The 2026 Video Marketing Report

Video has stopped being a differentiator and become the baseline. In 2026, 91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool, back to matching the all-time high first reached in 2023 after twelve years of Wyzowl tracking. 94.6% of online adults watched online video in the past 30 days (DataReportal), and the average person watches roughly 17 hours of online video per week, rising to about 18 hours 36 minutes once YouTube and TikTok are included. The question for a small business owner is no longer whether to make video, but which formats and platforms actually turn a view into a customer.

This report synthesises the most credible 2026 video research, including Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing, HubSpot’s State of Marketing, Vidyard’s business video benchmarks, Socialinsider’s platform data and eMarketer’s connected-TV forecasts, into one practical benchmark set. It covers consumption and ROI, short-form versus long-form performance, platform engagement rates, conversion and retention impact, and realistic production costs. Every figure is attributed to its original source, and cross-industry averages are flagged as averages, not targets.

The Headline Numbers

Eight numbers frame this report. Read them as a map, not a verdict. Each one shifts with your industry, your channels and your market.

How We Built This Report

Adoption, ROI and budget figures are drawn primarily from Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing 2026, the 12th edition of its annual report, based on 266 respondents surveyed in late 2025. Format and ROI-ranking data comes from HubSpot’s 2026 State of Marketing Report. Conversion and completion figures come from Vidyard’s business video benchmarks and published Unbounce/Vidyard landing-page tests. Platform engagement rates come from Socialinsider’s 2026 studies, and CTV/digital video ad spend figures come from eMarketer and IAB forecasts.

Where sources disagreed on a figure (common with engagement rates, which vary by measurement window and method), we used the most recent, transparently sourced number and noted the comparison rather than the most flattering figure. Production-cost ranges combine published agency and freelancer pricing with Wyzowl’s small-business cost-perception data.

Video adoption and ROI in 2026: saturation, not growth

93% of video marketers consider video an important part of their overall strategy in 2026, down from 95% in 2025, and ROI satisfaction from video fell from 93% in 2025 to 82% in 2026 as more teams produce more video of uneven quality. The adoption curve has plateaued; the differentiator now is execution, not presence.

Video adoption and ROI self-reports, 2026

On outcomes, Wyzowl’s 2026 report found that 83% of marketers report video has directly increased sales, and 82% say video has helped increase web traffic. 70% of B2B buyers engage with video during the purchasing journey, and 72% say vendor video influences their shortlist decisions, a reminder that video now sits inside the buying process, not just the awareness stage.

These are cross-industry averages self-reported by marketers, not guaranteed outcomes for any one business. Treat them as a baseline to beat, not a scorecard to match exactly.

Short-form wins the ROI argument, but length still matters

The top three ROI-driving content formats, according to marketers, are all video-based: short-form video (49%), long-form video (29%) and live-streaming video (25%), with user-generated content at 24% and blog posts at 23% rounding out the top five, per HubSpot’s 2026 State of Marketing Report. Short-form has now held the top spot for four consecutive years.

Highest-ROI content formats, 2026

Length discipline backs this up. 71% of marketers say videos between 30 seconds and 2 minutes are the most effective length (Wyzowl), while 51% say the optimal length is 30 to 60 seconds and 91% say it should run under two minutes (HubSpot). The data from actual viewing behaviour agrees: videos under one minute achieve a 65% completion rate among B2B viewers, while videos over 20 minutes drop to 20%, per Vidyard’s benchmark of nearly a million B2B videos.

For a small business with one video budget to spend, this is the clearest signal in the whole report: a tight 30 to 90 second cut will usually outperform a polished 5 minute piece on completion rate alone.

Platform benchmarks: YouTube, Reels, TikTok and connected TV

YouTube is the most widely used video marketing platform, cited by 82% of marketers (Wyzowl), making it the default home base for both short and long-form content. On short-form specifically, Socialinsider’s 2026 analysis of 69 million videos puts average engagement at 2.60% on TikTok, 0.45% on Instagram Reels and 0.30% on YouTube Shorts, while Facebook averaged just 0.15% engagement, dipping in early 2025 and declining gradually since.

Average engagement rate by platform, 2026

Connected TV is the fastest-growing line item in the mix. US CTV ad spend hit $33.35 billion in 2025 and is forecast to reach $37.95 billion in 2026, a 14.5% increase, climbing to $46.89 billion by 2028. CTV captured about 20% of US media time in 2025 but just 7.7% of ad spend, an attention-to-spend gap that favours early movers. Among small businesses specifically, 85% of small-business advertisers now invest in CTV, up from 60% in 2024, per IAB data. Digital video overall, including CTV, online and social video, surpassed linear TV ad spend for the first time in 2024, and in 2026 US digital video ad spend is projected to exceed $80 billion, more than 60% of total TV and video ad budgets.

These are platform averages across millions of posts and should be read as a baseline for a healthy account, not a minimum bar; a well-targeted small business video can beat the average by several multiples.

From views to customers: conversion and retention impact

Video’s clearest commercial case is on-page and in outreach. A well-known Unbounce/Vidyard split test found a lightbox modal explainer video lifted landing page conversion by 100%, from 6.5% to 13%, while the same video embedded inline lifted conversion by 69%, to 11%. Separately, Vidyard data shows video increases landing page conversions by an average of 34%, a reminder that lift varies widely by placement and execution; treat 34% to 86% as the realistic range rather than a single number.

