Three former PayPal friends founded YouTube in 2005 when they observed how difficult it was to upload videos for friends and others to see. The video sharing website quickly became a media and cultural phenomenon. Some estimates suggest that YouTube viewers access some two billion videos daily worldwide. (12) Google bought YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion.
Online video is big. In March 2010, comScore reported that U.S. Internet users watched 31.2 billion videos in that month alone. Video is a good play for marketers in that it can be deployed in many media formats—on social networking sites, blogs, mobile, and so on. But just because videos and video sites get a lot of hits doesn’t mean that managers have found ways to make money. The Internet is littered with darkened sites that attracted lots of traffic, but little revenue. Hulu.com, a video site that offers full episodes of television programs, movies, video clips, and trailers seems to be getting that figured out. Although YouTube attracts far more views, Hulu has been able to charge high rates for its video ads and to sell out its advertising inventory.
How did they do it? They recognized that online consumers want choices and de- veloped a “choose your own” pre-roll ad program. A pre-roll is a brief ad that runs before programming. In addition, Hulu offers high-quality professional material as opposed to the user-generated and short-form clips seen on YouTube (A15; http://adage.com/digital/ article?article_id=144968).
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Another video option is creating a web series by building a branded and original entertainment program. Successful examples include Procter & Gamble’s “Buppies” and Ikea’s “Easy to Assemble.” A reality-based web program was “The Real Women of Philadel- phia” created by Kraft foods. It invited cooks to submit recipes and ultimately participate in a cook-off with celebrity chef Paula Deen of the Food Network (A16; http://adage.com/ article?article_id=145276).
Viral videos in marketing are a form of publicity or earned media that advertisers place on sites such as YouTube hoping that millions of email forwards raise the brand’s profile. Keep in mind that you can’t make a viral video—making a video is a communication tactic. Having a video go viral is the desired outcome. A great viral video will feature the brand enough to make it effective, but not so much as to make it appear blatantly commercial. It will surprise and delight viewers and give them a reason to share and give other media rea- sons to comment on and highlight it (A17; http://adage.com/article?article_id=145240).
Interactive and web-based television has been an elusive piece of the online puzzle. Like Apple TV, Google TV seeks to turn your television set into an interactive monitor with web-like capabilities. According to Google’s promotional video, new televisions will be equipped with interactive and web surfing capabilities or existing sets can be connected with a new separate box. The company claims that Google TV will transform the television into a complete entertainment device with your photos, music, games, and Android apps— all packaged in a personalized and customizable format (A18; http://adage.com/digital/ article?article_id=144014).
Some advertising experts think that this rich and personalized service will offer the opportunity to develop new ad formats, browser advertising optimized for the larger screen experience, and links between mobile devices. As you can see, Google TV and similar products combine formerly distinct media channels. Aside from offering significant advertising opportunities, these offerings require careful coordination of media channels so your brand sends powerful and consistent messages.
Notes
1. O’Loughlin, T. “Briton lands ‘world’s best job’ as caretaker of Australian island,” The Guardian, May 6, 2009. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/may/06/
briton-wins-best-job-australia.
2. “U.S. Internet Users, 2010,” eMarketer. Available at: http://www.emarketer.com/ Reports/All/Emarketer_2000670.aspx.
3. “Generations Online in 2010,” Pew Research Center. Available at: http://pewresearch. org/pubs/1831/generations-online-2010.
4. Barry, P. The Advertising Concept Book. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2008. 5. Barnum Sully research 2010.
6. Google AdWords Help. Available at: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/ answer.py?hl=en&answer=10215.
7. Vranica, S. “Brands Friending Social Gaming Amid New Web Craze,” Wall Street Jour-
nal, August 8, 2010.
8. Womack, B. “Facebook 2010 Sales Said Likely to Reach $2 Billion, More Than Estimated,” Bloomberg.com (blog), December 15, 2010. Available at: http://www. bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-16/facebook-sales-said-likely-to-reach-2-billion-this- year-beating-target.html.
