The 16 Best Interactive Video Examples with Key Takeaways

Video marketing strategies have completely changed the way consumers and brands interact with one another. Nowadays, video is one of the best ways for companies to attract customers, engage with them, and keep them interested enough to eventually persuade them to make a purchase. However, a new player has emerged that has the potential to change the game for traditional videos, and those are interactive videos.

In this article, I’ll go over this innovative video format, its advantages, and how you can use it to draw in viewers, differentiate your business from competitors, and give your audience an unforgettable experience. To make things even better, I’ll break down 16 interactive video examples so you can watch and learn from the best.

Let’s go!

What Are Interactive Videos?

An interactive video is a form of media that allows users to engage with the content within the video itself. It’s called “interactive” because viewers can manipulate certain elements of the video, changing the direction, storyline, or characters in the way they want to through a variety of tools.

In traditional videos, you only have a limited series of functions: clicking “play” to start, pause, rewind, fast forward, or restart. On the other side, succesfull interactive video examples allow users to manipulate the content by clicking, dragging, scrolling, hovering, gyrating, and performing other digital actions—just like you’d do with a video game or a website.

These clickable areas are called “hotspots,” and they allow viewers to modify the storyline with their actions to create a nonlinear narrative, go through different paths, and obtain new possible outcomes.

Sounds fun, right?

Interactive Video Ads: What Benefits Do They Have to Offer?

Videos are a very flexible format that can support businesses in multiple ways. From an explainer video displaying how your product or service works, to the common video commercial, video content can be designed to support businesses no matter what industry they’re in, what goal they’re aiming for, or what audience they’re targeting.

Still, while being more engaging than other static formats, like text or images, videos also pose limitations—especially when it comes to audience retention. As customers get more and more accustomed to video ads, figuring out how to bring customers to your business with content becomes harder. 

Interactive video examples aim to solve this issue. By forcing viewers to engage with the content for it to advance, keeping the viewer’s attention until the end becomes easier. Other key benefits of this type of content include: 

• Increase the audience’s engagement. Interactive videos create an active viewing experience that makes it less likely for viewers to get distracted, feel bored with what you’re displaying, or abandon your content. Often, interactive video ads only advance if the viewer presses the hotspots, even making viewer engagement mandatory.
• Gain a better conversion rate than many other types of digital ads. While banner ads, Google display ads, and YouTube annotations have a click-through rate of around 1%, interactive video outperformed them all, converting at a rate of more than 11%. This probably has to do with the fact that interactive videos offer viewers an enjoyable active viewing experience, which keeps their attention until the end and leaves them a positive feeling about your brand.
• Achieve better performance analysis of video content. Interactive video allows for much more effective metric tracking because you can gather data, follow the clicks within a video, analyze the various routes taken by users, and much more. Understanding how and when viewers interact with the various components of your video will help you improve your video content and better understand your customers.

Why Use Interactive Video Ads in Your Marketing Strategy?

Interactive videos seem like a new, groundbreaking development, but if we take a closer look at the entertainment industry, specifically video games, we can see that interactive content has been around for some time.

The difference lies in the fact that, today, companies can use them in many different ways:

• Creating interactive pieces as part of your educational video production efforts, often in the form of quizzes, can be a way to teach customers about your brand or industry. These videos are valuable educational tools because they demand active engagement from the audience, as they have to pay attention to the data in order to answer the questions within the video correctly.

• Interactive shoppable videos work well for explaining features through product videos or bringing back discontinued ones. For example, while you’re showing each product, there could be a clickable section that directs viewers to your e-commerce for further exploration. That way, viewers get the chance to interact with your offerings and learn more about them the moment they see and feel drawn to them.
• Interactive training videos are a great resource to improve your employee skills or bring new hires up to speed. Creating awesome training videos is all about helping the audience put their abilities to the test and solve real-world problems that could arise in the workplace—and interactive videos can achieve just that.

