eMarketer’s Paul Verna points out rightly in his report that video has become a necessity for companies that are looking to truly impact and engage with their customers and audiences. That goes regardless of what industry you’re in. The audience wants and expects their interactions with brands online to include some sort of video component, so it’s time to get on-board with that or risk being left in the dust.

Some interesting stats:

• Mutichannel Merchant asked retailers to identify rich media features that they used, 46% picked video making it the highest ranked category in the survey. Another 42% said they planned to add capability in the next year.
• Forrester says the percentage of the top 50 US Online retailers that offer video on their sites skyrocketed to 68% in 2009 from 18% in 2008.
• The Society for New Communications Research noted 31% of Fortune 500 companies with public-facing blogs used video blogging in 2009, up from 21% in 2008.
• Ad-ology ‘s statistics showed “video ahead of mobile marketing and search optimization as budget priorities for US marketing.”

Online video is entertainment. It’s cars. It’s shoes. It’s shirts. It’s engaging with your users, viewers and customers. And, online video is .tv.

VeriSign worked with Major League Baseball on a case study on MLB.tv several years ago. In it, their VP of Marketing said MLB.tv was “the clear favorite” for choices on a URL. ”We wanted to select something that would reinforce the MLB branding but would also convey the interactive and innovative side of this new service”.  (More details on the case study can be found here.)

So, it’s almost time for the boys of spring. If you’re a baseball fan –  grab your scorecard, your beverage of choice, and .tv to enjoy the fun.