Explainerz
Nov 1, 2025
Explainer videos have quietly become an even way to grow online and in 2025 they move from “nice extra” to the core of any serious plan to win customers. People scroll faster, feeds feel packed plus every click costs more. The brands that rise are not always the ones with the biggest budgets - they are the ones that pick the right format, tool and style. Grasping 2025 Explainer Video Trends: What’s Working Right Now is less about chasing each new fad but also more about spotting where viewer habits have changed for good.
Before we list the trends, it helps to see why 2025 Explainer Video Trends: What’s Working Right Now still deliver in 2025. In B2B SaaS, ecommerce, startups and even old line sectors, explainer videos sit where clarity meets persuasion. They take a tricky idea as well as turn it into something short, visual and emotional - they fit crowded feeds and buyers who lack patience. That is why many teams now revisit their video plan or hire studios like Explainerz to refresh their content. If you map out your next calendar or rebuild your funnel, one question stands out - which 2025 Explainer Video Trends: What’s Working Right Now that work today will still matter six to twelve months from now? You do not want to rebuild every quarter - yet you do want to ride waves that already show strong numbers on LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube or landing pages. Let us spell out the key shifts, show what top brands do differently and explain how you can copy the moves without blowing the budget or wrecking the timeline.
AI Now Powers Most of the Work
One clear change in 2025 is that AI now powers most of the work. A few years back AI tools felt like toys. Today they sit inside every step - script drafts, voice clones, smart boards, lip sync, fake sets also instant local voice overs. The gain is not just lower cost, but speed and the freedom to test. A SaaS team can craft three 30-second product explainers, each with a different hook next to visual and run paid tests within days. The winner becomes the “hero” cut that gets full polish. AI does not kill human craft - it boosts it. Teams that win still bring sharp strategy, tight position and clear story. They let AI do the dull jobs so writers plus designers can guard the flow, the mind set of the user and brand voice. AI also changes local work. Brands now push out language specific cuts with native sounding voices, tuned copy but also new visuals in hours, not weeks. That matters when your buyers live in many regions and you want more than English captions slapped on screen.
Vertical First Formats Dominate
Another pillar of 2025 Explainer Video Trends: What’s Working Right Now is the rule of vertical first formats. Shorts besides TikTok have trained people to hold the phone upright as well as watch in quick bites. For explainers you plan the board in portrait from day one - you do not just crop a wide clip. You lose side space - you frame faces, text and product shots for a tall view. Visual order turns vital - one clear focal point, bold shapes or motion type that stays legible in a tiny feed window. Brands that shoot for portrait from scratch earn far higher watch time than those that try to trim old 16:9 files. Vertical explainers shine in three spots - fast problem - solution snaps, feature teases that push to a deeper demo or FAQ clips cut from long content. A common flow - you build a 90-second core film in landscape for the home page - slice a set of 15 - 30-second vertical cuts with hooks tuned for TikTok, Reels next to Shorts. Each spot lists one pain or gain and sends people to the site. Studios like Explainerz now sell “modular boards” for this exact need - so you can reuse without losing sense.
Motion Type Takes Center Stage
Motion type has taken center stage. Many viewers keep the sound off - text is no longer a side note - it is the story. In 2025 Explainer Video Trends: What’s Working Right Now, motion type explainers use big moving words to pound home promises, stats also phrases, locked to beats or cuts. You will not see dense lines - you see short lines that pop, stretch, spin or break in ways that fit the brand tone. For tech goods moving type shows ideas like security, bots or data flow without heavy UI grabs. The trick is control. Too much motion feels cheap and hard to read. The best clips keep one main line per shot, one font family next to strong contrast to the back plate. They mix with small icons, light UI grabs or looped characters, rather than replace all art. For teams on tight funds, motion type gives a high impact, design led look without 3D builds or full character rigs.
Ultra Short Runtimes
Another clear shift in 2025 Explainer Video Trends: What’s Working Right Now is the push for ultra short runtimes. If your clip runs past 60 - 75 seconds, you need a strong excuse. Long cuts still live on product pages or in sales kits - yet first touch is often a 10 - 30 second spot. Those micro explainers act like elevator pitches - they state the pain, show the outcome and hint at the fix without burying the viewer. Paid-media data show that short clips often earn more clicks, lower cost per action plus higher end rate than heavy story pieces at the top of the funnel. In practice you write with ruthless clarity. You pick one buyer, one pain and one promise. Visuals stay light - a few scene jumps, one metaphor but also a firm close. Ultra-short clips also push brands to build “systems” of explainers, not lone hero films. You might own a set of 12 - 20 short clips that cover single pains, gains, sectors or objections, ready for ads, drip mails or sales notes.