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9. Wise, K., Bolls, P. D., Kim, H., Venkataraman, A., & Meyer, R. “Enjoyment of Adver- games and Brand Attitudes: The Impact of Thematic Relevance,” Journal of Interactive
Advertising 9(1), 2008.
10. Rainie, L. “Internet, broadband, and cell phone statistics,” Pew Internet, January 5, 2010. Available at: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Internet-broadband- and-cell-phone-statistics.aspx?r=1.
11. Silverstein, B. “Kraft Craftily Builds Menu App for iPad,” brandchannel, July 13, 2010. Available at: http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2010/07/13/Kraft-iPad-App- Big-Fork-Little-Fork.aspx.
12. Chapman, G. “YouTube Serving Up Two Billion Videos Daily,” Google News, May 16, 2010. Available at: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ ALeqM5jK4sI9GfUTCKAkVGhDzpJ1ACZm9Q.
Articles
(A1) Ann-Christine Diaz. “Tourism Queensland’s ‘Best Job’ Picks Up Its Third Grand Prix.” Pub- lished June 24, 2010. Available at: http://adage.com/cannes09/article?article_id=137551 (A2) Rich Karpinski. “Will Using Behavioral Data Lead to Smarter Ad Buys?” Published April 20,
2009. Available at: http://adage.com/adnetworkexchangeguide09/article?article_id=136003 (A3) Bob Garfield. “War & Peace and Subservient Chicken.” Published April 26, 2004. Available at:
http://adage.com/post?article_id=39935
(A4) Mya Frazier. “Walmart Shuts Down the Hub.” Published October 4, 2006. Available at: http:// adage.com/article?article_id=112288
(A5) Kunur Patel. “Online Ads Not Working for You? Blame the Creative.” Published October 20, 2009. Available at: http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=139795
(A6) John Young. “Making Online Ads Suck Less in 8 Easy Steps.” Published April 19, 2010. Avail- able at: http://adage.com/digitalnext/post?article_id=143368
(A7) Michael Learmonth. “The Pants That Stalked Me on the Web.” Published August 2, 2010. Available at: http://adage.com/digitalnext/post?article_id=145204
(A8) Edmund Lee. “Google Profit Surges as Marketers Return to Search.” Published July 15, 2010. Available at: http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=144977
(A9) Steve Rubel. “Hot or Not: Email Marketing vs. Social-Media Marketing.” Published August 9, 2010. Available at: http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=145285
(A10) Jack Neff. “Time Spent on Facebook, Gaming Surges.” Published August 2, 2010. Available at: http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=145207
(A11) Abbey Klaassen. “Why Lying, Not Beacon, Was Facebook’s Biggest Blunder.” Published December 6, 2007. Available at: http://adage.com/article?article_id=122463
(A12) Jack Neff. “Nielsen: Facebook’s Ads Work Pretty Well.” Published April 19, 2010. Available at: http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=143381
(A13) Matt Story. “Digital Marketing Guide: Gaming” Published February 22, 2010. Available at: http://adage.com/article/digital/digital-marketing-guide-gaming/142227/
(A14) Michael Bush. “Texting Trumps Talking in U.S., Just Not as Ad Platform.” Published February 18, 2010. Available at: http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=142180
(A15) Michael Learmonth. “New Data Shows Hulu Serves More Video Ads Than Google.” Published July 15 2010. Available at: http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=144968
(A16) Andrew Hampp. “If You Build a Web Series Around It, Will They Come?” Published August 9, 2010. Available at: http://adage.com/article?article_id=145276
(A17) Michael Learmonth. “Levi’s Walking Man Strides Onto Viral Chart.” Published August 5, 2010. Available at: http://adage.com/article?article_id=145240
(A18) Kunur Patel. “Google TV: What Does It Mean for Advertisers?” Published May 20, 2010. Available at: http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=144014
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