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Video is a mainstream marketing channel: 91% of businesses in Wyzowl’s 2026 survey said they use it, and 82% of video marketers said they get good ROI. Those are survey responses, not proof that video causes a particular business result. The figures below put adoption, spending, platforms, audience preferences and AI use in context so you can decide what to measure in your own program.
How many businesses use video marketing in 2026?
Wyzowl’s 2026 survey found that 91% of respondents said their business uses video as a marketing tool; 93% said video is important to their overall strategy. Wyzowl surveyed 266 unique respondents in late 2025, including marketing professionals and online consumers, and says its trend data spans 12 consecutive years. These figures describe respondents’ reported use and views, not a census of all businesses.
Continued investment intentions are also high: 92% of marketers surveyed by Wyzowl planned to spend the same amount or more on video in 2026. That is a statement of intent, not a record of final spending.
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What is the ROI of video marketing?
In Wyzowl’s 2026 survey, 82% of video marketers reported good ROI. Respondents also reported business outcomes associated with video, including more product understanding (93%), brand awareness (93%), web traffic (82%), leads (85%) and sales (83%). These are marketers’ reported experiences; the survey does not establish that video alone caused the outcomes or quantify the size of any lift.
#1 Best Overall
Choose a success measure that matches the job of the video. A video intended to explain a product should be judged differently from one intended to generate leads or close sales.
| Objective | Useful measures |
|---|---|
| Awareness | Reach, views and brand awareness |
| Understanding | Product understanding and audience retention |
| Traffic or leads | Clicks, web traffic and leads |
| Sales | Sales or downloads attributable to the campaign |
Set the measure before publishing, then compare results against the same objective and attribution method. A view count by itself does not show whether a video produced leads or sales.
How much are businesses spending on video?
The spending figures describe different things and should not be treated as interchangeable. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) projected that U.S. digital video advertising spending would exceed $80 billion in 2026, with 11% year-over-year growth. This is a U.S. advertising-market projection, not a global total or a typical individual company’s budget.
Wistia’s 2026 State of Video reports that, for 2025 video promotion and advertising, 41% of companies spent under $20,000 and 28% spent over $20,000. The study analyzed responses from 900+ professionals as well as 13 million videos and 79 million hours of viewing. The reported budget shares do not specify the exact amounts within either band, and they do not establish a recommended budget for a particular organization.
Rank #3
Which video platform is best for marketing?
There is no single winner in Wyzowl’s 2026 figures: platform usage and reported effectiveness differ, and the survey does not measure which platform will perform best for a particular audience or campaign.
| Platform | Businesses using it | Marketers rating it effective |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube | 82% | 69% |
| 69% | 56% | |
| 66% | 55% | |
| 70% | 50% |
These are Wyzowl 2026 survey responses, not platform-wide performance guarantees. Use them as a snapshot of adoption and perceived effectiveness, not as a ranking of return on ad spend.
How to choose a channel for your campaign
- Start with the audience and objective. Identify who needs to see the video and whether the goal is awareness, explanation, traffic, leads or sales.
- Match the channel to the job. Consider where your intended audience is reachable and whether the channel’s available formats suit the creative. The figures above do not establish audience fit or format performance for an individual business.
- Decide how it will be distributed. Organic publishing and paid promotion have different costs and reach; the adoption and effectiveness percentages do not compare their results.
- Measure the next action, not just exposure. Track views or engagement for awareness work, and clicks, leads or sales when those are the intended outcomes.
How long should a marketing video be?
Survey preferences do not point to one universal ideal. Wyzowl’s 2026 survey found that 71% preferred marketing videos between 30 seconds and two minutes. A HubSpot preference figure cited for comparison puts 51% in the 30-to-60-second range; the date and survey details for that HubSpot figure are not specified here. The ranges differ, so neither should be treated as a fixed rule for every platform, subject or audience.
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Choose a length that delivers the message without delaying the useful part. For a short social post, make the point quickly; for a product explanation, allow enough time to answer the question the viewer came to resolve. Check retention and completion alongside the action the video is meant to prompt, then adjust future versions using your own results.
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How is AI changing video marketing?
Wyzowl reports that 63% of video marketers have used AI video tools. Separately, the IAB reports that nearly two-thirds of digital-video buyers use generative AI for video creative. The measures concern different groups and uses, so they should not be combined into one adoption rate.
The IAB also reports that, in 2026, 21% of buyers had agentic AI campaigns live, 20% were testing them and 25% planned to use them. These are reported campaign statuses and plans, not evidence that agentic AI improves performance.
For a marketing team, the practical distinction is between using an AI tool to assist creative work and deploying an agentic campaign. Evaluate either by the same objective and outcome measures as other video work, and review the creative and campaign decisions before they reach customers.
What do viewers say about branded video?
Wyzowl’s 2026 survey reports strong audience interest and influence: 96% have watched an explainer video to learn about a product or service; 85% said video had convinced them to buy or download; 84% want more video from brands in 2026; and 89% said video quality affects their trust in a brand. These responses indicate perceived usefulness and preference, not a guarantee that a given video will persuade viewers or build trust.
Quality matters beyond production polish: make the information clear, accurate and relevant to the audience. A polished video that fails to answer the viewer’s question may not serve its intended purpose.
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