Sometimes it seems like YouTube is as old as the internet itself–who doesn’t remember first discovering viral videos? YouTube has become the first source that users go to for video content, and despite being challenged by Facebook, its popularity is only growing.
For a marketer, YouTube can be a valuable resource for connecting with your audience. To create an effective plan, you have to be aware of YouTube trends and how they could impact your business. Here are some you need to be aware of.
1. YouTube is about to get even more popular
A survey by Social Media Examiner found that three out of every four marketers surveyed plan to learn more about video marketing and increase their usage of video. In fact, when asked about what kinds of content the marketers were interested in learning more about, video creation took first place.
2. Expect YouTube to see stiff competition from Facebook
According to a recent study developed by RBC Capital Markets and Ad Age, 25% felt that Facebook’s video ads were “somewhat better” than YouTube’s. Another 1% considered Facebook’s video ads to be “significantly” better than YouTube’s; in comparison, only 6% of respondents found YouTube’s video ads to be “significantly” better than those of Facebook. The takeaway? While YouTube is a video giant, it needs to be responsive to the market if it is to keep its lead.
3. People want to watch videos, not create them
Global Web Index’s latest quarterly report found that YouTube has significantly more visitors than active users. People are more interested in consuming content than creating it on YouTube. Your audience is most likely already familiar and comfortable with YouTube, so becoming a source for quality video content could be an effective way to draw attention to your brand.
4. Product “unboxing” videos are becoming more popular
If your business offers a tangible product, you may want to consider creating or empowering others to create “unboxing” videos . Unboxing is a growing YouTube trend in which YouTubers upload videos showcasing products as they take them out of the packaging. According to Google, 62 percent of people who watch unboxing videos do so when deciding whether or not to purchase a product. Unboxing videos are a way for consumers to visualize the item and get useful product information at the same time.
Creating an unboxing video for your product could be another chance to sell potential buyers on your product. Of course, you don’t have to create these videos yourself. Another option is to enlist the help of influencers that specialize in creating these videos, and encourage them to unbox your product.
5. Negative behavior can equal positive results
Of course, not all YouTube trends are positive. After analyzing 70 popular videos with a total of over 333 million views depicting drunkenness, there is typically very little in the way of portraying the cons of excessive alcohol consumption. The analysis, run by the University of Pittsburgh Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health (CRMTH), discovered that humor was used in the context of 79% of the videos, and perhaps more shockingly, motor vehicle usage was present in 24%. The ratio of “thumbs up” to “thumbs down” submitted on these videos was over 23:1.
6. Videos top keyword search results
You probably already take search engine optimization into account when developing your marketing plan, but have you considered video’s significant influence on Google results? Searchmetrics recently found that 55 percent of Google searches return video results, 82 percent of which come from YouTube. If you have a solid handle on the keywords your audience uses, creating videos can be a great way to ensure that your content tops the search results page.
7. Session watch times are increasing
It’s safe to say that social media in general is moving toward briefer and less-time-consuming content, but for YouTube, that’s not always the case. According toGoogle’s Q2 results, watch time has increased by 60 percent since last year, and the average mobile watch session is now 40 minutes. In fact, more people watch YouTube on mobile devices than watch video on cable networks. The takeaway here is that people want quality content on the go, and if it’s good enough, they’ll watch the entire video.
8. Video will only become more important in the future
According to a recent report by Cisco, by 2019, 80 percent of all internet traffic will be video traffic. The report estimates that in 2019, it would take a person five million years to watch all the video that will cross global IP servers in a single month. Cisco predicts that this marked increase in video content will be due to a combination of an increase in video streaming services and the estimated number of devices that will be connected to the internet by that point.
It’s clear that video is a main component of internet usage, and it’s only going to increase in popularity. As the market share of video content increases, more and more marketers will jump on the bandwagon; these stats and insights are a good first step on your journey into the video marketing world.