If you think it isn’t easy to make videos that will go viral, you are right, as latest research from social video creation platform Wochit finds that just 1.2% of social videos on Facebook get over a million shares. But that doesn’t mean other videos don’t have an impressive impact, as the research also found that on average, globally, publishers’ video content is viewed 100,000 times, shared 1,000 times, liked 1,400 times, and has 140 comments.

Yet the extra value of going viral is immense. The videos which do go viral (which means they have over 1 million views), account for 60% of all shares for a publisher over a three-month period of time.

To increase your chances of creating a video that gets more attention, it is worth noting the types of content that are most popular. Key stats from the research show:

• News content is shared twice as often as entertainment content
• Videos running 60 to 90 seconds get the most views
• Spain, Mexico and the US lead with the number of shares and views per video

Discussing the challenges of creating a viral video, Dror Ginzberg, co-founder and CEO of Wochit says: “Within the PR and publishing industries, everyone aspires to virality. Our research shows that this isn’t as easy to achieve as you might have thought, as more and more people are posting video content, competition for attention and between brands is now fierce.

“In addition, viewers seem to be getting pickier about what they’re viewing and sharing on Facebook. They’re looking for content that’s quick, informative and easy to view within their feed. Making a few simple changes to your social video strategy can pay off in huge dividends, whether it’s to your content, placement, or style.”

Ginzberg offers top tips for creating hit videos: “Understanding what resonates best with your audience is a crucial first step. Track and integrate metrics to know what’s working and what’s not and then from there, it’s important to adjust your strategy accordingly to keep pace with their audiences’ evolving interests.”

Right now, focusing on news is a logical tactic. But with ever-changing mood swings in audiences, it is important to keep track of what they are watching, and analyse why they are watching it.

Methodology

The research is based on the analysis of over 4,000 social videos created on the Wochit platform and published by over 100 publishers from around the world on Facebook from December 2016 until February 2017.