YouTube is Already a Market

01:07 in Youtube

Marketers using YouTube benefit from the commercial infrastructure that is already in place on the internet and the extent to which people around the world have become accustomed to shopping online. According to Nielsen Global, as of February 2008, 875 million people worldwide have bought something online. Buying is strong across many countries.

"Among Internet users, the highest percentage shopping online is found in South Korea, where 99 percent of those with Internet access have used it to shop, followed by the UK (97 percent), Germany (97 percent), Japan (97 percent) with the U.S. eighth, at 94 percent. Additionally, in South Korea, 79 percent of these Internet users have shopped in the past month, followed by the UK (76 percent) and Switzerland (67 percent) with the U.S. at 57 percent."

This matches up with the numbers we see on YouTube. 91 percent of YouTube users have purchased something online. 63 percent have done so within the last three months.

When it comes to direct buying influence, the numbers are lower but remember we're considering the influence of a single site so the statistics are impressive. 35 percent of YouTube users have purchased something online that they saw advertised on YouTube and 30 percent have followed a YouTube link to make a purchase. These figures are almost certainly depressed since users include a sizeable proportion of teenagers who do not have a credit card to make online purchases.

Online purchases are only the tip of the iceberg. Many people who shop online are likely to buy offline. According to a 2007 study by eMarketer: "for every $1 in online sales, the Internet influenced $3.45 of store sales." Our survey found that 37 percent of YouTube users have purchased something offline that they saw advertised on YouTube.

In general, the purchasing demographics of YouTube follow those for the internet as a whole. With the exception of teenagers, younger people are more likely to purchase online than older people. Men are more likely to purchase online than women. The commercial action on YouTube isn't limited to consumers. 25 percent of visitors to YouTube have used the site for business. About half of them do so regularly or at least occasionally. From our research we identify that YouTube‟s commercial usage breaks down into three main categories. Almost half of business users are looking for more information about a subject that will help them commercially. 45 percent are seeking information about products or services to purchase and 28 percent are checking out the competition. YouTube is already a market that you can exploit. There are some key trends that YouTube is part of and that will define what YouTube will become.

Action Idea

Make YouTube a part of your e-commerce strategy. Links from YouTube can drive traffic to your web site.

Action Idea

Mine your own experience and research to identify topics that your customers want more information about. Identify the questions they ask about your product or service. Then create a simple YouTube video that can answer their questions.