"We got 1,200 views." Your CFO nods and asks how much it cost. The view is the easiest indicator to obtain and the least useful for defending a budget. An internal video is measured by what it avoided or triggered, not by how many people pressed play.
Start with the cost of the alternative
Before measuring the video, put a number on what it replaces. A 45-minute information meeting for 600 employees is 450 hours of work. A day of classroom training for 400 sales reps is 400 days, plus travel, plus the trainer. An email that 40% of people open means 60% of people will ask their manager.
This calculation is simple, fits on three lines, and gives the baseline the video will be judged against.
Indicator 1: completion, not opens
On an e-learning module, the LMS gives you the completion rate: the share of people who watched to the end. That is the first figure to look at. A four-minute module reaching 90% completion has trained nine people out of ten. A 60-slide deck has no way to prove the same thing.
On the intranet, most platforms report average watch time. If it is close to the length of the film, the message got through.
Watch what your platform calls "completed": depending on the setting, it means having opened the module, reached the last second, or passed the quiz. Check it before release, or you will compare figures that do not measure the same thing.
Three things really raise completion, and they are decided before production:
- length: modules of three to five minutes rather than one long module, because attention drops beyond that;
- structure: one objective per sequence, a concrete case from the job, a key point written on screen;
- relevance: people finish a module that helps them do their job far more readily than one about the company in general.
Our article on motion design e-learning video details how to build a module people watch to the end.
Indicator 2: the questions no longer asked
After a reorganisation announcement, count HR tickets, emails to managers, questions in team meetings. Compare with the previous announcement made by email or in a meeting. A clear drop means the internal video answered the questions before they were asked. This is an indicator managers feel immediately and will defend on your behalf.
Indicator 3: the quiz
On a training module, a five-question quiz at the end gives a correct-answer rate. It is not a scientific evaluation, but it is proof of learning that leadership understands. Give the same quiz to a control group that received the slide deck: the gap is worth every argument.
Indicator 4: reuse
A video used once costs its price. A video shown at every onboarding, at congresses, on the website and in three languages divides its cost by the number of uses. Keep count: number of screenings, contexts, versions. After a year, the cost per use of a well-designed video is often lower than that of an email.
What to prepare before release
These indicators can only be measured if they were planned. Before release: record the number of questions or tickets on the topic, prepare the quiz, make sure the platform tracks completion, note the cost of the alternative. Thirty minutes of preparation, and you have a two-column table, before and after, that leadership will read in ten seconds.
What we do not measure
"Engagement rate", reactions, internal shares: these figures flatter but prove nothing. An internal video does not need to be liked. It needs to have been understood, remembered, and to have saved someone some work.
To choose the right format from the start, and so the right indicator, see our guide to internal communication video, or our guide to corporate motion design video.
