• by Tyler Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_tyler, March 7, 2014

Pop quiz: When it comes to sharing videos, where does the U.S. rank?

Answer: Nowhere near the top.

Indonesia is the top-ranked country when it comes to sharing videos online, followed by India and Greece. You have to go all the way down to number 19 to find the U.S. The UK came in at number 43. In the U.S., the most-shared videos tend to be news items. In the UK, travel content is most likely to be shared.

The data comes from Coull, a video ad network. The company analyzed 11.4 million video plays across 57 countries in January 2014.

When it comes to data-driven marketing efforts, the sociability of the target audience should be a factor. At OMMA DDM last month, Quinn Kilbury, brand director for Heineken/Newcastle Brown Ale, walked attendees through the Non-Super Bowl ad Newcastle “aired” online before the big game.

The company did its part to promote the tongue-in-cheek campaign, but its success was driven by consumers’ willingness to share. The campaign’s most successful spot featured Anna Kendrick, and Kilbury said going after Kendrick was a data-driven choice.

“Too often, ad spend fails to consider the sharing potential of videos,” stated Irfon Watkins, CEO of Coull. “However, if digital publishers track sharing patterns and measure how their audiences engage with content, this insight can be used to inform not just their own content strategy, but to connect brand advertisers with the type of video content that really resonates with their target market.”

Trying to get a video to go “viral” is nothing new, but I was struck by how much harder it is for U.S. and UK marketers. Newcastle showed how a data-driven approach can serve as a workaround. At the same time, however, it doesn't take a genius or heaps of Big Data to know that Anna Kendrick + funny beer ad + tying it to the Super Bowl = higher chance to be shared.