Best Interactive Video Examples to Learn From 

As you can see, interactive video ads can have various benefits for your brand’s marketing efforts. However, they’re a relatively recent—and complex—format, and it can be hard to gauge how all of this plays out in real-life applications. In these circumstances, learning by example can be best.

While watching these examples won’t make you one of the best animation studios in New York, it can help you understand how and why these videos are used. So, to help you, here are some of the best 16 interactive video examples, with key takeaways on what makes them so effective.

1. Lifesaver – Don’t Fear Asking Obvious Questions

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The purpose of this quiz-style interactive example from Lifesaver is to teach viewers what to do in an emergency, particularly when someone close to them is experiencing cardiac arrest, collapse, or choking. The videos are intended for an audience that lacks a medical background, and the interactive elements allow them to learn first-aid actions like back blows, abdominal thrusts, and other first-aid essentials. 

As you review the quiz, some questions seem pretty obvious and easy to answer, like whether or not you should avoid the broken glass on the floor. (Hint: The answer is yes.) However, this is a great practice for successful healthcare video production because it highlights some simple dangers that can easily be overlooked, due to nerves or hecticness.. 

By forcing viewers to make active choices, it’ll be easier for them to replicate it during a real emergency, which is why it’s one of the best healthcare interactive video examples out there.

2. Taco Bell’s “The Belluminati” – Change Your Audience’s Perception

This Taco Bell video was one of the most praised interactive video examples. It was developed with the goal of raising awareness for the brand’s new menu items. The fast-food chain faced a problem: Although they had a large selection of tacos, burritos, and other items, customers did not perceive their menu as unique. 

Taco Bell aimed to change that with this interactive ad, which conveyed how Taco Bell’s value menu differs from other fast-casual restaurants. On it, viewers could direct the plot by selecting different actions for the characters. The viewer could take various paths and experience the narrative in different ways, making for a fun and engaging experience.

This, combined with the interactive elements, strengthened the connection with their younger audience by transforming them into active participants in the brand’s secret society while positioning the value menu as an appealing and affordable option.

3. Nike – Offer New and Unique Experiences 

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In this Nike interactive video example, viewers have to choose an outfit for a photo shoot promoting the new Air Max shoes. This creative advertisement has a stylist walking the audience through each item and providing realistic depictions of how the clothing might appear in real life. This allows viewers to feel like they’re shopping in real life, choosing their favorite clothes and thinking about how they’d combine them, making it one of the most effective interactive video examples.

Offering fresh, original experiences to your audience is at the core of most video marketing companies‘ efforts. For Nike’s audience, picturing themselves as members of the styling team and making decisions on how to customize and design outfits for a photoshoot can be both entertaining and insightful, contributing to building a positive association with the brand.

4. Google – Showcase Your Service in New Lights

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Tilt Brush is a virtual reality app developed by Google to create 3D drawings. To promote it, the tech giant commissioned six acclaimed artists to paint in real-time using their software, and then created this interactive video where you can choose one of them and watch as the artist starts filling a black space with their talent.

The best interactive video examples serve to perfectly demonstrate how the new drawing tool works in a new, original way that helps viewers gain a deeper understanding of what it has to offer. Here,viewers gets to experience how the images begin to take shape from any angle by altering the perspective of the artist in action, making a video that’s impossible to stop looking at.

5. SBS – Engage New Senses

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This beautiful, inspiring piece was created by Australian broadcaster SBS, and it follows the story of Angelina as she tries to learn Marra. The animated interactive video takes us around her remote village in Northern Australia, showing elements from the landscape like rivers, houses, and animals, and making the viewers repeat how these words sound in that language.

This video reminds us that interaction is more than adding buttons and hotspots to your videos. In fact, the best interactive video examples take advantage of sound and listening features to engage viewers, too. After all, most people watch videos today on cellphones or computers, which have microphones incorporated. 

Following this example, consider how your audience is going to watch your videos and think of all the elements you can take advantage of to make your interactions more interesting and unique.

