The Rise of Video Marketing
Video is now a mainstream part of the marketing mix. It is
being used in more and more brand communications. One of the major reasons for
this is that distribution of video is now both cheap and easy.
Gone are the days when you needed to duplicate VHS tapes or
DVDs and then mail them in their hundreds or thousands.
(The cost of producing video has also declined as more
people become skilled and tools of the trade become much more accessible and
cheaper).
But, just as with every other part of the marketing mix, you
need to think about content and context. Just as you wouldn’t produce an ad and
place it in just one publication or use a Facebook page as your website, you
need to be able to distribute to multiple outlets, platforms, apps and online
systems and maintain your branding and the user experience.
And this is the issuer with YouTube. Sure, you can use it to
conveniently upload and manage videos and then to create embeds or built in
tools to distribute, but this is like using Facebook as your webpage or placing
all your ads in one publication.
The reality is, if you’re serious about video marketing then
you need a purpose built professional platform to manage and distribute your
productions.
However, the purpose of this document isn’t to dismiss
YouTube – it has an important part to play in your video marketing strategy.
It’s just that it shouldn’t BE your video marketing strategy.
Let’s look at some of the issues.
The Context
Sometimes it’s worth considering the bigger picture in life.
Very few major content owners trust YouTube with their main content: this is
because people who value their content see YouTube as a real danger. YouTube is
part of Google, a company that has installed itself, cuckoo-like into the media
industry and makes its money from intermediating content without investing in
content production.
You may be comfortable with this, but what about all those dodgy
videos, the pirated content and all of your competitors’ content that will end
up next to your productions and logo ?
Piracy is rife on YouTube and downloading the videos is just
so easy (eg www.clipconverter.cc) .
Do You Care About Your Brand ?
Start by asking yourself the following questions:
• Are
your corporate colours red and black ?
• Do
you care about pasting YouTube branding over your own website ?
• What
does your use of YouTube convey to customers (too cheap to do this ourselves ?
Incapable of doing technology yourselves ?)
• Are
you happy to have little or no control over your branding ?
This is what highly customised pages on YouTube look like:
And this is how a properly branded online presence with your
own channel might look like (of course, you should be able to manage both of
these from a professional online video platform):
Mobile
And then there are further issues when you look at your
mobile presence. Here you are part of the vast YouTube universe and are
represented, once more, by their logo:
Moreover, if you decide to invest in native apps for iPhone,
iPad and Android devices, you cannot use your YouTube videos to power these.
Search
Now, you would imagine that if you’re using YouTube as your
video platform this would benefit you in search results on both that platform
and within the greater Google ecosystem. However, our research shows that this
is far from the case, especially for generic content. This is partially because
your content simply gets treated on an equivalent basis to all the other
content on the platform and you do not have opportunities to differentiate your
content.
Accountability & Legal Issues
Perhaps the most concerning aspect of using YouTube as a
video platform are around the legal conditions and terms of usage. To
sumamrize:
• YouTube
can turn off any of your content, or even your whole channel tomorrow
• You
have no SLA
• No
guarantee of services
• No
control
• You
just trust that it works
• And
what happens when it doesn’t ?
• You
Tube streams regularly fall off – we reckon their availability is around 98% -
we offer 99,99%. That’s three hours a year against seven days
So, let’s look at these issues in more details by going
through the current YouTube terms of service (Nov 2014)
You can’t
commercialize it:
you
agree not to use the Service (including the YouTube Player) for any of the following
commercial uses unless you obtain YouTube's prior written approval:
- the sale of access to the
Service
- the sale of advertising,
sponsorships or promotions placed on or within the Service, or Content;
- the sale of advertising,
sponsorships or promotions on any page of an ad-enabled blog or website
containing Content delivered via the Service unless other material not
obtained from YouTube appears on the same page and is of sufficient value
to be the basis for such sales
prohibited
commercial uses shall not include (i) uploading an original video to YouTube,
(ii) maintaining an original channel on the Website in order to promote a
business or artistic enterprise, (iii) showing YouTube videos through the
YouTube Player or otherwise on an ad-enabled blog or website, subject to those
advertising restrictions set out in 5.1(E)(iii) above; and (iv) any use that is
expressly authorized by YouTube in writing;
You can’t
really customize it:
if you
use the YouTube Player on your website may not modify, build upon or block any
portion or functionality of the YouTube Player including but not limited to
links back to the Website;
You have no
access to your viewer information
you
agree not to collect or harvest any personal data of any user of the Website or
any Service (and agree that this shall be deemed to include YouTube account
names);
You can’t
use it to promote your company
you
agree not to use the Website or the Services (including the comments and email
features in the Website) for the solicitation of business in the course of
trade or in connection with a commercial enterprise;
They can
change things without telling you
YouTube
is constantly innovating in order to provide the best possible experience for
its users. You acknowledge and agree that the form and nature of the Service
which YouTube provides may change from time to time without prior notice to
you.
