66% More Shareable, 15% More Memorable, 33% More Entertaining: What The Research Says About Whiteboard Animation And Us

It’s a mark of human nature to seek a ‘why’, to need a ‘why’. A strong sense of ‘why’ is what drives the We Are Cognitive team and I forward every day as we democratise knowledge for clients across the world. Finding out ‘why’ is also what led me to collaborate with Professor Richard Wiseman on a psychological study looking at the impact of whiteboard animation on audiences, and what we found was incredible!

The RSA Animates we created had recently launched, and I was simply not prepared for their reception. Even in the early days, the views rolled in by the tens of thousands and each video was quickly followed by a trail of likes, comments and shares.

The reaction was incredible, but I had to know, ‘why?’ Around this time, I crossed paths with Richard and as they say, the rest is history. Our study compared a ‘talking head’ video with a whiteboard animation that used the same voiceover. Luckily for us, the study showed that in three key metrics, the whiteboard animation came out on top. 

Audiences rated it 33% more entertaining, 15% more memorable and 66% more likely to be shared. This research helped explain the amazing reaction to the RSA Animates and showcased the potential of whiteboard animation. 

It’s been almost a decade since Richard and I worked together on that study, and in that time, our research has been ‘borrowed’ by just about every whiteboard animation company that came after us. Richard and I have stayed close throughout, collaborating on the 59 Seconds series, and caught up recently to reminisce about our research and work together. 

A lot has changed since we began our research, YouTube was still young, and social media had barely begun to consume all our attention. I was curious to get Richard’s view on how whiteboard animation has stood up to modern trends. Happily, Richard’s take was positive, “You need material which should look smart, or entertaining, or interesting, and that's what you've got with the whiteboard animations.” 

What was even more interesting was the ever-increasing importance of the sharing statistic. Anyone that braves social media will know how important and sought after this metric is, and the last nine years have only seen the value of shareability increase.

Speaking about shareability, Richard commented, “I think that your whiteboard animations are super smart because they highlight what the speaker is saying. They don't distract from it, they add to it, and that's going be key for shareability.

Richard also got into shareability on a deeper level. “Shareability is a very curious thing, because to me it's a bit like, you know, when you tell somebody a joke, what you're saying is, I find this funny, do you find it funny? So, you're putting yourself on the line. It's not just a joke, you're saying this tells you something about me.”

I hadn’t considered shareability from this point of view before. It highlights the importance of embracing whiteboard animation’s creative freedom to make explainer videos which are relatable and relevant for audiences. It shows that shareability doesn’t just happen, but is the result of careful storytelling, design and fundamentally, a deep understanding of your audience.

Of course, the last nine years have not only seen social media creep into every area of our lives, but they’ve also seen the rise of the algorithm, busily deciding everything we see. Content creators and brands will know the pain this causes and the constant battle to even appear in front of audiences. So, are we all doomed to watch three-second reels of cats falling off tables or is there room for meaningful content? I couldn’t resist taking the chance when talking with an eminent psychologist like Richard to get his take on all of this.

“What you mustn't do is become the equivalent of a cat falling off the table, just because lots of people are watching cats fall off the tables... You know, think back to when everyone was telling us it's got to be long-form, we did short-form to huge success. People are very bad at predicting the future, thank goodness. So there's always a sense of surprise. For all those people that say, oh no, you've got to feed the algorithm, maybe the algorithms already had enough.”

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Now there is a message of hope. It was great to catch up with Richard again, going over what we achieved together and considering where things are going. For even more insights from Richard, watch our case study video included above or listen to the full-length conversation via our latest podcast episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Now I’d like to learn from you. How are you using video, podcast or social media content to get your message across?