More video – it’s super effective!

We launched the hurtigrutenexcursion youtube channel about 9 months ago. During the last 6 months we have received approx. 29 000 views across all videos. Average view rate per month has been steadily rising, climbing to almost 8 500 per month this month.  70% of all views are from people ages between 45 and 65. 87% of the 29000 views are embedded(meaning they look at the videos on our websites). More video= good.

Getting started

We started the hurtigrutenexcursion channel with just a few excursion videos originating from the Hurtigruten DVD. We published the most popular excursion(North Cape and Geiranger Panorama) and were off to a good start. In April, I went on my holiday with Hurtigruten. I brought my camera to film some excursion and get more video footage to work with. You can see the  excursion/voyage videos from the Sea Eagle Safari and Voyage North . The videos are low cost productions and can easily serve as manuscripts for later productions.   Research indicates that a key success factor when it comes to online videos is that the video material is authentic – not necessarily that the video is “professional”. Of course we strive to make our videos high quality, but the most important point is that people can see what happpens on excursions, feel safer when purchasing excursions – they see whats the whole idea behind the excursion and can sense the thrill of it. Other cruise companies are doing this too, but I believe that videos alone dont do the work. The key to success is excellent content.

Outmacro the competition

So far, competitors have utilized very little video across their sites. Mostly it’s a random video about a ship or a restaurant/bar.  So far major cruise companies have not started embedding video on their excursion pages.  The goal is not to be better than at video embedding Royal Carribean, but rather offer customers the best tools available to decide what they want to buy.

So far,the only competitor to utilize any video effectively(easily consumable, not difficult to find)  is Carnial Cruises. On their “Rookies” page you can find a nice video that explains why their cruise line is the best one to have fun on. As you go along on the video tour, you get a feeling of what you can find on board. We need more video about the life on board!

Future perfect

What does the future hold? Well,  a lot.
While we we have some of the excursions covered with videos, we of course need more.  After that, it’s all about Norway, more videos about local sites, wildlife and life in Norway/people in Norway. We should create a video for every ship that we have, highlights, cabin types, people on board, ports etc.

Hurtigruten is awesome, and I really enjoyed my holiday in April, since I did not sit in my cabin for the duration of the voyage, but rather went off the ship every chance I got and took a lot of excursions.

I have suggested several ways to get more video online and what kind. If you have a good idea, let us know what type of video would you like to see across all sites.

More about online videos:

• Video sell products online

Thanks,
Tanel