What’s the device you watch most YouTube videos on?
Is it your iPhone, iPad or perhaps the laptop/computer?
Studies have shown that the number of mobile uses watching YouTube videos have increased this year more than ever. Here are a few tweaks that you can do to provide a good video viewing experience for your mobile video viewers.
1. Short and sweet
Think of the mobile context. When are you likely to watch a YouTube video on your iPhone? While traveling, waiting in-line, trying to pass some time somewhere etc ?
Keep that in mind and consider the video length carefully. The likelihood of a mobile user sitting through a 10 minute video is going to be far less than a shorter 3-4 minute video.
2. Use clear audio
Most of the mobile devices don’t have high quality speakers.
people might be watching your video on the go using headphones and they could be a in a noisy environment (e.g traveling on a train, walking on the street etc)
Record the best in the best audio quality you can so that your mobile viewers get a good experience when listening to your video irrespective of speakers, headphones or the environment surroundings.
3. Add links to the video description
During the course of the video you might mention a call to action. You might refer them to a website, a video etc Often you might just have the link as a text on the video or might just mention the url. You have got to keep your mobile viewers in mind when doing this. The chances of these viewers opening the web browser and typing in the url using their small touch keyboard might be pretty slim.
So remember to add a link to the description of the video so that mobile viewers can easily click on the link and directly go to the desired page.
4. Add close up shots for areas you want to highlight
For example, if you want to point out something and say “as you can see here”, the mobile viewers might not be able to see it! So if you are using screen casting, you can zoom in on that particular area.
5. Use a large font size for text
The mobile viewers are restricted to a really small screen when viewing videos from a phone. They will find it really difficult to read tiny letters you have in your video. So avoid using small font size for text. Your text should be readable by any device that they are watching from.
6. Test the video on your mobile device
Just upload it to your smart phone and see what sort of user experience you are providing. Often, until we see it for ourselves, we don’t realize how it might effect the mobile viewer. If you feel that this is too much of a hazel, at least watch the video on your computer restricting the screen size so that you can mimic the mobile device screen.
Things to watch out..
Make sure that the text you add in the video are readable
the voice is clear and there is no background noise or the music is not too overpowering etc
Ensure the the areas you want the viewers to see can actually be seen in the tiny screen.
