Episode Transcript
All right, I’m going to get started. My name is Daniel Borba, and thank you all so much for joining. I hope you walk away with some great insights today.
Today’s session is called “The Three Video Trends You Can’t Ignore in 2026 as a SaaS Marketing Team.” I’ll start with a bit of background for those of you who don’t know me.
My name is Daniel Borba. I’m the founder and CEO of SparkPortal, and I’ve been in the video marketing space since 2012. Since then, we’ve worked with hundreds of marketers, and I’ve personally produced over 10,000 videos. In 2017, I officially started SparkPortal. We’re a video-as-a-service company that works exclusively with SaaS marketing teams, so we live and breathe video.
Agenda and Context
My plan today is to give you some context around what’s happening in the market, what’s driving the increased need for video, and why we’re seeing certain behaviors change over time. Then I’ll walk you through three video trends—along with examples. I’ve also set aside time for Q&A.
The presentation will last about 20–30 minutes. Please feel free to raise your hand if you have questions—I want this to be interactive.
Before diving into the trends, I want to share a few data points.
Key Video Trends and Data
LinkedIn video has been growing tremendously. LinkedIn members are watching 40% more video in the video tab and spending 2.2 times more time there than a year ago. This comes from Lakshman, Senior Director of Product at LinkedIn. I’ll share additional insights on this shortly.
Play rates are also telling. Over one in five people who come across a video choose to watch it. This shows that when the content is relevant to the right audience and shown consistently, people will engage.
YouTube Shorts is another massive, underutilized opportunity. It’s an easy way to increase touchpoints and impressions with the right audience, and I’ll show examples of this as well.
Here’s an important insight:
54% of surveyed YouTube users say they would rather watch creator commentary on events than the events themselves. This aligns closely with what we’re seeing on LinkedIn. People want content that’s relevant to what’s happening now, as well as evergreen content that remains useful over time.
Typically, the best-performing content falls into two categories:
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Evergreen content that stays relevant for 12–18 months
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Timely content that speaks to what’s happening right now or within a short window
Another important stat:
61% of B2B marketers expect their organization’s investment in video to increase from 2024 to 2025. While we don’t yet have full 2026 data, this tells us that more teams want to invest in video—but many struggle to scale it effectively.
Today, I’ll show you initiatives you can start immediately without significantly increasing budget, while still building a case for more investment later.
What’s Driving Video Adoption Today
Short-form video is critical across LinkedIn, websites, YouTube, and even sales enablement libraries. It performs extremely well across these channels for B2B and SaaS teams.
Another major shift is that LLMs are starting to “see” into video content. When you publish video on platforms like Wistia or your website, large language models such as ChatGPT and Claude can reference that content when responding to user queries. As this improves, video will become even more valuable.
YouTube Shorts also allows you to test content with lower effort. You can post variations on the same topic and quickly learn what resonates, then double down on what performs best.
Platforms like LinkedIn, YouTube, and Wistia are prioritizing in-platform video consumption. That means native video posts get more distribution, but your videos also need to be tailored to each platform. While this adds some work, the upside is free distribution.
LinkedIn, in particular, is prioritizing less polished, more authentic video—especially from personal accounts. Raw, self-shot content is often favored over highly produced corporate videos.
At the same time, long-form video is not going away. In fact, when paired with LLMs, long-form content becomes a powerhouse. Resource libraries and video knowledge centers are becoming increasingly important.
We’re already seeing these shifts reflected in results. For example, with one client, organic non-video content remained relatively stagnant, while video content drove a significant increase in impressions, engagement, and touchpoints. Video has become the primary vehicle for growth.
Video Initiatives You Can Start Now
1. Self-Shot Event Videos for LinkedIn
This is some of the most engaging content you can create. It’s low-effort, raw, and timely. When you attend events or industry happenings, capture quick walkthroughs or moments on your phone.
You can edit directly on your phone using tools like CapCut or the iPhone editor, add music or text, and post natively to LinkedIn. These videos often get strong engagement because they’re authentic and relevant.
Teams can also repurpose this content in newsletters or recaps later.
2. Webinar Clip Extraction
This isn’t new, but it’s often done poorly. Before extracting clips, plan the webinar with repurposing in mind. Structure it so it naturally lends itself to short segments—especially Q&A portions.
From one webinar, you can extract four to six clips under 60 seconds. These clips don’t need to be complete thoughts; they’re meant to spark interest and familiarity.
Use tools like ChatGPT or Claude to analyze transcripts and suggest clip ideas. Keep production simple: baked-in captions, minimal graphics, and native video uploads to LinkedIn and YouTube Shorts.
3. Promo and Hype Videos
These are high-energy, short videos—usually 15–30 seconds—that announce or tease something important: a report, product launch, event, rebrand, or leadership announcement.
They work extremely well in email marketing and on social platforms. You can script these yourself or use ChatGPT to draft a high-energy outline, then work with an animator or agency to bring it to life.
4. Video Knowledge Centers
A video knowledge center is a series of videos that go deeper into how you solve problems for your audience. These can be tactical (product demos) or strategic (mindset shifts and thought leadership).
