There was a time corporate video production sat on the sidelines of brand communication. But now that there are over 3.37 billion digital video viewers worldwide, corporate videos are becoming integral to businesses. They influence trust, sales cycles, hiring outcomes, investor perception, and internal alignment.
In 2026, video planning requires sharper planning than before. Formats have multiplied across platforms, and the advent of AI video production tools has further added novelty to video marketing. With customers becoming more eco-conscious, sustainability questions have started appearing in vendor discussions, board conversations, compliance reviews, and public scrutiny.
Long story short, you need to go over your corporate video strategy and make some changes. Our corporate video production guide discusses new trends, tools, and strategies that brands need to adopt to keep up with competitors in 2026.
Corporate video production trends for 2026 reflect changes in everything from format to production style and the type of tools used in the process. The presence of video has also become more common.
Corporate video production no longer starts with a big brand film and works its way down. It starts small. It shows up in feeds, stories, messages, posts and previews.
Due to this, audiences tend to form a view about your brand even before they see a logo or read your mission statement. So, it’s important that you incorporate these trends in your strategy to get off on the right foot from the first touchpoint.
Vertical clips pull people in. They work because they fit how people watch now, on phones, between tasks, during short breaks, often with the sound off. However, expecting these clips to explain everything is where many brands trip.
The main thing that short-form videos do well is that they spark interest and hint at value. They’re an invitation for the next step. For example, a short explainer video about your brand, such as this one from Microsoft, can garner interest. With 98% of consumers having watched an explainer video, this is a bound-to-work strategy.
But here’s the thing: the next step also matters. A short clip should lead somewhere useful, such as a landing page, a sales deck, a product video, or a longer explanation that answers real questions.
In 2026, your short-form videos on TikTok or Reels shouldn’t just focus on hoping for virality. They should guide the viewers to another touchpoint that increases the chances of conversions.
Leadership and founder-led videos are back, though not in the glossy way brands pushed a few years ago. Audiences have seen enough scripted speeches delivered from spotless offices. They know when a message has been rehearsed too many times.
What works now feels closer to a conversation than a performance. It could be a founder explaining a decision or a senior leader talking through a challenge without hiding behind brand language. The human-ness of these videos makes them a hit among your audience.
For example, Viral Nation creates a lot of leadership-led videos on Instagram. These leaders share insights about new trends and what changes the agency is making in terms of client projects.
Your founder video content stack should include behind-the-scenes culture videos, origin stories, product breakdowns, customer success spotlights, and more. Ideally, these videos should be planned lightly.
Choose a quiet setting and keep the take count low. Let leaders speak in their own words. This helps the result feel grounded and believable, which is exactly why audiences keep watching.
Experts forecast that the AI video market could grow to become a $42.29 billion giant by 2033, and the estimates make sense considering most organizations have started using AI for video marketing.
AI tools handle transcription, caption creation, rough sequencing, version control, and footage search across large libraries. These uses save time without changing the tone or intent of the video.
For example, Popeyes used Suno and Veo3 to generate lyrics, visual data, and music for its AI-generated diss track that took a swipe at McDonald’s. It only took them 3 days to do it all.
Viewers rarely notice any of this work happening. That lack of visibility makes these uses safer for brands concerned about trust or perception.
The story and editing decisions still come from people. AI supports the process without speaking for the brand. Nike’s Never Done Evolving feat. Serena Williams campaign is a good example. The original creative idea came from the team. AI then helped generate AI avatars to create a digitally-generated tennis match.
Accessibility is now a basic requirement for corporate videos. The following additions are a must:
These decisions shape engagement as much as creative direction does. A well-shot video loses impact when dialogue feels hard to follow or when there are no captions.
Teams now plan accessibility from the start. Scripts account for the reading speed, and visuals leave room for text. This video from Dyson is a good example.
Modern consumers care about the environment, and they want the brands they shop from to do so, too. PwC found that consumers are willing to pay as high as a 9.7% sustainability premium, despite the looming inflationary concerns.
In many cases, the environmental impact of a brand and its products determines whether people will buy from it or not. Around 73% of respondents in a survey said that a product’s environmental impact is important to them in making the purchasing decision.
Besides consumers, internal and external stakeholders are also concerned about sustainability and ESG. Brands are asked to explain why a shoot required flights, hotels, generators, and large sets. Those questions come from procurement teams, legal reviewers, investors, and sometimes employees.
Sustainability now shows up long before the camera turns on. It appears in RFPs, vendor scorecards, compliance reviews, and internal approval notes.
Video teams feel the pressure because production decisions leave a visible trail. Travel plans, crew size, and material use raise questions.
Similarly, there’s a need for focus on ESG-aware video production. With all your competitors doing it, you can’t stay behind. Virgin Atlantic is one of the many brands that have been creating such videos for a while.
ESG-focused corporate video production should include choices that can be documented. These may include using:
Sustainability in video now lives in planning documents, vendor agreements, call sheets, and post-project reports rather than voiceovers or taglines. The audiences and investors look at these factors to decide if your business is worth the investment.
Purpose no longer lands through lofty narration or sweeping visuals. Audiences have seen too many brand films that sound meaningful without showing anything specific. They listen for substance now.
Purpose comes through behavior. It shows up in how a company treats customers, supports employees, handles mistakes, and makes decisions when things get uncomfortable.
Video works best when it captures those moments without making them into something unrecognizable. For example, Metropolitan State University of Denver created a welcome video for new employees, which showed that the university values and recognizes every person.
Viewers respond to simple scenes, such as a team solving a problem, a customer explaining what changed for them, or an employee describing how work actually feels. These details carry more weight than any scripted mission statement.
