter.
We develop a lot of video content and monitor all of the available viewing data in YouTube. If a video isn’t getting the results we’d expect, and people are turning off, invariably the issue is the video. Not its length.”
Personally, I’d expect that as more video is watched via mobile devices, optimum lengths will shorten.
So here’s a video fundraising case study featuring a 3-minute video — Meet Chuna — produced by Micro-Documentaries.
In fall 2013, READ Global posted this video on its website about Chuna, a Nepalese woman who at age 47 taught herself how to read, educated her daughters, and started a women’s study group to ensure other women have a safe space to learn and dream.
This video received nearly 50,000 views in three weeks, increasing the total number of donors by 54% compared to the previous year. But the video itself is only part of the story. The case study describes the careful and persistent promotional effort that delivered this viewership.
The lesson: compelling video + smart promotion required for success.
Tom
P.S. READ Global reports that Chuna recently became the vice president of a brand new library in her village. Photos here.
2 responses to “Video Fundraising: Meet Chuna”
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I think more importantly than viewing stats are the stats that show how people take action because of video. I collected those stats in a post on Beth’s Blog here:
http://www.bethkanter.org/videoinvestment/
great article and case study. thanks for giving that some visibility.