Viewers retain 95% of a message in video vs 10% in text
Unsourced Confidence: high
No primary data found; the trail ends in a roundup, a disowned quote or a circular citation.
- Commonly cited as
- "Studies show viewers retain 95% of a video message"
- True origin
- Insivia (agency) — Why Do Viewers Retain 95% of a Video Message, But Only 10% of Text?
- Type
- Stat check: A widely repeated statistic traced back to its origin.
- Year
- late 2000s
- Data as of
- late 2000s
- Last checked
- What the source says
It was directional. It was not a peer-reviewed neuroscience study.
- Method & sample
- The originator describes a small, unpublished survey of ~200 B2B buyers; no data or method published.
- Drift between quote and source
- Precision: a directional pattern became a 'scientific' fact
- Interest
- Insivia sells marketing services, including video.
Safe rephrasing
Don't cite 95%/10%. If needed, say video can improve recall for complex topics, and cite peer-reviewed work on dual coding.
Sources we opened
- Insivia — origin explanation (primary)
Machine-readable: /api/claims/video-95-percent-retention.json · Last checked 2026-10-16