6. Cisco – Harness the Power of Gamification

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This quiz developed by Cisco may be a little old, but it helps us better understand the early stages of interactive videos and see how much they’ve evolved over time. 

The educational video in question was designed to test the viewer’s understanding of English phrases with comprehension questions to promote Cisco’s online teaching resources. 

But what makes it one of the best interactive video examples around is how it leverages gamification, which is all about translating the logic of video games into education. For example, adding interactive elements like the hearts at the top, which resemble a game’s life bar, can make the learning experience more fun. 

On top of that, these elements help keep the viewer’s attention and improve comprehension of the topics at hand. Even if you don’t offer educational services, you can use interactive video ads to test the viewer’s knowledge about your brand or better educate them on the unique benefits of your product.

7. Stand Up for Safety –  Take Advantage of the Viewer’s Curiosity

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This interactive piece instructs viewers by identifying potential safety hazards, and it serves as proof that you don’t need a big budget to come up with an effective video. 

Here, just by displaying clickable danger signs when the main character is engaging in a potentially dangerous habit, the video teaches viewers how to stay alert and avoid them. In order to discover why some common practices may be dangerous, viewers need to click on each sign. 

Without interrupting the flow of the piece, this interactive example exploits the viewers’ curiosity by making them reach out to discover the dangers hidden behind seemingly harmless habits and how to avoid them.

8. The Jungle Book – Build Hype Around a New Product

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Nowadays, customers want to be involved in the development process of the products and services they consume. So, for the launch of the 2016 remake of the classic Jungle Book movie, Disney released this stunning interactive video that features a movable split screen. It allows viewers to alternate between scenes from the real film and the pre-computer-generated imagery of the same recordings. 

This interactive piece shows the complicated process video animation services companies go through to develop a live-action film like this one with so many animated animals that must look realistic. It also encourages viewers to discover more about the plot and the cast with clickable hotspots that reveal more details.

In a way, it’s setting up a treasure hunt for viewers to actively interact with the content and learn more about all the work behind the film, which is why it had to be among our best interactive video examples list. Interesting engagements like these entertain viewers and help the company build hype around its upcoming film.

9. Cloneable Customer Service – Train Your Workforce

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Here, we have an interesting training interactive video example. The goal of this piece is to empower employees to gain control of their conversations with clients in situations with high tension. So, the video features Joseph, a customer with a difficult scenario that viewers need to solve by choosing different approaches to his requests. Depending on their answers, the conversation and the outcome will differ. 

Interactive videos can be especially effective for training viewers on key soft skills like communication and customer service because they allow you to display real-life scenarios and how they can develop depending on the viewer’s choices. Here, the direct approach makes it easy for learners to feel empathy and interest in Joseph’s situation and better prepares them for what they’ll encounter once they start meeting with clients in person.

Check out our list of training video production companies that can help you develop a video like this one for you!

10. Hyundai – Get Viewers Accustomed to Your Product

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This Hyundai interactive example allows viewers to explore the various features of their new car in real-time. By clicking on the hotspots—which are tucked away at the bottom of the video to avoid being too distracting—viewers can learn more about specific car features or watch short clips of the vehicle in action.

What distinguishes this video from other interactive video examples is that it is specifically designed for mobile users. Making your videos mobile-friendly is a good idea because users can interact more easily with a touch screen than with a computer setup. 

If you want to create interactive video content that caters to viewers, allowing users to interact in a non-demanding way is fundamental—and this video achieves just that.

11. Nespresso – Appeal to Both Existing and New Customers

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According to Hubspot, 73% of customers who watch a video will make a purchase. Product videos allow you to virtually demonstrate a product to prospective customers and show them how it meets their needs. Sadly, it can be hard to maintain a viewer’s attention while showcasing how your product works. Nespresso sorted out that difficulty by adding interaction.

These compelling interactive video examples enhance the viewer’s experience by letting the consumers control the demonstration to their liking. 

