Since YouTube burst onto the scene, more and more sites have been integrating video into their content. While the intentions are good, as usual, the execution at this stage of the game is pretty poor.
I'm not trying to pick on them, but I came across this download squad (which is a site don't frequent) review of the Eee PC. There's a video with the review, and it's not awful, it's representative of the way video is being used.
The problem lies in the inherit qualities of video: it's one dimensional information. While you can fast forward and rewind, you can't scan video the same way you can scan text.
What happens is that people treat video like a long blog post, and a little bit of rambling that would be a-ok in a textual representation becomes unbearable in video. People can't easily skip the parts they don't care about. Boredom ensues and they go to someone else's site.
What's the solution? I'm not sure. Most sites would benefit from video, because showing can be so much more powerful than telling. I guess focusing on showing would be a good first step.
Secondly, good planning and editing are key. At least having a good roadmap of what you're going to say (and if you tend to ramble, a script) is key. Watching the video and editing out any part that doesn't do anything for the message will get that total time down. Speaking of time, there aren't many videos that should be more that ~5 minutes. Attention spans are short. Also, although it doesn't trump content, good production value will make your video a lot more watchable.
Third, make sure that you have an interesting non-video alternative. Reasons include impatient people who just want to scan the information, search engines who can't index video, and people without sound.
Hopefully, people will stop hopping on the bandwagon and start putting some thought into their video content. Now for something completely unrelated :)