Cloudinary Identifies Opportunities to Raise Visual Storytelling Impact in its Inaugural State of Visual Media Report.
Company Analyzes Billions of Media Asset Interactions Across More
Than 700 Cloudinary Customers to Reveal Key Trends Redefining the Visual
Web
Key findings:
-
New file formats like HEIF are 30-40% smaller than traditional JPEG,
with more visual impact and more colors, but remain underutilized
beyond e-commerce. -
Group-chat apps like Slack, WeChat and WhatsApp provide new
opportunities for visual engagement. These word-of-mouth visual
referrals offer strong engagement opportunities and are potentially
more valuable than traditional platforms like Instagram and Twitter. -
As global web traffic is increasingly mobile — 65% compared to 35%
for desktop — laptops and other hardware are increasingly used like
mobile devices. Brands should understand and take advantage of the
longtail opportunities in regional and usage patterns.
SANTA CLARA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cloud?src=hash” target=”_blank”gt;#Cloudlt;/agt;–Cloudinary,
the end-to-end media management platform for the world’s top brands,
today launched its inaugural State of Visual Media report, revealing the
ways in which fully optimized rich media are vital to successful visual
storytelling. Developed to help companies better understand how visual
content is being viewed and consumed, the report’s visual media insights
and trends are based on Cloudinary data that comprised billions of media
transactions across a sampling of more than 700 Cloudinary customers
representing 14 vertical industries including e-commerce/retail, media,
travel and entertainment. View the interactive report at: https://cloudinary.com/state-of-visual-media-report/.
In today’s highly-visual world, companies understand the critical role
images and videos play in communicating brand values, selling products
and connecting with consumers. Yet too often these business critical
media assets aren’t optimized to their full potential. Slow-to-load or
mis-cropped images can be directly tied to lost opportunities, while
beautiful, engaging media can be attributed to upticks in social shares
and improved bottom lines. With more choice, more channels and dwindling
attention spans, it takes more understanding than ever to attract and
engage today’s digital-savvy consumer.
Further key insights from the report include:
-
New image formats deliver major business benefits. Newer
formats like High Efficiency Image File Format (HEIF), which enables
richer and more vibrant colors at much smaller file sizes compared to
JPEG, is a no-brainer when it comes to elevating visual stories and
selling products. The data revealed that e-commerce companies are
taking advantage of the format in big numbers compared to other
industries, accounting for more than 98% of represented HEIF traffic. -
Apps like Slack and WhatsApp hold hidden word-of-mouth
opportunities. We know that customized visual hooks drive more
social sharing, but apps for work and home aren’t as divided as brands
might expect. Understanding social engagement and word-of-mouth
sharing beyond more traditional platforms like Facebook, Instagram and
Twitter to include apps like Slack, WeChat, WhatsApp and iMessage will
be increasingly important. -
True global engagement means thinking beyond Chrome and other
popular browsers. While it’s tempting to default to the most
popular formats, browsers and devices, global brands that overlook the
growing long tail are missing opportunities to engage with millions of
users. For example, Nokia Symbian smartphones are still popular in
India, and Nintendo DS devices share more than 15,000 images per day.
“Brands understand that strong visual experiences engage users, create
loyalty and drive revenue,” said Colin Bendell, Senior Director of
Strategy and Analytics, Cloudinary. “Where companies continue to
struggle is in delivering visual experiences quickly and consistently
across all channels, locations, devices — and at scale. Our goal with
the first annual State of Visual Media report is to share what we’re
seeing across our massive data set in hopes that others can learn from
what our customers are doing — and not yet doing — to improve
processes, tell better visual stories and convert engagement to
long-term loyalty.”
To learn more about Cloudinary’s award-winning media management
solutions and to view the interactive report, please visit: https://cloudinary.com/state-of-visual-media-report/.
About Cloudinary
Cloudinary provides a cloud-based media full-stack platform for the
world’s top brands. With offices in the US, UK and Israel, Cloudinary
has quickly become the de facto solution for developers and marketers to
manage images, videos and other rich media assets and deliver an optimal
end user experience. Cloudinary has more than 5,000 customers worldwide,
including AMC, Bleacher Report, Conde Nast, DoorDash, Fairfax Media,
Forbes, Gizmodo, GrubHub, Hinge, Indiegogo, Lululemon Athletica,
Outbrain, StubHub, Under Armour and Whole Foods Market. For more
information, visit www.cloudinary.com.
Contacts
Juli Greenwood
Director, Corporate Communications
Cloudinary
617-515-8412
juli@cloudinary.com