Moreover, what makes this example shine is how Nespresso can appeal to both existing and new customers in a single interactive video. Depending on the viewer’s knowledge and how they interact with the video, the complexity of the product demonstration shifts, offering a dynamic but educational experience to a wider audience.

12. Mended Little Hearts – Let People See the Results of Their Donations

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Mended Little Hearts is a charity for children with congenital heart disease, and its recent campaign, ‘Give a Fuller Life’, depicts a day in the life of 11-year-old Max. Each time the viewer donates money, Max’s life gets a little brighter, highlighting how a small act that involves just a few clicks online can dramatically transform a kid’s life.

When marketing for charities and special causes, one of the most important things to ensure its success is to let donors see the effects of their contributions. After all, people donate not only because they want to help others but also because seeing them happy thanks to their efforts helps them feel good about themselves.

However, this can be quite a challenge when you’re dealing with sensitive topics or when you simply can’t show the beneficiaries. That’s why this piece is one of the best interactive video examples. By taking advantage of animated characters, they can  sort out these difficulties and show the impact of your help to increase donations.

13. Chelsea FC – Show Your Behind-the-Scenes

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It’s every football fan’s dream to tour the grounds of their favorite club and spend some one-on-one time with their idols. Chelsea knows that very well, and that’s why this video tour of CFC uses interactive video ads and a first-person point-of-view to give viewers an immersive experience through the VIP areas of the team’s training grounds.

What makes this one of the greatest interactive video examples is how they offer enhanced behind-the-scenes experiences for the viewers by taking advantage of this format. You cannot tour every Chelsea fan around the training grounds, but you can make them feel like they’re talking with the players in real life.

Providing customers with something interesting and unique like this will win them over for life and encourage them to stick with the team through thick and thin.

14. Honda – Make Use of Branching

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The Honda Civic is a well-known family car; however, with their campaign “The Other Side,” the brand also publicized itself as a great getaway vehicle. This video aims to show the different realities for one Honda driver: In one, he’s a carpool dad picking up his kids from school. In the other, the father runs from the police at lightning speed. The viewer could switch between realities by holding down the letter “R.”

Here, Honda makes use of the branching technique, which entails offering a user a choice of multiple content pathways to create a personalized experience. I don’t think Honda was trying to encourage drivers to use their new Civic as a getaway car.

However, this video shows the audience that there’s more to Honda than a familiar car and that you can fill it with adventure, depending on from which side you want to drive it. As we showed with the Taco Bell example, too, interactive video examples can be a great way to change the way your audience sees you, as they are more prone to leaving an impact than other types of content.

15. Buzzfeed – Make Use of “Luck”

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Another king of interactive videos is Buzzfeed. This news outlet became famous for its hilarious, sarcastic quizzes, and now they have started developing them as interactive video ads, too. In this fun tarot quiz, the reader asks viewers to click on the deck of cards. Depending on the time they take to do that, a different one with a different reading will come out. 

You can use “luck” in your interactive marketing examples and set up different outcomes depending on which time the viewer is watching the video, how long they take to answer, or whether they’re watching from their phone, computer, or TV. This will allow you to come up with unique experiences for the viewers that surprise them and make them feel as if the content is just for them.

16. HubSpot Academy – Take Customer Education to Another Level

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Interactive video examples aren’t only for training staff: they can also be used to educate viewers. HubStop knows this very well, as they’ve built a position in the marketing industry as a recognized educator and reliable source of information for marketers of all kinds. This allows them to gain a constant influx of clients looking to boost their work with their software.

An important element of HubSpot’s Academy’s courses is interactive videos. Hubspot uses interactive lessons to educate users about inbound marketing, sales, and customer service. These videos include quizzes, clickable resources, and progress tracking, which keep learners interested throughout the course while testing their knowledge. 

By providing free but quality educational content, HubSpot attracts potential customers, who may later become paying users of their marketing automation tools.

Need an Interactive Video? Yum Yum Videos Can Help!

