<b>"A hero background video boosts engagement." [BUSTED]</b>

<b>"A hero background video boosts engagement." [BUSTED]</b>

It spread from agency portfolios: autoplay video looked premium, demos looked alive, and clients loved the wow.

The boring truth: background video taxes the thing that actually drives conversion — speed. A 4MB autoplay loop pushes Largest Contentful Paint past the point where bounce rates climb. Worse, it competes with your headline for attention during the exact second you need comprehension, not motion.

Movement near text doesn't aid reading. It interrupts it.

What the advice skipped: if you must show motion, use a poster image first and lazy-load the video below the fold, where it explains rather than distracts. A fast static hero beats a beautiful slow one nearly every time.