The First Clear Picture of What’s Working in Advisor Video
For years, financial advisors have heard the same message: video matters.
It builds trust faster. It helps prospects get to know you before the first meeting. It gives your best ideas a longer shelf life. And in a crowded market where AI-generated content is making everything feel more generic, video gives advisors something harder to fake: a real human presence.
But knowing video matters and actually creating it are still two very different things.
That showed up clearly in the findings from the 2026 State of Advisor Video Survey.
The big takeaways
Advisors are no longer debating whether video is important.
They’ve already decided.
Our survey found that:
That gap may be the most important story in the data.
There is no longer a major awareness problem. Most advisors already understand the opportunity. They know video can help them build visibility, credibility, and connection. What’s getting in the way now is execution.
Advisors believe in video more than ever
One of the clearest signals from this year’s survey is that video has moved from “nice to have” to “should be doing.”
A few years ago, video still felt optional for many advisors. It was something innovative firms experimented with, while others stayed on the sidelines. Today, that mindset is changing. Advisors increasingly see video as part of modern marketing and communication, not an extra tactic reserved for the most tech-savvy few.
That growing belief likely reflects what advisors are seeing all around them: clients consume information differently now. Prospects expect to get a feel for who you are before they ever reach out. Attention is harder to win. Trust is harder to earn. And static marketing alone isn’t enough anymore.
Video meets that moment better than almost any other format.
That gap may be the most important story in the data.
There is no longer a major awareness problem. Most advisors already understand the opportunity. They know video can help them build visibility, credibility, and connection. What’s getting in the way now is execution.
That gap may be the most important story in the data.
There is no longer a major awareness problem. Most advisors already understand the opportunity. They know video can help them build visibility, credibility, and connection. What’s getting in the way now is execution.
So why are only half of advisors actually doing it?
If nearly nine out of ten advisors think they should be creating video, why are just over half actually doing it?
Because the challenge was never just belief. It’s follow-through.
For many advisors, video still feels harder than it should. They may be unsure what to say, worry about looking unpolished, struggle to prioritize it, or assume they need a more complex strategy than they really do. Some are waiting until they have more time. Others are waiting until they feel more confident. Many are waiting until it feels easier.
That’s understandable. But it also creates a costly pattern: advisors keep postponing the very thing they already believe could help them grow.
And in today’s environment, waiting has a price.
Visibility is getting harder, and that changes the stakes
One reason this survey matters now is because the content landscape has changed.
The internet is fuller, louder, and more automated than ever. AI tools have made it easier to churn out endless posts, articles, summaries, and generic advice. That means simply “creating content” is no longer enough to stand out.
What breaks through now is content that feels real.
Video gives advisors a way to show their face, voice, personality, and point of view in a format people can assess quickly. It makes trust more tangible. It helps people decide, “Do I connect with this person?” long before a discovery call.
In a world of AI slop and copycat content, authenticity becomes a competitive advantage. That is part of what makes the survey findings so important: advisors know video can help them compete in this environment, but many still have not built the habit.
What advisors should seize from this
The lesson from the 2026 State of Advisor Video Survey is not that advisors need more persuasion.
It’s that they need more momentum.
If you already believe video is worth the investment, the next question is simple: what is actually preventing you from starting or doing more of it?
For some, the answer is time. For others, it’s strategy. For others, it’s confidence. But whatever the barrier is, it is worth addressing … because the data suggests the advisors who wait may be falling behind in one of the clearest trust-building opportunities available today.
Video is no longer just a trend. It is becoming part of how modern advisors show up, build familiarity, and stay visible.
And the advisors who act on that now will be ahead of the ones still telling themselves they’ll get to it later.
Ready for the full picture?
The survey findings tell a powerful story: advisors see the value of video, but many are still stuck at the starting line.
That should be a wake-up call, but it should also be encouraging.
Because when belief is already in place, progress becomes much easier. The next phase is not about winning the argument for video. It’s about helping more advisors turn intention into action.
And that may be the most important insight in the whole report.
Download the State of Advisor Video Report 2026 to see the complete findings, benchmark where you stand, and get practical insight into how advisors are using video and where the biggest opportunities may still be ahead.