As you’ve seen, interactive video examples are an innovative medium that is changing the marketing industry. Many big brands are exploring this new format; however, smaller businesses and charities are also jumping into new ways to make content.

For a starting business, though, interactive video production may be a challenge a bit too big to take on your own. Thankfully, we’re here for you. At Yum Yum Videos, we believe in creating customized video content that works as a bridge connecting brands and people. That’s why:

• We start by putting our clients’ needs first! We will work tirelessly to produce the most engaging and unique video for you, regardless of the message you wish to convey to your target audience!
• We recognize that no two businesses are alike! We work hard to ensure that our videos highlight that distinctiveness. Although there are many components in our recipe for creating the greatest live-action and animated explainer videos, the key is paying close attention to the little things in ways that convey your brand’s voice and personality.
• However, we don’t forget that no one understands your company better than you do! That’s why we believe in listening to our client’s feedback from start to finish. That’s the best way for us to make the final product better.

If you want to know more about what our video production process looks like from the mouth of one of our past clients, just take a look a this testimonial:

And if you want to ask us any questions at all, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us!

Interactive Videos: FAQ

As you can see from these interactive video examples, this impressive piece of content can greatly impact your marketing efforts. By leveraging gamification and building interesting storylines, you can share important brand messages, entertain viewers, and build excitement around new products before they launch.

This won’t only boost brand awareness, but it can also leave a very good impression of you in your audience’s minds. However, as you may have noticed, learning how to make interactive videos is no easy task. To help you understand this format and how you can leverage it better, here are some frequently asked questions about interactive videos.

1. How do you make an interactive video?

When creating interactive video ads, proper planning is crucial. It’s easy for users to get distracted by the interactions and lose sight of the main goal of the content, so developing a clear storyline is key.

To achieve that, start by understanding what your objective is. Do you want users to have fun, or to learn something new? Are you developing a single video or an interactive video campaign? Once you’ve planned in detail what your video’s objective is, write a detailed script that plans how the video will progress step-by-step, including moments of interactivity, like clickable areas, pop-up text, or quizzes.

Additionally, design all the branching points, focusing on guiding the viewers toward your final objective no matter what choices they make. Only then can you start developing the videos.

2. What are examples of interactive marketing?

Interactive video examples have been used in marketing for several years now. A common, easy format is shoppable videos, like the Nike ad we showed, where viewers can click on items worn by models during the video to immediately purchase them.

Video with quizzes is another option, often used during employer training or for customer contests. An example of this is the Hubspot piece. In them, viewers need to answer correctly to gain a benefit from your company. 

Lastly, a commonly used format is choose-your-own-adventure style content, in which the users pick open different outcomes, allowing them to choose how the story goes. You can see this type of interactive video ad in the Taco Bell ad.

3. Which types of questions are asked in interactive videos?

The types of questions in interactive video examples can vary greatly depending on the video’s purpose, target audience, and desired outcome. Your content should be different if you simply want to engage viewers than if you wish to educate them and guide them to convert.

If you want to educate users, multiple-choice questions may be better, as they will force them to explore the options to try and think of the right answer. On the other hand, if you want them to engage, decision-making questions with a limited among of options may be better to guide them to act. In these cases, you don’t want them to think extensively but to act based on their instincts, after all.

Wrapping up

As you can see from these interactive video examples, this type of engaging content is more than some hotspots in a lineal piece and a few questions the viewers must answer to continue watching. They’re actually all about planned and thoroughly designed interactions with your content to offer unique experiences that entertain the viewer and leave a positive, distinctive impression of your brand in their minds.

The benefits of these types of videos are great: giving the viewer the choice to take the video in a new direction compared to just watching the video from start to finish changes the way viewers interact with the content, opening new ways to build relationships between customers and the brand and foster loyalty.

And today, more and more businesses are giving them an opportunity. If you don’t want to be left behind, now is your time. Partner up with your favorite animated video production company and give it a go!