True enough, but quality video is still relatively (compared to text and images) quite pricey to produce well. Video recorded from a mobile phone might be OK for those running an online make-up application website but for a more corporate site it's going to take more than that.

Yes, the cost of the production of video content tends to be greater than that of a static website, but with a significantly higher level of engagement ultimately delivering greater ROI, is video marketing something we can afford to ignore?

According to the latest Nielsen reports, video sites have moved to the forefront of the internet and are amongst the two fastest growing categories in 2009, with the use of video said to increase web traffic by up to ten times.

Marketing is changing and the demand for changing media is reflecting this. It’s no longer about having static content-driven information sites but it is about talking and interacting with the user at their convenience and on their terms.

The breadth of video extends far beyond your own website and with video content sites such as Youtube and Truveo etc allowing for video sharing, and rating, never before has it been so easy to organically grow your SEO status without really doing much.

As more and more internet users tend to prefer sites with specialised video content we need to remember that the time spent on video sites has shot up by 2000% over the last few years before we dismiss the medium and deem it as too expensive.

My personal preference is NOT to have audio or video - at least for B2B targeted web sites.

Why? Because I work in a shared office, and having someone else playing audio is just irritating, so I generally have sound off. Even further than that, some of my colleagues who use desktop rather than laptop PCs do not even have speakers attached.

Your, expensive video is therefore completely lost on me.

Additionally, I can generally read a lot faster that a video can explain something. There are some concepts and areas a video is great tool, but for many of the sites they add little to the existing information.

Somewhere I agree with Jonathan that most of the people just overlook such videos and many don't have speakers/headphones but there are a lot of people who are interested in watching videos and they do have sufficient equipment. So my preference is to have video. There is no doubt that making video is more costly but it's more profitable than simple text.