Google Brings Back YouTube Preferred Upfront, Metrics Show Mobile's Contribution

Google has published results from its Preferred Upfront offering for YouTube advertisers, highlighting mobile's contribution to the growth of video. Last fall, when the program debuted, it sold out. The company will bring it back this year during its New York Broadcast event. 

The service, which allows advertisers to buy into the top tier of content on YouTube and measure the performance of videos, brought in more than 30 traditional TV advertisers that previously didn't advertise with YouTube. This year the plan will expand into more than 10 additional markets.

A 2014 U.S. study shows that Google Preferred content viewers in-market for certain products are 46% more likely to search a brand on YouTube compared with a wider YouTube audience of viewers. Based on the metrics from the same study, Google Preferred content viewers are more likely to be in-market for a movie, streaming music, or for a PC or tablet vs. the general online population.

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The data also suggests that brands see on average an 80% increase in Ad Recall, and 17% increase in Brand Awareness for Google Preferred campaigns after analyzing YouTube’s Brand Lift measurement data for approximately 50 campaigns from Fortune 100 brands.

Mobile makes a significant impact on digital video.

Adobe Digital Index Friday released its 2014 U.S. Digital Video Benchmark Report, forecasting that online video viewing on mobile devices will overtake desktop viewing by Q4 2016. This report also pinpoints trends surrounding the increase in video viewing on mobile, preference for larger screens, Apple TV and OTT device market share, and TV everywhere. The report analyzes 191 billion total online videos, and 2.67 billion TV Everywhere authentications through Adobe Marketing Cloud.

Adobe's research found that the smartphone share of video viewing rose 75% year-over-year in 2014, to 14%, and tablet share rose 50% YoY, to 12%. Adobe attributes the change to new mobile devices, improved mobile connectivity and networks, and a sharp rise in mobile-friendly content.

Google said the top 100 YouTube creators in Google Preferred saw their partner revenue rise 70% YoY, compared with 50% for creators on YouTube generally. Channels in Google Preferred saw 45% YoY growth in subscribers, 76% YoY growth in views on average.

YouTube’s impact on what Google calls brand interest or interest in a brand was also measured by an increase in organic searches for it on Google. Analyzing more than 800 Brand Lift studies, Google found 65% of YouTube TrueView campaigns drove a significant lift in brand interest, with an average lift of 13%. It shows brand metrics play an important role when planning quarterly media spend. 

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