Measure Video ROI across Multiple Channels: Track Your Video Performance and See Where Your Investments Are Paying Off

The majority of businesses—91%—use video as a marketing tool. 

The majority of marketers—96%—see video as an important part of their strategies.

These figures are from recent research by HubSpot, and just this year, they reached their own peak since similar surveys have been conducted.

Let’s start by looking at the reasons behind the success of video within digital marketing. 

We could list many reasons, but there is one that encompasses and summarizes them all: video marketing is having such solid and unprecedented success because it is by far the strategy that registers the best ROI.

Here’s another figure, also provided by HubSpot: 92% of marketers say they are satisfied with the ROI of their video content. The research goes back to February 2023. In 2022, this percentage was already very high: 87%. (hubspot.com).

These statistics are all very telling.

However, we want to push below the surface.

We’ll look at how to measure Video ROI: the metrics that must be considered and the channels that should be monitored.

It’s crucial to conduct an in-depth and increasingly surgical analysis. It’s not enough to simply consider a global and final ROI figure: it’s too general and approximate. Instead, you must get detailed to initiate a cycle of optimization and continuous improvement.

To put it another way: a single summary data point on your return on investment is not enough. Instead, you need a mosaic of data that corresponds to the many channels through which video marketing passes, and each tile in this mosaic can and should be analyzed specifically.

Let’s start from the basics.

Video ROI – What is it? How important is it? How is it measured?

Video ROI; what is it? 

Video ROI is the return on investment that results from one’s video marketing strategies and campaigns.

How important is it?

It’s perhaps the most important indicator for any marketing strategy, especially over the medium to long term. 

In short, it’s the “moment of truth,” the moment when the whole creative process is put to the test of facts and numbers.

And how to measure video ROI? 

This is where it starts to get more complex. 

We’ll try to unravel it in the easiest way possible.

– First and foremost, you must keep track of the investments made in order to have a calculation that is meaningful and functional.

This may sound like something that’s obvious and even trivial, but it’s not. Digital marketing is a very composite and fluid playing field. Some costs are easily tracked (think social sponsorships, for example) and other costs are much more elusive (think human resources and time invested). 

Having accurate final results requires having a complete picture without forgetting or underestimating any aspects.

– Second aspect: the time frame.  

When does it make sense to measure the ROI of a video campaign? There is no clear-cut answer. Some strategies are designed to pay off in the short or very short term; others are designed to play out over the medium or long term.  

A word of advice: don’t think of ROI as an immutable number carved in stone at any given time. Digital marketing is fluid: you must have elasticity in your analysis.

In short, you’ll want to measure the ROI several times, over different time intervals, so that you can see what’s happening in real time, with numbers that are always up to date.

Third aspect: it all depends on the goals.  

Every video marketing campaign has its goals. Therefore, you can’t measure everything by the same yardstick. For example: a subscription renewal campaign targeting a specific audience segment is very different from a campaign designed to introduce a new product to as wide a target audience as possible. 

Knowing how to establish the right metrics from time to time and depending on the different channels:we will devote the entire next section to this decisive point.

Fourth and last aspect: the target audience.

The same video campaign might record a very low ROI for a certain audience segment;ù and a very high ROI for another. 

The same point we made above applies: the best practice is to be able to identify the pattern by analyzing many small segments. 

Our tip: Use a video ROI analysis that is tailored to the different clusters that make up your audience. 

It’s called personalization: and it’s one of the most important trends of the future for digital marketing (from strategy development to results and ROI analysis).

Video ROI – the most important metrics to take into account

We have seen the importance of Video ROI and listed some basic premises to take into account when it comes to measuring it. 

Now, as anticipated, let’s review the metrics that are most important:

1) Impressions

This refers to the number of times the video preview is viewed, regardless of whether or not you start playback (there are differences between platforms in the measurement but the substance of these are essentially the same).

2) Views 

The number of times a video is played.

3) Average viewing time 

An average that determines how far into a video a user continues viewing before abandoning it. 

On YouTube, this metric is referred to as audience retention.

4) Engagement metrics. 

“Likes,” “dislikes,” reactions of various types, comments. These types of metrics offer an overview of how viewers interact with a video.

Of course, this varies from platform to platform (each has its own different modes and rules of interaction) 

Please note that within this field, YouTube also includes views (which we have already isolated above).

5) Lead generation 

A “lead” is a potential customer who has shown an interest in a brand or product. Therefore, it’s someone who is moving decisively forward in the customer journey that should lead them toward conversion, purchase, and loyalty. 

An example would be a video campaign that aims to collect first-party data, such as an email address or phone number.

6) Click-through 

The click-through rate measures the number of users who clicked on a call to action. In the vast majority of cases, this is the step that precedes the moment of actual conversion.

7) Conversions 

As is evident, tracking conversions is an absolutely crucial metric for measuring video ROI. 

You can do this by using tools like Google Analytics or by tracking pixels to see how many viewers are taking specific actions after watching a video. 

Again, each platform has its own specific methods and best practices.

8) Customer Lifetime Value

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) measures the total value a given customer has to a company over the overall duration of the relationship. It indicates the profits that can be expected from an acquired customer. 

In this sense, it’s a more global metric that is not tied to a single campaign…but one that is more decisive than ever. In fact, it’s a key metric for determining if your strategy is delivering a positive ROI in the long run.

Video ROI – the importance of omnichannel analysis

Digital marketing is always a mosaic that is composed of many tiles. Video marketing, specifically, is a collection of campaigns that are conveyed through a wide variety of channels. 

A few examples? 

The company website. 

YouTube (the second-most visited site in the world, after Google). 

Social networks: each with its own specific ecosystem, written and unwritten rules, and target audience (think of the huge differences between LinkedIn and TikTok, for example). 

The direct mail via email. 

Outreach via messaging apps. 

And then there is the huge field of Video Ads (which unravels, again, on YouTube, on social networks, but also on news sites and similar sites).

On the customer side, we can see how customer journeys increasingly go through different touchpoints and different channels. 

And that’s not all. 

In many cases, this digital journey is intertwined with physical experiences in stores.

The ultimate consequence of all this? 

To ensure an accurate video ROI measurement, with ROI that are useful for your purposes, you must be able to map all of these pathways, which often end up intertwined.

So, how is it possible to keep track of all of this complexity? 

Marketers must assume the “detective” point of view…but with a great advantage in your favor: today there are formidable tools that can collect all the traces, the “evidence,” the “testimonies.” We’re talking about Big Data analysis.

And not only that: starting with analytical systems, companies must utilize automated and “intelligent” systems for interpreting this data.

Is this just something that should be left to machines?

No, of course not. 

Marketing professionals still have the crucial upstream responsibility of setting goals, time horizons, and budgets. Creative responsibilities remain. And above all, there is still the importance of harnessing this data, which captures the past and the present, in order to carve out a future that moves a little further each time.

This is true for the big picture, when it comes to innovation in general. But it also applies to the small picture, when focusing on improving the ROI of your individual video campaigns.