© 2026
The 2026 Video Data, Read From a Minneapolis Freelancer's Seat
Demand is saturated, output went continuous, and polish is not the same as quality. What the 2026 video reports actually mean if you are the one shooting.
Every year the reports land and the takeaway gets flattened to do more video. Here is the version that is useful if you are the one making it.
Every year the video marketing reports land and every year the takeaway gets flattened into the same headline. Video is big. Do more video. Fine, but that is not much use to anyone actually making it.
So here is the 2026 data read from the other side. What it means if you are the freelancer getting booked, and what it tells you about which work is worth chasing in a market like Minneapolis.
Demand is not the constraint anymore
Wyzowl's 2026 State of Video Marketing Report has 91% of businesses using video and 93% of marketers calling it important to their strategy. Those numbers have been climbing for a decade and they are close to saturated.
Which is the actual signal. When nearly every business already wants video, you are no longer selling the idea of video. You are competing on whether yours is worth what it costs, and that is a different pitch entirely. The freelancers I see doing well stopped explaining why video matters years ago.
Short form is where the money moved
HubSpot's 2026 report names short-form the highest-ROI content format, top performer for 49% of marketers. Wyzowl has social video as the most produced format overall at 69%.
For anyone building a freelance business, that has a practical consequence. The work is shifting from one big annual brand film toward continuous smaller output, which changes what you should be selling. A single production day that yields a month of content is a fundamentally different product from a one-off film, and it prices differently, schedules differently, and retains clients far better.
It is also why so much of my own recurring work is structured monthly rather than per project. Not because monthly is trendy. Because that is the shape the demand actually has now.
The quality bar rose, but not where people assume
Wyzowl found 89% of consumers say video quality directly affects how much they trust a brand. Pair that with one more from HubSpot: 76% of marketers say authentic content now outperforms highly polished production on social.
Those look contradictory and they are not. Quality still decides trust. Polish is not the same thing as quality. Clean audio, exposure you meant, a shot that holds still when it should, a cut with a reason behind it. That is quality. A colour grade that took four hours and a drone move nobody asked for is polish, and on social it frequently reads worse than the plain version.
Useful thing to know when you are deciding where the hours go on a job.
What this means for a Minneapolis freelancer specifically
Local businesses here are competing with national brands that have real budgets, and video is the cheapest place they can close that gap. That is most of why the work exists at this volume in the Twin Cities, and why it comes from businesses you would not necessarily expect.
The other half is that Wyzowl puts average viewing at 17 hours a week per person, and social platforms increasingly function as search. A business that turns up in both places has an advantage over one that only turns up in Google. That is the argument that lands with local owners, and it is an easier one to make than anything about production value.
Two things worth adding to what you offer, if you have not: drone under an FAA Part 107 certificate, and stills from the same shoot. Both are asked for constantly and both are cheap to attach to a day you are already booked for.
The short version
Demand is saturated, so stop selling the concept. Output is going continuous, so sell that shape. Quality decides trust but polish is not quality, so spend the hours where they show. Wyzowl has 92% of marketers planning to spend the same or more on video this year, which means the work is there. It is just going to whoever has figured out what it is actually for.
Work with me
I'm Dom. I shoot and create content for brands out of Minneapolis, and I founded Nrth Media, a production studio here in the Twin Cities.
Hire me directly if you want one person who shoots it, finishes it, and hands back content built for where it is going. Fifteen years behind a camera, FAA Part 107 certified for drone.
Hire the studio if it needs a crew. That is Nrth Media.
Tell me what you are working on and I will tell you honestly what I would do first.
Sources
WRITTEN BY DOM BORKA
Dom Borka is a videographer, creator, and photographer in Minneapolis. He has been shooting since 2011, was a featured producer on an Emmy-winning broadcast, and makes content for brands including Sony Alpha, DJI, and Kondor Blue. FAA Part 107 certified. When a job needs a crew, it goes to his studio, Nrth Media.
