Companies’ spend on online content marketing grew to nearly $16.6 billion last year, with video showing the strongest growth of all media measured. These stats come courtesy of a new study conducted by the Custom Content Council and ContentWise which was released this week.

Survey trends reveal that online content marketing is likely to surpass print in the next few years, though print will likely remain a major player. The formats measured by the study included print, web, email, video, virtual events, white papers (both print and electronic), podcasts and e-Zines. (The $16.6 billion figure includes everything but print.)

“Funds that were previously earmarked for print are being shifted to video and web content, though print remains a dominant part of the overall spend,” Lori Rosen, executive director of the Custom Content Council, said in a statement.

In 2011, 52% of marketers said they used video, as compared to only 37% in 2009, and this is likely to grow even more, as 54% of marketers said they expect to use more video. Additionally, the number of videos produced has risen from 12 to 19 per year.

Formats Used By Content Marketers, 2011

Websites were the most widely adopted of digital media, with 82% of content marketers using them in 2011. The average marketer updated their website 145 times with articles, posts and other content during the year — a slight increase from 2009.

Email grew from being used by 66% of marketers in 2009 to 71% in 2011.

Custom content (including print) represents 26% of companies’ overall marketing, advertising and communications budget. This is slightly lower than the 29% recorded last year.

Related Topics: Channel: Video | Statistics: Popularity & Usage | Video

About The Author: Pamela Parker is executive features editor of Marketing Land and a contributing editor for Search Engine Land. She’s a well-respected authority on digital marketing, having reported and written on the subject since 1998, including a stint as managing editor of ClickZ. She’s also worked to help monetize independent publishers’ sites at Federated Media Publishing. She blogs about media and marketing at The River and about cooking, gardening and parenthood at Free Range. See more articles by Pamela Parker

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