Mar 062013
 

Recently, we reported that videos uploaded via Facebook have a higher Engagement Rate than YouTube links. You asked us how these two methods of uploading videos affect their reach – here are the results!

For the purpose of this study, we have chosen videos that brands have shared across Facebook during the last three months. As you know, there are two options – to either upload the video natively from your computer or to share a link to your video from YouTube. Apparently, admins prefer the latter, with 4 731 YouTube links posted vs. 554 Facebook videos, from December 4th – March 3rd 2013.

Facebook videos tend to have a higher Engagement Rate than YouTube links (0.22% on average compared to 0.10%). As already mentioned in the previous study, this could be due to the fact that you can play Facebook videos directly from the mobile news feed, which is increasingly becoming a preferred way of social update consumption. Interestingly enough, both YouTube links and Facebook videos generate nearly the same fan interaction, with about 77% of Likes, 16% of Shares, and 7% of Comments.

READ MORE:  Facebook Videos Have a 10x Higher Viral Reach than YouTube Links 

 

 


 

Sep 052012
 

A YouTube spokesman downplayed the blockage: “After tonight’s live stream ended, YouTube briefly showed an incorrect error message,” he said via e-mail. ” Neither the live stream nor any of the channel’s videos were affected.”

It’s not clear what he meant by none of the channel’s videos were affected as the video was unplayable.

The most likely culprit is YouTube’s pre-emptive content filters, which allow large media companies to upload content they claim to own and automatically block videos that an algorithm decides matches their own. That would make the glitch the second livestream copyright-policing snafu in the span of a few days: On Sunday, a similar algorithm at uStream interrupted the livestream of the Hugo science fiction awards. The award show included clips of copyrighted videos, though the algorithm didn’t know that the clips had been authorized.

In early August, an official NASA recording of the Mars landing was blocked hours after the successful landing, due to a rogue DMCA complaint by a news network.

MORE: YouTube Flags Democrats’ Convention Video on Copyright Grounds | Threat Level | Wired.com.

 


Aug 202012
 

You don’t need a spending forecast to tell you that online video is gobbling up an increasingly larger share of today’s advertising dollars. More advertisers are spending more money on video — whether we’re talking about pre-roll, branded YouTube channels, or integrations with existing content producers. But more money doesn’t necessarily mean smart spending.

Right now, YouTube has two strong opportunities for brand advertisers. They can either partner with established YouTube stars, or they can go their own way and launch a brand channel. (Obviously, the two aren’t mutually exclusive.)

But while most of us are familiar with the opportunities and challenges of those two options, we’re less conversant with the nuances of YouTube’s culture. In the face of that knowledge gap, only a handful of brands have truly prospered with video. Many brands, perhaps even the majority of brands, haven’t had much success with video, and frankly, a lot of brands simply misunderstand platforms like YouTube, their audience, and the acts that have used YouTube to launch their careers.

Connect with the industry. Want to meet the brands that are driving the future of digital marketing? Attend the iMedia Brand Summit, Sept. 9-12. Request your invitation today.

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend VidCon in Anaheim, California. While there were some good breakout sessions that were clearly aimed at marketing types, the real action was down on the floor, where fans lined up seeking autographs from their favorite YouTube stars.

Of course, “star” is a funny word in this context. Being big on YouTube doesn’t make you a household name. For every pack of teenagers I saw gushing over their favorite YouTube star, there was a somewhat bewildered adult chaperon who would say things like, “Whose autograph do you want, and why are they famous?”

As a category, it’s easy to dismiss YouTube stars as flukes — amateurs who got lucky early with a weird gimmick or a cheap stunt. But YouTube stars have something all brands crave — an audience. And they also have something else — a solid understanding of what will and won’t work on YouTube.