Corporate video production now relies on a number of tools to keep projects on track and maintain quality across teams. In 2026, the focus is on collaboration and efficiency.
During the planning phase, teams use digital storyboards, shot lists, scheduling tools, and budget trackers to minimize reshoots and avoid misalignment. Studiobinder is an excellent tool that lets you format scripts and visualize storyboards and shot lists.
You don’t necessarily have to learn how to use new tools from scratch. Options like Notion, which most teams already use, also help in terms of script breakdowns, scene planning, and crew coordination.
If you already use Adobe Firefly, it has a free AI storyboard generator that turns ideas into visual scenes. Meanwhile, InVideo’s AI script generator can write scripts with strong CTAs and hooks. You can use it with Google’s VEO 3.1 to make longer videos, such as brand stories. The following video explains the process in detail.
Direct camera-to-cloud uploads have become essential for modern teams, especially when multiple locations or remote editors are involved. Editors can start assembling footage while shoots continue and speed up turnaround.
Tools like Arri Webgate and Blackmagic Cloud allow footage to be uploaded in real time. These tools keep everyone in sync and make sure files are backed up without manual transfers or shipping drives.
Modern editors handle faster assembly, auto captions, color correction, multi-format exports, and versioning. So, teams can maintain a consistent look across platforms. Some tools you can try are:
These tools reduce repetitive work and make producing multiple video versions easier.
As we’ve mentioned, your 2026 corporate video strategy should account for ESG and sustainability. Teams now rely on green production checklists, emissions calculators, and supplier disclosures to track environmental impact.
Several tools make this process easier. For example, Ecoprod provides structured checklists and scoring systems to track sustainable practices on set. Similarly, CarbonLens calculates emissions from travel and materials to help teams report impact accurately.
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Corporate video production does not succeed on tools and trends alone. You also need to use modern strategies. Here’s a roundup of the ones for 2026.
One of the video production best practices you need to take into 2026 is planning for multiple formats since content moves across social media, web, internal channels, and slide decks. Framing and visuals are carefully set to work for vertical, square, and wide screens, which prevents costly reshoots and preserves visual quality.
Make sure you capture all necessary angles in a single take. This way, the same video can serve as a short social clip or a longer brand video for your website. Here’s a video showing how to repurpose longer content for short-form videos.
When internal teams struggle to do this, it helps to bring in a video production company. Professional crews keep the requirements of different formats in mind while shooting to make distribution easier later on.
Sustainability begins with the choices made during production rather than the messages on screen. In 2026, organizations should use local crews, reduce travel, reuse sets, and choose efficient lighting to lower costs and environmental impact.
Suppose you want to create social media content in Hyde Park, Chicago. It’s best to work with a Chicago video production agency like INDIRAP. Not only do you get local expertise, but you also lower costs related to traveling and have no trouble securing permits for shooting outdoors.
These operational decisions support ESG goals without needing to be highlighted in the video itself. They also make production more responsible while keeping projects on time and on budget.
As AI becomes more common in video production, teams need clear boundaries to protect brand integrity. Written guidelines define acceptable uses, disclosure rules, approval steps, and review processes.
They clarify what types of AI-generated content can appear on screen, how captions or translations are handled, and when synthetic elements are appropriate. Some key elements of internal AI standards include:
Many organizations have created AI usage guidelines that you can take inspiration from. For example, the US Department of Energy has one that can be your starting point.
Videos with accessibility features reach more viewers and are watched longer. In 2026, plan for these elements early to avoid last-minute additions and fixes.
Some key accessibility practices include:
Canva has a guide on making your video content more accessible.
When accessibility is built into every stage, from scripting to final edits, videos become easier to follow, more inclusive, and more effective across platforms.
If you’re planning to work with a video marketing agency, don’t just choose on the basis of the lowest bid. Delivery reliability, communication habits, documentation practices, and sustainability alignment influence whether a partnership will succeed over time.
Vendors who can handle scheduling changes, provide clear updates, track revisions, and follow green production practices are a good fit. Some other factors to look for in video production services include responsiveness and the ability to manage multiple formats or platforms at once.
Corporate video production in 2026 is about more than recording footage. It requires planning for multiple formats, embedding accessibility, managing AI responsibly, and factoring sustainability into every decision.
Trends like short-form content, executive-led messaging, and purpose-driven storytelling create opportunities. But they only work when you combine them with the right tools and long-term vendor partnerships.
INDIRAP is one such vendor, keeping up with new trends and strategies to keep our clients at par with modern standards. We offer full-funnel video production and paid media campaigns that incorporate all video production best practices you need to follow in 2026.
Book a strategy call to turn your video content into a growth engine.
The most notable corporate video production trends for 2026 include executive-led messaging, purpose-driven storytelling, AI-supported workflows, accessibility standards, and sustainability-focused production.
AI tools support transcription, captions, content search, language translation, and rough sequencing. Internal guidelines help teams use AI responsibly to maintain brand integrity while speeding production without relying on on-screen synthetic elements.
Sustainability influences crew selection, travel, set design, energy use, and materials. ESG-aligned practices reduce environmental impact and document responsible production without needing to feature the message on screen.
In 2026, teams can use pre-production platforms, camera-to-cloud workflows, editing software, AI support tools, and review systems. These tools support your video marketing strategy and reduce production delays.
Sustainability matters in 2026 because audiences and stakeholders expect brands to minimize impact. However, they don’t just want to hear about the brand’s efforts but actually see them. Video is a great way to exhibit these initiatives, not just in terms of impact but also in the initial process of making the video itself.
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