Over the last year the growth of video content on media sites has been astounding. For corporations like the BBC the emphasis on video elements was obvious but to see publications like the Wall Street Journal embrace video when for decades its print edition had eschewed photographs in favor of illustrated sketches was a bit of an eye-opener.

Still as media companies morph their various Balkanised print, online and TV arms into one multi-platform newsgathering operation, video journalism will become increasingly prevalent on web pages and mobile devices.

Which is why today’s report in the Guardian that “Times Online is seeking a tie-up with Sky News to boost its online video content,” seems part of what will be a fast-growing trend.

Companies won’t be far behind. As Matt Rhodes from Freshnetworks pointed out in a blog post, our YouTube Top 10 Brand list showed that brands who are “actively controlling their image through social media are broadly
speaking allowing a positive image of themselves to spread. The most
popular videos on YouTube of them are by them and are positive. Those not as active in social media suffer from a more negative brand image.”

We’ll be chatting more about the role that video is playing in online story telling in our Video Killed the Blogging Star discussion at next month’s Social Media Influence conference.