- [Instructor] One billion hours is a lot of time.
It's also the number of hours people
spend watching videos on YouTube every single day.
To put this in perspective,
that's the equivalent of you
watching videos for 100,000 years.
That's just one day's content.
You'd need a boatload of popcorn for that.
YouTube is most people's go-to video platform
and the second largest search engine after Google.
It's the place we watch kids and cats doing silly things
and where brands like yours try to engage your customers.
And 70% of those views come from mobile devices.
Of course, so many brands would just love to create a video
that catapults your business to fortune and fame
but only a tiny fraction of videos ever go viral.
So rather than chasing virality,
it's better to consistently produce the kind of content
your customers will love.
This may seem obvious but in order to do that,
you need to develop a strategy and content calendar
and optimize and organize your channel
by uploading an attention-getting header image,
completing the About section,
and creating playlists to make it easier for your customers.
Like every social platform, YouTube continues to evolve.
It simplified its user experience
with bigger thumbnails and more white space.
It updated its verification policy to focus on prominence,
that is the number of subscribers a user may have
and their authenticity;
and it brought its popular mobile
Add to Queue, Watch Later feature to desktop devices.
YouTube has spawned its own stars and influencers
who are sometimes more popular than celebrities
and many of them are open to working with brands.
Just establish what you're looking for,
a budget and timeline upfront.
Start by searching the keywords your customers are using
to see which YouTubers appear at the top.
Then do some additional research on them
and the types of content they post,
what they're engagement is
and whether they're open to working with brands.
And if you do partner with them,
make sure influencers disclose their relationship with you.
But don't make a large subscriber base,
the only criteria of your influencer partnership,
more important is how engaged an influencer's audience is
and whether or not they match your customers.
These days, YouTube is looking more
like a traditional TV network.
YouTube TV is a subscription service
that lets you watch and stream network shows
to any device.
YouTube Originals are premium content
and if a creator has more than 1,000 subscribers,
they can livestream directly to their fans
on a mobile device.
But most channels have the opportunity
to do a YouTube livestream from desktop.
You can purchase a variety of ad formats on YouTube
including pre-roll and mid-roll video,
TrueView ads that viewers can skip
after they play for five seconds,
video overlays, video and rich media mastheads,
shopping ads and other digital display formats.
And you can target by demographics, interests and keywords.
Let's look at Topsy Turvy
and some of the video ideas their brands could pursue.
They could research and identify
local food or dessert bloggers,
then they could partner with them
and sponsor a video series on baking tips,
and they could also stream a bake off live on mobile
if the influencer has more than 1,000 subscribers.
There's no doubt the screen is a thing,
and YouTube offers a range of formats,
ad options, and influencer partnerships.
But don't just shoot, post and expect a mass audience.
Your brand can succeed on YouTube if you move away
from the dream of virality and create videos that help,
educate or entertain your customers.