Video backgrounds suck: Ban them from your website

“I just love those video backgrounds and we need them on our new website.” No, you don’t. “They are so engaging and set a friendly mood.” No, they don’t. “It’s an amazing new feature and it helps conversion.” No, it doesn’t. Besides that the conversation is annoying me, video backgrounds suck big time. Our good friend Karl Gilis of AGConsult said it perfectly: “Video backgrounds are the new sliders. They’re a distraction.” And just like sliders suck and should be banned from your website, so do video backgrounds.

Why do you need it?

I dare to state that video backgrounds were invented by web agencies trying to convince customers of a particular design:

• Hey, this will make you stand out!
• Now, this really sets a mood on your website, don’t you think?
• Of course, we can create that video for you at a mere x dollars extra
• They will keep your visitors’ attention, so time on page goes up and that’s good for Google.

What!? You’re not maintaining that site for Google, but for your users. The second reason for video backgrounds is that we all have said at one point in time: well, that looks nice. We should have thought about it before saying that. Our customers have seen it as well and now they want it.

This GIF file probably got your attention already, but background videos are worse, IMHO. I honestly can’t think of any additional benefit of it for your visitor.

Why video backgrounds suck

Think about it:

• Video backgrounds increase loading time for a page (source: common sense).
• They distract from the primary message/call-to-action on a page. Even if that button or whatever is bright orange and your design is monochrome, a video is distracting!
• They usually use videos not hosted by you. But if it doesn’t load, you’ll get the blame anyway and your design will look like crap.
• ‘Cover the entire screen with video and set white text on top of it as the homepage’ probably is a trend. Let’s all put an end to this trend.
• Autoplay sucks, and how on earth would it be logical to have a start button for a background video!? A call-to-action for your background? C’mon!
• Perhaps they might work on very specific landing pages in very specific niches, most of the times you’ll just hurt conversion #alwaysbetesting
• The things that go for informative products videos do not apply to video backgrounds. It’s a different thing! Really! Sigh.
• Why do you think successful sites on the web don’t use video backgrounds? Right!

Video backgrounds suck and should be banned from your website. Even with all the nice-looking examples in this article: Dos and Don’ts for Using Background Videos on Your Website, I still think the don’ts outweigh the dos. And that post is two years old. How come we haven’t put an end to that trend yet?

And what about mobile data plans and such?

Yes! Now that we have established that you just don’t need that video background for any reason, think about how much data you will have left at the end of this month! You’ll be able to watch another episode of The Ranch while commuting.

No, seriously. On your mobile website, that video background simply makes even less sense. We talked about mobile UX in this post, and video backgrounds don’t fit in with recommendations like ‘tone it down’ and ‘optimize for speed’. It’s a bad idea. Period.

The world doesn’t need video backgrounds

We have to start somewhere to eliminate the evil that is video backgrounds. Heal the world, start at your own home. Convince your customers that there are little upsides to them. Show them a dozen websites that either support your claims or that fail to convince the visitor to use it. And please, please stop recommending them. On behalf of the entire internet, I thank you.

Note: If, after reading this, you still have good reasons for adding a video background to your site, we have some tips for you. Follow our guide to optimize your video background and avoid making mistakes at the expense of user experience.

Read more: Sliders suck and should be banned from your website »