Tag: youtube

YouTube To Get More NFL Content Including Full-Length Games

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
The National Football League has struck a multiyear renewal of their partnership with YouTube to expand the content they provide YouTube with, including, for the first time ever, full-length games. Under the expanded deal, the NFL will post a total of 96 games to its official YouTube channel, and it will increase the number of in-game highlight clips it uploads to YouTube. That being said, YouTube will not be getting live NFL game simulcasts, the rights of which the NFL has awarded to Twitter.

What Brands Need To Do
With consumers increasingly migrating from consuming media content on TV sets to streaming on their mobile devices, it makes sense that the NFL is following the eyeballs and putting more content on YouTube. Last week, YouTube reported that it now reaches more audience in the coveted 18-49 demo than the top 10 TV shows combined during primetime. For brands, this means it is time to consider reallocating their ad spending between digital and TV, and leverage YouTube’s massive audience to reach more online consumers.

 

Source: Variety

 

What Marketers Need To Know About YouTube’s NewFronts

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
YouTube announced a slew of new initiatives at its NewFronts event on Thursday, as the Google-owned company continues to solidify its leading position in the online video space. First, it unveiled a new ad product called Google Breakout Videos, which allows brand advertisers to identify and insert pre-rolls into “fast-rising” YouTube videos as they go viral. Ad buyers will also be able to buy Google Preferred ads programmatically through Google’s DoubleClick ad platform.

In addition, YouTube is teaming up with the NBA to develop two original virtual reality series that offer basketball fans behind-the-scenes looks at basketball legends and more. Ahead of the event, reports broke that the company is planning to launch a skinny TV bundle, but YouTube neither confirmed nor denied that at its NewFronts.

What Brands Need To Do
As digital video starts to overtake TV in garnering consumer attention, especially in the younger generations, YouTube is leading the pack of online video platforms in a grab for the TV ad spending. In fact, our sibling agency Magna Global announced that, as part of a 3-year deal it struck with Google, it will invest $250 million into digital video ads on YouTube while receiving “competitive rates” on Google Preferred’s unskippable ad inventory. With online video consumption continuously on the rise, brands need to recalibrate their media spending and take advantage of the new tools YouTube offers.

Source: AdWeek

YouTube Introduces Six-Second Pre-Roll Ads

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
YouTube introduced a new ad unit today as it aims to improve the effectiveness of its mobile video ads. Aptly named Bumper ads, this new ad product is an unskippable pre-roll ad with a capped length of six seconds. YouTube will start rolling it out to advertisers through Google’s AdWords in the coming weeks. This new ad unit will appear before YouTube videos consumed on mobile devices only. In related news, YouTube also updated its iOS and Android apps today to offer users bigger thumbnail previews and improved recommendations powered by machine learning.

What Brands Need To Do
At a time where consumer attention spans are becoming shorter than ever, it is important for brand advertisers to engage viewers in an efficient, to-the-point manner. This new ad product from YouTube offers brands a chance to prune away the unnecessary details and distill their messages to capture viewer attention more effectively. Twitter’s social video platform Vine also enforces a six-second limit on its videos, and brands can certainly learn a thing or two from the way popular Vine creators construct fun, engaging content within six seconds. Brands may also deploy this new ad format as a complement to their existing video ads, devising a YouTube campaign centered on a standard-length video and using the brief Bumper ads to reach more viewers.

 

Source: AdWeek

YouTube Adds Support For 360-Degree Live Streaming

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
YouTube reportedly started testing 360-degree live streaming on its platform in February, and today the online video giant is officially rolling out this feature. Select performances from this year’s Coachella festival will be one of first content to be live-streamed in 360 degrees. In addition, the Google-owned company is also opening up its “Live API,” allowing any camera manufacturer to integrate the capability of sending live-streams to YouTube to their products. Moreover, YouTube also added support for spatial audio for on-demand (recorded) videos to make the viewing experience more immersive.

Previously, YouTube worked with GoPro to create The GoPro Odyssey, a camera rig that allows for real-time stitching of 360-degree videos. The action camera maker is also building out its VR ecosystem as it launches a new VR content channel and a new tool for live-streaming high-quality 360-degree videos today.

What Brands Need To Do
By combining the immediacy of live-streaming and the immersion of 360-degree content, YouTube is providing brands with a great tool to amplify the reach of their sponsored events and engage with the massive number of YouTube users in real time. As virtual reality and live-streaming platforms and content creation tools continue to mature, brands should work closely with content creators to develop such content so as to connect with their audiences in innovative, exciting ways.

 

Source: TechCrunch and Engadget

 

How Netflix Uses Contextual Ads To Promote “Friends”

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Netflix has launched a YouTube pre-roll campaign in France to promote the debut of the classic sitcom Friends on its service. Working with Ogilvy Paris, Netflix tagged some of the top-searched videos on YouTube and created pre-roll spots from Friends footage that are contextually relevant to the content that YouTube viewers are about to watch. For example, viewers set to watch a makeup tutorial would see a pre-roll ad with Joey’s Japanese makeup while those searching for cat videos will see a clip featuring Rachel’s hairless cat.

What Brands Need To Do
Earlier this month, the Lab’s research team partnered with Zefr for a joint study on the effectiveness of running video ads alongside contextually relevant content on YouTube, which found that contextually relevant ads can improve the ad experience and drive as much as 63% higher purchase intent (read the full report here). This clever pre-roll campaign from Netflix is tapping into the power of contextual relevance we explained and quantified in the study. More brands should consider improving their video ad effectiveness by tailoring their ads to the contexts with which they are served.

 

Source: AdWeek

Header image courtesy of Ogilvy Paris’s YouTube

Google Reportedly Working On A Periscope Competitor

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Google is reportedly working on a live-streaming app called YouTube Connect, as the company aims to catch up with competitors’ live-streaming products such as Facebook’s Live Video and Twitter’s Periscope. Currently, YouTube users can only start a live broadcast via the Creator Studio, which is not accessible for most users. Therefore, developing a standalone app should get more users to try out live-streaming and give YouTube a boost in live content.

What Brands Need To Do
Following Facebook’s official launch of Live Video at the end of January, live-streaming has been garnering media attention. Recent research from Brandlive shows that 44% of companies created live video content in 2015. Now, with Google getting on board, brands will gain a great new channel that they can use to reach targeted audiences with sponsorships and branded content.

 

Source: VentureBeat

YouTube To Combine Live Streaming With 360-Degree Videos

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
You will soon be able to live stream 360-degree videos on YouTube, as the digital video platform looks to push deeper into virtual reality content with immersive live broadcasts. YouTube added live-streaming capability back in 2010, and introduced support for 360-degree videos in July last year. The Alphabet-owned company has been reportedly meeting with multiple 360-degree camera makers to discuss possible partnerships and integrations. Previously, YouTube has worked with GoPro to create The GoPro Odyssey, a 16-camera rig developed by Google’s JUMP program, which allows for real-time stitching of 360-degree videos while shooting.

What Brands Need To Do
Both virtual reality and live streaming provide new platforms for brands to connect with their audiences in innovative, exciting ways. By combining the two, YouTube may provide brands with a killer tool to amplify the reach of their sponsored events and engage with online consumers in real time, and that is something all brands with branded events planned should pay heed to.

 

Source: Buzzfeed

CES 2016: YouTube Keynote Session Promises Digital Video Domination

Posted on by Lab Team

Earlier today, Chief Business Officer of YouTube Robert Kyncl took the stage at CES 2016 to deliver a keynote session on the growth and future of digital video. He kicked off the session with a bold yet reasonable prediction that by the end of the decade, digital video will be the thing that people spend most time on besides sleeping and working. Throughout his keynote address, he laid out four key reasons why digital video, and YouTube by implication, will dominate our future media landscape.

Mobile

Digital videos may have started out on the desktops, but it is inherently fitted to transit onto the mobile screens. Where TV has struggled to go mobile, YouTube took the plunge long ago, and now more than half of YouTube’s traffic comes from mobile devices as consumers become increasingly used to consume media on mobile devices.

Music

“Half of teens today use YouTube as their primary music streaming source,” Kyncl pointed out. To capitalize on YouTube’s vast library of music and music videos, YouTube Music Key is now included in YouTube’s subscription service Red. Scooter Braun, the man who discovered Justin Bieber on YouTube and made him into a star, took the stage and shared some insights into YouTube’s impact on the music industry.

Diverse Content

Kyncl also counts YouTube’s diverse content as one of its strength. “YouTube is a democratic platform, which allows everyone to create a video for anyone,” he said, and that’s why YouTube has something for everyone. Therefore, digital videos are choice-based viewing, and YouTube holds the biggest content library for viewers to choose from.

Immersive Content

Looking ahead, YouTube is betting on spherical videos and VR-mode viewing to be the next big thing in digital video. Kyncl invited Nick Woodman, CEO of GoPro on stage to talk about the allures of 360-dgree videos, and announced a partnership between YouTube and GoPro, which aims to help create more immersive content on YouTube using GoPro’s 360-degree cameras.

 

For more of the Lab’s CES coverage, click here.

Viacom Teams Up With A YouTube Channel To Target Millennial Moms

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
In a bid to target millennial mothers, Viacom has teamed up with the top parenting channel on YouTube “What’s Up Moms” to put the latter’s branded videos on its cable networks. The first branded video, which features creative ways to use Hershey’s Chocolate during the holiday, debuted on Monday on Viacom’s cable channels and digital platforms at the same time as on YouTube. The video is a collaboration between Viacom Velocity, Viacom’s creative content arm, and the creators behind What’s Up Moms. Two more spots are slated to air next year, and will feature different brands.

What Brands Need To Do
This marks the first case of a national media owner partnering with a YouTube channel and its niche content creators in order to produce branded videos. Brands looking to create branded content for a specific demographic should consider collaborating with niche content makers who have a proven track record in reaching a demo.

Plus, with some help from YouTube’s now widely available shoppable ads, brands with great video content should have a pretty good shot at finding interested audiences and effectively move them down the sales funnel on YouTube.

Source: AdWeek

YouTube Makes Its Shoppable Ads Widely Available In Time For Holiday Season

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
YouTube’s two latest shoppable ad formats – “TrueView for Shopping” and “Shopping Ads on YouTube” – are now out of beta and available to all advertisers using Google’s AdWords. First introduced in May, TrueView for Shopping allows retailers to create interactive video ads that contain actionable shopping cards that can direct viewers to purchase pages. Meanwhile, Shopping Ads on YouTube, which debuted in late September, enable retailers to overlay shoppable cards in all contextually relevant YouTube videos, not limited their own videos.

What Brands Need To Do
By extending the general availability of its shoppable ad formats, YouTube is ramping up its video ad products for retailers just in time for the holiday shopping season. YouTube currently leads the digital video ads market with its ad revenue set to reach $2.2 billion this year, according to eMarketer (paywall). And retail brands should consider utilizing these buyable ad formats to help move potential consumers down the sales funnel.

 

Source: Marketing Land

Header image is a promotional image courtesy of Google’s Inside AdWords Blog