Watching the frenzy on the VidCon floor, as diehard fans rushed from one booth to the next, I couldn’t help but think that the marketers in their breakout sessions upstairs were missing the real lesson. Yes, in some cases, these YouTube stars present a huge — and relatively untapped — opportunity for branded integrations. That’s important for some advertisers. But let’s put sponsorship opportunities aside for the moment, because there’s something more fundamental that all marketers can learn from these YouTube stars. Each of them, in their own way, has broken some important ground in the Wild West that is YouTube. And if you’re looking to take your brand’s YouTube channel to the next level, it’s worth studying the people who’ve already blazed that trail.

MORE: YouTube video basics from its brightest stars (single page view) – iMediaConnection.com.

 


Jul 242012
 

Now, there are three data points that are publicly available for developing a lousy scale for YouTube brand channels: video views, subscribers, and uploaded videos.

I quickly decided against using “video views.” This seems like a more appropriate metric for comparing individual YouTube videos.

“Subscribers” is a more appropriate metric for comparing YouTube channels. Users subscribe to channels to receive updates and stay informed when something new occurs. Subscribers are consistently more engaged with a brand’s content and watch a brand’s videos on a regular basis.

VidStatsX provides a list of the top 2,000 most-subscribed YouTube channels. It also provides lists of the top 100 most-subscribed YouTube channels in 16 categories.

But, some YouTube brand channels were launched earlier than others, giving them a head start in adding subscribers. And is a channel lousy simply because it hasn’t made it to one of these lists yet?

On May 20, 2012, the YouTube Blog said there were “tens of millions of channels on YouTube.” So, even if a YouTube brand channel doesn’t make it to bottom of the top 100 most-subscribed YouTube channel’s list in its category, it might still be pretty good.

This is where “uploaded videos” factors into the lousy scale.

A very good YouTube brand channel should be able to generate more subscribers per uploaded video than other channels in its category. This means that a really bad — or lousy — channel would be one that has generated fewer subscribers per uploaded video than its competitors.

This methodology lets you calculate the equivalent of the batting average for a YouTube brand channel.

A pretty lousy branded YouTube channel in the auto and vehicle category

To take my new lousy scale out for a test drive, I started in YouTube’s automotive category. To my surprise, here’s what I found:

 Brand  Subscribers  Videos  Subscribers/Video

Audi Deutschland  95,173  893  106.6

Chevrolet  81,799  1,321  61.9

Mercedes-Benz  72,126  112  644.0

Ford  68,966  347  198.7

Honda  68,018  289  235.4

Cadillac  43,762  198  221.0

Hyundai USA  40,256  333  120.9

Toyota Deutschland  39,651  214  185.3

Volkswagen USA  36,535  211  173.2

Buick  2,059  434  4.7

Based on this data, Buick’s branded YouTube channel is pretty lousy. It has the lowest number of subscribers per video in the autos and vehicles category. By comparison, the Mercedes-Benz channel has generated 137 times more subscribers per video.

MORE:  3 lousy branded YouTube channels

 


Jul 232012
 

It’s nice to have something happen when visitors arrive at your webpage. Videos and music are nice, but you can’t control the volume the user’s speakers will be set to, and custom applications can end up being too loud and startle users while sending them frantically looking for volume controls, or quickly clicking away.

An embedded Youtube video provides a familiar experience to the user, and has several features that make it fit nicely almost anywhere.

Below is the script you will need to embed your video or playlist. This code starts the video with the volume muted, and hides the controls until the user mouses over the video frame. Note: this will not work properly if you test it from your desktop. Once uploaded toy our site, it should work fine.

 

This embeds a playlist:

<script src=”http://www.google.com/jsapi”></script>
<script src=”http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/swfobject/2.1/swfobject.js”></script>
<div id=”ytapiplayer”>You need Flash player 8+ and JavaScript enabled to view this video.</div>
<script type=”text/javascript”>
google.load(“swfobject”, “2.1”);
function onYouTubePlayerReady(playerId) {
ytplayer = document.getElementById(“myytplayer”);
ytplayer.playVideo();
ytplayer.mute();
}
var params = { allowScriptAccess: “always” };
var atts = { id: “myytplayer” };

swfobject.embedSWF(“http://www.youtube.com/v/mOLp4doE51Q&list=PL
86C090F73345FED6&feature=plpp_play_all?
enablejsapi=1&playerapiid=ytplayer&allowFullScreen=true&version=3&loop=1&autohide=1″,
 “ytapiplayer”, “100%”, “380”, “8”, null, null, params, atts)

