Video Marketing Statistics UK 2026: 91% of Brands Use Video

The data is unambiguous: video marketing is now standard practice, not a nice-to-have. As of 2026, 91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool and 82% of marketers report a positive return on investment from it (Wyzowl, 2026). In the UK, audiences back this up with their time, with adults spending an average of 4 hours 20 minutes online each day (Ofcom, 2024). Below, every figure in this UK video marketing statistics roundup is drawn from a named, reputable source.

We have deliberately avoided the invented, unattributed percentages that clutter most “stats roundups”. Where we could not verify a number against its original publisher, we left it out. Everything here traces back to Wyzowl, Ofcom, DataReportal, HubSpot, IAB UK or Vidyard, with links so you can check the source yourself.

How many businesses actually use video marketing?

The short answer: almost all of them. According to Wyzowl’s Video Marketing Statistics 2026 report, which has tracked the same questions for over a decade, 91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool, and 93% of video marketers say video is an important part of their overall strategy.

Adoption alone tells you the barrier to entry has fallen. What matters more for a UK marketing manager weighing a budget line is whether that spend is defensible. The same 2026 data suggests it is:

• 83% of video marketers say video has directly increased sales (Wyzowl, 2026).
• 85% say video has helped them generate leads (Wyzowl, 2026).
• 82% say video has boosted web traffic (Wyzowl, 2026).
• 82% report video has increased the time visitors spend on their site (Wyzowl, 2026).

Those are self-reported marketer figures rather than independently audited outcomes, so treat them as strong sentiment rather than a guarantee. But when four out of five practitioners report the same directional result year after year, the signal is worth acting on.

Does video marketing deliver a real return on investment?

On the headline ROI question, 82% of marketers say video marketing has given them a positive ROI (Wyzowl, 2026). That is not a record, and the honest reading matters here. It is down from 93% in 2025, the highest figure in Wyzowl’s twelve years of tracking, and the sharpest single-year fall the survey has recorded on that question. The likeliest explanation is dilution rather than decline: as adoption climbs back to its all-time high, more teams are making video and a larger share of them are making it badly, which drags the average reported return down with it.

Format matters, though. HubSpot’s 2025 State of Marketing research found that short-form video delivered the highest ROI of any content format, a position it has now held for the fourth year running. If you are choosing where a limited budget goes first, the evidence points at short, platform-native clips before it points at a single hero film. We unpack that trade-off in our guide to brand film versus corporate video.

How do UK audiences actually consume video?

The demand side is where the UK-specific picture gets interesting. Ofcom’s Online Nation 2024 report found UK adults now spend an average of 4 hours 20 minutes online every day, up sharply from 3 hours 41 minutes the year before. The gap by age is stark: 18–24-year-olds average 6 hours 1 minute online daily.

Much of that time is video. Ofcom reports that TikTok reaches 74% of 18–24-year-olds in the UK, and YouTube remains the country’s most-watched social video platform. DataReportal’s Digital 2026: United Kingdom report puts YouTube’s UK reach at 55.5 million users, around 79.7% of the total population, as of late 2025.

The practical takeaway for a London brand is about placement, not just production. If most of your audience’s attention sits inside a handful of vertical-video apps, a beautifully finished 16:9 film that only lives on your homepage is leaving reach on the table. Repurposing that footage into platform-native cuts is usually the highest-value edit you can commission.

Is short-form video really winning?

Yes, on the numbers we can verify. Beyond HubSpot’s ROI finding, Wyzowl reports that 63% of consumers prefer to watch a short video to learn about a product or service (2026), and that 96% have watched an explainer video to understand a product (2026). Consumer trust is tied to craft, too: 89% of consumers say the quality of a video influences how much they trust the brand (Wyzowl, 2026).

That last figure is the one worth pinning above your desk. Short-form does not mean low-effort. The platforms reward volume and consistency, but audiences still register production quality and let it shape brand trust. Our short-form video strategy playbook covers how to hit both cadence and craft without burning your budget.

The key UK video marketing statistics for 2026 at a glance

What the data means for your 2026 video strategy

Read together, the numbers make a simple case. Your audience is spending more time online than ever, a large and growing share of it inside video-first platforms, and marketers across the board report that video moves sales, leads and trust. The open question is no longer “should we do video?” but “what should we make, and who should make it?”

