How Hero Video is Championing UX in Digital Marketing

Video has long been one of the most effective and engaging mediums of visual communication. As digital marketing continues to evolve, we’re seeing a growing trend in the use of video as one of the first touchpoints to engage audiences. Replacing the traditional image carousel and banner, hero video integration has become a key tool for brands looking to showcase a product or service.

Sydney Festival is a great example of an Australian brand leveraging hero video on its site. The long-running festival selected Brightcove to enhance its online video content with a focus on hero videos and autoplay functionality ahead of its January 2018 event.

Hero video integration, used across its homepage and event pages, and acting as a ‘visual teaser’ to attract audiences, is an important play for Sydney Festival. With Brightcove, Sydney Festival can seamlessly integrate video content across its website, offering users an in-depth, rich visual user experience. Autoplay functionality is also key to keep audiences engaged with a taste of the festival.

Previously, Sydney Festival hosted its videos on YouTube and embedded them into website pages for event promotion. Time and time again, brands have initially opted for third-party video hosting platforms over direct video integration, which often comes at the cost of the user experience. With these third-party platforms brands have very limited control over functionalities like analytics, player customization, and overall aesthetics. Selecting Brightcove however, Sydney Festival now has full control over the video viewing experience.

For brands operating in today’s digital world, ensuring video is seamlessly integrated into their users’ overall experience in a controlled, brand-consistent way is essential. Hero videos are a fantastic way to offer an immersive, visual online experience and this is the reason we have seen it make its way into website designs. Digital-savvy brands are cottoning on to hero videos as a way to quickly  enhance user experience, and this is why we have it pegged as one of the defining trends in video marketing for 2018.

If you’re interested in learning more about hero videos and how it can enhance your brand’s online video experience check out the Brightcove video player.