Start with six to nine videos. Keep production simple: a logo intro, clear title, and logo outro. Don’t overcomplicate it—many teams stall because they get stuck chasing perfection.
These libraries become incredibly valuable as LLMs improve their ability to reference video content.
5. Event Interviews
Event interviews are a powerful way to humanize your brand. Have someone attend an event and record short “street-style” interviews using an iPhone and microphone.
Prepare three to six thoughtful industry-relevant questions. Most people are happy to participate. Be sure to collect release forms.
From just a few interviews, you can create dozens of clips for LinkedIn and YouTube Shorts. This content remains evergreen for months.
6. Remote Case Studies
Traditional case studies are expensive and hard to scale. By recording remotely using tools like Riverside, you can produce 8–15 case studies per year.
Riverside records each participant’s audio separately, making post-production much easier. From a single interview, you can create:
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One 2–3 minute case study video
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Multiple short clips
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A longer version for your resource library
In the near future, longer case studies will be increasingly valuable for LLM discovery—even if people don’t watch them end-to-end.
Final Thoughts
You don’t need to start with high production value. Start small, test ideas, and take a scientific approach. Once you see what works, invest more confidently.
Q&A Session
Daniel:
I’ll be happy to answer questions about how to get these programs off the ground. I hope you noticed that you don’t have to start with high-production-value video. It’s often better to start small and take a more scientific approach—test first without investing a lot of time or money. Once you build a case, then you invest.
I see a few questions coming in.
Question: Do you use After Effects to develop the animations?
Daniel:
Yes, we do use After Effects to create animations. That said, there are other ways to do this as well. For example, Canva can work for some of the things we talked about—especially event videos.
We’ve seen clients use Canva successfully: upload the video, add music, title cards, and even simple transitions. You’ll just need an internal resource who’s comfortable figuring it out.
Question (Stephanie): Can you clarify what you meant when you said platforms give priority to in-platform videos? Does that mean videos uploaded directly instead of sharing a link?
Daniel:
Short answer: yes.
When you upload a link to LinkedIn, it doesn’t distribute it to as many people. This is a broader shift happening across platforms. They want users to stay on the platform.
LinkedIn is essentially saying: If you want us to distribute your content, post native content here and don’t send people elsewhere.
If you do that, LinkedIn will reward you with more distribution.
A workaround I’ve seen—not just for video, but for links in general—is this:
Post the image and the text without including the link in the main post. Then add the link as a comment. That way, the algorithm doesn’t penalize you as much.
Question (Mohamed): Does video quality—HD, 2K, 4K—matter on a platform-by-platform basis?
Daniel:
It depends a bit, but generally speaking, HD is more than enough for most use cases.
That said, if the original recording wasn’t high quality, exporting in HD won’t magically fix it. If you’re recording live interviews with cameras, we usually recommend recording in 4K. That gives you more flexibility to zoom or reframe in post-production without losing quality.
Question (Alejandra): Have you learned from sales to build scripts?
Daniel:
I want to make sure I’m interpreting this correctly. If you’re asking whether sales should build the scripts—generally, no. Marketing should own the scripts.
Scripts are especially important for explainer videos, solution videos, feature explanations, and thought leadership. That said, sales should absolutely inform the scripts. Talk to them about the terminology they’re using and the questions they hear most often. Use that insight to shape the messaging.
Some subject matter experts prefer having scripts; others don’t. It really depends on the person and the format.
Question (Mohamed – follow-up): What’s the best tool for baked-in captions?
Daniel:
We typically use After Effects and Descript.
My recommendation is to keep captions simple—don’t over-brand them. A clean black box with white text usually works best. Overly stylized captions can become distracting.
One quick tip: make sure the speaker has enough headroom in the frame so captions can sit around the neck or just below it. If captions are placed too low, they can compete with UI elements on social platforms.
For horizontal videos on your website, placement is less of an issue.
Question: Have you done FAQ videos or videos addressing common objections?
Daniel:
Yes—this is actually a huge opportunity.
Some companies hesitate because they want prospects to talk directly to sales, but there’s a balance. One approach is to start on social media. Create six to nine FAQ-style clips where a thought leader answers common questions.
Based on performance, you can decide whether those videos belong on your website. FAQ videos work extremely well when positioned as thought leadership rather than sales content.
Question (Stephanie): The chart you shared—was that showing investment in video versus non-video, or results?
Daniel:
Great question—and thank you for asking for clarification.
That chart was showing results, not investment. Specifically, it showed impressions and interactions across all content types.
In 2023, the client tracked views and interactions across blog posts, social posts, and other static content. When they started investing more in video, you could clearly see that video drove significantly more impressions, touchpoints, and engagement.
Video consistently outperformed non-video content in terms of attention and influence—especially when it came to supporting deals later in the pipeline.
People often remember and mention the video, even if they also consumed the report or written content. Video simply creates stronger recall.
Daniel (Closing):
Thank you all so much for the great questions and for joining today. I’ll be sending out the slides, examples, and the recording—hopefully tomorrow, or early next week at the latest.
Thanks again, and I’ll see you on the next one. Bye, everyone!