</script>

To embed a single video, just change the bold part to the normal Youtube video URL:

swfobject.embedSWF(“http://www.youtube.com/v/mOLp4doE51Q?enablejsapi=1&playerapiid=ytplayer&allowFullScreen=true&version=3&loop=1&autohide=1″,
“ytapiplayer”, “100%”, “380”, “8”, null, null, params, atts)

 

Here are some links that may be helpful:

This post and a better representation of the code are available here.

YouTube Embedded Players and Player Parameters

YouTube JavaScript Player API Reference

 

 


May 072012
 

The idea, in a nutshell, is that brands of all categories must adapt to the new publishing model and morph into something akin to their entertainment cousins if they are to survive and thrive in a media environment where it gets harder everyday to capture a consumer’s attention. Brands that had their own YouTube channels were viewed as cutting edge 18 months ago — or maybe even a little beyond the cutting edge. Today, few people ask whether a brand should have a YouTube channel. Instead, the question is, what should a brand do with its YouTube channel?

While that’s ultimately a question for each brand (and the agencies that handle their business) to answer, there are several larger questions brands should be asking about their YouTube channels. After all, a handful of brands are clearly engaging as if they’ve been in the content business for years, but many more are quite obviously stuck in neutral. So to help your brand take a look at its YouTube channel with fresh eyes, I’ve asked several agencies to share what they believe are some of the fundamental concerns to focus on when planning a YouTube channel.

SOURCE: 6 lessons in launching a branded YouTube channel (single page view) – iMediaConnection.com.

 


Apr 132012
 

YouTube‘s Partner Program, previously opened only to producers of very popular content, is now open to all content creators from the 20 countries where the program is available.

To become a YouTube Partner, you need to enable your YouTube account and successfully monetize at least one of your videos.

YouTube’s guidelines for successful monetization are here, but in a nutshell, your best bet is to create original content while owning all the rights to commercially use all the visuals and audio in your video.

via YouTube Opens Partner Program to Everyone.

 


Apr 102012
 

YouTube is investing big money (to the tune of $100 million) and partnering with major personalities like Ashton Kutcher, Amy Poehler, and Shaquille O’Neal to produce original video content. Here’s why digital marketers can’t ignore the shift.

The game just changed. YouTube is investing an unconfirmed $100 million in original programming.

Talent includes names like Rainn Wilson, Deepak Chopra, Justin Lin, Anthony Zuiker, Amy Poehler, Ashton Kutcher, Shaquille O’Neal, and Tony Hawk. Studios, such as Maker Studios in Culver City, are focused on production. (Maker is reportedly producing 300 YouTube videos each month at the cost of $1000 each.) And the Wall Street Journal reports that Google is making the deal attractive to the content creators, with a reported 55 percent of ad revenues going to the program makers.

via Why YouTube’s original programming changes the game – iMediaConnection.com.

Oct 242011
 

Even if you’re a small business, don’t neglect YouTube. More than ever, brand fans and loyalists are seeking out businesses on YouTube as supplemental outlets to a brand’s Facebook and Twitter presences. Consequently, the video-sharing site has proven hugely profitable for many companies.

Want to get in on the action? Here are eight examples of successful branding via YouTube.

via 8 Simple Tips For Your YouTube Ad Campaign : Money :: American Express OPEN Forum.

Sep 162011
 

Oregon senior citizens Bruce and Esther Huffman were playing with their new laptop and trying to figure out how to use its camera function. They ended up inadvertently making a video that’s been watched more than 4 million times since a granddaughter put it on YouTube last month.

He sings, burps and makes faces — and gets a little frisky. She keeps trying to find out how the dang thing works.

via Haven’t Seen The ‘Webcam 101 For Seniors’ Video Yet? Here It Is : The Two-Way : NPR.