YouTube began its meteoric rise to social media prominence in May 2005, and has since impacted brands’ approaches to content marketing. Video and graphics are staples in companies’ marketing budgets. This movement is only expected to gain momentum as consumers increasingly turn to the ‘net for their entertainment fixes.
To celebrate eight years of user-created video content, the website is announcing benchmark statistics. This Official YouTube blog post boasts that more than 100 hours, or four days worth of video, are uploaded to the platform every minute.
Earlier this spring, YouTube reported it passed the 1 billion monthly active user benchmark. While this may seem impressive, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said it will be nothing compared to the surge of activity that occurs once emerging markets adopt YouTube.
Schmidt went so far to say that internet video content has already displaced traditional television viewership, a notion that is supported by the growing number of households that don’t use TV for entertainment. Brafton previously reported there are now an estimated 5 million “zero-TV” homes in the United States.
“TV means reach. YouTube means engagement.”
This is good news for companies that want to use video content to begin conversations with customers and fuel brand engagement.
Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s global head of content, said that consumers have different experiences when streaming videos online than they do when watching TV.
“TV is one-way, YouTube talks back,” said Kyncl. “TV means reach. YouTube means engagement.”
To get the dialog rolling, more marketers are dedicating a portion of their budgets to video content creation. These materials are versatile and can be used to amplify the impact of larger content marketing strategies.
Businesses can promote videos on social media sites or release them as supplementary resources to complement technical research documents.
