YouTube advertising: babies beat celebrities
Advertisers hoping for a viral hit with a YouTube video should focus on babies or puppies rather than celebrities. That’s the finding of an analysis conducted by researchers at the University of Southern California, the University of Houston, and Uber.
In order to be shared a lot, a moderate length of about one to 1.5 minutes and a surprising storyline are advantageous. It would also be good not to mention brands excessively, but rather late in the clip.
YouTube is interesting for advertisers because they can reach a very large audience relatively cheaply if a clip goes viral. Of course, this doesn't always work out: Ten percent of the videos examined in the analysis were never shared, and more than half were shared less than 158 times. The researchers therefore took a close look at how a commercial should be designed to ensure that it is more likely to be a success than a YouTube failure. Clips from 109 brands that were among the top advertisers in the U.S. in 2012 and other brands active on YouTube were considered - and it was found that many videos are rather modestly designed.
According to the analysis, feelings of inspiration, amusement or enthusiasm strongly favor positive sharing, especially on Facebook and Twitter. However, only seven percent of the spots studied really aroused positive emotions. Real drama and surprising twists also clearly help generate shares. But only eleven and ten percent, respectively, of the clips surveyed took advantage of this. Information is actually only good for sharing when it comes to potentially risky purchases of new or expensive products. It is also more likely to generate shares on LinkedIn.
Only three percent of the videos featured babies or animals, while a good quarter showed celebrities - although cute children and puppies are more likely to encourage users to share than even a celebrity testimonial. It's also better not to annoy users with the brand itself, i.e. avoid frequent and early mentions. Because people are more likely to share what brands mention late. However, only 30 percent of the clips studied used the latter - presumably because this goes against the usual advertising wisdom.
Around half of the clips were actually a bit short at under a minute, and a quarter tended to be too long at more than two minutes. According to the analysis, which was published in the July issue of the Journal of Marketing appears, most likely videos between 1.2 and 1.7 minutes in length. (pte)
