Many marketers think of YouTube as just a place to watch video, but with a little vision, it’s clearly so much more. Though the most popular videos will always be of the latest dance craze or cute kittens and childrens, there is still room for savvy marketers to get their content noticed in the mix. There is a lot of data that shows YouTube is extremely popular with US audiences and that people use it in ways that are beneficial for marketers. For anyone who doubts the value of YouTube, here are seven stats that prove seeing is believing.
Just how much time is spent watching videos on YouTube? Nielsen found that 111 million Americans visited YouTube in January 2014, for an average of 1 hour 52 minutes each.
More than 10 percent of US consumers use YouTube for local shopping! The percentage is much higher for hispanic consumers. BIA/Kelsey reported that 17.7 percent of Hispanic consumers use YouTube for local shopping, compared to 10.3 percent of non-Hispanics.
The size of the active YouTube audience shouldn’t be ignored. According to data from Nielsen, on average, 128 million Americans view videos on YouTube each month.
YouTube is one of the most popular apps on mobile. According to a report from comScore, 74.1 percent of US smartphone app users use the Facebook app as of April 2014, compared to 50.9 percent for Google Play, and 49.7 percent for YouTube.
A study from Nielsen found that use of the YouTube mobile app is growing at a phenomenal rate. According to the study, 72 million Americans used the YouTube mobile app each month in 2013, up 27 percent from 2012.
A fan on YouTube will see your content more often than a fan of the regular business site. According to a recent study from Nielsen, US YouTube users average 12 visits to the site per month.
YouTube is also already popular with marketers. According to L2, 99 percent of US online specialty retailers and 95.1 percent of luxury brands use YouTube to market their goods.
The cardinal rule of marketing is to market services wherever people are. As this data shows, people are on YouTube. There are a lot of ways that business owners can use YouTube without going to extremes on production costs. A well produced slideshow with copyright-free music or animation tools from certain sites let marketers create content without having anyone worry about their makeup or lighting.
Taking the time and effort to promote a business on YouTube can pay off by getting the brand out to a new audience. For marketers who aren’t ready to go with video, don’t forget about the value of other sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google for promoting a brand.