People have fundamentally changed the way consume media, in particular, video. It’s a bit of a complicated mess at the moment but it’s time to re-think your full TV media buy in place of some more digital solutions. YouTube Advertising is a valid option and if you’re not doing it – as a business big or small, you should be.

It’s called the connected TV market and it consists of things like online-streaming, in-home streaming services like Netflix and Hulu; as well as user based streaming services – most notable YouTube – as well as some services that come installed in the newest smart TVs. That’s right if you have a smart tv you probably have access to a whack load of FREE content you probably didn’t even know about. Companies like LG and Sharp have teamed up with creators to create their content options built right in. I found a whole season of College Humor on my LG TV. 

The simplest way to explain the market is to explain customer motivation. We’ve all decided collectively as consumers that we still like the act of television. We like to sit down on a couch with our loved ones, or dogs and sometimes even Chinese take-out and watch our favorite show on a big screen.

However, we don’t like the traditional television schedule. We like to watch what we want when we want. We’re no longer comfortable suffering through the prime-time lineup to get to the one great show at the end. We’ve become accustomed to things being quality and readily available.

The minimalist philosophy is now being more and more applied to people’s day to day entertainment – if it doesn’t bring you joy – out it goes. So traditional TV time has been significantly cut out of a lot of people’s lives. Bad shows do not bring joy to them.

That spills a bit over into the endless content possibilities of YouTube – and we’ll get there, but let’s first clear up exactly what the connected TV market looks like.

The most notable platforms are recorded TV provided by a cable provider or devices like a PVR or TiVo. Exploring these isn’t going to anymore help to your campaign, as if you’re spending money in television advertising then you’re already being skipped over on these platforms.

The second most notable are streaming platforms such as Netflix and Crave – there’s certainly opportunity on both of these platforms for in show placement, as both do produce original content. Otherwise, these services are another no-go for commercial placement.

So what’s left? Well, there are a couple of things, the most obvious being YouTube.

YouTube

Have you noticed more and more daily outlets are releasing content on digital platforms like YouTube almost straight away after it airs? This used to be exclusive to news broadcasts and now the trend has spilled into the marketing strategies of daily weekly comedies and talk-shows.

Have you thought about how you probably didn’t notice that kind of thing on YouTube before, and now that you think about it you watch more YouTube now regularly than ever before?

YouTube is the second most popular site on the Internet, after Google, and before Facebook. YouTube is also the most widely available video app across all major and non-major platforms. Even most smart TVs come with a YouTube app. In the world of apps – the default is king.

Going back to my point about a minimalist mindset. In the case of a consumable medium like television or music – it doesn’t mean that people are watching less – it means their attention is now more refined and in tune with what they like, because there is so much, everything!

There’s even a YouTube trend of “study music” that’s entirely chilled electronic-ish beats to the visuals of anime characters participating in various mundane activities.

There is so much content that there is something for almost anyone.

How does this affect your ad buys? Well like, google you can bid as much or as little on a YouTube ad as you like. You can also directly target your advertising to demographics that best respond to your business and it offers.

So it’s a win-win realistically – and it’s also the most well-thought-out video advertising solution we have at the moment. The more people move away from traditional television the more normalized platforms as YouTube thrive. There’s also a better ROI for advertisers if they’re using their digital platforms and websites correctly. While a passive ad on traditional television during your favorite show is great for brand association/recognition – the same is true for your favorite YouTuber channel and an ad.

In the case of a customer seeing your brand video on YouTube vs on a traditional television broadcast however is in this case Google is more ‘aware’ of your customers respond to the ad – if they watched it all the way through or not, and if so it’s more likely that Google will market your product or service to that individual again.

YouTube offers the chance for any advertiser to make a significant impact on video advertising. The most important thing to remember that unlike television you’re not spending your media buy on the widest exposure, your spending money to reach a specific audience. You can, of course, spend as much on a YouTube buy as you could a national television buy – however even larger spends should be targeted to an audience in place. It’s still very possible to make a significant impact on your sales by investing even a modest amount into a properly targeted video ad.

The death of traditional television

Ask around and I bet you know someone who hasn’t paid for cable or traditional television in years and doesn’t miss it. Influencers are the new celebrities and celebrity is now accessible, making for a new-celebrity market with infinite potential to change, collaborate, evolve, create drama and beautiful things, alike.

As of 2016 Google Launched YouTube Prefered. A program that packages the “best” or top-performing content on YouTube in “easy-to-buy” packages for advertisers. Which means with the right package you can guarantee your video is seen on the channels that matter to your audience most. In the world of commercial video advertising, this is a dream come true for advertisers as not only can we buy spots on specific kinds of YouTube channels, we can see detailed results and gauge consumers interest – better understand your audience to communicate with them even better in the future.

This is a significant direction for YouTube as it’s creating a visible difference in the tiers of videos that are on its platform. Whereas before good content will filter to the top naturally – it looks as if going forward, YouTube will have more incentive to boost channels that perform well initially for advertising markets to maintain or grow the popularity of the channel. Only time will tell on that.

Comments

comments