The top social video trends for 2016 as predicted by Unruly, a video-ad technology company:

• This year proves to be quite a competitive year, both domestically and globally, with the Summer Olympics, the US Presidential elections and the UEFA European Football Championships, forecasting ad spend to grow by 5.6% (Borrell Associates).
• Consumers are monitoring and tracking much in their life from spending patterns to personal fitness goals. This year more brands will create video content from budget trackers to activity trackers (IDC Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker, March 30, 2015).
• Completed views of vertical video ads are nine times greater than horizontal video ads views. As a result, this year marketers will use more vertical videos to connect more effectively with mobile consumers (Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends 2015 presentation, Ooyala Q2 Global Video Index, 2015).
• Consumer spend on VR hardware and software is estimated to reach $21.8 billion by 2025. More mobile apps and 360-degree content will be this year for consumers to views (Tractica, “Virtual Reality for Consumer Markets”, July 2015).
• An Unruly consumer survey reported that eight in 10 consumers mute video ads. Due to this behavior, advertisers are exploring new creative ways to tell their stories without sound (Unruly, Future of Video Advertising Survey n=3,200).
• Emojis will continue to rule as important emotional connectors online. Along these lines emotional targeted videos will continue to be delivered to consumers especially for the purposes of sharing.
• Media owners and ad tech companies will find new and different content partnerships in order to form strong alliances to remain competitive with Google and Facebook.
• Advertisers are eager to re-connect with the ad avoiding consumer. Marketers will create more branded content and work to deliver it in methods that engages consumers. (Unruly Future of Advertising Survey, September 2015).
• Close to half (49%) of all mobile users use a messaging app. Marketers will use messaging apps for narrowcast sharing and eMcommerce opportunities (US Mobile Phone Messaging App Users and Penetration, 2014).
• The competition for peoples’ attention is getting harder to do and more-costly too. Companies will look to find competencies in agile marketing across all media, earned and paid. (ANA, Growth: Mastering Brands and Driving Results, Oct. That’s 2014).
• As consumers look to escape the demands of always being “on” as well as the terror threats in all corners of the world, more and more people will look for those comfort moments and brands can help provide their needed escapism. Definitely expect more postings of cute little kittys (Alvin Toffler, Future Shock, 1970).