The State of Enterprise Video: Still a Laptop/Desktop Viewing World [Research]

Posted on May 17, 2021, by Michael Kolowich

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the use of streaming video has increased dramatically during the pandemic. But some brand-new research co-sponsored by Streaming Media and OpenExchange provided some eye-opening insight into business video viewing patterns and how enterprise users are looking at video in a post-COVID world. While nearly two-thirds of people use smart TV’s and mobile devices as their primary devices for viewing personal video, 92% of those surveyed prefer laptop and desktop computers for viewing business and professional media.

This morning, I’ll be sharing the virtual keynote stage at StreamingMedia East Connect with Streaming Media editor Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen and pollster Tim Siglin of the Help Me Stream Research Foundation to discuss the new study, entitled “The State of Enterprise Video, 2021”. More than 300 Streaming Media readers responded.

Too often, enterprise video viewing patterns are conflated with personal video usage, and we felt it was important to sponsor research that would look specifically at how video is used in business and professional contexts.

The study revealed how prevalent virtual events — conferences, professional development events, and trade shows — have become during the past year: 80% say they’ve attended at least two such events per quarter, and 37% have attended at least 24 virtual events since April, 2020. When asked about the most important virtual event during that period, 31% rated the experience as better than the in-person alternative and 33% not as good.

Among the things they have enjoyed most about virtual events, respondents cited the ease of attending, scheduling/time-shifting flexibility, and avoidance of travel. The things that frustrated them most are the lack of social networking, quality of production, and challenges of attending across time zones.

The survey documents a major increase in the use of video in their organizations in the last year: 87% said they’ve increased use of streaming video during the pandemic — 61% using streaming video “much more”. The billion-dollar question, though, is whether that increase in streaming video usage will stick, and the research suggests that video usage will more often than not stay high: 43% expect to still be using more streaming video than before COVID, while 39% expect streaming video usage to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Update: The complete research report has now been published by StreamingMedia: