skip to main |
skip to sidebar
A small army of commentators have already commented on YouTube's decision to retire Video Responses. But virtually no one seems to have noticed that YouTube has dramatically changed the list of social media sites where you can share YouTube videos. So, marketers should remember that old adage: YouTube giveth and YouTube taketh away.
First, let's look at what YouTube plans to taketh away: video responses.
The YouTube Creator Blog announced:
Currently video responses have a click-through rate of .0004% -- in other words, only 4 out of every 1 million users who sees a video response clicks on it. So, on September 12 we're going to retire this little-used feature as we work to develop more effective fan engagement tools for creators. The team is focused on enabling you to share video links in comments. Doing this in comments will let creators and viewers add more context to a video, and more context should drive more engagement.
In the meantime, you can continue to encourage fans to upload videos with specific titles, hashtags or descriptions (e.g., Video Response To Taylor Swift's Video "22"), so you can find these by searching for them. If you want to highlight them, you can use playlists and channel sections instead of displaying these videos below yours. Any video responses you or your fans have made will still be available and discoverable.
Also, to help your audience find more of your channel's videos we recommend using features like InVideo Programming.
About the only thing missing from this obituary notice was the name of a charity where YouTubers could send donations in lieu of flowers.
Is it worth a few more words to lament the passing of this little-used feature? Not really.
What's worth commenting on are the features that YouTube has quietly giveth.
YouTube has dramatically expanded the list of social media buttons that appear when you click "Share" underneath a YouTube video. Until recently, all you would see was the Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ buttons – and a "More" option that would display buttons for Orkut, Tumblr, Blogger, MySpace, Reddit, LinkedIn, and Pinterest if you clicked on it.
Now, when you click on "Share" underneath a YouTube video, you'll see buttons for Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn, LiveJournal, and Odnoklassniki (a Russian social media site). The "More" option is gone – along with the buttons for Orkut, Blogger, and MySpace.
This is a significant change.
It shifts the balance of power away from Orkut, a social networking site that is owned and operated by Google; Blogger, a blog-publishing service which was bought by Google in 2003; and MySpace, a social networking service with a strong music emphasis owned by Specific Media LLC and pop music singer and actor Justin Timberlake. And it makes Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ slightly less exceptional.
And this change shifts the balance of power towards Reddit, a social news and entertainment website; Tumblr, a microblogging platform and social networking website now owned by Yahoo; Pinterest, a pinboard-style photo- and video-sharing website; StumbleUpon, a discovery engine; LinkedIn, a social networking website for people in professional occupations; LiveJournal, one of the web's most popular early blogging sites which was sold in 2007 to SUP, a Russian firm headed by controversial oligarch Alexander Mamut; and Odnoklassniki, a social network service for classmates and old friends that is popular in Russia and former Soviet Republics.
Now, this shift may not be as significant as the day the Berlin Wall fell (Nov. 9, 1989). However, with more than 1 billion unique users visiting YouTube each month and with over 6 billion hours of video getting watched each month on YouTube, this change is still something that more commentators ought to be commenting about.
Meanwhile, the sections in YouTube's Creator Playbook which compiled important tips, best practices, and strategies for using Facebook and Twitter have disappeared. All that remains is a page on how to leverage Google+ to build viewership and engage with your audience in new ways.
So, yes, YouTube giveth and YouTube taketh away. But, marketers need to get out into the streets and look beyond the official announcements on the YouTube Creator Blog if they want to discover new opportunities and competitive advantages.
Article Post @
Search Engine Watch
According to the latest data from the comScore Video Metrix service, 187 million Americans watched more than 48 billion online content videos in July, while the number of video ad views totaled 19.6 billion. By comparison, 183 million Americans watched more than 44 billion online content videos in June, while the number of video ad views surpassed 20 billion.
Top Video Content Properties by Unique Viewers
In July, Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property with 167.9 million unique viewers (up 6 percent since June). YouTube was followed by Facebook with 61.3 million, AOL, Inc. with 57.9 million, VEVO with 49.6 million, and Microsoft Sites with 49.6 million. More than 48 billion video content views occurred during the month, with Google Sites generating the highest number at nearly 17.7 billion, followed by AOL, Inc. with 793 million and Facebook with 741 million.
In June, Google Sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube.com, ranked as the top online video content property with 158.3 million unique viewers, followed by Facebook with 61.6 million, AOL, Inc. with 51 million, VEVO with 49.3 million, and Microsoft Sites with 46.8 million. More than 44 billion video content views occurred during June, with Google Sites generating the highest number at nearly 15.7 billion, followed by AOL, Inc. with 775 million and Facebook with 730 million.
Top Video Ad Properties by Video Ads Viewed
In July, Americans viewed 19.6 billion video ads, with Google sites ranking #1 with 3.4 billion ad impressions. BrightRoll Platform came in second with 2.1 billion ads, followed by Adap.tv with 2.1 billion, LiveRail.com with 1.8 billion and Specific Media with 1.4 billion. Time spent watching video ads totaled 7.4 billion minutes, with BrightRoll Platform and Adap.tv delivering the highest duration of video ads at 1 billion minutes each. Video ads reached 55 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 114 times during the month.
In June, Americans viewed a record 20 billion video ads, with Google Sites ranking #1 with 3.3 billion ad impressions. LiveRail.com came in second with 2.4 billion ads, followed by the BrightRoll Platform with 2.4 billion, and Adap.tv with 2.2 billion. Time spent watching video ads totaled 7.5 billion minutes, with BrightRoll delivering the highest duration of video ads at 1.2 billion minutes. Video ads reached nearly 54 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 121 times during the month.
Top YouTube Partner Channels by Unique Viewers
The July 2013 YouTube partner data revealed that video music channel VEVO maintained the top position in the ranking with 47.6 million viewers. Fullscreen held on to the #2 position with 34.5 million viewers, followed by Maker Studios Inc. with 28.6 million, Warner Music with 27.6 million and ZEFR (formerly MovieClips) with 26.5 million.
The June 2013 YouTube partner data revealed that video music channel VEVO maintained the top position in the ranking with 47.5 million viewers.
Fullscreen held on to the #2 position with 34.3 million viewers, followed by Maker Studios Inc. with 28.8 million, Warner Music with 28.4 million, and ZEFR with 26.5 million.
YouTube Ads Leaderboard for July
If you look at the YouTube Ads Leaderboard for July, you will see some familiar fan favorites, including Dove and Samsung.
Topping the leaderboard was "Dove Camera Shy." Uploaded on July 2, 2013, this follow-up viral video to Real Beauty Sketches got more than 17 million views during the month.
In the second position on the leaderboard was "Galaxy S 4—Flight Chat." Uploaded on July 29, 2013, this Samsung Mobile ad got over 13.8 million views during the month.
But these YouTube ads had far fewer views than the ones on top of the YouTube Ads Leaderboard for June. "Usher's 'Looking 4 Myself' Presented by Samsung" had more than 40.5 million views in June, and "'One to Many' - JAY Z + Samsung + Magna Carta Holy Grail" had over 19.5 million views that month.
Advertisers Could Learn Some Lessons from Successful YouTube Partners
So, from June to July, YouTube's U.S. audience swelled 6 percent to 168 million, but ad impressions were up 3 percent to 3.4 billion. Why didn't the rising tide lift all boats?
It appears that a slightly higher percentage of Americans choose the "Skip Ad" option that YouTube's TrueView Video Ad in-stream format gives them. Although advertisers pay only when a viewer actually chooses to watch for at least 30 seconds or to the end of their video ad (whichever is less), this indicates that a slightly higher percentage of advertisers could learn some lessons from successful YouTube Partners about how to create better content.
Perhaps, this explains why YouTube announced back in June that it will bring advertisers into its Partner Program, which provides video content creators with resources and opportunities to improve their skills, build fan bases, and earn more money.
YouTube has already invited American Express, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, and PepsiCo to participate in the initial pilot program for this new partnership endeavor. The program will kick off in September with a week-long workshop in Los Angeles and the plan is to have 100 brand content partners by the end of 2014.
Back in June, Lucas Watson, YouTube's VP of Video Online Global Sales, said in a press release, "By inviting advertisers into our partner program, we hope to give them access to resources and expertise that will help them develop even more compelling and authentic content on YouTube."
Meanwhile, BrightRoll, Adap.tv, LiveRail.com, and Specific Media might want to team up with Facebook, AOL, VEVO, and Microsoft to create a similar program, or they may fall further behind YouTube in the coming months.
Article Post @ Search Engine Watch
YouTube is great. You want to watch funny videos or movie trailers? YouTube has you covered. Need instructions to create an AdWords campaign or fix your broken lawnmower? Yet again, more videos.3
There is a ton of opportunity for getting in front of a varied and engaged audience.
However, this rosy picture starts to fade when you consider that the YouTube platform isn't like the Google or Bing SERPs – designed to get people to click links. YouTube is designed to get people to watch video content. Heck, the video ad platform is designed around a maximum cost-per-view (CPV)!
So, as a direct marketer, how can you leverage this massive channel to generate website clicks and conversions?
To start, you need to understand each YouTube video ad campaign type and how these ad units function. From there, it is a matter of understanding proper campaign segmentation and how best to get those YouTube viewers to your website!
YouTube Campaign & Ad Types
With YouTube video ad campaigns, the campaign type actually dictates the available ad unit.
In-Search
YouTube In-Search campaigns have perhaps the lowest barrier of entry for advertisers familiar with traditional PPC. As the name implies, In-Search campaigns are based on keywords searched directly on YouTube:
The goal as an advertiser is to provide sponsored video content that is relevant to the search result. In-Search ads utilize ad copy that mirrors traditional AdWords text ads.
The exception is that these ads have a still frame from the advertised video and do not have a display or destination URL. Instead you have the option to send this traffic to either the video watch page or your YouTube channel.
In-Stream
In-Stream, formerly known as pre-roll ads, are YouTube's version of TV commercials. Before you watch the desired video, another video will run. If you click on the video, you will be taken to that advertiser's landing page:
Targeting for In-Stream ads comes in a few flavors not all that different from advertising on the Google Display Network (GDN). You control demographics (age, gender), categories ("viewing videos about") and interests. Beyond these targeting controls, you can also leverage placements (specific videos), remarketing lists, or keyword lists for contextual targeting:
In-Display
In-Display campaigns leverage the exact same set of targeting parameters as In-Stream, but these ads appear as a suggestion next to other videos on YouTube or the GDN:
Note that there isn't an option for a display or destination URL. There's only the option to send traffic to a specific video watch page or your YouTube channel.
Bonus: GDN Placement
A lot of advertisers forget this gem – YouTube is also a part of the GDN. You can run text ads and image ads (728x90 or 300x250 only) on YouTube as a placement. Drive more relevant traffic with specific video placements or leveraging remarketing lists, interests, categories, demographics and contextual keywords.
YouTube Campaign Segmentation
When you create a YouTube video campaign, by default Google sets you up to have one campaign with one ad. You will see that all three campaign types are selected, and your ad contains all of the elements of In-Stream, In-Search, and In-Display ad units.
When you get to creating targets, Google also automatically opts you into using keywords (In-Search) and all of the other features (In-Stream, In-Display).
Why is this bad? Because your CPV bid is set at the target level. If all of your targeting methods are within a single target, you will only have one bid and no flexibility. Get granular!
- Create unique campaigns for each ad type: In-Search, In-Stream, In-Display.
- Within each campaign, create granular targets. Think of targets like ad groups. Tightly themed keywords, interests, categories, demos, etc.
- Even if you only have one video to leverage for video ads, create multiple In-Search and In-Display ad units that adjusts the messaging to fit your granular targets.
Website Traffic and Tagging
Now you understand the different types of video ad campaigns, but how do you get these viewers to become website visitors?
- Try to use video content that was designed with advertising in mind. Videos lasting 15-30 seconds are best for In-Stream. Regardless of length, they should be contextually relevant to your product or service.
- In-stream: this is easy! When your video runs ahead of other content, the entire video is an active link to your landing page. Make sure that you tag this destination URL appropriately so that you can record visits and conversions in analytics and elsewhere.
- In-Search/In-Display: not so easy! These ads take viewers to watch or channel pages. Work around it.
- Create Call-to-Action Overlays for your videos. These overlays look just like a PPC ad and can include a 56x56 image (logo). Create these directly in YouTube or link YouTube and AdWords to create them in the video ad campaign interface. Tag these destination URLs as CTA overlay so you can see how this traffic converts. Downside? Viewers who found your video organically can also click the CTA overlay.
- Make sure your watch and channel pages contain conversion oriented language (if appropriate to your video content) and provide links where YouTube allows. This traffic will be difficult to track, but you may be able to record incremental growth.
- Run GDN placement ads on the YouTube watch and channel pages associated with your video ad campaigns. Use this as a last resort because it means you will effectively pay twice for each visitor.
Have any of you found any tactics that drive website traffic and conversions from YouTube video ad campaigns? If so, please share in the comments!
Article Post @
Search Engine Watch
Pixability has just released a comprehensive industry study, The Top 100 Global Brands: Key Lessons for Success on YouTube, which details how global brands are successfully driving video and digital marketing success.
Revealing a 99 percent YouTube adoption rate and 73 percent year-over-year growth, the brands driving the best business results are moving beyond television-style brand awareness to much more socially-engaged, longer-form, content-rich channels.
Why YouTube?
Starting with the list of companies identified in Interbrand's Best Global Brands report, Pixability collected data from YouTube channels owned and managed by these Top 100 Global Brands. Pixability software collected a list of 2,214 candidate channels. A group of analysts then verified each channel according to the criteria listed above and reduced the list to 1,378 verified channels.
All individual metrics per video were added by channel and then by brand to get to the total values used in the study. The raw data was used as an input into Pixability's Online Video Grader software.
The data presented in the study represents full and exact counts of the metrics described above. No sampling, estimates, regressionsor projections were used.
"We knew that the data collection for such a large set of videos was a monumental task, but our software quickly delivered audience, usage, and performance data in every dimension," said Andreas Goeldi, study co-author, CTO, Pixability. "We found significant disparities between the top and bottom performers in this elite group, showing that some brands get YouTube and others just don't."
Top Brands Embrace YouTube, But Challenges Remain
Over the past five years, the top brands have gone from just a few dozen YouTube uploads in 2005 to more than 10,000 cumulative video uploads in a single month last year. These 100 brands alone now account for 9.5 billion collective YouTube views and more than 2,200 channels containing 258,000+ videos.
Pixability anticipates that by 2015, they will likely invest in the production, marketing, and distribution of more than 1 million new YouTube videos.
But brand marketers have work to do: the study uncovers that more than 50 percent of their videos get fewer than 1,000 views.
"The best brands and marketers understand YouTube and treat it differently to get stellar results," said Rob Ciampa, study co-author, EVP Marketing, Pixability. "The ones who don't? They end up back in the legacy marketing world wondering why their customers are somewhere else, such as a competitor's YouTube channel."
Key Lessons for Marketers
Understanding that video marketing is just as important as video production, these brands offer valuable lessons. The report pinpoints seven core best practices for brand marketers.
1. Be a well-oiled, consistent, video content machine
- The most successful brands have 50 percent more videos per channel compared to the least successful ones.
- The best-performing brands publish high volumes of content on a regular schedule.
- Top aggregate brands publish approximately 78 videos per month. Leading media brands produce even more: close to 500 videos per month.
2. Take video optimization and YouTube channel architecture seriously
- YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine, so discoverability is key.
- YouTube SEO follows very different rules than traditional SEO.
- Within traditional SEO—Google prioritizes web pages with YouTube video embeds.
- The best performing 25 percent of Top 100 Global Brands took more care in optimizing their videos and channels, maintaining twice the number of playlists and video tags than the bottom 25 percent.
3. Don't get caught in the overproduction trap; lesser quality video works well, too
- The best YouTube marketers produce a broader range of video content.
- Videos do not need to be prime-time quality because those with lower production value can be just as effective.
4. Apply an "Always On" strategy to video marketing
- The most successful brand marketers on YouTube integrate their online video strategies with their traditional, offline marketing strategies.
- Successful video marketers don't hesitate to produce video series for very limited, but highly engaged audiences, such as event participants.
- 17 of the Top 100 Global Brands use less than 50 percent of their channels.
- Continued advertising results in sustainable channel growth and subscribers.
5. Apply branding consistently, intelligently, and methodically
- The top performers consistently brand their videos in both the video content itself as well as in metadata, which includes titles, tags, and descriptions.
- An appropriate level of branding within videos is essential because successful YouTube videos are often used outside of the context of a branded YouTube channel, such as website embedding.
- Over-branding may limit sharing within independent communities of interest.
6. Adding more content is more important than adding more channels
- 37 percent of all channels have not been updated with fresh content for over 120 days.
- Successful marketers have YouTube channels that clearly focus on specific target audiences.
7. Engage your community with social media
- Facebook and Twitter are among the most important sources of traffic on YouTube within the Top 100 Global Brands.
- Users frequently share videos on social networks, and video content is attractive for sharing.
- The top 25 percent of brands had significantly higher social sharing of video than the bottom 25 percent.
- Viewer sentiment is starting to show distinct trends by industry. Home and luxury segments have the highest sentiment, while financial services and consumer goods have the lowest.
You can download the report here.