That is where the trust figure bites. When 89% of consumers say quality shapes how much they trust you, the cheap, templated, outsourced clip is a false economy. At 9495 Creative, a premium London video and creative agency, our directors and strategists are fully in-house, so the person who shapes the strategy is the person on set and in the edit. No stock templates, no outsourcing, cinema-grade craft, and a visual treatment or proposal back to you within five business days of your brief.

If you want to know what production actually costs before you commit, our transparent guide to corporate video production costs in London lays out real GBP ranges and what drives them up or down. And you can see the craft itself across our video production services.

The evidence is settled: video works and audiences are watching. The differentiator in 2026 is not whether you make video, but whether it is made well enough to earn the trust the data says quality delivers.

What changed between Wyzowl’s 2025 and 2026 numbers?

More than most roundups admit. Wyzowl has asked the same questions for twelve years, and the 2026 edition contains one clear reversal that other statistics pages tend to walk past.

• Positive ROI: 93% in 2025, 82% in 2026. An eleven-point fall, and the sharpest single-year move on that question.
• AI in production: 51% in 2025, 63% in 2026. Nearly two thirds of video marketers now use AI tools somewhere in making or editing a video (Wyzowl, 2026).
• Adoption: back to a joint all-time high. The 91% figure matches the peak first set in 2023, after a dip in 2025. Wyzowl’s published summaries do not give an exact 2025 percentage, so we are not going to invent one.

Put those three together and a coherent story falls out. Video got cheaper and faster to make, more teams started making it, and the average reported return fell with them. The likeliest reading is dilution rather than decline: video did not stop working, the average video got worse. That is the same argument the 89% quality-and-trust figure makes from the audience side.

Treat the eleven points with caution, though. This is self-reported marketer sentiment, not audited performance, so the move reflects who answered as much as what happened in the market. What it will not support is the claim that video ROI rises every year. It did not this year. The differentiator has shifted from whether you make video to who makes it and how well, which is what our guide to choosing a video production company in London is for.

Frequently asked questions

What percentage of businesses use video marketing in 2026?

As of 2026, 91% of businesses use video as a marketing tool, and 93% of video marketers say it is an important part of their overall strategy, according to Wyzowl’s Video Marketing Statistics 2026 report.

Does video marketing have a good ROI?

Yes. 82% of marketers report a positive return on investment from video marketing (Wyzowl, 2026), and HubSpot’s 2025 research found short-form video delivered the highest ROI of any content format for the fourth year running.

How much time do UK adults spend online?

UK adults spend an average of 4 hours 20 minutes online each day, rising to 6 hours 1 minute among 18–24-year-olds, according to Ofcom’s Online Nation 2024 report. Much of that time is spent on video-first platforms.

How many people in the UK use YouTube and TikTok?

DataReportal’s Digital 2026 UK report puts YouTube’s reach at around 79.7% of the UK population (55.5 million users). Ofcom reports TikTok reaches 74% of UK 18–24-year-olds.

Does video quality affect how customers see a brand?

Yes. 89% of consumers say the quality of a video influences how much they trust the brand behind it (Wyzowl, 2026), which is why cinema-grade production still matters even for short-form content.

How many video marketers use AI in 2026?

63% of video marketers used AI tools to help create or edit marketing videos in 2026, up from 51% in 2025 (Wyzowl, 2026). It is the fastest-moving number in the whole survey: a twelve-point jump in a single year. Read it next to the 89% of consumers who say video quality shapes brand trust, because faster output only helps if the output holds up.

How long should a marketing video be in 2026?

Shorter than most briefs assume. Vidyard’s benchmark of 943,305 business videos found 65% of viewers stay to the end of a video under one minute, falling to 20% for anything over twenty minutes. Wyzowl adds that 63% of consumers prefer a short video to learn about a product. Cut per platform rather than picking one runtime for everything.

Are Wyzowl’s video marketing statistics reliable?

They are the longest-running dataset available on video marketing, now twelve consecutive years, but they are self-reported survey answers from marketers and consumers rather than audited performance data. Read them as sentiment and direction of travel. That is why the 82% ROI figure could fall from 93% in 2025: what people reported changed, not necessarily what video delivered.

Ready to put the data to work?

If these statistics describe your audience, the next step is a plan built around them. Start a brief with 9495 Creative and we will come back within five business days with a visual treatment and a clear, GBP-costed proposal, no vague waffle, no stock templates.