Full-length shows are not popular on YouTube, despite heavy promotion of the site’s new “Shows” section. In all, YouTube has 3,215 full-length TV episodes, but only averages 7,407.9 views per episode.
Interesting tidbit: videos from YouTube sponsors get 33.64% of the number of comments that a typical video with the same view count would fetch, on average. Perhaps this is intuitive on some level since ads are inherently less engaging than actual content, but it might help explain why sponsors often tap YouTube celebrities to plug their products, in addition to buying ad units on YouTube. According to our data from elsewhere, videos in the top quartile in terms of comments retain viewers an average of 9.25% longer than other videos.
We released this research to AdAge a few months back, but now that it’s securely behind their pay-wall I wanted to share the results publicly for the first time. Taking a sample of 50 top professionally-produced, episodic Web series, including short-form shows from top TV networks and new media studios, we broke down total cross-site views for the first eight episodes of each of these shows. The results? Building an audience past episode one is extremely difficult for this genre, as 64.31% of audiences never return to watch episode two, on average. Given the fickle attention span of the typical online video viewer, perhaps this isn’t surprising.
Ever-hilarious, Nalts puts this twist on some demographics reporting we shared with him. Obviously, we’re flattered by the mention (and in his birthday video, no less!)!
Recently, we were asked what the top music labels are on YouTube in terms of cumulative views. The question is more complex than we initially assumed, since most labels (i.e. Universal Music Group) often post duplicate videos in separate YouTube channels, including the label’s parent channel (youtube.com/universalmusicgroup), a musician-specific channel (i.e. youtube.com/ladygaga) and sub-labels (i.e. youtube.com/islandrecords). After much work compiling a comprehensive list, we queried across all channels and came up with the following cumulative numbers:
Universal Music Group: 6,273,585,160 views
Sony BMG: 4,820,117,362 views
Warner Music Group: 1,088,095,077 views*
Hollywood Records: 1,017,394,039 views
EMI/Parlophone/Capitol: 702,152,316 views
* Almost all Warner Music Group videos were removed on 12/27 due to an ongoing contract dispute.
Also, it’s worth noting that a significant portion of overall music video views come from pirated versions, mashups and other unofficial clips. For instance, 60.53% of all views of Avril Lavigne videos come from unofficial versions.
According to a research report we previously released, “Auto”-themed videos are the most popular category of video on the Web, when measured by average views per video. With this propitious tidbit in mind, we are proud to announce our latest integration: StreetFire.net, a leading automotive-themed video site. To automatically upload your relevant videos to StreetFire, simply create an account there and check their box on any video’s upload page.
TubeMogul’s InPlay technology will also be integrated with StreetFire, unlocking rich analytics for those interested, including video delivery quality, audience dropoff, viewership by geographic region, referral sites and much more.
We are proud to count many nonprofits and government agencies among our clients, in addition to media companies, marketing agencies and others in the corporate world. One of our favorites: The Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, an information center that facilitates “nonprofit grantwriting, advocacy, planning and decision-making in post-Katrina New Orleans.”
Recently, GNOCDC was featured on CNN, and saw a subsequent spike in traffic. PR-wise, this seems like a dream come true, but it came with a catch: the audience dropoff for the informational video featured on their homepage was far more severe post-CNN mention, suggesting that viewers referred by CNN are less valuable as leads. Here are the numbers:
Then look no further than Seth Macfarlane’s “Cavalcade of Comedy” on YouTube. According to our demographics reporting, 83.39% of its viewers are male, with 62.68% between the ages of 15 and 24 (details below). Given this, Burger King as a sponsor makes a lot of sense (but does Priceline?).
Of course, if you really are an advertiser, be sure to check out TubeMogul Marketplace, which now counts over 3500 profiles of video producers, complete with viewership statistics and contact info.