The popularity of storytelling through animated videos has grown exponentially in recent years. Publishers such as AJ+ and vox.com, have targeted a younger audience and utilise colourful moving graphics to tell good stories.
Animated graphics help describe the nuances of stories better than recorded video. Data statistics and processes can be highlighted and treated to their own space in a video, rather than as voice-over or text on top of related video footage.
This is not to say that animations can’t be used to tell entire stories. They are especially good at illustrating stories for which there is little to no gripping video content.
This video by AJ+ about the possibility of human life on Mars, uses a beautiful variety of graphics in a cardboard cutout style to tell an informative story, which otherwise would likely be illustrated by photos of the planet itself, which — what with it being so far away — we don’t have a vast variety of.
Animation is also great for telling abstract stories like this one by vox.com on how technology has changed the definition of death.
Users are much more likely to engage with content that has visually interesting information. This also means they are more likely to engage in content than they would not have done previously because it has been presented to them in an attractive way.