Google’s annual Brandcast is a no holds barred effort to woo advertisers and convince them of the prowess and effectiveness of its YouTube platform.
No expense was spared and if there was ever a demonstration of where the money in advertising is going – it was last night’s massive event. A two-room party for hundreds of media and advertising execs with performances from Nicole Millar, beatboxer Tom Thum and the headline act Iggy Azalea topped off a two-hour showcase of YouTube’s business case. It’s hard to argue with some of the business performance stories and stats being shared.
Jason Pellegrino, Google Australia MD, kicked things off. He’s a powerful front man for the company in this country but having Telstra CMO Joe Pollard, the head of the AFL and Disney Australia GM Kylie Watson-Wheeler on stage espousing endorsements is infinitely more powerful than anything Google can say about its own business.
Pollard shared some pretty powerful stats and perspectives. “Video is at the heart of our marketing strategy and YouTube is at the heart of video storytelling,” she said, adding that the telco created 700 YouTube videos last year. Two years ago it made just 20.
Casey Owen Neistat is an American YouTube personality
She claims its recent relaunch is the most successful campaign in its history in terms of branding, likeability, recognition and consideration. It has 1.5 million views and of the people that watched the 90-second film on YouTube, nearly 60% watched to the end.
Pollard says it achieved a cost per reach of $8, compared to a CPM on free-to-air television of $23, making YouTube 30% more efficient than any other video channel it used. Those dollar figures are hard to argue with. And that’s an incredible endorsement from Telstra, a company which owns 50% of a traditional broadcast network – Foxtel.
The ‘YouTube creators’ that Google put on stage this year were a step above those that spoke last year and did a much better job of convincing the audience they are genuinely powerful. Elise Strachan who fronts ‘My Cupcake Addiction’ and Casey Neistat, (I’m still not really sure who or what he is, but he has an impressive story) gave insights into just how powerful the network of creators on YouTube can be. There are 33 Australian YouTube channels with more than one million subscribers, which Pellegrino reckons proves Australia “punches above”.
Last year’s Brandcast felt a little loud and hectic to me, with too many screaming young fans tripping over themselves to take selfies with teenage YouTube creators who are absurdly famous for not much at all. This year they felt adult, and professional. A more compelling and convincing business case for the advertisers in the room.
A new initiative with the AFL to target the next generation of footy fans with a screen strategy is an interesting push – although it does feel like society admitting defeat that the next generation of kids won’t bother playing footy or attending games – they’ll just be glued to screens.
What it comes down to though, is that YouTube is still trying to convince brands and marketers they should be shifting more of their TV dollars in to YouTube. It talks a very good game about the role of all the channels together, citing Ipsos research that finds TV and YouTube are most effective together. but at the end of the day Google wants brands’ ad money, and it wants it from TV budgets.
“YouTube is home to the audiences your brands are looking to meet,” said Pellegrino. “And you can’t reach them on TV alone.”
He cited as examples the Channel Seven Olympics partnership that saw the network get 1.1 million views a day on average (but note that’s online views – not viewers) and a partnership with The Voice which “brought digital thinking to TV”.
What I thought Pellegrino got across well, however, was the shift in thinking to attention. It has it – and brands want it.
Pellegrino said: “For brands reach and frequency are always the starting point of any campaign planning, but attention has to be the goal. The ability to generate attention is what makes YouTube as a platform invaluable.”
He managed to get in a little reference to YouTube’s 93% viewability, that the number of brands buying its Google preferred inventory has tripled in 2016, ad that purchase consideration increases two times when TV and YouTube Trueview are used together.
Later towards the end of the presentation, Bart Jenniches, Google director of media and entertainment, followed up with an example from Campbell’s soup which used YouTube and drove 55% sales increase. He shared some lessons from global brands on making unskippable ads that have seen brands shift more media money into YouTube.
He introduced the launch of two new products – Trueview Action and Google Preferred breakouts - although the details were scant. But he hammered home the point Pellegrino started out with - that YouTube has the attention of audiences – and that’s what brands want.
“It’s time our approach to media planning and buying caught up with people … The audiences you value are on YouTube on every screen. YouTube is built to help your brand earn and keep attention. The more attention you earn, the more unskippable you become, the greater the business results.”
While there still may be the debate raging about the squeeze Google has on the industry, and the diversion of marketing funds into its pockets – YouTube put up a pretty good case for why it deserves the attention of advertisers.