The so called “pivot to video” has been happening for brands for a few years now. And why not? When you hear that Facebook has 8 billion video views per day, it makes you think that you should have a piece of the pie. It’s worked for some, and definitely hasn’t for others.

How’s that video push working out for everyone? – Vox Media Lays Off 50 Staffers, or 5% of Workforce https://t.co/wha3GyOVjo via @variety

— Merrill Barr (@MerrillBarr) February 21, 2018

There are great articles like this one on how the pivot has gone so far.

We’ve always advocated for brands creating more, good content on a regular basis.  Honestly, it shouldn’t be a pivot to just video. It’s a pivot to more video. So rather than spark a debate on whether a full fledged move to video is the right idea, we wanted to dissect how some of the big players are making the move.

More in depth content

BuzzFeed is the latest brand to make the jump. They’ve started scaling back its podcasting team to focus on more in depth video series and shows as they have already done for Netflix, Facebook and Twitter. The digital media company has decided to start operating its video department much more like a network studio. They’ll treat shows as individual projects, with teams brought on as needed. BuzzFeed will still continue to produce a handful of podcasts, just without a dedicated in house team.

Going from short to long

Most know Attn: for their sub 3-minute, social and political themed videos. That’s why when media company teamed up with ABC it meant the media company would have to change its style of content.  Earlier this year Attn: produced an hour-long  documentary on the survivors of the Parkland school shooting. They’ve followed that up with a string of other documentaries and just recently started to spread the word  for their new show that is streaming on the Facebook watch platform.

Product placement everywhere

By now, just about everyone has seen, shared, or said to their significant other, “we have to try this after watching one of those overhead cooking videos. At Condé Nast, they’ve not only started adding more personality into their videos, but products. One their Bon Appétit YouTube channel, they started to increase ad revenue by having a sponsored product for just about every item in the room. As Valeriya Safronova mentioned in the New York Times, “The countertops? Caesarstone. The small appliances? Braun. Furniture? Crate & Barrel. The smart fridges? Samsung.”

The more we read about the pivot to video, the more we question if its the right word. Brands that pivot to video shouldn’t be moving away from their other content. Maybe increase, expand would be better used to describe the uptick in video production. Either way, we have to go shoot something in the studio.