They can
just stop the service at any time
As part
of this continuing innovation, you acknowledge and agree that YouTube may stop
(permanently or temporarily) providing the Service (or any features within the
Service) to you or to users generally at YouTube's sole discretion, without
prior notice to you
And you
lose control of your rights
When you
upload or post Content to YouTube, you grant:
- to YouTube, a worldwide,
non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable licence (with right to
sub-licence) to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of,
display, and perform that Content in connection with the provision of the
Service and otherwise in connection with the provision of the Service and
YouTube's business, including without limitation for promoting and
redistributing part or all of the Service (and derivative works thereof)
in any media formats and through any media channels;
- to each user of the Service, a
worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to access your Content
through the Service, and to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative
works of, display and perform such Content to the extent permitted by the
functionality of the Service and under these Terms.
No SLA
In
particular YouTube does not represent or warrant to you that:
- your use of the Service will
meet your requirements,
- your use of the Service will be
uninterrupted, timely, secure or free from error,
- any information obtained by you
as a result of your use of the Service will be accurate or reliable, and
- that defects in the operation
or functionality of any software provided to you as part of the Service
will be corrected.
Commercial Restrictions
If you’re looking to monetize YouTube as a platform, you may
well be better off taking a different approach. Payback from YouTube is
notoriously low, For rights:
Ellen Shipley, the
co-writer (with a 50% share) of Belinda Carlisle's Heaven Is a Place On Earth
reported receiving $38.49 for the 2,118,200 streams the track had accumulated
on YouTube in the last quarter. For the over 330,000 hits her 'N Sync track I Drive
Myself Crazy had on the video site, she received $4.31. "I can't even buy
a pizza for that," she pointed out.
(source: The
Guardian)
And for advertising:
On YouTube, the average rate for pre-roll ads,
those 30-second commercials that you must watch before seeing a video, is
$7.60 per 1,000 ad views, down from $9.35 in 2012, according to TubeMogul,
a video ad-buying software company. The same pre-roll ad on a broadcaster’s
site, like that of CBS or CNN, would cost more than $20 per 1,000 views.
(source: NY Times)
There are also restrictions for most content owners on other
forms of commercialisation:
• No
channel subscription
• No
pay per view
• No
pay per download
• Advertising
limited to automated Google model with low CPM rates
• Conversion
rates for vCommerce are low
Research
Research is increasingly showing that platforms such as
Facebook are more engaging context for video than YouTube.
Reach
It might appear that 11.3 billion views is a lot, but if you
know that around 650 million videos are loaded onto the platform every year
(source: Google), then that’s an average of 20 views per video per month. You
can do better by spreading your video around many sites, channels and
distributors.
What Others Are Doing
Moreover, major YouTube studios such as Maker Studios
(recently bought by Disney) and LoveLive are building their own platform
neutral markets. They must have sound reasons for doing this and not just
sticking to the platform that they previously used.
But On The Positive Side..
YouTube provides an excellent social medium for the delivery
of video. We would encourage all of our clients to add short form content to it
which is linked back to their own branded and controlled channel. Think of it
as the pre-show you see in the cinema – trailers and promotions, not as the
cinema show itself: that’s where the money is and what you should control for
your brand.