Online tutorials and educational videos are all over the internet. Schools are utilizing many more of these online teaching tools than ever before due to E-Learning or hybrid learning. What role do online videos and video watching platforms have in the financial field? Do investors go online to watch videos to educate themselves on financial topics, or are they watching videos or accessing video platforms for personal use, not professional?
When it comes to utilizing video platforms like YouTube, 34 percent of wealthy investors use that platform, according to recent research from Spectrem Group. That number increases to 55 percent for Millennials and drops all the way down to 14 percent for WWII investors. Twelve percent of investors use YouTube the most out of any social media platform. It is important to remember that individuals can access video content on many other social media platforms. Facebook is used by 59 percent of investors, YouTube is the second most common platform, followed by LinkedIn with 31 percent using the platform and Instagram with 22 percent.
Those usage rates are for personal use. Things start to look a bit different when looking at what types of video offerings were provided by a financial advisor. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, 19 percent of investors were offered videos from their financial professional. Twenty-two percent were offered a webinar, while over half were not offered a webinar, video, podcast or any other type of educational material since the beginning of the pandemic. Millennials are far more likely to have been offered videos from their financial professional, with 45 percent identifying they were offered videos since the pandemic began. This could be that the advisors of younger investors are more technologically savvy, or it could be that Millennials are more attuned to consuming content through videos so they were more likely to have noticed their advisor offering that option.
Among the 19 percent of investors that were offered videos from their advisor, 24 percent actually utilized it. Only 6 percent of WWII investors watched videos from their financial advisor, while 59 percent of Millennials watched videos that their financial advisor offered since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Retirees were less likely than working investors to have utilized videos that their financial advisor offered since the pandemic.
When looking at video use overall for investors, not just since the pandemic, over half of investors never watch videos from their financial advisor. Thirty-seven percent sometimes watch these videos and only 11 percent frequently watch videos from their financial advisor. Educators are the least likely to watch a video from their financial advisor, while Business Owners and Professionals are more likely to at least sometimes watch videos from their financial advisor. Investors at higher levels of wealth are also more likely to watch videos from their financial advisor. Not surprisingly, nearly two-thirds of Millennials at least sometimes watch videos from their financial professional.
When it comes to learning about a new product or service, a video is not the preferred way investors want to be educated, in fact, only 5 percent of investors feel videos are the most effective method of being educated on a new product. Even when younger investors are examined, only 14 percent want to be educated through video. Investors would far prefer an email with information attached, even over an in-person meeting or a phone call. How do you prefer to be contacted regarding a new product? Do you watch videos online for professional purposes, or only personal?