YouTube Advertiser Sees Strong Mobile Demand

The YouTube audience is switching to mobile faster than the company's engineers can build the tools to support the change.

"I would like to see YouTube add annotations on to mobile phone," Jeffrey Harmon, co-founder of Orabrush, told Online Media Daily at Vidcon, the video conference in Anaheim, Calif.

Harmon explains that on YouTube from the PC, a visitor can click a button that takes them to other places, like another video or a company's Web site. Calling the mobile approach "convoluted," he wants a more direct-response marketing approach similar to desktop.

Maker Studios, the Culver City-based YouTube-stars studio speaking Thursday at VidCon, estimates that more than a third of its traffic comes from mobile, cites Harmon. The June 2013 comScore YouTube partner data reveals Maker Studios with 28.8 million total views.

Harmon said Orabrush helped Google figure out how to monetize videos on the desktop. "We were the first brand to make YouTube advertising work," he claims, "and now we would like to take that to mobile. There were brands that came before us that made videos go viral, but that's not the same as paid ads."

To make that happen, Harmon said, brands need a few more mobile tools.

ACG Research published data revealing that YouTube, along with Google and Facebook, support the majority of mobile traffic carried by a North American Tier 2 mobile operator. Traffic analysis was provided by Vistapointe, which specializes in cloud-based and business intelligence solutions for mobile and enterprise WiFi operators.

Consumption of multimedia applications from YouTube, Netflix, and ESPN contribute to 70% of total use, according to the data.

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