Have you watched a video on Youtube today? If the answer is yes that is not super surprising. The video behemoth says that about two billion people are on their platform every month, and that is just people with actual accounts.
Two billion.
Considering that Netflix is considered the top streaming platform with less than 200 million global subscribers really puts Youtube’s reach into perspective.
But one of Youtube’s greatest strengths is also one of its biggest weaknesses, at least when it comes to trying to bring ad dollars that are often earmarked for television.
See, Youtube is much more successful on mobile devices than televisions. The company says over 70% of its content is being watched on mobile. And while this kind of ease with which people watch Youtube videos anywhere has led to its ubiquitous use, advertisers still seem stuck at seeing Youtube as a place where people watch quick clips of animals doing something funny or anything else that helps them waste time during their day.
But there are plenty of people watching Youtube on a regular TV. In fact, it’s around 100 million a month, and that increased by 80% year-over-year in 2020, according to this article.
Still, advertisers are skeptical about what content people are watching on TVs and Youtube is trying to fix that. Again from the article:
YouTube on May 19 announced an ad-buying category for marketers seeking to reach its users on streaming TV screens. The lineup includes videos by personalities on the platform, YouTube’s own programming and traditional TV shows and movies available through YouTube’s main app or its pay-TV service.
But this is just a small portion of the available content on the platform. So to make advertisers more comfortable, Youtube needs to prove that ads will be attached to content that is being watched, by an audience they want to appeal to and that the content itself won’t reflect poorly on the brand.
This is why strong video AI is a necessity.
By using AI that views video in a more nuanced, “human” way, and couples this with audience metrics, advertisers could see Youtube as a reliable place to spend their ad dollars.
Instead of relying on a certain subset of programming, the platform would be able go through massive amounts of content and earmark which videos match the criteria of a certain advertiser.
By using Resonance AI’s Content Intelligence, Youtube would be able to process, at scale, what videos should be removed from the platform, which ones are allowed but contain imagery or audio that would threaten brand safety and which ones advertisers would like to be associated with.
By using Resonance AI’s Audience Intelligence, Youtube would be able to get deeper into the behaviors of viewers and make better determinations of which brand ads are more in line with the overall appeal of content, based on who is watching it.
And finally, with Resonance AI’s Resonance, Youtube could begin to figure why certain of their videos are resonating on TV, and use that to create and surface more of this similar content, shifting that mobile viewing to more of what happens on the couch.
On top of this, being able to see how ads are either enhancing or distracting from the content will help focus where ads should be placed. Some may perform better with those who are watching on mobile, whereas others may do incredible with those who are watching their TVs.
This ability to see where an ad can get the most (positive) attention is a key talking point in showing advertisers that a marketing campaign on Youtube can be more targeted and engaging than anywhere else.
Whether it’s on your phone or in your living room, Youtube seems like it will continue to be an integral part of our day. But if ads become a larger part of their business model, then they need a tool that will make it the best experience for both the advertiser and the viewer.
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