Recently, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) polled 360 marketers across a variety of industries about their digital video ad budgets. 62% of respondents answered that they expect to increase their mobile video ad spending within a year. These findings are significant but not at all surprising. In fact, according to recent estimates from eMarketer, mobileâs share of total digital video ad dollars is expected to reach 47.7% by 2019.
Statistics like those above are indicative of a larger trend: a transition away viewing videos on television (and even on desktop) and towards viewing videos on mobile devices. Yet even this true seems to be staring us in the faceâboth statistically, as well as anecdotallyârarely do we talk about how, if at all, content ought to be altered to remain effective in a mobile format. More specifically: what does the proliferation of mobile mean for your explainer video?
A lot. So thatâs exactly what we plan to answer today and tomorrowâŠ
Preparing for a mobile audience may, at first, seem daunting. Going from a desktop screen to a mobile device? Thatâs an enormous difference. In truth, however, itâs not as bad as it seems. There are two reasons why:
Defining Mobile Video
Mobile doesnât just mean mobile phones. The category refers to both phones and tablets. And while the screen on a tablet is still smaller than that of a desktop, itâs not significantly so. Especiallyâas anyone who uses their tablet to stream movies can attestâif the tablet is laid width-wise so that the video is playable in its widescreen format.
Size Matters (Sometimes)
Still, a large portion of the mobile viewing audience will be watching on smart phones. But, once again, thatâs not as dire as it sounds. Because, when watching on a desktop or laptop, not everyone expands to full-screen anyway. So the default dimensions really arenât even that much bigger than the typical smartphone screen. For example, the mid-size iPhone display is 4.7 inches. Compare that to the default size of a YouTube or Vimeo video on your computer. Itâs actually not that much of a difference.
In fact, the difference is so minimal that it might cause you to think: so, whatâs the problem? The problem is that most smart phones viewers arenât necessarily going to view your video at full size. They may opt to do so if theyâre invested, but more likely theyâre going to be holding their phone length-wise and encounter your video as a fraction of their screen size. And itâs for that possibilityâthe worst case, smallest-size scenarioâthat we need to be prepared.
Center of Attention
Many of the best explainer videos are beautifully nuanced. This neednât change as those intricate, not-necessarily-visible-at-first details will continue to retain compositional value and provide incentive for additional viewings. But regardless of how detailed your video might be, successful mobile videos tend to have a strong central focus.
Think of this almost like a spotlight. A way for you to highlight a singular focal point to try and lure the viewers attention. This focal point does not need to be the same throughout the entirety of your video (although it can help, especially if itâs a hero character), but you at least need to continually provide a center of attention. Something that can grab and holder the viewers attention and provide an accessible means into the world of your explainer. Because, ultimately, what you want to avoid is this: someone looks at your video, is confused and then clicks onto something else. Your central focus, then, is the antidote to confusion.
Prepare for Sound, but Donât Count on It
According to an article on Digiday, as much as 85% of the video views on Facebook are played without sound. This would appear to be a scenario that impacts desktop/laptop viewing as well (which it does), but not to the same extent. Because stats like this oneâ56.5% of Facebook users only login from a mobile deviceâindicate that the overwhelming majority of Facebook views come from mobile devices.
It would be a mistake to take this information to mean that the sound in your video doesnât matter. It does, and still represents the optimal viewing experience for your video. But it just means that you shouldnât count on it. In other words, your video needs to be accessible enough to garner interest without sound (and, ideally, compelling enough to persuade the viewer to watch with audio).
As such, one good way to think about this challenge might be to liken aspects of your explainer video to a comic book. In the sense that although a comic book does have text to help tell the story, one can still (generally) follow the narrative by following the illustrations. Because comic books tend to do a great job of setting the stage, introducing action and then using the focal point of character to tell a story.
Text is Fine, But Make Sure itâs Mobile Video Ready
Speaking of textâŠ
The text in an explainer video is quite different than that of a comic. In that itâs not narration and, very often, is used to underscore key facts. Here are a couple examples from recent videos that we produced:
In both of the examples above, we hope that the viewer will be able to see and read all of the text. But, in the event that a viewerâs screen is too small (or the viewer just doesât care enough to read) weâve tried to be prepared by making sure that the most important aspect of the text is still readily accessible. In the frame above-left, the most important text is the word âWantedâ as that is used here for the story purpose of branding bread an outlaw. In the frame above-right, the most important text is those numbers on the bottom that indicate this is a timeline.
In both cases, the vital text aspects are expressed with the biggest fonts on screen. But thatâs not the only reason (we hope) that they immediately stand out. In the above-left example, our characterâs reaction to the text/sign helps shine the spotlight on that word âWanted.â And int he above-right example, we used different coloring and also paced out the numbers with a spacing less crowded than anything else on the screen (as well as tried to leverage the average viewerâs familiarity with a chronological timeline).
So to reiterate, text can still play a key role in a mobile-sized explainer video, but you should make sure you are being deliberate about how to make that text most accessible.
Characters are Key (ButâŠ)
Tomorrow, weâll focus specifically on character animation in the mobile space. In the meantime, weâll end by stating that the use of a hero character (or characters) can be a great way to compensate for mobile viewing. ButâŠnot all types of characters are equally effective.
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