Lights, Camera, Interaction!

Video in the Digital Age

Video is great, we know. Every week we're told just how many millions of minutes are being consumed online. But ultimately, traditional video is a passive medium. That is to say it can pass your audience by without any meaningful engagement.

This is especially true in the digital age where video is competing with the constant hits of dopamine that smartphones, online games, and social media provide. With attention spans down, how can we keep engagement up? And when it comes to learning, how can we ensure our audiences' attention isn't being divided by another round of Candy Crush?

From Passive to Active

Instead of a passive experience, interactive video requires active participation from the user who engages directly with the video - answering a question or making a decision - which informs what happens next. Every action has a consequence. It's like a 'choose your own adventure' book, only with fewer paper cuts.

The benefits here are obvious: users become active participants in your story, enabling them to shape theirs. Content immediately becomes more immersive, allowing users to form their own journey or explore at their own direction and pace.

Lights, Camera, Interaction

We created a series of interactive videos around Leadership Development for a multinational organisation. They already had ample video content, but it was lengthy and difficult to digest.

With a different structure and simply by adding branching paths to the content, providing users with a bespoke way to view the material, the results were dramatic. In the three months following release, the video series had:

• A 92% average watch rate.
• A penetration rate of +75% globally.
• Become the most visited HR webpage in the organisation.

One Film, Infinite Stories

This is just one example. From Onboarding to Performance Management, Compliance Training to Decision Making, interactive video has a role to play in a wide variety of initiatives and objectives.

Here is just a short list of projects where we have found interactive video can be used to great effect:

1) Role Play/Scenario Training

Ideal for situational or behavioural training such as moral dilemmas, this immerses the user in the story and asks them to choose what they would do in a certain situation. The outcome is then shown and learning tips are provided.

2) Ask an Expert

Users have the opportunity to explore the content that interests them most. They guide a conversation with an expert on a topic and choose which questions to ask or perspectives to explore.

3) Gamified Experience

Transform the user experience by using embedded hotspots to add gamification to videos which helps make learning 'sticky'. Simple yet engaging games can be created such as interactive quizzes, spot the hazards, or 'what kind of x are you?'.

4) E-Learning

Embed interactive videos within SCORM compliant modules to track user completion and provide demonstrable evidence that training objectives are being met. Quizzes can also be included in the video to track understanding.

5) Advertising

Interactive functionality such as digital forms, media sharing, and geolocations enhance traditional forms of video advertisement. Provide call-to-actions and link to online stores and products directly within the video.