YouTube an Advertising Sensation?

This weeks post is going to be slightly different. Instead of the usual criticism of the new advertising campaigns of restaurants, hotels, food companies and household products, I am going to look into the new brand positioning that the internet sensation, YouTube, is trying.

Photo Credit

YouTube started out as a place where people could upload ridiculous home-videos and pirated versions of songs that had yet to be released. However, YouTube wants to revamp its appearance and become an ideal place for advertising.

Advertisers spend around $60.5 billion on television ads and only around $2.2 billion on online videos. YouTube believes that companies will have a very successful future if they put more money into online videos and use YouTube as the advertising space.

With Lucas Watson from Procter & Gable as its new vice president of online video global sales, YouTube has seen a positive change. The addition of Watson has exposed YouTube to a sector that it had never reached before: packaged goods companies. Unlike the typical music, entertainment and technology companies that have become large YouTube users, package goods companies have stirctly stuck to television advertisements. However, with Watson aboard, companies like Old Spice have already joined and had major success.

This is a great way for companies to reach consumers that they normally have difficulty reaching. For example, it used to be tough for Old Spice to get its videos out there to a huge sector of 18-25 year old men, but with YouTube they only need to reach a few and the viewers then do the spreading. All Old Spice's advertisers have to do is get a few viewers, and then the rest is up to the consumers. This also makes the brand feel more personal, because the person viewing it chose to see it. This most likely increases the person's probability of not only enjoying the advertisement and sharing but also for going out and getting the product.


What do you think? Is YouTube going to become the main place for advertising? Do you want YouTube to change or stay the way it is?


Stamp of Approval,
The AD Judge


NYT Article