Many marketers are already using video to generate leads and build brand awareness, mainly because they hear it works, and everyone is doing it. But unless you really dig deep into the reasons why video is an excellent content marketing tool, you’re not going to make the big impact that drives sales and ROI. Video advertising is not just a great trend to follow: The statistics prove it works.

100 million: This number refers to how many users are watching video content each day worldwide. It’s true that many are viewing viral material or funny pets, but quite a few people are looking how-tos, product reviews or other informational videos. A great deal of them are conducting searches on topics because they’re investigating products and services, so you need your video content to be front and center.

16:49: The average internet user spends this amount of time watching online video ads each month, so you’re missing out on a huge marketing potential if you’re not distributing this type of content. Plus, there’s more behind this statistic than just the time clock: You need an appreciation of why they’re watching video ads. Every piece of content you post represents a connection with someone who’s looking for information on your company’s offerings.

121 times: Over half of the U.S. population views, on average, 121 video ads in any given month. This means the exposure of video marketing is significant, and all signs point to it growing.

10 seconds: Your target audience has a short attention span, about less than a dozen seconds to be precise. Research shows that you’ll lose 20% of viewers in this amount of time if you’re not speaking to their interests or otherwise engaging them. It goes downhill from there as well. About one-third of people click away within 30 seconds, and almost half are long gone by the one minute mark. Around two minutes, you’ll only have 40% of your viewers left. The best advice based on this statistics is to keep your video short, so aim for between 1-2 minutes.

5:16: As compared to TV time, which averages 4:31 hours per week in most households, digital media viewing is over five hours. Therefore, video is the preferred platform for reaching your target audience, maximizing exposure, and engaging prospects.

80%: Video views are important, but so is your audience’s retention of the information you’ve presented. If your content is great, 80 percent of users will recall seeing the ad up to 30 days later. Of that number, almost half will take some sort of action based on the video. Many of them will search for additional information on the topic, and quite a few will visit the website mentioned in the video. An impressive number of people will actually purchase the product featured in your video, so make the content really count.

Even if you’ve jumped on the video advertising bandwagon, you’re not going to make a splash unless you understand the numbers behind its success. Based on the statistics, you can better reach your target audience by knowing where they watch video and what they do after viewing. Within your own company, it’s also wise to keep an eye on your own numbers. You might consider using tools that measure analytics for video and other marketing performance.