2013 is coming to an end, but we can’t look forward to a successful new year until we look back and learn from the year that is passing. Like 2012, 2013 continued to be a break out year for video marketing, particularly online. Here are a few of the biggest events & statistics in video marketing for 2013.

The Harlem Shake Took Over

The Harlem Shake, a viral video meme, took over the internet in early February 2013. At it’s peak, over 40,000 versions of The Harlem Shake were uploaded in one day to YouTube. Many businesses saw the meme as an opportunity to be relevant and have a little fun, and filmed their own versions of The Harlem Shake. Some were successful, others weren’t, but the meme made many businesses realize the opportunities that are available to them it they are current and relevant online through video content.

Vine & Instagram Video Hit the Scene

In January, Twitter introduced a new app called Vine, designed to create and share short, 6 second looping videos. In June, Instagram responded by introducing a video feature of their own that allowed users to create and share short 15 second videos. The popularity of the video features on these apps emphasize the importance of marketers to master short form video and incorporate it into their video marketing strategy going in to 2014.

K-Mart and Dove Transcend the Traditional Television Commercial

K-Mart and Dove were able to achieve what very few businesses have been able to accomplish: their traditional television commercials turned into viral online videos. While this is not the first time that TV commercials have gone viral, it is rare and gives two examples of great content combined with an online and offline strategy that marketers can learn a great deal from. Learn more about what they did right in our blog Viral Commercials Pay Off Big for Businesses.

The Number of Online Video Viewers Continued to Climb

In January 2013, 179 million people watched 36 billion videos online. Ten months later, those numbers both jumped by over 10 million, with 189 million people watching 49 billion online videos during the month of October.

These numbers are expected to continue to climb, and most marketers are already planning to invest significantly more resources into online video for their websites, YouTube and social media in 2014. Expect to see more quality, innovative content from brands in the upcoming year.

WestJet Showed Us That Marketers Don’t Ruin Everything

December of 2013 gave us a sneak peak into the kind of quality, innovative content we can (hopefully) look forward to in 2014 with it’s WestJet Christmas Miracle video on YouTube. This powerful display of generosity and Christmas spirit was also an impressive display of logistics, strategy, and commitment by the Canadian airline company.

While thousands of brands are relentlessly competing for our attention and our dollars during Christmas, WestJet did the opposite. And in four days managed to get almost 10 million views for their 5 minute YouTube video.

Here’s the video if you haven’t seen it yet…we dare you not to start getting choked up around the 3 minute mark.

Can you think of any other important milestones or events in video marketing this year that we missed? Share them with us over on our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/talkingheadstudio.

About Talking Head Studio Talking Head Studio is an Orlando video production company offering full-scale video production services to local businesses and national clients.