Video is no longer a specialist marketing channel.

In 2026, businesses are using video across websites, social media, sales, recruitment, customer education and internal communications — while audiences are spending more time consuming video across an increasingly wide range of platforms and devices.

But how important is video marketing today? Which formats are businesses actually creating? And is video generating measurable results?

We’ve brought together some of the latest video marketing statistics and industry research available in 2026, alongside UK-specific viewing data, to provide a useful snapshot of where video sits today.

Video marketing statistics: the headlines

Some of the standout statistics for 2026 include:

• 91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool
• 93% of video marketers consider video an important part of their overall strategy
• 82% of marketers say video delivers a good return on investment
• 85% say video has helped generate leads
• 83% say video has directly increased sales
• 93% say video has increased understanding of their product or service
• 82% say video has increased website traffic
• 84% of consumers want to see more video from brands
• 89% of consumers say video quality affects their trust in a brand
• 63% of consumers would prefer to learn about a product or service through a short video
• 94% of UK online adults use YouTube
• UK adults spend approximately 51 minutes per day on YouTube
• 8 in 10 B2B video teams say LinkedIn is their primary video distribution channel
• 63% of video marketers have used AI tools to help create or edit marketing video
• 92% of marketers expect to spend the same or more on video during 2026

Below, we explore what the data tells us in more detail.

How many businesses use video marketing?

91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool

Video adoption remains extremely high.

Wyzowl’s 2026 Video Marketing Statistics report found that 91% of businesses currently use video as a marketing tool.

That puts adoption back at its joint highest level after a small decline in 2025.

Perhaps more importantly, 93% of video marketers consider video an important part of their overall marketing strategy.

Video therefore appears to have moved beyond being an optional format for most marketing teams.

Source: Wyzowl Video Marketing Statistics 2026

What types of marketing videos are businesses producing?

Social media video is the most common use of video

According to Wyzowl’s 2026 research, 69% of video marketers have created videos for social media.

That makes social content the most frequently produced type of marketing video.

Other popular formats include:

• Explainer videos – 68%
• Testimonial videos – 57%
• Presentation videos – 48%
• Video advertising – 48%
• Teaser videos – 45%
• Product demonstrations – 39%
• Sales videos – 37%
• Training videos – 23%
• Customer onboarding videos – 23%

The range is significant.

Businesses are no longer commissioning video solely for a homepage or one-off brand film. Video increasingly sits across the entire customer journey.

Live action remains the most popular video format

Despite the rapid development of AI and animation tools, live-action video remains the most commonly produced format.

51% of video marketers say live action represents the majority of the video they create.

Animation accounts for 23%, while screen-recorded content accounts for 19%.

That suggests businesses continue to place significant value on showing real people, products, environments and experiences on screen.

Source: Wyzowl, 2026

Is video marketing effective?

82% of marketers say video delivers a good ROI

Return on investment remains one of the strongest arguments for continued investment in video.

In Wyzowl’s 2026 research, 82% of video marketers reported that video had delivered a good return on investment.

Marketers measure that return in several different ways.

The most common measurements are:

• Video views – 67%
• Engagement, including likes and shares – 63%
• Leads and clicks – 52%
• Customer engagement and retention – 40%
• Brand awareness and PR – 36%
• Direct sales – 32%

This is an important distinction.

Video ROI isn’t always measured solely in direct revenue. Depending on the objective, success might mean generating enquiries, increasing understanding, improving retention or simply getting more of the right people to engage with a brand.

85% of marketers say video generates leads

The connection between video and lead generation is particularly strong.

85% of video marketers say video has helped their business generate leads.

At the same time:

• 83% say video has directly increased sales
• 82% say it has increased website traffic
• 82% say video keeps visitors on their website for longer

For businesses using video commercially, these are arguably more useful measurements than simply counting video views.

Source: Wyzowl Video Marketing Statistics 2026

Video helps people understand complicated products and services

93% of marketers say video improves product understanding

One of video’s biggest advantages is its ability to communicate complicated information quickly.

93% of marketers say video has helped users better understand their product or service.

This is particularly relevant to B2B organisations.

Products, processes and services that might require several paragraphs of explanation can often be communicated much more naturally through a combination of interviews, demonstrations, animation and supporting visuals.

The consumer data supports this too.

96% of people say they have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service.

Consumers actively want brands to produce more video

84% want to see more video from brands

Despite the enormous volume of video already being published, audience demand remains high.

84% of consumers say they want to see more video content from brands during 2026.

And when people were asked how they would most like to learn about a product or service:

63% chose a short video.

That compared with:

• Text-based articles – 12%
• Infographics – 7%
• Sales calls – 5%
• Ebooks/manuals – 4%
• Webinars – 4%

Video therefore remains the preferred learning format by a considerable margin within this research.

Source: Wyzowl, 2026

Video quality affects trust

89% of consumers say video quality influences their trust in a brand

Producing more video doesn’t necessarily mean production quality has become irrelevant.

Quite the opposite.

89% of consumers say the quality of a brand’s video content affects their level of trust in that organisation.

That doesn’t mean every video needs a large crew or cinematic production.

A simple interview can work extremely well.

But viewers still notice poor audio, bad lighting, distracting backgrounds, awkward presentation and content that feels careless or difficult to watch.

The increasing volume of video may actually make production decisions more important, because audiences have considerably more content against which to compare it.

How long should a marketing video be?

There is no universal ideal video duration.

The right length depends heavily on the objective, platform and audience.

However, Wyzowl found that 71% of marketers believe videos between 30 seconds and two minutes are the most effective.

