As CNN stated it started in an article it all starts innocently enough by you visiting YouTube for, say, a few minutes of football bloopers. Then you switch to funny dog antics, followed by goofy juvenile stuntmen. Before long you’ve inadvertently spent 30 minutes watching videos on your computer.

30 minutes…and from which pool of time did you “steal” that? And the time online video is taking up is growing — everywhere and on almost all levels of technology. In a recent study from Edison Media Research they reported that the audio podcast audience has grown from 13% to 18% and that video podcasts has jumped from 11% to 15%.

In another study by Pew Research 48% of those surveyed had interacted with a video-sharing site.  Better still, 15% of them had used a video-sharing site “yesterday.”  That’s almost double the results of last year’s survey.  A report by comScore stated that last year that 75% of U.S. Internet users watched an average of 3.25 hours of video every month.

All the reports confirm that this is a major trend — one that is shaping communications and marketing. As these are both two key functions in real estate, expect online video to also shape the real estate industry.

The bottom line for Realtors® is – pictures are nice and audio descriptions are helpful but online video is “sexy” and “fun” and currently there is no substitute for power of providing a first hand visual experience.  It would seem that this holds equally true for news and press releases; listings and neighborhood information; as well as education and training.

Today professional quality HD video is affordable, easy to create and when compared with traditional marketing and communication channels a “great steal.”

If used correctly online video can actually be a very compelling, cost effective and very powerful way to show, share and sell real estate. Are you using online video effectively?