Ben McOwen Wilson, Managing Director of YouTube in the UK and Ireland, has stirred up some debate by claiming that the video site is now more reflective of Britain as a society than its major TV broadcasters are, but how far are we from a point where YouTube is the go-to media source for Britain’s adults?
The latest figures from Ofcom suggest that as far as young adults are concerned, at least, we may already be there. According to the Media Nations 2020 report, UK residents between the ages of 16 and 34 spent an average of 85 minutes a day on YouTube compared to 75 watching live television, although subscription view on demand (SVoD) services like Netflix and Amazon Prime are more popular than both within this age group, accounting for two hours per day of viewing.
When taking all age groups into account, live TV still makes up the lion’s share of the UK’s audio-visual media consumption, but the signs are clearly there of a shift towards digital and online viewing, and this makes it unsurprising that Google appears to be taking action to boost YouTube’s marketing potential.
A statement on Monday revealed that Google is doing more to make YouTube ad success more measurable. Its monitoring tool Attribution, which helps marketers see which touchpoints their conversions are coming from, is being extended to YouTube advertising. The statement confirms this is now in beta testing stage.
This comes on the back of wider speculation that Google wants to make YouTube into a shopping website, whereby users can buy items from it directly in the same way as they would on major e-retail sites like Amazon. Noting that the site has started encouraging video creators to tag any products featured in their uploads using YouTube software, News24 suggests that this is part of an effort to turn YouTube’s enormous video archive into a “vast catalog of items” from which viewers can make purchases, adding that a “YouTube spokesperson” has confirmed that this is being tested.
As the way we consume media changes, businesses would be wise to explore YouTube’s marketing potential. At Engage Web, we can help you with online advertising, video creation and social media management, so speak to us to get started or give your existing online marketing campaign a boost.
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