Video is eating the internet. It accounts for nearly 75 percent of internet traffic, with Americans consuming more than an hour of online videos each day — more than three times as much as in 2011.
Established platforms like YouTube and Netflix capture a large portion of this traffic, but there also are a number of new players exploiting the video opportunity. Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook, all originally photo platforms, are enthusiastically embracing the video format, and a crop of new video-first platforms like Twitch and Musical.ly are growing exponentially.
As investors, we look for trends that reveal future opportunity. Increased appetite for video led Bessemer to invest in great companies like Twitch, Smule and Periscope. As video continues to grow, we will continue to invest. In understanding where the next opportunity may lie, one question we ask ourselves is: What principles do transformative new video platforms have in common?
Recently, we hosted Spotlight: Video, an event that brought together leaders in online video to help answer this question (and others). Through their perspectives and conversations with up-and-coming video startups, we’ve distilled a set of five principles critical to success in the video space.
While no such list could be comprehensive, and every rule has exceptions, we are excited to contribute our thoughts to the ongoing conversation about the future of the medium.
If your model is driven by user-generated content (UGC), creating a video should take seconds, not minutes
New platforms aspire to have millions of consumers creating and sharing videos in a uniquely compelling way. Most fall short of this goal for one simple reason: It’s incredibly difficult to create an interesting piece of content quickly.
Your platform may have a dazzling array of features that enable creative expression, but if the average user can’t make a great video in 30 seconds or less (ideally a lot less!), chances are they never will. In a world in which tens of thousands of apps compete for consumer attention, reducing the “time to value” (i.e. the time required for a user to create something delightful) is critical.
For example, Snapchat lets you easily record video, string it together and add filters and messages, creating complex content in seconds with a couple of taps, as illustrated by DJ Khaled’s lost at sea story.