Chew on this:

When it comes to online video, YouTube and other Google video sites are still king.

A comScore Video Metrix report found that 180 million Americans watched an average of 18 hours of online video content in August. That’s what the company called “a record 6.9 billion viewing sessions.”

Not surprising, Google sites and Hulu logged the longest viewership – with an average user watching 5.7 hours on YouTube and 3.2 hours on Hulu.

That means video ads aren’t going away anytime soon.   In fact, just watch them grow.

Americans watched more than 5.6 billion video ads last month — 996 million on Hulu, according to comScore.

More than 85 percent of Americans using the Internet watched some form of video online last month. The average length of video – whether viral or favorite TV show – was 5.3 minutes.

So what does this mean to you – dear business owner and marketer?

It confirms the ongoing conditioning of Americans away from the written word.  While it pains me to say that, there’s no getting around it.  Attention spans are shorter than ever and getting shorter.  Our audiences want you to get to the point, entertain them…video does that.  Even mediocre video can do that.

And before you say that it’s all the fault of those Millenials (read kids to some), think again.  On-demand video – live, podcasted, streaming – whatever – is in demand by all age groups.

So adjust your web sites and emails.  Your group presentations.  Replace words with video.  Be careful and remember, we haven’t even mentioned where video is being watched (think tablets and mobile).  Where the video is watched also affects the dynamics.

iPad and iPhone don’t play flash.  But that’s another story.

All this video is having an effect on how we communicate at home.  The other day I took my son out to dinner and I asked him the typical fatherly question – so how’s school?  “Watch my video”, he said.

I guess I’d better upload my talk about the birds and the bees to YouTube.

Everything from dancing babies to the Obama girls made its way across millions of screens across the globe.  And the word viral went from an adjective to a noun.  As in, “it went viral.”

Now everyone tries to figure out that one elusive quality that make their message go viral.  But unless you can “force” viral on people with a big bucks campaign, then for most of us, chasing viral is like catching lightning in a bottle.

In 2010, go back to the original viral.  Infect people.  Viral will still work for you, but it will start with a few small sparks here and there – not the sweeping brushfire everyone wants.

If your message and methods are infectious…then look for patient zero.

Posted by: Steve Banis