Annual report to video for stakeholders

Start from what the highlights page already tells you

Every annual report has a highlights page, and it exists because the organisation already worked out that nobody reads the rest. That page is the closest thing to a pre-approved video brief you will get, and it is usually four to six numbers with a sentence each.

Start there rather than from the chair's statement. The chair's statement is written to be read once and filed; the highlights are written to be remembered.

Numbers have to be seen, not just said

This is the specific thing that makes financial documents different. A spoken figure does not stick — a listener will not retain 'revenue up 14 per cent to 312 million against a 4 per cent sector average' from audio alone.

So every number in the narration needs to be on screen while it is said, large, with its comparison next to it. One number per frame. A frame with four figures is a table, and a table on a phone is a grey rectangle.

• One headline figure per scene, at a size readable on a phone.
• Show the comparison — prior year, target, or sector — beside it.
• Never a full financial table on screen.
• Let the narration explain why the number moved, not restate it.

The compliance constraint is real

For a listed company, the annual report is a regulated disclosure and the video derived from it inherits that. Forward-looking statements need their disclaimer, figures must match the audited numbers exactly, and a rounded figure in narration that differs from the statement is a problem.

Practically, this means the narration script goes through the same review as the report text, and it means a rendered pipeline is worth more here than a recording: when review comes back with a change, you edit a line and regenerate rather than re-booking the studio.

Two videos, not one

Stakeholder groups want different things and one video serves neither well. The version for employees is about what the year meant and what happens next. The version for investors and analysts is about the numbers and the guidance.

The same source document produces both, with different cuts. This is cheap when the pipeline is generative and expensive when it is a recorded presentation, which is why most organisations make one video and it is nobody's.

Where it goes

Investor relations page, above the PDF download. Internal channels for the employee cut. LinkedIn for a ninety-second version of the three headline figures, which reliably outperforms the post that just links the report.

Keep the PDF prominent throughout. The video's job is not to replace the report — it is to make sure the four numbers that matter reach everyone who was sent it.

Frequently Asked Questions