While photos have long been the social darlings, video's been a little slower coming to the party.

However with Facebook Video Ads now up and running, Instagram video expanding, and Twitter promoting moving images, video is now becoming a viable, arguably necessary, marketing medium.

Here’s a closer look at the social status of video in 2014.

YouTube

The second most popular search engine on the planet, over 1 billion monthly users, the list goes on. YouTube is not only a force unto itself, it’s increasingly upping advertising options for brands.

Over 100 million users watch online videos every day, with half of these watching business-related videos on YouTube. Some 65% of these users will visit a brand's website after watching their video. 

On average, most users watch 16 minutes and 49 seconds of video every month.

Screen dream

It's easy to throw around big numbers, but if you think a picture is worth 1000 words, according to Forrester's a video is worth around 1.8 million.

What does that mean in real terms? Over 90% of shoppers visiting major retail websites say they find videos helpful in making purchasing decisions.

Meanwhile, 70% of users feel more positive about brands after watching video content they produce. 

Mobile views

As mobile continues its march towards world domination, video is keeping pace.

Video views on mobile devices has increased by 41% year-on-year since June 2013.  

Growth spurt

Video is continuing to grow at a cracking pace. Well over half (64%) of marketers expect to use video in the near future.

And According to Cisco, video will makeup 69% of all consumer internet traffic by 2017.

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