Authenticity & Mixed Format Clips
Authenticity still pays - mixed format clips are on the rise - they stitch live shots, screen grabs, user clips and light graphics into one clear piece. The smooth 2D cartoon that once ruled explainer videos still works, but 2025 buyers often trust what feels real - a founder on camera, a quick scroll through the actual app as well as small animated hints that flag value. This hybrid style often beats a fully cartoon abstract. From a work view mixed format clips stay within reach. You can shoot on a phone, grab screens with Loom and ask a motion artist to stitch it all. The key is order - open with a face or voice to earn trust, cut to product proof or layer on labels or arrows to steer eyes. This style fits B2B SaaS, creator tools, course sites and marketplaces where demo counts as much as pitch.
One-to-One Video
The wave of one-to-one video has also hit 2025 Explainer Video Trends: What’s Working Right Now. In 2025 more teams slice their audience finer also build creative for each slice. Instead of one generic brand clip, top crews craft sets tuned to sector, firm size or job role. Samples and metaphors shift if the viewer leads HR, IT or a small shop. Some advanced stacks plug contact data into smart templates - a video opens with the lead's name or firm inside an ABM flow. The best plans weigh reach next to depth. You do not craft 100 full clips - you build one template with swap parts - sector scenes, new dashboards, fresh proof lines and new closes. AI helps again with voice plus edit. The reward is stronger fit, longer watch and more leads on custom pages or cold mails.
Choosing the Right Style
To pick the right style in 2025 Explainer Video Trends: What’s Working Right Now, it helps to weigh the three main camps - classic 2D toon, live-action but also mixed/vertical-first. Each carries distinct strengths, set by your product, claim and channel, which is why
Fast-growing firms rarely pick one style - they mix several.
Explainer Style | Best Use | Key Strengths | Main Limits |
2D Animated | Abstract SaaS onboarding | Looks on brand, turns hard ideas into pictures, assets reuse | Looks stock if overdone, slow without templates |
Live-Action | Customer stories, physical goods | Builds trust, shows real people | Hard to translate, needs shoots, tough to edit later |
Mixed / Vertical-First | Social ads, mobile funnels | Fits feeds, clips swap fast, easy to test | Needs tight brief or it turns messy |
Plan 2025 Explainer Video Trends: What’s Working Right Now as stacked layers, not rivals. Your homepage may carry a crisp 2-D overview, while paid social runs 20-second vertical clips and short customer tales. Data will later tell you which shapes bring the right visitors and deals.
Build for One Funnel Job
Another clear shift - build each video for one funnel job, not for every stage. A cold LinkedIn ad gets a 15-second text only clip that names the pain. A search landing page gets a 60-second walkthrough. Sales send a custom demo to a decision maker. Studios like Explainerz map each story to awareness, consideration or conversion.
Script-First Thinking
Script-first thinking is back. Cheap AI tools tempt teams to skip planning - yet winners still nail the words first. They lift phrases from real calls, objections plus outcomes. They test hooks as plain text ads before they ever press record. The final scripts sound like one human talking to another, not like a press release.
Sound Matters Again
Sound matters again. Many people watch on mute - yet those who turn sound on stay longer. A soft whoosh tied to a button, a light tick on data points or a low key track that matches your brand tone all help memory. AI music tools now give small teams custom tracks that avoid the same stock riff everyone knows.
Accessibility is Standard
Accessibility is standard, not extra. Add exact captions, high contrast art, calm pacing and voice-over that describes what viewers see. Good captions help viewers on the train - clear colors help them scan fast. Laws are tighter now - building this into the workflow cuts risk and lifts conversions.
Measure or Guess
Measure or guess. In 2025 teams track watch time, drop off second, click-through but also pipeline value. They tag each variant with UTM codes, push data to the CRM and see which script, style or CTA moves revenue. The loop then feeds the next brief. You might learn that a 25-second vertical clip linked to a quiz brings more demos than a long brand film. Or that animation opens conversations - yet live action closes them. Use the numbers do not ask one video to do every job.
Hire Specialists
If the list feels long - AI tools, vertical cuts, motion type, funnel maps, captions, analytics - hire specialists. A focused studio can tell you which 2025 Explainer Video Trends: What’s Working Right Now fit your audience, price point and staff size. They can also build reusable kits - brand safe templates, modular boards as well as edit pipelines that keep future work cheap and fast.



