Strategy · April 2026 · By Ben

How to Study Competitor Videos and Do It Better

Looking at what competitors do with video feels like cheating. It's not. It's research.

Your competitors have already made the mistakes. They've tested what works. They've figured out what their audience responds to. You can learn from all of that without copying them. You just have to watch strategically.

Most people glance at a competitor's video and think "Oh, okay, they do that." And that's where it stops. Real research goes deeper. It asks why. What's the structure? Why does it work? What's missing? How would you do it differently?

What You're Actually Looking For

You're not watching the video to steal it. You're watching it to understand the pattern.

A competitor's video reveals several things: what format works for their audience, what length holds attention, what tone sells their product, how they open, how they close, what call to action converts, and what objections they address.

If five different competitors all open with a pain point before mentioning their solution, that's not coincidence. That's a pattern that works for that market. If they all keep videos under 90 seconds, that's signal. If they all end with "Try free for 14 days," that's a tested CTA.

The Competitor Video Audit (15 Minutes)

Pick three to five direct competitors. Find one video from each (a product overview, a feature demo, or a testimonial). Open a document and watch each one with these questions:

Opening (0–3 seconds): What do they lead with? A problem? A surprising stat? A promise? What words do they use?

Length: How long is it? Under two minutes? Over five?

Format: Talking head? B-roll? Animation? Product demo? Customer testimonial? Mix of all of it?

Tone: Professional and serious? Casual and conversational? High-energy? Storytelling?

Main claims: What are the three biggest things they say about the product or service?

Objection handling: Do they address why someone might hesitate or say no?

Call to action: What's the ask at the end? "Sign up now"? "Free trial"? "Watch this other video"? "Buy today"?

Write this down for each video. Now you have a comparison. You see the patterns. You see the gaps.

What You Do With This Information

This is where most people miss the opportunity. They collect the data and then default to "Let me just copy their format."

Don't. Instead, ask: what are they **not** doing?

At my company with 1,200 employees, we found that most competitors in a particular vertical opened with a feature ("Our software has five modules") but never opened with what the actual person cares about ("You're spending 20 hours a week on manual data entry").

So we opened with the problem. Same product category. Same audience. Different opening. Massively higher engagement.

That came from watching what competitors did and asking what they were missing.

The Three Questions That Reveal Gaps

Question 1: Who are they talking to? Are they speaking to beginners or experts? Decision-makers or individual contributors? The language changes based on audience. If all your competitors are talking to technical people and you're actually selling to non-technical people, you have a differentiation opportunity.

Question 2: What's the emotional arc? Do they open with frustration and close with relief? Do they create curiosity and then deliver a payoff? Most videos follow a simple pattern. If everyone is using "problem-solution-call to action," you could try "story-insight-transformation."

Question 3: What objection are they **not** addressing? They might address "Is it easy to use?" but not "Can I switch from my current tool without losing data?" If that's a real concern and they're not addressing it, there's a gap. Your video fills it.

The Format Decision

You'll notice patterns in format. B-roll-heavy videos work for certain products. Talking heads work for others. Animation works for complex ideas. Customer testimonials work for trust-building.

The format isn't random. It's chosen because it's the best way to explain that particular thing to that particular audience.

Watch your competitors' videos and ask: why did they choose this format? Is it because the audience expects it? Is it because the complexity demands it? Is it because they're showing motion or change?

Then decide: should you follow that pattern, or should you break it?

The Opening Is Everything

Spend extra attention on the first five seconds. That's where 80% of the decision-making happens.

Competitors will teach you what openings work in your space. Some will start with a question. Some with a statement. Some with a visual hook. Some with a customer's pain point.

Write down the first sentence of each competitor video. Look for patterns. Now, knowing those patterns, what opening would stand out? What would make someone stop scrolling?

If everyone opens with "Our product has three features," and you open with "Here's what most people get wrong about this problem," you win.

The Closing Is Your Leverage

Most competitor videos end the same way: "Sign up now" or "Learn more."

What if you closed differently? "Watch what this customer did with our tool." "Download the resource that explains this." "Jump on a 15-minute call with us."

Different closing, different next step, different conversion path. Competitors are usually doing the obvious thing. You can do the smarter thing.

Speed Run: 10-Minute Competitor Analysis

If you're short on time, watch three competitor videos and answer these five questions about each:

1. What's the opening hook (in five words)?
2. How long is it?
3. What format are they using?
4. What's the one main claim?
5. What's the call to action?

Write it down. Look for patterns. Identify one thing they're not doing. Do that instead.

The Danger of Over-Analysis

Don't fall into the trap of analyzing competitors instead of making your own video.

Spend 15 minutes doing this audit. Extract the insights. Then move on. If you spend three weeks watching competitor videos, you'll never hit record.

The goal is informed making, not eternal planning. Look, learn, then build better.