Conversion and response lift from video by use case

Further down the funnel, product demo videos lift purchase intent by 46% versus non-video pages, and adding video testimonials to a proposal lifts close rates by 22% (Vidyard). In sales outreach specifically, personalised video can deliver up to a 216% higher response rate than text-only email (Terminus/Vidyard), and video shortens the average B2B sales cycle by 27% (Vidyard).

On message retention, viewers retain roughly 95% of a message delivered via video, compared to about 10% via text (Insivia), and 84% of consumers say they have been convinced to buy a product after watching a brand video (Wyzowl). Put together, video is not just a reach tactic, it is one of the highest-leverage conversion assets a small business can add to an existing page or sequence.

Production cost reality for small businesses

Cost is falling, not rising. 62% of video marketers say marketing videos cost the same or less to make than a year ago, and only 38% think they are becoming more expensive (Wyzowl). A large part of that is AI: 63% of video marketers say they have used AI tools to help create or edit marketing videos, up from 51% the year before. 59% of businesses now create video content primarily in-house, 10% use exclusively external vendors, and 32% use a hybrid model, and businesses that invest in video allocate an average of 31% of their total marketing budget to it.

On real-world pricing, video production costs span roughly $500 to $50,000 depending on quality, length and format, and a small business producing its first professional corporate video should plan for a minimum of $5,000 to $10,000 for a polished two to three minute marketing or brand video. Freelance videographers typically charge $600 to $1,200 per day plus $60 to $90 an hour for editing, while small agency projects usually run $5,000 to $20,000.

For most small and service businesses, the realistic entry point is one sharp 30 to 90 second video shot on a smartphone with good light and sound, built for the 30 second to 2 minute sweet spot the data above confirms, then repurposed across YouTube, Reels, TikTok and a landing page before a bigger production budget is justified.

What “Good” Looks Like in 2026

Pulling the data together, here is what a business getting real return looks like this year:

• Adoption has plateaued at 91%, so the competitive edge now comes from execution and targeting, not simply having video.
• Keep most videos between 30 seconds and 2 minutes: completion rates fall from 65% under a minute to just 20% past 20 minutes.
• Short-form is the top-ranked ROI format (49% of marketers), but TikTok still out-engages Reels and YouTube Shorts on average.
• A single landing page video is one of the highest-leverage assets available, with realistic lift ranging from roughly 34% to 86% depending on placement.
• Connected TV is underpriced relative to attention (20% of media time, 7.7% of ad spend) and already used by 85% of small-business advertisers that buy it.
• Production costs are falling: 62% of marketers say video costs the same or less than a year ago, and a usable first professional video can be done for $5,000 to $10,000, or far less with an in-house smartphone setup.

Sources

All figures are drawn from the most recent published data available at the time of writing. Benchmarks are aggregates and vary by industry, market and method.

• Wyzowl: State of Video Marketing 2026 (12th edition, 266 respondents): adoption, ROI, budget, length and AI-use data..
• HubSpot: State of Marketing Report 2026: ROI ranking by content format and platform usage data..
• Vidyard: Business video benchmark and landing-page conversion data (completion rates, conversion lift)..
• Socialinsider: 2026 social media benchmarks covering TikTok, Instagram Reels, Facebook engagement rates..
• AI Digital (eMarketer/IAB data): Connected TV and digital video ad spend forecasts sourced from eMarketer and IAB..
• Adwave: Small-business CTV adoption share, sourced from IAB..

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Frequently Asked Questions

What percentage of small businesses use video marketing in 2026?

91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool in 2026, matching the all-time high first reached in 2023, according to Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing 2026. 93% of those already using video consider it an important part of their overall strategy, though ROI satisfaction has slipped from 93% to 82% as more competitors produce video.

Is short-form or long-form video better for ROI?

Short-form video is ranked the top ROI-driving content format by 49% of marketers, ahead of long-form video at 29% and live-streaming at 25%, per HubSpot’s 2026 State of Marketing Report. Wyzowl data backs this with length specifics: 71% of marketers say 30 seconds to 2 minutes is the most effective length, and Vidyard completion data shows videos under a minute hit 65% completion versus just 20% for videos over 20 minutes.

What's a good engagement rate on TikTok versus Instagram Reels?

Socialinsider’s 2026 analysis of 69 million videos puts average engagement at 2.60% on TikTok, 0.45% on Instagram Reels and 0.30% on YouTube Shorts, with Facebook trailing at 0.15%. These are cross-platform averages, not targets; a well-targeted small business account can and should aim to beat them.

Does adding video to a landing page actually increase conversions?

Yes. An Unbounce/Vidyard split test found a lightbox explainer video lifted conversion by 100% (from 6.5% to 13%), while the same video embedded inline lifted conversion by 69%. Separate Vidyard data puts the average landing-page lift at 34%, so a realistic planning range is roughly 34% to 86% depending on placement and video quality.

How much should a small business budget for a marketing video?

Realistic entry-level production runs $500 to $5,000 for a simple, well-shot smartphone video, while a first polished professional corporate video typically needs a minimum of $5,000 to $10,000. Costs are trending down overall: 62% of video marketers say videos cost the same or less to make than a year ago, largely due to AI editing tools, which 63% of marketers now use.