When a shopper in Paris scrolls through Instagram, a buyer in São Paulo watches a YouTube demo, and a professional in Tokyo checks a short explainer before deciding on a service, they’re all doing the same thing: watching video. It’s everywhere, and it’s shaping how people discover, compare, and choose products.
In 2026, we expect the boundaries between search, social, and video marketing to blur even more. With AI shaping personalised content and video becoming one of the primary ways people learn and make decisions, brands that weave video into every stage of their marketing will stay visible and relevant.
But for many businesses, knowing where to start – or how to do it without big budgets – can feel overwhelming. It’s not about how many videos you make, but whether they tell the right story, in the right way, for the right audience.
How AI is changing the way people find and watch videos
Search engines no longer just list links – they now extract summaries, highlight key moments, and often show videos as the main answer. Google, for example, can surface specific YouTube clips directly in results, while AI tools like Bing and ChatGPT can embed videos in their replies. As AI search evolves in 2026, these capabilities will become more integrated, with multimodal models interpreting not just what a video says but what it shows.
However, for marketers, video is valuable not just because it might appear in search results, but because it’s good at explaining, showing, and connecting with audiences. Well-made, meaningful videos are more likely to be shown when they give the clearest answer. Not every query needs a video, but the ones that do are more visible and influential than ever.
This has SEO implications. It’s no longer enough to optimise web pages; your videos must be designed so AI can interpret them correctly. That means adding full transcripts, clear chapters, accurate metadata, and signals that demonstrate quality and relevance. In 2026, successful optimisation will depend on treating video as structured data – ensuring every element, from captions to schema markup, tells search engines what the content is and why it matters.
Authenticity and human connection in video
As algorithms get better at recognising what’s relevant, audiences are paying more attention to authenticity. The strongest videos balance solid production with a human touch – expertise, warmth, and approachability.
They’re also powerful for demonstrating E-E-A-T, Google’s framework for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. Featuring real people, experts, or genuine examples boosts credibility and helps search engines understand your content. With synthetic or overly polished AI visuals becoming more common, small human imperfections – a real voice, a natural expression – signal trust.
Accessibility plays a part too. Captions, translations, and descriptive text support SEO while making videos usable for everyone and compliant with standards like WCAG, which is especially important for international brands.
Ultimately, video works because it mirrors how people connect. Tone, expressions, pace, and energy communicate meaning that text alone can’t. In a landscape crowded with machine-made content, these human elements help a brand stand out. A genuine, human-led video can outperform a perfectly optimised one by adding emotional depth that AI can’t create on its own.
Video is relevant across the customer journey
Video isn’t just for grabbing attention at the start of the customer journey. It plays a role all the way through, from sparking interest to helping people decide. Short, social media-friendly clips can draw people in, while longer videos like explainers, webinars, or demos help them understand what you offer.
By the time someone’s close to buying, videos such as testimonials, case studies, or product walk-throughs can be what finally convinces them. AI can now tailor these videos for different people, regions, or languages. But human input still matters. Working with Local In-Market Experts can make sure the details – the language, tone, gestures, and style – feel right locally while keeping your international brand video strategy consistent.
Why video boosts paid media and cross-channel results
Video is a staple of paid media campaigns too. Platforms like Google Performance Max, Meta Advantage+, and TikTok’s automated tools work best when they have strong video assets. They adjust placements and formats automatically, and in 2026 these systems will rely even more on video metadata, captions, and signs of authenticity to decide what to push.
These campaigns don’t just reach more people; they often lift performance elsewhere too, from branded search and email to social sharing. And you can measure that effect. When video is well integrated, brands usually see more branded searches and repeat visits, even if people never click the ad. In short, video builds intent as well as awareness.
But technology on its own won’t do the job. AI can test and improve assets, but it can’t understand local culture or nuance. The best results come from pairing smart tools with human judgement, so brands can scale without losing a local touch. Creator partnerships strengthen this further, linking technical optimisation with voices people trust.
Adapting video for different markets around the world
If you’re operating internationally, it’s important to remember that video consumption varies across regions, and effective strategies must reflect these differences. For example, in India, Instagram Reels dominates short-form viewing, with 92% of users preferring it over other formats and 80% discovering new brands through it (Meta/IPSOS, 2025). In Southeast Asia, TikTok leads, with the region representing nearly a quarter of its global ad audience and countries like Thailand seeing over 80% of internet users active on the platform monthly (Asia News Network, 2025). Differences like these mean brands can’t rely on a one-size-fits-all approach and need to adapt their video marketing for each region.
What grabs attention, makes people laugh, or encourages them to take action also differs from one market to another. A joke that lands in the UK might fall flat in Japan. A style that feels bold and confident in the US could seem pushy elsewhere. Even pacing, colour choices, and the use of silence can shape how a video is received. Local experts help spot these subtleties – from how humour is used to which gestures or settings feel natural – so your videos connect with people in each market while still feeling part of the same brand story. Creators and local influencers can play a vital role by translating brand values into content that feels native to each platform and authentic to local audiences.
Key video trends to watch
The data shows just how central video has become:
- According to Statista, 92% of internet users worldwide watch videos online each month.
- According to Google in 2025, approximately 70% of B2B buyers and researchers engage with video content during their purchasing journey.
- Short videos, like YouTube Shorts, are hugely popular in B2B content. On LinkedIn, they’re shared 20 times more than other formats, showing the power of concise video to grab attention.
- Pages with video get higher click-through rates, making video a key part of SEO for boosting engagement and search visibility.
- Including a video in your email can improve click rates by 65%.
- Creator-led videos are among the fastest-growing formats, often outperforming brand-produced assets in engagement and retention because they feel more genuine and conversational.
Integrating video into your strategy in 2026
Getting video right comes down to these core principles, and there are ways to make them work even if your team or budget is small:
- Have a clear purpose: Each video should do a specific job in the customer journey, whether that’s raising awareness, helping people compare options, or driving conversions. If you’re just starting, focus on one or two key stages instead of trying to cover everything at once.
- Optimise for both people and AI: Transcripts, chapters, clear descriptions, and good metadata help people and search engines understand your video. Simple steps, like adding captions or a descriptive title, can make a big difference.
- Use what you already have: Customer testimonials, product demos, webinars, or past campaigns can be repurposed into new videos. Slice longer videos into shorter clips for social or email to get more mileage out of existing content.
- Make it local, not just translated: Language is only part of the story. Tone, pacing, humour, and visuals all affect how a video lands. Local experts help make sure videos connect locally while keeping your brand consistent. Test in a few key markets first to see what works – sometimes small tweaks make a big difference.
- Lean into authenticity and creators: Whether you collaborate with influencers or highlight your own team, audiences value transparency and genuine storytelling. These are what make video truly persuasive.
- Measure and improve: Track engagement, watch time, conversions, and how videos work across channels. Focus on a few key metrics first, then adjust your approach based on what’s working.
Even with limited resources, having clear goals, refining what works, and understanding local audiences can make video a strong way to build visibility, engagement, and conversions in any market.
Planning for 2026
As we head into 2026, the question isn’t whether to use video, but how to make it work smarter. The key is combining AI, optimisation, local expertise, and, where it adds value, creators to drive results across search, social, and paid channels. If you need support with your next digital marketing campaign, let’s chat.
Let’s accelerate action together
At Oban, we believe change happens when we act, support each other, and keep moving forward. These stories show how small steps can make a big difference. If you want to improve your digital marketing, get in touch. Let’s get started.
