I have recently been recognized as Expert Director and felt this was a perfect time to reflect on one of the more poignant observations I have had since joining local guides; videos. Although a master photographer for several months now, my video views tend to be growing at a much slower rate. For every 5 photos I do I accompany them with a quality video depicting the location in a positive reflective manner that does it justice. I find it interesting that many photos are viewed quite heavily but videos not nearly as much by Google Map users, and are usually further down on a business’ listing. To illustrate this lets touch on my most viewed photo at 680,000 + views and my most viewed video at just under 13,000 at the time of writing this post. Anyone have insight, experiences, or just an overall feeling about the lack of popularity of videos by Google Map users?
Hello @H-C-Davies
My guess is, when a viewer opens the photos, only scrolling through a collection gets counted towards views.
However, for the increase in view count of videos, the viewer has to play that. Undoubtedly, there will be some hesitation to do so.
This was definitely something that crossed my mind, but I didn’t want to sway anyone’s opinion. Definitely agree with you!
Hi @H-C-Davies ,
Thanks the sharing with us! : ]
First I would like to congratulate you on the new badge! (as you may also check on our new label, Achievements, where everyone could share interesting stories on the matter, should that reach a broader audience)
Related to your main inquiry, you may check the following post, which are mainly ideas that would probably have a similar direction of thoughts, expand video function on google maps, kindly shared by @EleonoraVendetta .
Much appreciated also for the suggestion that @C_T has mentioned.
Do feel free to share your further thoughts on the matter, as well.
Congrats on the Expert Director status, @H-C-Davies !
For me, I find the types of businesses/attractions that see higher video views are those with a travel/tourist nature. A historical landmark, a sightseeing destination, or amusement park all have higher video views than a restaurant or retail space just because viewers are looking to consume that content. For me, I want to see high-quality menu items like photos to decide where to eat, and when looking at a kid’s museum for my boys, I like to see video elements of exhibits. Also, videos are still in their infancy on Maps and hopefully they will be better integrated into listings down the road. Keep contributing!
Nature is very beautiful indeed. My top 3 videos all involve water flowing in nature or a fountain. Absolutely stunning.