That shouldn’t necessarily be interpreted as a rule that every video needs to finish within two minutes.

A social advert and a detailed customer case study have very different jobs.

The more useful principle is to make the video as long as necessary to achieve its objective — but no longer.

YouTube reaches 94% of UK online adults

For UK businesses, the scale of YouTube is difficult to ignore.

Ofcom’s latest Online Nation research found that YouTube reaches 94% of UK online adults, equivalent to around 46.3 million people in May 2025.

UK adults spent an average of approximately 51 minutes per day on YouTube, excluding viewing through television sets.

YouTube was also the most widely used social/video-sharing platform measured by Ofcom.

Source: Ofcom Online Nation 2025

YouTube is increasingly becoming television

YouTube’s role is also changing.

It is no longer primarily something people watch on a phone or computer.

Ofcom’s 2026 Media Nations research found that average daily YouTube viewing through UK television sets had risen from 9 minutes per person in 2022 to 19 minutes in 2025.

Across devices used within the home, total YouTube viewing reached approximately 41 minutes per person per day.

This matters for businesses because the distinction between “online video” and traditional television viewing continues to become less meaningful.

Content uploaded to YouTube can now quite literally be living-room television content.

Source: Ofcom Media Nations 2026

LinkedIn has become increasingly important for B2B video

For B2B marketers in particular, LinkedIn is becoming one of video’s most important distribution channels.

Wistia’s 2026 State of Video research reports that 8 in 10 B2B video teams now identify LinkedIn as their primary place to share video, ahead of YouTube.

Wistia’s research is particularly substantial: its 2026 report combines responses from more than 900 professionals with analysis of more than 13 million videos and 79 million hours of viewing data.

For B2B organisations, this reinforces the case for thinking beyond the traditional “one corporate video” model.

A production can increasingly provide a longer core film alongside shorter interviews, insights and social edits designed specifically for channels such as LinkedIn.

Source: Wistia State of Video 2026

Video production is increasingly split between internal and external teams

Businesses aren’t simply choosing between producing everything internally or outsourcing everything.

Wyzowl found that:

• 59% predominantly create video internally
• 10% rely exclusively on external providers
• 32% use a combination of internal and external production

That hybrid model makes sense.

Businesses can create simple, frequent content internally while bringing in professional video production teams for projects where messaging, production quality, interviews or creative execution matter more.

AI is changing video production quickly

63% of marketers have already used AI video tools

Artificial intelligence is now firmly part of the production process.

Wyzowl found that 63% of video marketers have used AI tools to help create or edit marketing videos, compared with 51% the previous year.

Wistia’s research similarly found AI becoming embedded within video workflows, particularly during pre-production.

Uses increasingly include:

• developing ideas
• scriptwriting
• transcription
• captions
• editing assistance
• accessibility
• content repurposing

For most businesses, the immediate change may therefore be less about replacing video production entirely and more about making parts of the production process faster.

Businesses aren’t reducing their investment in video

Despite greater access to inexpensive production tools and AI, businesses aren’t abandoning their video budgets.

92% of video marketers expect to spend approximately the same amount or more on video during 2026.

Wistia also reports that demand for video is continuing to increase even while many marketing budgets remain relatively flat.

The implication is straightforward: marketing teams are being asked to produce more video from the resources they already have.

That makes planning, repurposing and extracting multiple pieces of content from individual productions increasingly important.

67% of non-video marketers plan to start using video

Video’s adoption rate is already extremely high, but there is still another group entering the market.

Among marketers who weren’t currently using video, 67% said they planned to start using it during 2026.

The most commonly reported barriers among those not using video included:

• believing video was too expensive – 24%
• believing video wasn’t necessary – 24%
• lack of time – 19%
• uncertainty around ROI – 10%
• not knowing where to start – 10%

This suggests that the biggest barriers are increasingly operational rather than a lack of belief in video itself.

What do these video marketing statistics tell us?

Taken together, the 2026 data points towards several fairly clear trends.

Video is now mainstream marketing infrastructure

With 91% of businesses using video, it is difficult to describe it as an emerging channel.

For many businesses it now supports social media, websites, sales, recruitment, customer education and brand communications simultaneously.

More video doesn’t necessarily mean lower standards

Video creation has become easier, but 89% of consumers still say quality affects their trust in a brand.

The distinction is increasingly between content that needs professional production and content that can effectively be created internally.

B2B video is becoming more social

LinkedIn’s growing importance for B2B video means companies increasingly need assets designed to live beyond their website.

This also increases the value of creating multiple outputs from a single production rather than treating every video as an isolated project.

AI is changing workflows faster than it is changing the fundamental purpose of video

AI is already being used by the majority of video marketers in some capacity.

But the most common applications remain focused around helping people create video more efficiently.

The underlying objective remains the same: communicating something clearly enough to make an audience think, feel or act.

Video marketing statistics 2026: quick reference

About this article

This page brings together recent video marketing research published by Wyzowl, Wistia and Ofcom.

Statistics have been attributed to their original research source and should be interpreted within the methodology and sample used by each organisation.

We periodically update this page as new video marketing research becomes available.

Last updated: September 2026.

About Pulse Studio

Pulse Studio is a UK video production company producing corporate, promotional, interview-led, animation and social video content for businesses and organisations.

We’ve worked with organisations including Amazon, the NHS, Google, Revolut, Hargreaves Lansdown and the UK Space Agency.

If you’re planning a video project and would like to discuss the best approach, get in touch with the Pulse Studio team.