YouTube is at the center and at the forefront of some key trends that affect the world of marketing. The three most important are increasing bandwidth, user-generated content and social networking.
- Increasing bandwidth in developed countries is what makes video viewing on the web and video sharing possible. According to a study by Gartner, published in July 2008, "Consumer broadband penetration worldwide will grow from an estimated 323 million in 2007 to 499 million in 2012."
As a practical matter, Gartner's projections contend that broadband penetration of the consumer market will be above two thirds of households in almost all developed countries by 2012. For YouTube this means substantially bigger audiences, increased sharing and a substantially higher level of user-generated content. - User-Generated Content (UGC). This is an area where YouTube is at the forefront. Not only is the vast majority of the video on YouTube generated by users (29 percent of them have uploaded a video within the last three months) but commenting and rating are key activities that constitute content and simultaneously help determine the viewing performance of the associated videos.
- Social networking sites are obviously amongst the hottest internet properties today. YouTube is a part of it in a unique way. The purpose of social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook is to help people connect with their friends and to find others with whom they have something in common. But YouTube is not a social networking site.
Jon Gibs, senior director of media for the market research firm Nielsen/NetRatings follows the social networking sector. He says of YouTube: "You don't create a buddy list and share your buddy list, but you do have consumer generated (or at least consumer-added) content. You have tagging around that, and you have conversation around that, and you have association between elements. To me that's social networking." Even so, Gibs describes YouTube as "a video-sharing site with social networking tacked on." That's a good way to consider the marketing power of YouTube and it's an important one. The true social networking sites are the converse – users can add video but the video (typically user-generated snippets of films, TV shows and comedy clips) is generally secondary to the "friends" motif.
YouTube will increasingly become a more hospitable environment for marketers. If you have a good video, like the Sephora videos, they can carry your brand message without conflicting with the purpose of the site.
Key Point
Because of its video focus, YouTube should offer more marketing possibilities and flexibility than the social networking sites.
YouTube today is uniquely positioned as a marketing channel on the net. And we have a good idea of how it will develop in the months and years ahead.
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