Article Post @
Search Engine Watch
According to the latest data from comScore Video Metrix, 183 million Americans watched more than 44 billion online content videos in June, while the number of video ad views surpassed 20 billion. By comparison, 182 million Americans watched nearly 41 billion online content videos in May, while the number of video ad views reached 15.8 billion that month.
So, the big news is the big jump in video ad impressions month over month. Video ads accounted for 31 percent of all videos viewed in June, compared to 27.9 percent in May.
Top Video Content Properties by Unique Viewers
In June, Google sites, driven primarily by video viewing at YouTube, ranked as the top online video content property with 158.3 million unique viewers, followed by Facebook with 61.6 million, AOL with 51 million, and VEVO with 49.3 million. More than 44 billion video content views occurred during June, with Google sites generating the highest number at nearly 15.7 billion, followed by AOL with 775 million and Facebook with 730 million.
In May, Google/YouTube ranked as the top online video content property with 154.5 million unique viewers, followed by Facebook with 60.4 million, AOL with 53.8 million, and VEVO with 52 million. Nearly 41 billion video content views occurred during the month, with Google sites generating the highest number at nearly 14 billion, followed by AOL with 839 million.
So, Google sites and Facebook are up month over month, while AOL and VEVO are down. But, the relative rankings of the top four content properties remain the same.
Top Video Ad Properties by Video Ads Viewed
In June, Americans viewed a record 20 billion video ads, with Google sites ranking first with 3.3 billion ad impressions. LiveRail.com came in second with 2.4 billion ads, followed by the BrightRoll Platform with 2.4 billion, and Adap.tv with 2.2 billion.
Time spent watching video ads totaled 7.5 billion minutes, with BrightRoll delivering the highest duration of video ads at 1.2 billion minutes. Video ads reached nearly 54 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 121 times during the month.
In May, Americans viewed 15.8 billion video ads, with the BrightRoll Platform ranking first with 2.6 billion ad impressions. Google sites came in second with nearly 2.6 billion ads, followed by LiveRail.com with 2.1 billion, and Adap.tv with 2.1 billion.
Time spent watching video ads totaled 6 billion minutes, with BrightRoll delivering the highest duration of video ads at 1.3 billion minutes. Video ads reached 53 percent of the total U.S. population an average of 96 times during the month.
So, Google sites, LiveRail.com and Adap.tv are up month over month, while BrightRoll is down.
Top YouTube Partner Channels by Unique Viewers
The June 2013 YouTube partner data revealed that video music channel VEVO maintained the top position in the ranking with 47.5 million viewers. Fullscreen held on to the second position with 34.3 million viewers, followed by Maker Studios with 28.8 million, and Warner Music with 28.4 million.
Among the top 10 YouTube partners, Machinima demonstrated the highest engagement (76 minutes per viewer), followed by Maker Studios (62 minutes per viewer). VEVO streamed the greatest number of videos (534 million), followed by Maker Studios Inc. (477 million).
By comparison, the May 2013 YouTube partner data revealed that video music channel VEVO maintained the top position in the ranking with 50.2 million viewers. Fullscreen held on to the second position with 36.5 million viewers, followed by Maker Studios with 32.4 million, and Warner Music with 32 million.
Among the top 10 YouTube partners, Machinima demonstrated the highest engagement (63 minutes per viewer), followed by Maker Studios Inc. (48 minutes per viewer). VEVO streamed the greatest number of videos (562 million), followed by Maker Studios Inc. (433 million).
So, VEVO, Fullscreen, Maker Studios, and Warner Music are all down month over month, but their relative rankings remain the same.
Top Video Ads Being Viewed
As for the top video ads being viewed, the YouTube Ads Leaderboard for June 2013 said, "June was the month of the tie-in on the Ads Leaderboard, as brands joined forces with the likes of Usher, Jay-Z and Despicable Me 2's minions. These partnerships capitalized on anticipation for this summer's movie and music blockbusters, and resulted in highly sought-after ads."
"Usher's 'Looking 4 Myself' Presented by Samsung" ranked #1 in the YouTube Ads Leaderboard with 40.5 million views.
"'One to Many' - JAY Z + Samsung + Magna Carta Holy Grail" ranked #2 with 19.5 million views.
"Cheetos Mix-Ups and Despicable Me 2" ranked #3 with 6.1 million views.
And "Evil Minion Animation Test" ranked #4 with almost 3.9 million views.
Based on these four samples, one can see why video ads are getting more views.
Article Post @
Search Engine Watch
Posts
