Much has been made of the price Google paid for YouTube, and there are as many critics of the goliath online video hub as there are naysayers about Apple's soon-to-be-born iPad tablet. Nevertheless, the site is continuing to attract advertisers desperate to get their message out to the masses of YouTubers who--be it for 15 seconds or five minutes--wander the depths of page after page of user generated content and, increasingly, professionally created content.
In fact, AdAge this week reported the site has grown into a stable for marketers looking to reach younger audiences and the entertainment industry looking for ways to get bodies into movie theaters.
YouTube in January reported its home page was sold out in the fourth quarter of 2009, and movie studios have continued to push those numbers, even sparking bidding wars for critical Thursday and Friday real estate.
The reasoning is simple: studios want a lot of viewers to watch trailers, and where better than on a site designed for grazing video.
"The biggest marketing asset for any film is to show the trailer," said Justin Archer, VP-group creative director at Moxie, which did online marketing for Avatar. "When anyone seeks out some sort of visual they begin their search at YouTube."
Here, according to AdAge, are four things YouTube has done to become a marketing mainstay:
- It's embraced flexibility, and knows there are many solutions to video advertising;
- Where it used to have a reputation as a difficult partner, it's reinvented itself as a model of helpfulness for advertisers;
- It knows where its bread is buttered, and has created home page ad products its biggest supporters--studios--have embraced; and,
- It has remained loyal to its audience, and has been unwilling to allow its user experience to be diluted.
For more:
- see this AdAge article
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