Key Video Metrics to Track for Stronger Marketing ROI

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Have you set up your video marketing campaign?

Is your content scheduled for posting across different social media platforms?

Now, before you proceed further, you simply must know all the important video marketing metrics that you need to track once your content goes live for the public.

Why does this matter, you may ask?

Well, you did your audience and market research; you are aware of the latest trends that are working on the internet, but what’s the guarantee that everything will be 100% on track?

No one can guarantee that.

That's where you roll out your best-researched content, and based on the performance of that content, you optimise your future content.

Let’s understand all the performance metrics that are important for your future optimisation.

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Essential Video Marketing Metrics You Should Track

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Once you get the knack of keeping track of different video metrics, you get a crystal clear idea of what type of content works for your audience. Different social media or third-party platforms provide you access to in-depth analytics details.

Here are the metrics that you can’t skip during your video performance analysis.

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Click Through Rates

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Click through rate, or CTR, is one of the most important metrics that reveals the result of your video and how well it hooked the viewer to take a specific action.

Many people confuse the number of clicks with CTR.

Clicks represent how many times viewers clicked on a specific link or CTA, while the CTR is the percentage of those clicks in relation to how often the video or CTA was shown.

Let’s break it down.

If you have a video ad with a CTA, like "Sign Up Now," and your video is viewed 100 times, but only 5 people click the CTA, your CTR would be 0.5%.

This is calculated by dividing the number of clicks (5) by the number of views (100), then multiplying by 100 to get the percentage. Simple, right?

Your video should be engaging enough so that it triggers the required emotion in the viewer, motivating them to take the desired action.

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Completion Rate

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With the ever-reducing audience attention spans these days, making the viewer remain hooked and complete a video itself speaks for the quality and connection your video has established.

Completion rate tells you how many viewers watched your video content from start to finish. It’s calculated by dividing the number of viewers who watched the entire video by the total number of times the video was played, then multiplying that by 100.

Example: If 20 people started your video but only 5 watched until the end, the completion rate would be 2.5%. That’s calculated as (5 / 20) * 100 = 2.5%.

Remember: Because of the varied lengths of your video content, it can be difficult to compare completion rates with the best-performing benchmark. So, you must pair it with engagement rates or subsequent viewer actions to really get a well-rounded perspective.

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Video Plays

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An important metric when it comes to analysing your video performance is video plays. It measures how many times viewers click the play button on your video.

• Video plays don't focus on the time spent by a viewer on your video.
• If it gets played even for a second, it will be marked as a positive count.

If a lot of people click play, it usually means they find the topic or content interesting.

Insight: People are likely clicking play because the video’s thumbnail, title, or placement caught their attention. Social media platforms promote videos with a higher play count. So work on these metrics rigorously.

View Count

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Just like video count, view count is another critical metric for video marketing. It refers to the total number of times a video has been played.

Different platforms have different approaches to count a view:

• Facebook: counts a view after 3 seconds
• YouTube: requires 30 seconds of watch time

A high view count suggests that your video is reaching a wide audience and highlights strong brand visibility and appeal.

Keep in mind: View count doesn’t reveal how deeply viewers are engaged. Someone could watch for just a few seconds and still count as a view. Analyze it alongside metrics like average watch time and completion rate.

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Watch Time

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Do you want to know the total amount of time viewers have spent watching a video? Watch time is the metric you must track!

There are two aspects to watch time:

• Total watch time
• Average watch time

Example: If 300 people watch your 9-second video from start to finish, your total watch time would be 2700 seconds, and the average watch time would be 9 seconds.

If viewers are dropping off early, you can identify where the issue lies and tweak your content for better retention.

Note: Analyse it alongside metrics like completion rate, engagement, and shares for a full understanding of viewer satisfaction.

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Play Rate

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It can get confusing between video plays, watch time, view count, and play rate.

Play Rate is the percentage of visitors who play a video on a web page out of the total number of page views.

Example: If your webpage gets 3000 unique visits and 300 visitors click to play your video, your play rate is 1%, calculated as (300 / 3000) * 100.

A high play rate means the video successfully grabs attention.

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Social Shares

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Once your viewer likes your video, there’s a high chance they’ll share it with their followers or friends.

• Helps expand your audience
• Increases brand awareness
• Potentially generates new leads

Keep in mind: Top-of-funnel videos (awareness stage) are likely to generate more social shares than bottom-of-funnel content (closer to conversion).

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Conversion Rate

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You may confuse CTR with conversion rate.

• CTR measures the percentage of viewers who clicked on an action button after watching a video
• Conversion rate measures the percentage of viewers who completed a desired action after clicking

Use tools like UTM tags to track clicks and conversions to see which video content drives action.

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Return on Investment (ROI)

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Every video doesn’t have a purpose to generate an ROI. But for video ad campaigns, ROI becomes vital.

Formula: ROI = [(Revenue Generated - Cost) / Cost] * 100

Example: If your video costs £500 and leads to £1500 in sales:

ROI = [(1500 - 500) / 500] * 100 = 200%

Tracking ROI helps you understand the revenue generated compared to production and promotion costs.

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Simply Thrilled Can Analyze Your Video Performance

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We, at Simply Thrilled, have video marketing experts who can help you plan and run successful campaigns.

• Analyse every aspect of your video marketing
• Continuously improve results based on the latest trends
• Handle production, posting, and analytics for a worry-free process

Share your requirements and goals with our experts, and let us take care of the rest.

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