Is it Time for a YouTube-First Mindset?
Television has dominated the marketing landscape. It gets the most attention from the industry, it's the pinnacle of creative and it's the most understood across the organization from the president of the company to the associate at the store level. But it definitely isn't what it used to be.
The price of television is rising, but consumers are spending less time with it. Instead, their behavior is increasingly dominated by digital channels, and when television does have their attention, avoiding commercials has never been easier. When marketers do get an ad in front of consumers, the targeting capabilities of TV pale in comparison to what digital channels are offering, meaning reaching people you don't want to and, frankly wonder why you're talking to them in the first place.
This post isn't saying take your TV dollars and invest them in digital, but it is saying, our industry's approach to video is outdated thanks to shifts in consumer behavior. The pinnacle of video is no longer television, and if advertisers are able to change their mindset to what video can be, instead of what it is, both brands and consumers will win.
Where Video is Winning
The state of video has never been better, and it's strongest on YouTube, which is expected to bring in $5.6 billion in ad revenue in 2013. It's success is the result of a consumer desire to consume video content from a variety of sources: entertainers, peers and even brands.
YouTube symbolizes what consumers want and what brands need to deliver when it comes to video. Many brands, including Facebook, have adopted a mobile-first mindset. In other words, if they're creating a digital experience, it's created with mobile devices in mind, even though the experience may be available elsewhere.
Maybe it's time to think about video with a YouTube-first mindset. Video is created for YouTube first, even though it may be available elsewhere, even on TV.
A YouTube-First Mindset
A YouTube-first mindset is a different approach to video that invites people to view it with a lean-forward attitude, instead of a lean-back one.
- It invites engagement. Consumers are asked to do more than view the content. They're enticed to share their opinion on it, send it to other people, respond to the content creator and expect a response back.
- It gives consumers value. It's about more than just awareness. The video actually makes viewers lives better with humor, information and stories that they're actually glad they watched.
- It earns the view. People watch it because they want to, not because it was forced in front them. People would rather opt in to view the content than skip it or find a way to circumvent it. This content isn't a roadblock to what they want to see. It's what they came to see.
- It can be viewed wherever, whenever. YouTube has made mobile video easy. Brand content should be the same way--short to watch, accessible from any device and easy to view from a sofa or while waiting in line.